Effectiveness of Bots/Minions?

[Ophidian]

For anyone who's used the Master of Robots or the Lout Drone, what are your opinions?

NOTE: I'm pretty sure there's no way to increase the damage of these minions aside from skills. Even though the Lout Drone is a Scavenge card, it does not gain the damage bonus from high Scavenge. Is this a bug?

Does the +crit% and crit dmg% skill in Master or Robots actually increase critical damage by 2500% or is that an input error by the dev?

Is the Terrorbot worthwhile?

Is the Lout Drone worthwhile?

How do they scale? Are they decent early on and trash later, or do they actually keep pace?

It seems like the Sentry Bots in particular (as with all multi-shot weapons in this game) would be extremely hampered by the fact that literally EVERY ENEMY IN THE GAME has armor and/or damage resistance that applies multiple times against multi-shot weapons (assault rifles etc.).

I'd love to hear your opinions on the usefulness of these minion-type bots if you've used them.

[Grrwaaa]

They don't scale. They are good up to about level 6 or 7. After that, you might as well just remove them from your deck.

[Imarion]

I do not agree.
I agree that the sentry is underleveled, yet if you can debuff the ennemy (armor, damage reduction), it can do some damage. Also, while he may do 0 damage on a shielded ennemy, once the shield is down, he can do some damage.
More importantly, he may soak some damage should an ennemy decide to attack him.

The other are still useful.
The taunter one can take at least 2 hits, sometimes 3 or 4, even versus level 9-10 ennemies.
The assist is essential for those who have high dodge (I do not remember his other bonus), but at least he will help mitigate the dodge. Remember, at this point in game, any buff/debuff is essential.

And the terrorbot is very effective. I saw him attack 3 times in 1 turn (though this is seldom), he more often attacks twice.
One of hist attacks can hit multiple ennemis and penetrate.

I'm level 10 with medic, brawler, and bots, and going just fine (on level 9 derelict, facing level 10 ennemies. Not yet on the final ship).
Of course the brawler is main damage dealer, but everything else matters :)

[Ophidian]

I don't think that Sentry Bots should get credit for being able to eat a couple hits. Any other bots can do that too, and you don't need to spend your second class and precious ability points to get them. They do actually 0 damage to a lot of enemies, which is not really acceptable for that level of investment.

[Kyoken]

I don't know if it's intended but healthy haze from chemist actually buffs the bot's HP, this makes your bots good meat shields, since having more bots on the field lessens the chances of enemies attacking your team. Damage oriented bots though are kinda trash at endgame though unless you can drop your enemy's armor and resistance, the support ones like restoration, assist, and taunt are great, if you can keep them alive long enough.