Drone Master Guide
So, you have decided to undertake the strange and noble art of the Engineers, the Drone Masters. First, let me tell you that if you are looking for an easy ride, you are soon to be proven sorely wrong. Drone Mastery was nerfed Massively several universes ago, so it is no longer the leveling powerhouse it once was. But fear not! It is still a greatly effective method of training your skills! Better than, for example, Seer...
The first thing i will remind you of, is to choose one particular path to exclusion is folly. Why should you only focus on your drones, when you could have slaves attacking your target, missiles pummeling them, lasers shooting them, and tractor beams holding them close? Diversity is the path to success. Remember this, and you will rarely if ever have problems leveling.
Now, onwards to the Guide.(Notice i say 'guide', not 'walkthrough'. This Guide will guide you along your path, but not order you along any particular route. Unless, of course, there is no other route.)
The Guide
You, I am going to assume, have just payed for your first subscription of Star Sonata, the vast and unpredictable universe that it is. Also, you are planning on becoming a drone master, otherwise you likely would not be here. The First thing you should remember: Class skills are NOT your primary goal! At such low levels they will have little noticable effect on your drones, and as such you should be putting your effort into Teir one skills(piloting, electrical engineering, etc), and Drone Management(You do want to lay drones, right?) There is One exclusion to this, an important one, but I’ll get to that later.
Drone management is the central focus of your class. It allows you to lay powerful auto-firing weapons platforms, called Drones(drone management, get it? Heh, heh). In order to begin, you should train this skill to 3, which you can do in the largest station in Sol, the central galaxy of the universe. This will allow you to use Magic Attacks, a fairly powerful Drone! Now, you will want to get yourself a spacey ship, likely a Heavy Fighter. A Rosburst is a good ship to use, though you could use a bulk trader, or even a hotrod with hull enhancing augs! Note that your ship must be of Equal or Higher tech than your drones, otherwise its tech level will be insufficient to manage the capable brains of the drones, and as such, you will be unable to place them!
Now comes the exception I mentioned earlier. Getting ONE level of Drone Mastery allows you to lay 4 drones instead of 3, giving you a 33% boost in firepower! Go and start the specialization missions in Sol, which will lead you to The Lyceum, a massive compendium of knowledge, where you will learn the skills of your class. The Class you wish to follow is Support, the Focus is Engineer, and the secondary skill you need to train is Drone Mastery. Get ONE level of each of these, and leave. Do not let yourself be tempted, it will be your undoing. Now, you Have your drones, you have your ship. Just as a checklist, I will review what you will need to succeed. I will list the item, and then how necessary it is.
- 1. A Large Hulled Ship! Absolutely Necessary. Without this, you will be unable to carry the many items and drones you need. Don’t worry about getting a very expensive ship at this point, you will be moving on soon in any case.
- 2. A weapon. Not at all necessary, but not a bad idea. Long ranged, preferably, since your drones cannot chase down your enemies to hit them and make them come to you!
- 3. A large energy bank! Absolutely necessary! Drones take energy to lay, and without that energy, they will sit in your hull doing nothing while you are trying to recharge and dodge enemy fire at the same time. Fortunately, there is a conveniently large energy bank available at a low level, the Ion Bank. 4000 bank, but its regen could use some improvement. Solar panels will fix that!
- 4. Solar Panels. Not 100% necessary, but advised. 4 solar panel 2’s will nearly double the regen on your ion bank, which will make Everything flow a bit smoother.
- 5. A decent shield: Absolutely necessary. Drones recently received a massive boost in resistances, to make them more effective after the nerf. That’s good for your drones, but the AI realize this as well, and often will target you instead! You need to be able to survive until your drones can take them down. Read the Shield Guide for more info on this topic.
- 6. Radar: you want to see your enemies, right? Thought so.
- 7. Engine: If you’re not sure if you need an engine, you need to be thinking less about a class and more about how to play in general. Of course its bloody necessary! One thing you should remember is that A: Ai base engines will only get you so far. When you’re carrying a million weight in Drones ALONE, you’re going to need a better engine. B: This website has a convenient Engines list, take a peek at it later on. You shouldn’t need to worry about that until level 120 or so, though.
- 8. Anything else: Pretty much necessary. Anything that can help you level? Get it. Unless, of course, the cost outweighs the benefits. If you have to Cap for 2 weeks to get a ship you’re going to be using for a grand total of 30 levels, its probably not worth it. Balance, always balance is the goal.
Now, take your magic attacks and go and level on Monochrome tints. You may actually be surprised at how easy they are to kill with your new drones. Once you reach level 30, look around for other AI above that. At this point it is easy to get cocky and bite off more than you can chew, be careful to avoid the level 60 monochrome hues, they are VERY resistant to everything but heat, and there are no decent lowish tech heat drones, so be careful.
Tips:
Remember to always be looking for better drones. For example, certain random AI stations sell Aether Drones, a better version of the Magic attack, but without a shield transference.
Everyone else feel free to add info or tips you have. Try to keep things progressive, as in, low level to high level...and assume that by the time they're to BFD's they dont really need a guide. Tips, perhaps, but not a guide, really.
Cheers, Cygnus
