Drones are definitely one of the coolest features in EVE. These small and nimble creatures can perform a variety of useful tasks, but they reveal themselves especially well in battle, allowing, for example, when driving a large and heavily armed ship, to forget about shooting any small fry, simply setting their rodents on them. But first things first.

And in order, the first thing that comes after an idea in EVE is skills.

Drone skills have their own neat section. It contains skills such as:

Drones. Actually, the basis of everything. Each level of Drones allows you to control one more drone, as a result, the maximum size of a squad of rodents, without additional equipment, can be equal to five. This skill will have to be maxed out, no matter how long it takes, since most of the other skills regarding drones are not available without level 4-5 Drones.

The next important skill is Drone Interfacing. Each level of this skill increases the damage of combat drones and the amount of ore excavated by mining drones by as much as 20%.

Scout Drone Operation- in addition to granting access to light reconnaissance drones, it also increases the drone control range by 5 km (see below).

To support combat drones, skills are also important: Drone Durability– 5% to armor, shield and structure; Drone Navigation- 5% to speed and Drone Sharpshooting– increases the optimal range of drone weapons, also by 5%.

Skills Amarr / Caldari / Gallente / Minmatar Drone Specialization, as you might guess, give a small bonus to the control of drones of a certain faction.

Advanced Drone Interfacing– a skill required only by owners of carriers and other capital ships. Enables the use of a drone controller that increases the maximum number of drones it can control.

Remaining skills: Combat Drone Operation , Heavy Drone Operation , Fighters , Fighter Bombers , Mining Drone Operation , Repair Drone Operation , Sentry Drone Interfacing and, unexpectedly translated into Russian skill - Electronic countermeasures drone control, as you might guess, allow you to control each type of drones, increasing bonuses to them with each level.

drone modules.

There is very little equipment for drones, just a few modules. Drone Control Unit- the same module described above, which increases the number of controlled rodents, Drone Link Augmentor– allows you to control drones at a greater distance, and Drone Navigation Computer And Omnidirectional Tracking Link increase the speed, optimal and tracking of drones. All.

Drone breeding.

The process of controlling drones, at first, may seem inconvenient (however, like everything else in EVE), but over time, the rodents and the player begin to work together as a single organism. Although few players can resist not throwing a stone at the “stupidity” of drones, you just need to remember that a drone is just a bot with meager intelligence and just needs to be constantly monitored.

The first thing to know is that a simple cargo hold is not suitable for launching drones. Drones sit in their own cozy Drone Bay, which can be opened from the context menu by right-clicking on the ship. The second important characteristic to pay attention to is the drone channel width. Each drone consumes a certain portion of this meter, and you cannot control more drones than the Channel Width allows, regardless of your skills and equipment. Accordingly, if the ship does not have these characteristics, then you will not be able to command drones while sitting on it.

Departing from the station with drones in the appropriate compartment, you will see a new window on the screen - Drones. Most of the manipulations with drones are done through it. Initially, it contains two tabs: Drones in Bay and Drones in Local Space. In the first tab, you can create groups and attach drones to them (as in the above image - drones are divided by type). Drones in local space, as you might guess, represent the drones you've let loose.

As expected, commands can be given to drones in two ways. The first is through the context menu. You can right-click both on the drone in the list and on the tabs themselves. The second way is through the menu of the selected object. Both have four actions.

Attack the target - will give the order to the selected drones, pounce on the target you have chosen.

They will return and go into orbit - the action performed by drones by default after landing from the compartment. Performing it, the drones peacefully spin around the ship without touching anyone.

Launch drones / Return to the drone bay - speaks for itself.

Raise to Drone Bay - Used primarily to pick up drones left in space to immediately take them to the drone bay and be able to immediately use them.

If you do not want to control the drones yourself and are not afraid of the consequences, you can set the drones to free behavior. To do this, you need to click on the small white triangle in the header of the "Drones" window and select the "Drone Settings" item. A small window will open where you can change the behavior of the drones from passive to aggressive, allowing them to attack any targets you choose automatically. And you can also check the box next to "Aimed fire", which will immediately turn your drones into an autonomous Sonderkommando, which itself will lock targets and attack until complete destruction, and after the genocide of enemies - return to your ship.

And finally, it is worth knowing that your character also has a drone control distance parameter. This parameter is not displayed anywhere, defaults to approximately 15-20 km and increases by 5 km with each Scout Drone Operation skill level. In fact, this is the area around your ship, beyond which the drones simply cannot fly.

Drone types.

So, let's talk in more detail about the heroes of the occasion themselves. There are three types of drones - civilian, combat and support drones.

Combat drones, in fact, are an ordinary ship. Their main difference is the lack of ammunition and an endless drive. All other parameters are identical to a normal ship with equipment installed and can be viewed in the info.

The main combat drones are divided into three classes. Each class has one drone per faction, each with its own damage type and their t2 variants. The main and most important difference between drones of different factions is the type of damage. Real drone pilots always carry with them on missions exactly those drones that will be most effective against hostile NPCs.

TO Light Reconnaissance Drones include: Hornet, Acolyte, Warrior, Hobgoblin and their t2 variants. They take 5 mp 3 as well as 5 units bandwidth. Very weak, but compensate for this with lightning speed and, as a result, excellent work against frigates, interceptors and other trifles. Although, after pumping drone skills, the need for them gradually disappears.

Medium Drones Scouts- the main combat units. Balance between speed, firepower and survivability. Infiltrator, Valkyrie, Hammerhead, Vespa and their more advanced counterparts are introduced. Their comfort requirements are also not great, 10 units of free space and 10 channels.

And finally - Heavy Attack Drones. In fact, they are a gunship - slow, thick and very strong. They have more requirements - 25 units of space and a channel, but their strength is great. Able to deliver a lot of problems to another battleship. But the little things are no longer in time. Names for them: Praetor, Ogre, Berserker, Wasp + t2.

Among other comrades, there are also Sentry Drones. In fact, they are a deployable turret. They can't fly, but they can shoot. Strongly. Although fast targets are hard to hit, a capital ship can be turned into a sieve. They cannot shoot at targets that are too close, in connection with this they have to be deployed in advance, away from the expected battlefield. It is also worth considering that the target must be within your drone control radius. Good in ambushes or for guarding your ship. Their requirements are similar to heavy drones. Representatives - Bouncer, Curator, Garde, Warden and t2.

The latest types of combat drones are Fighters And Fighter-Bombers. Creepy machines of destruction, even just watching them through the review, from the way they shake and flatten, you may get the impression that the devil himself has moved into them. They are worn like crazy, and their power is simply huge. If they swallow the cruiser, they won't notice. Unfortunately (and maybe, thank God), these machines of universal destruction are available only to the pilots of the carrier ships, and even then not immediately.

Support drones are different. First on the list are Combat Utility Drones. They are represented by three Amarr energy vampires, of varying degrees of greed, and one Minmatar stasis-network director.

Drones Provisions represented by a whole bunch of drones from different factions, different sizes. They are divided into two types - one restores the shield, and the second - the armor. It should be noted that the benefits of them are very, very great.

Drones of Electronic Countermeasures. As you might guess, these drones can jam, jam and do other dirty tricks.

The last type of drones are civilian drones. They are represented by digging drones. As the name suggests, digging drones may or may not dig ore.

That's all there is to the discipline of Drona. Regardless of whether you are going to use drones or not, you probably could feel that the possibilities and uses for rodents are simply enormous. Drones are especially effective in the war with NPCs, since the NPC pays almost no attention to them, but the drones gnaw at it without any problems.

When players begin to plunge into the essence of the game EvE online, to learn it, then dark spots appear in front of them in a certain queue, which it is imperative to fill in with some flow of explanatory information. Such a moment also arises when suddenly a player finds among the bookmarks in the game market, the inconspicuous name "drones" and has absolutely no idea what it is and what it is eaten with.

In this guide, we will explain the answer to this question for you, in addition, Let's talk about the varieties of drones and start with the fact that, first of all, they belong to the category of modules, which are presented in the game EvE online. When you dig a little deeper, then the drones will no longer be a mystery to you, hidden under a layer of secrets, you will find out that they are considered rather merciless creatures, strong, but completely useless, although this is not really as it may seem to you at first glance. .

A lot of guesswork wanders around the game as to where exactly the drones came from. Only the theory of their evolution is unambiguous, they are really ambiguous creatures, with their own character, a tendency to uncontrollability and have quite characteristic structures that can be especially seen when faced with places where wild drones live, which once upon a time own will or impatience, they left the flying heating plants and settled aside, arranging their existence according to their own rules.

Since everything in the game directly or indirectly comes into contact with the study of skills, the area of ​​​​party leadership of drones also lends itself to the leadership of a class of skills called Drones, and if you open this class of skills, you can be sure that there are a myriad of them.

So that you can also carry out managerial activities with drones on your ship, you need to equip it with a special habitat for drones, the name of which is Drone Bay, which will be a special sump for them or just a place to wait for a call.

While your drones are in this special hangar, then you should not expect any additional actions or functions from them, they are completely useless until you decide to release them. As soon as you release your drones from places of temporary detention, they will go a little crazy, start flying around your spaceship, you will see them in the form of the letters "X" circling around the ship.

If you wish, you can of course take a close look at the drones, they are not something super interesting, all you will see is Fighter and also Sentry drones. If you decide to release the drones outside, then you need to look after them with both eyes, and even connect any other controls, because they are simply uncontrollable.

But in this, over time, you will see for yourself, for starters, in this guide, we will tell you about the main drone pits, as well as what is the immediate goal of all existence, of one type or another. It will be very interesting, especially for those who do not intend to stop there.

What unites all drones?!

All drones are completely different, but still there are some features that unite them into a certain cluster displayed in the game. First of all, this something is that each of the drones has a certain amount of structure consisting of armor and shield, which makes it similar in this regard to a real spaceship.

But drones do not have ammo reserves, their capacitor is simply inexhaustible, which means one thing - the drone performs its duties as long as it is in a state of integrity and viability.

If the drone is attacked and its protective structure remains extremely weak a large number of, then the drone goes into a completely weightless state, it stops responding to any orders from outside, and also simply falls into catatonia, this is a special definition that applies specifically to drones. In the event that for some reason you forgot your drones or went into warp, they automatically fall into a state of woodiness, continuing to be in the same place where the owner left them, that is, you.

To return your drones, you will need to return to the same place where you left them and pick up each of them manually. If, along the way of your space journey, you saw an abandoned drone, then you can also pick it up without problems and obstacles, for this, you need to approach it at a distance of at least 1.5 km, and then activate the command called scoop to cargo hold .

This way you will suck the abandoned drone into the cargo hold of your ship. And if you find your abandoned drone, then to move it to your ship you need to activate the command called scoop to drone bay, which will also move it to the ship.

By moving a drone aboard your spaceship, you get a drone whose shield is completely restored, but as for armor, you will need to use the services of a repair station to restore it.

The second common criterion for drones is that each of them has a special concept called Drone Range, which refers to nothing more than the distance at which the drone can be useful to you. Depending on the performance of this criterion for your drone, you will be able to use it at a certain distance, to extract your own benefit.

The basic indicator of this criterion is the same for almost all drones, it is about 15 km, but of course further, more. When you learn and pump the Scout Drone Operation skill, then for each increased level, the scope of this distance will increase by 5 additional kilometers.

That is, when the hour comes that you will pump the skill to the maximum level 5, then you will be able to direct drones from your ship to a distance of 50 km, which is very decent. Also, drones have another indicator or parameter, the name of which is Activation Proximity. It determines the moment at what distance to the target, your drone can already perform the actions assigned to it, that is, either dig, or fire shots, or repair something, and so on.

Based on these two parameters, and also taking into account the fact that the parameter called Drone Range is not displayed anywhere at all, that is, you will need to either remember it or write it down somewhere in your notes. effective activities, compare all the pros and cons, and take into account the relationship of parameters to achieve the goals.

How to control drones?!

When you have a flock of crazy drones on your ship, you will need to master at least the basic basics that will allow you to control them. As soon as you fly aboard the drones to the drone bay, in your game's Overview panel, which is on the right side, you will see new tabs such as Drones In Bay, Drones In Local Space and also Drones In Distant Space.

Each of these bookmarks, if necessary, you can expand and familiarize yourself with it in detail. Bookmark Drones In Bay will be responsible for your drones, which are on board the ship and if you decide to release them, then you just need to right-click on this tab.

Also, using this bookmark, you can create different groups of drones, reassign them and simply collapse the bookmark back. To launch drones, it doesn't matter one or the whole group, you can also simply expand this tab and right-click on the drone or group that you want to release into outer space.

By right-clicking on Drones In Space, you can give your drones some directions. By choosing Engage Target, in the case of combat drones, you will give them the order to start attacking the target that is currently relevant to you.

Choosing Return & Orbit, you will order your drones to return to your spaceship even if they are busy with something. Since the drones are quite difficult to control, it is this command that allows you to keep them at least a little in check, as soon as you use this command, they will immediately dismount and begin to quietly circle around the spaceship, abandoning all their unauthorized activities.

Choosing the command Return to Drone Bay, you will order your drones to immediately return aboard the ship to the hangar assigned to them, but be careful, because as practice shows, some drones do not hear this command and remain in outer space, they will need to be returned manually.

AND choosing the Scoop To Drone Bay team, you will suck the drones that are in orbit into your ship hangar, but for this action to happen, you must be no more than 1.5 km away from them.

You can apply each of the above commands to both a group of drones, all drones, and to a specific drone from your hangar. To do this expand the bookmark and select specific characters directly in it.

A very useful bookmark for those players who own careers is Drones In Distant Space, but even if you have completely different types of drones, then using this bookmark you can see that your drones have been forgotten by you somewhere and are in limbo waiting its owner.

If you want your drones to do some digging, then choose mining drones and give them the Mine Repeatedly command and carefully monitor their area of ​​\u200b\u200baction, and also do not forget about the optimal distance.

Actual skills for all types of drones

It is impossible to play the game EvE online and not know how skills take the leading place in it. It is the same with drones, they do not stand aside, so we can safely state the fact that there are skills that are responsible for the activities of drones great amount.

Of course, it would take a lot of time to list them all, and each player will be able to choose for himself those skills that seem most important to him. But about the skills for leading drones, so to speak, the main ones should be known to everyone and everyone. If you want to get information about other skills, look at the market, where you can always find a lot of interesting and useful information.

The most important skill for drones is the skill whose name is completely symbolic and speaks for itself more than a lot, that is Drones. This skill is responsible for the number of drones that you can control at the same time and with each increase in this skill by one level, you will have a corresponding increase in the number by 1. That is, according to the results, when you develop the skill to the last level, you will be able to control 5 simultaneously drones.

To be frank, if you are going to become a drone pilot or have any business with drones, you simply have to pump this skill to the maximum. This is a very relevant skill for pilots of such ships as carriers, capitalships and dreadnoughts, because they have a pre-installed module on board designed specifically for drones, and not using it is a huge stupidity.

The second skill, which, according to the logic of its purpose, is, as it were, a continuation of the previous skill described by us, is Drone Interfacing. He is responsible for such indicators as the amount of damage inflicted by drones on set targets and the amount of ore that drones are able to extract during the excavation process. This skill is pumped by all drone pilots, because it is really necessary.

The next skill, which is no less relevant for drones, is Scout Drone Interfacing. Its direct purpose is that as you level up the skill, you will increase the range of your drones with each new level by 5 additional kilometers, that is, the benefit of this skill is more than obvious.

And the last group of skills, which are definitely worth mentioning, are referred to as Drone Navigation- a skill that increases the speed of drones, Drone Durability— a skill that increases the drones’ ability to loot and Drone Sharpshooting- a skill that is an excellent optimal for drones from the combat series.

Drone types:

Peaceful view of drones

If you look at the section where peaceful drones are presented, then you will see a list of drones whose specialization speaks of them as diggers. That is, their immediate field of activity is excavations, and your teams will be limited only to the fact that you will give them a task or do excavations, or not do this business.

When you just get a peaceful drone, let's say dig, they will not be very active and without enthusiasm, therefore, in order to improve this process and make it more productive, you will have to learn a few skills, in particular those described above.

Next, release drones, fly up to an asteroid that is of interest to you, and keep a distance that is relevant for you and your drones, and then give a command to your drones called Mine Repeatedly.

As soon as you do this, you will see that the drones, which are indicated by the letters "X", will immediately go to the asteroid you have chosen, and there they will already pretend to work. In fact, they will certainly work, even if it doesn't seem so to you, but look into the hold of your ship, where you will see pieces of ore appearing little by little. The speed of their digging will depend on your success with skills, but don't expect it to be cosmic at all, this is a slow but sure occupation for them.

In the event that you are directly raving about drones, and even more so about diggers, which of course is completely out of the realm of fantasy, but anything can happen, try to find such a creature as Harvester Mining Drone on sales. Of course, it costs space money isk EvE online an incredibly huge amount, but it also digs like a mole, its productivity is many times higher than its relatives.

But we immediately warn you that the release of this monster has long been suspended and you can only hope for your own luck that an old player will turn up for you, ready to say goodbye to his valiant assistant.

The most important parameter for this type of drones is the Mining Amount parameter, which is responsible for the amount of mined ore that drones can extract at a time, and Activation Time is also an equally important parameter, it is also responsible for the speed of digging ore by drones, then you understand yourself. Also, to use mining drones, you will need to upgrade the Mining Drones Operation skill, which will be entirely responsible for the performance of your drones.

Drone combat view

Unlike the peaceful kind of drones, this species will be more extensive and what is there to hide, just gorgeous. The class of drones in this series is divided into four subclasses, which include combat drones, sentry drones, drones referred to as electronic warfare or electronic warfare, and auxiliary drones. We will definitely consider all these subspecies now. All combat drones are united by several parameters.

Firstly, this is Tracking, which here will be the same as real guns, it plays the role of a yardstick that determines whether your drone will hit the target you have chosen.

Secondly, this is a parameter called Velocity that determines the speed of your drones, so if your drones are slow enough, you should not choose fast targets for them, because they simply cannot catch up with them.

Third parameter is Orbit Velocity, which determines the speed of your drone in direct orbit. This parameter is even a kind of derivative of the previous parameter, because it determines the specific speed of how quickly your drone will rotate around the enemy.

Next parameter is called Damage, Rate of Fire & Damage Modifier and is again a parameter that is similar in its analogy to turrets, that is, it is responsible for the amount of damage that your drone will inflict on the target you have chosen, as well as the speed of damage.

Last parameter called Optimal Range & Fallof, it's also similar to the stat that guns have in the game, but is of incredible value to Sentry Drones.

Class - Combat Drones

There are three different sizes of combat drones in the game, they are referred to as Light Scout, Medium Scout and Heavy Attack drones and each of these sizes has both its own advantages and small negative sides in relation to each other.

The larger the drone grows, the more hits it will have, as well as the higher indicators in terms of attack power it can develop, but at the same time, such indicators as tracking and speed will decrease for the drone.

Each class has four t1 drones and four t2 drones, which is determined by the ratio of one drone, for each race, or different types of possible damage. To learn more about them, open the information section, but the main types that you should know, we will describe for you further.

Drone type Light Scout Drones includes such types as Acolyte, Warrior, Hobgoblin, Hornet, including t2 variants of these drones. Among the players, this type is called Scout Drones, on the ship they will take up approximately 5 cubic meters of free space, are characterized by high speed and are considered the fastest among all types of drones.

The weak side of this species is their peculiar insecurity., that is, they quickly die and their attacks are, to put it mildly, very weak. They are able to give chatter to interceptors and frigates, but in order for them to work more efficiently, you should pay attention to learning a skill called Scout Drones Operation.

The Medium Scout Drones type includes such drones as Hammerhead, Valkyrie, Infiltrator, Vespa, including t2 variants of these drones. Among the players, this type is called medium drones, on the ship they will occupy approximately about 10 cubic meters of free space.

These drones are already more balanced than the previous type, their speed, survivability, and damage numbers are in a certain harmony, which allows them to be considered a pretty serious threat to ships like frigates, regardless of their size.

Drone type Heavy Attack Drones includes such types as Ogre, Berserker, Wasp, Praetor, including t2 variants of these drones. Among the players, this type is called ogre drones, on the ship they will occupy approximately about 25 cubic meters of free space.

Ogres are the most sought after among players from this class of drones., because they are rightfully considered the strongest among all, although the slowest, but who cares more, as well as Wasp, because they are the fastest drones from the heavy category.

Responsibility for such a parameter as heavy drones lies entirely with the skill called Heavy Drones Operation. It usually takes a lot of time to study it, and in addition to starting to study it, you must have fully studied the skill called Drones up to the fifth level, which of course is very useful, as it adds a good damage bonus of 5%.

These drones are of course more effective and serious compared to all previous categories, as a group of 5 of these drones will be a serious danger even for a battleship or cruiser. But because of their minus in speed, with such opponents as interceptors, they will not be able to cope only because they will not be able to catch up with them, and what is more important for you, choose for yourself.

Type of drones Fighter Drones

These are very powerful drones, even cooler than cruisers, so you can imagine what kind of monsters they are. They are capable of developing high speed, but that's bad luck, only a player who is a pilot of a carrier ship can get such a drone, and even then, he still needs to grow up to that.

The subspecies of these T2 drones, of course combat ones, will require the player to study for each race one, separate skill, so the area of ​​study should be determined for yourself immediately so as not to rush from one to another and end up with nothing.

This drone requires attention, and in order to control such drones, you should get a special ship for them. Representatives of this species are known as Dominix and Ishtar, and if you really create the right conditions for them, then by releasing your drones on any enemy, you will see how there will be no tail left from the enemy.

If you install a heavy dominix on ships such as nets or nosferatu, then everyone will be in awe of your drones, but there is nothing to be afraid of, and then this issue will remain unresolved. The same applies to Ishtar, in general, these drones are very strong if you use them correctly and do not skimp.

These combat drones are simply indispensable in case of troubles involving NPCs, especially if you decide that NPC scramblers or interceptors deserve payback and should be destroyed. But before you release your drones from this category, from the ship's hold, do not forget that after serving time on the ship, they become crazy and when you release them outside, then they just uncontrollably destroy everything in their path. Be very careful with crazed drones, they are able to destroy your own ship, so calculate every step so as not to be left with eggs.

The caution, in particular, lies in the fact that when you released the drones by pointing at a certain target, after they carry this target, the drones randomly choose a subsequent target for themselves, which may be you. Or, if you are on a mission, drones may not be directed at you, but at the next group of opponents, which later, of course, will switch to you, and even worse if they start attacking the structure and then you will be in a skiff, because all the enemies that are nearby will be interested in you at the same second.

To prevent this, release your drones with great care and don't forget to use a command like Return and Orbit to prevent them from making arbitrary decisions and actions. You will need to use this command often, because drones are very prone to arbitrary decisions, and this can bring you a lot of problems.

Type of drones Sentry Drones

These drones are classified as guard drones, although they are still directly related to combat drones. Their characteristic difference is that instead of a powerful engine, this type of drones has a huge cannon, they will occupy about 25 cubic meters of free space on the ship and you will not wait for any movements from these drones, in the literal sense of this statement.

But their immobility is entirely compensated by the fact that these drones shoot superbly., therefore, it is not possible to explain why the most obvious advantages and strengths of this type of drones are such parameters as tracking and optimal. Don't roll your lips though, because compared to many ships, their tracking is poor and if you want to shoot a ship with good maneuverability or high speed, they are unlikely to hit their target.

This type of drone is always used in the same way, you will need to unload from a certain place, then give an order to attack the target of your choice, then you will need to wait a certain amount of time while they will attack this very target and after that get ready to collect your drones back into the hold of the ship manually, there are no other options.

The most successful option from this group of drones are Garde, as well as Warden. For melee combat, you won't find a better drone than a guard, as it is the proud owner of an optimal size of 25 kilometers, and its falloff perceives a distance of 10 kilometers, also, when compared to all four representatives of this type, the guard deals very strong blows to his opponents, leaving maximum damage, and has the best tracking. As for the varden, it is more acceptable option for long range attacks.

If you decide to use sentry drones, then keep in mind that in order to use them as efficiently as possible, drones need to be shipped at a distance closer to the target than your Activation Proximity allows, and your ship should not be further from the target than your Drone Range indicator.

For example, if you are at a distance of 55 kilometers from your chosen destination, then they simply will not attack it, but if you land your drones at a distance of 80 km from the target, and fly up to it at a distance of 10 km, they will attack your target, and very successfully. But consider the moment that you have to fly them back and forth ten times.

Type of drones Combat Utility Drones

This type of drone is known as Combat Support Drones and includes three drones called Energy Neutraliser that differ in their different severity, i.e. Acolyte EV-300 drone, Infiltrator EV-600 drone and Praetor EV-900 drone. Also, they include another drone called Heavy Webifier Drone, the severity of which is Berserker SW-900.

If you use them all together, then the work of the first three types is to in order to simply kill a certain part of the capacitor from his opponent, the last drone is engaged in the fact that at the right moment it simply throws a net at the enemy, almost completely neutralizing him.

Type of drones Electronic Warfare Drones

This type includes drones, which belong to the field of electronic warfare and there are a fairly large number of them. It is simply pointless to describe everything and if you want to get acquainted with their characteristics in more detail, just look at the description in the information section provided for this.

Type of drones Logistics Drones

This type is directly related to the support of shield and armor by drones. There are a total of six drones in this group, which are limited to two drones for each size. Tasks are also defined between them, that is, while one of the drones is repairing the shield, the second, respectively, is repairing the armor.

To work with this type of drones, you do not need to learn slots, they also have absolutely no need for energy and can repair not only drones, but also other members of your group for free. They can bring great benefits, but like everything else in the game EvE online, they will definitely require a certain approach, as well as study.

In this topic I will post everything I can find on the Internet (I don’t see the point in writing myself, since so many videos have been written and shot about it, it remains only to streamline everything)
(all info will be posted with links to the original):

DRONES

I. Introduction

First of all, I note that the information provided in this guide is a systematization personal experience author and other pilots. To write this article, the copyrights of people who have already provided guides and training articles have been brazenly and mercilessly violated, I apologize in advance for copying information without proper permission. This act was committed with a noble and bright goal to help in the training of young pilots, by systematizing and codifying all useful information into one source.

II. Concept and scope

So what are drones and what do they eat with? Newbies ask. Let's try to understand and systematize this (not so small) mechanism in the game.

A drone is an unmanned controlled ship, which, like a real ship, has armor, a shield, structure, speed characteristics, weapons (optimal, tracking). Their main difference is the lack of ammunition and an endless drive. All other parameters are identical to a normal ship with equipment installed and can be viewed in the info. These small and nimble creatures can perform a variety of useful tasks, but they show themselves especially well in battle, for example, when driving a large and heavily armed ship, forget about shooting junior-class ships, simply setting their rodents on them. The main task of the drone is to ensure its basic functions in favor of the one who controls it, that is, its "owner".
The areas of application of drones are quite diverse and wide:

Drones can dig asteroids. A little help for miners, who often do not neglect it, because if you calculate it over a very long period of time, drones can dig up a pretty decent amount of ore.

Drones can be used as logistics. A very useful thing, it adds a certain amount of DPS pumped out by logisticians, often a pack of such drones is installed in battleships (battleships), and in a large fleet a flock of such drones can help out a comrade.

Drones are excellent electronics engineers. Drones can neutralize, mesh, cut off the optimal and falloff of guns, jam, increase the signature, but the only disadvantage is that they cannot use a scrambler or disruptor (i.e. block the hyperdrive).

Well, the main goal of drones is damage. Here you can go a little deeper into the events of eve-world. Drones were originally invented by the Gallente race, thanks to the drones they were able to defeat the Caldari race. Later, the technology for the production of drones was stolen by the rest of the races, but initially the Galentian ones are still considered the best drones.

III. Skills, skills and modules

3.1 Skills

Like any weapon or module, drones require skill upgrades. The capacity of drones is equal to the capacity of one cannon branch. This means that you can’t get off with a couple of weeks of pumping, of course, you can download light and medium t2 drones in 2-3 weeks, but believe me, without a good support skills boost, your t2 animals will not bite much, unlike a perfect drone driver.

The drone skill tree consists of:
Advanced Drone Interfacing - this skill is required to install the Drone Control Unit I module on a quarry and a supercarrier. Allows you to release 1 drone more than the ship and pilot skills allow (without this module, a quarry can release a maximum of 10, and a supercarrier 20 drones)
Amarr Drone Specialization - this skill is required for leveling T2 drones with EM damage, adds 2% damage per lvl (4 lvl)
Caldari Drone Specialization - this skill is required for leveling t2 drones with damage KINETIC adds 2% damage per lvl (4 lvl)
Combat Drone Operation - skill increases damage for light and medium drones (lvl 5)
Drone Durability - the skill increases the number of hit points of the shield, armor, structure (lvl 4, capital pilots lvl 5)
Drone Interfacing - this skill adds 20% damage and mining, this is the most important skill for drone pilot (lvl 5)
Drone Navigation - adds 5% to the speed of MIA drones per lvl (5 lvl)
Drone Sharpshooting - increases the optimal shooting of drones (5 lvl)
Drones - this skill affects the number of produced drones, i.e. maximum 5.
Fighter Bombers - allows you to use fighter-bombers, only for capital pilots (4 lvl)
Fighters - allows you to use fighters, only for capital pilots (lvl 5)
Gallente Drone Specialization - this skill is required for leveling t2 drones with damage TERMAL adds 2% damage per lvl (4 lvl)
Heavy Drone Operation - allows you to use heavy drones (lvl 5)
Mining Drone Operation - for using digging drones (lvl 3, miner lvl 5)
Minmatar Drone Specialization - this skill is required for leveling t2 drones with damage EXPLOSIVE adds 2% damage per lvl (4 lvl)
Repair Drone Operation - skill for using logistics drones (lvl 4, logistician lvl 5)
Scout Drone Operation - a skill for using light and medium drones, increases the control distance, a very important skill to download for everyone and always at lvl 5
Sentry Drone Interfacing - for controlling sentry drones (lvl 5)
Electronic Warfare Drone Interfacing- the skill is very useful for increasing the control range of drones and getting the opportunity to use electronic defense drones.
Drones Rigging - allows you to install rigs (impromodules) to increase the efficiency of your drones.

It should be noted that the Drone Durability, Drone Navigation, Drone Sharpshooting, Amar\Сaldary\Gallente\Minmatar Drone Specialization skills do not add bonuses to fighters and fighter-bombers (Fighters\Fighter-Bombers).
In principle, there are not so many skills. I think every self-respecting drone pilot should lead the skill tree to the ideal, because these skills directly affect the effectiveness of your animals in battle.

3.3 Drone modules

Drone modules include directly modules and rigs. There are very few modules themselves, only four types, but there are a little more rigs (impromodules).
Drone Control Unit I

Based on the required characteristics of the powergrid and the CPU, it immediately becomes clear that this module is not for ordinary ships. It is designed for capital class ships. This module adds the ability to control drones by +1 unit. Installed in high slot (high energy slot).

Drone Link Augmentor I

This module increases the range of the drone control distance, i.e. allowable Your leveling allows you to use drones within 50 km, by installing this module you increase this distance by 20 km. It should be noted that these modules are not affected by the system of penalties i.e. setting the second and subsequent ones will not reduce their addition. Also, this module is very important when using Sentry (Guard) drones, due to the fact that the possibility of shooting is determined by the distance that your drones can fly. Installed in high slot (high energy slot).

Drone Navigation Computer I

This module increases the speed of the MIA drone. Drones fly in two modes - orbit around the target and MIA to the next target, both of these characteristics can be viewed in their attributes. This module does not affect the speed of the drone in orbit, but it speeds up flights between targets, which can be quite convenient for slow heavy drones. Installed in med slot (medium power slot).

Omnidirectional Tracking Link I

This module plays a very important role in the use of drones. Increases optimal shooting and tracking. Required when using Sentry drones. It should also be noted that when installing several modules of this type, they are subject to a fine. Installed in med slot (medium power slot).

3.4 Rigas (impromodules)

Like all other rigs, drone rigs are: small, medium, large, t1 and t2. When installing the same rigs, a penalty is taken into account. Also, when installing drone rigs, the penalty on the CPU (processor) of your ship is taken into account, it is measured by the level of the Drones Rigging skill [-1% per level] i.e. when pumping this skill to lvl 4, the penalty will be reduced from -10% to -6% cpu.

By the nature of the modification, rigs are:

Drone Control Range Augmentor I- increase the control range of your drones.
Drone Durability Enhancer I - increases the number of hit points of the structure / shield / armor.
Drone Mining Augmentor I - increases the amount of ore mined by drone mining.
Drone Repair Augmentor I - Increases the amount of HP units restored by logistic drones.
Drone Scope Chip I - increases the optimal shooting of your drones.
Drone Speed ​​Augmentor I - Increases the movement speed of drones.
Sentry Damage Augmentor I - Increases the damage dealt by Sentry Drones.
Stasis Drone Augmentor I - This rig increases the effectiveness of reticle drones.

IV. Drone types

In general, there are a lot of drones in eve-online. Now we classify them.

First of all, drones are divided into combat, support, faction and named modifications. Also, drones, like most modules in the game, come in t1 and t2 modifications.
Combat - these are drones, respectively, that shoot and inflict damage on the enemy.
Support (support) - this type I include drones that carry out additional activities not related to causing damage, for example: digging, electronic warfare drones, logistics drones.
Fractional - these are drones that can be obtained as a result of completing missions (agentran), in terms of characteristics, these drones are practically not inferior to T2 modifications of combat drones, and even surpass them in the number of hit points. Their downside is their high cost.
Nominal - these drones can be obtained as a result of passing combat complexes (complexes). These drones have a division of damage types, unlike all other combat drones, these drones hit two types of damage at once.

4.1 Racial differences:

The most important racial difference is the division of the type of damage. Each race hits with a specific type of damage. Also, all drones have characteristics: structure \ shield \ armor, resistances, speed \ speed of the MIA, agility, damage modifier, damage type, optimal \ falloff \ tracking of weapons, orbit, signature. These characteristics also directly depend on the race.
Amar drones are the main type of EM damage. Hit points are prioritized in armor. In terms of speed, this race takes 2nd place after the Matars. The damage modifier is the lowest of all races.
Gallente drones are the main damage type of TERMAL. Hit points are sorted by armor/structure priority. The speed of this race is the lowest. But the damage modifier is the highest.
Caldary drones are the main damage type of KINETIC. Hit points are prioritized in the shield. The speed here is not very high, they take 3rd place. The damage modifier is second only to the Gallentes.
Minmatar drones are the main type of EXPLOSIVE damage. Hit points are prioritized in the shield. These are the fastest drones of all. Damage modifier in 3rd place.

V. Channel volume and width

5.1 Volume

Almost every ship has a bay for drones. The dimensions of the compartment are defined in cubic meters: [m3] for example, in the ship drake, the size of the drone compartment: 25 m3. The size of the ships was not invented by chance, it allows you to determine the volume of drones loaded into it, their total number. How to determine this number, you ask? Easily! Each drone has a certain volume:

light drone occupies – 5 m3

average drone occupies 10 m3

heavy\guard drone occupies - 25 m3

drone intended for capital occupies – 5000 m3

Based on the parameters of the drone and the ship, we see that the drake can be loaded with: 1 heavy drone or 2 medium and 1 light or 5 light ones, of course, the best option here is to load 5 light drones. However, there are also ships where the drone bay is 30, 40 m3 in these cases, you can put a combination of drones of different sizes, this will even increase the damage caused by drones a little.

5.2 Channel width

In addition to volume, drones also have such a characteristic as: . This unit is very often incomprehensible to beginners, so what is its essence? You probably noticed that each ship, in addition to the volume of the drone compartment, also has a figure that determines the number of mbit\sec, considering the example of a drake, its figure is 25mbit\sec, this is the maximum allowable channel width for using drones. To make it clearer, let's turn again to the characteristics of drones, just like in a ship, each drone takes a certain amount of mbit\sec, this unit is not chaotic, it is strictly classified according to the size of the drones:

Light drone takes - 5mbit\sec.

The average drone takes - 10mbit\sec.

Heavy\Sentry Drone takes - 25mbit\sec.

Drake with his 25 dronebee cubes and 25m/bits can only release 5 light drones, 2med and 1 light or 1 heavy drone. There are ships specialized in conducting combat fire using drones, for example Vexor, if you look at its characteristics, you will see that the drone bay is 100 cubic meters, and the channel width is 75 mbit / sec, i.e. You can put as many as 4 heavy drones, but you can only release 3. The specificity of drone ships lies in the correct organization of the loaded drones on board. As an example, we will continue to consider Vexor (100 m3 \ 75 mbit \ sec), the optimal load for combat flights will be:

1) 5 warriors (light) \ 5 heaps of jammers (light) \ 5 hammerheads (medium)

2) 2 ogres (heavy) \ 2 hammerheads (medium) \ 1 goblin (light) \ 5 warriors (light)

3) 5 warriors (light) \ 3 ogres (heavy)

VI. Typical description of drones

All combat drones are divided into five levels in ascending order:

1. Light Scout Drones (Light Scout Drones)

This category includes Acolyte, Hogoblin, Warrior, Hornet. Light drones are the fastest of all classes, but have the least amount of hit points. Their main targets are enemy drones, frigates, interceptors, announcers. Volume 5 m3\ 5 mbit\sec

2. Medium Scout Drones (Medium Scout Drones)

This group includes Hammerhead, Vespa, Infiltrator, Valkyrie. This type has balanced characteristics in terms of damage \ hp \ speed, but still, already in this class, a serious and noticeable division of drones according to their racial characteristics begins. This type does a good job of destroying enemy drones and frigate warships, provided you have nets / scramblers, in general, it does an excellent job with Kruzaks (cruisers), BC (battle cruisers). Volume 10 m3\10 mbit\sec

3. Heavy Attack Drones (Heavy Attack Drones)

Ogre, Wasp, Praetor, Berserker are representatives of this class. Their advantage is high damage, a large amount of HP, but they are very slow and take a long time to reach the target, which makes them very vulnerable in terms of shooting. If your support skills are pumped in perfectly (4-5 lvl), then if you have a tackling set (grids \ scramblers), this type will hit ships from an announcer (destroyer) class and higher, these drones often miss the frigate type, Works great on battleships (BSh). Volume 25 m3\ 25 mbit\sec

4 Sentry Drones

Guard drones are Bouncer, Curator, Garde, Wardem. They are completely devoid of the propulsion system. However, they have significant potential. Firstly, they have the highest optimal shooting, secondly, they have a falloff, thirdly, their number of hit points is higher than that of heavy drones. This type of drone is used for sniper combat tactics, i.e. took up position, released, fired. However, they have one small and inconvenient nuance: the ability of these drones to attack is limited by the level of drone control distance, i.e. You can control the drones at a distance of 45 km., and the optimal shooting of your guard drone is 60 km, you will not be able to attack the target until it comes within a distance of no more than 45 km. After the attack, the drone continues to shoot at the target, even if it crawls out of control distance. Therefore, in these cases, Drone Link Augmentor I is installed on ships. You read about it above. Volume 25m3\ 25 mbit\sec

5. Fighters and Fighters-Bombers(Fighters and Fighter Bombers)

These drones are used on specialized capital class ships (carrier, supercarrier). Often their power is equated to a medium cruiser, although in some characteristics they clearly lag behind their younger brothers (for example, tracking). They have an exceptional characteristic - they can warp behind an enemy target. They work great on battlecruisers (bc), battleships (bsh) and above ... Volume 5000 m3 \ 25 mbit \ sec

6. Elctronic drones (Electronic warfare drones)

There are a lot of names here and the most inconvenient thing is the presence of numbers in them, which makes them difficult to remember, but you can sort them as follows:
EV - energy neutralizers
SW - stasis webber - mesh
TD - tracking disraptors - reduction of the falloff and the optimum of guns
TP - target painter - signature increase
SD - slower capture to lock
EC - jamming
This type of drones is very popular in the game, because they really allow you to reduce the efficiency of the enemy to a level that allows you to destroy this enemy.
The volume of drones varies from 5 - 25m3\ 5 - 25 mbit\sec

7. Logistics Drones (Provision Drones)

Everything is quite simple here, drones are divided into two types: pumping shield and armor, and three categories: light, medium and heavy. Their usefulness lies in helping in the fleet, saving slots and energy. The volume of drones varies from 5 - 25m3\ 5 - 25 mbit\sec

VII. Drone (management)

So, finally, we learned the skills, bought the ships, and the only thing left to do was to install the drones.

The drone fits into the drone bay (drone bay) as well as any item in the cargo bay. We press RMB (Right Mouse Button) on our ship and select "open the drone bay" a window appears where our drones are added by dragging. The drone compartment also opens through the usual wick (Equipment) in the lower left corner of the drone compartment icon, poke on it and it opens. Now we press andok (depart from the station) and immediately notice the menu that appears -\u003e

Drones In Bay, Drones In Local Space and Drones In Distant Space bookmarks. Any bookmark can be expanded.
But before we start poisoning our animals to the right and left, they must be properly configured! Setup involves a couple of mouse clicks and binding three basic drone commands.

7.1 Customization

Open drone setting (drone settings) there we find the following settings:
1) The passive behavior of drones - is that the drones will not care about everything that happens around them, until you give them a clear order to act, they will circle around your ship.
2) Aggressive behavior of drones - if your drones were in orbit and someone showed aggro against you, i.e. fired or another method of aggression, then the drones will instantly attack the offender, without the need to capture the target in a lock and issue an order. Sounds great, but don't be in a hurry to make a choice.
Of course, it’s good that you don’t have to lock and give an order, but suddenly you are standing on the gate (star gate) and they are trying to deliberately aggro you so that you can’t get into the gate, it’s not at all good when the drones decide for you to turn on the aggro timer or not.
I stick to the following rule: When I caribash (hunt, plex, agent run) I put in an aggressive behavior, especially when your ship is jammed often, this type of setup helps a lot. When I'm flying PvP, I'm in a fleet and I set the Passive Behavior. The final choice is still yours.
3) a box with the name Focus Fire (Shooting the whole group) - drones should not even be discussed here, they should shoot with focus, it is absolutely wrong to direct one drone at each target. The exception is the hunting/plexing/agentrunning current, when it is possible to set 2-3 drones on 1 frig/cruise due to their subtlety and speed of penetration. With thicker opponents and in PvP, only focus fire.

Now the installation of keys, dada drone commands can and SHOULD be bound. We press, select the keyboard shortcut tab, we find there three main drone commands:
All drones attack - Alt+q
All drones return to orbit - Alt + a
All drones return to dronebay - Alt+x
You set the keys as it is convenient for you, above is my personal order of setting the keys.

Everything seems to be ready and configured. But no! Forgot about the fact that the drones in the list can be sorted.
The first tab is responsible for the drones that sit peacefully in your drone hold. By right-clicking on it, you can release drones, create or reassign groups of drones (by the way, conveniently) or collapse the bookmark. If you need to release one drone or a group, then you can expand the bookmark and right-click on the hero that will go into space. which are currently needed. After creating a group, select the drone you want to put there and choose to put the drone in the “xxx” group, then to release them, right-click on the group tab and release the drones. Everything seems to be simple and easy!

7.2 Basic commands

Drones are controlled in the following way:

Right clicking on Drones In Space gives the following results:

Engage Target - For combat drones, will give the order to attack the current target.

Return & Orbit (Return to orbit) - score on great deeds, and return to the ship. This item allows you to stop the attack of drones, and is very important in commanding them. After Return & Orbit, the drones quietly circle the ship and do not engage in amateur activities.

Return to Drone Bay - Order the drones to return to the hangar. Usually not everyone returns, so watch out for those who are lost.

Scoop To Drone Bay (Drag the drone into the drone bay) - suck drones in orbit into the hangar. Drones being sucked in must be within 2.5 meters of you.

Abbadon Drone (Throw out the drone) - the command for the emergency release of the drone. There are times when your drones are at a very long distance from you (for example, Heavy drones at a distance of 80 km), and a small interceptor grabs and holds your ship, before the main enemy gank arrives, you need to have time to throw off the “tackler”, in this if the drone drop command can help. We drop the drones with this command and we can immediately release a new pack.

Any of these actions can be applied to a single drone or a group, for this you need to expand the tab and select the heroes already there. Also do not forget for the most effective management we "bind" the commands to the button combinations and now you do not need to constantly click the mouse, just press the combination responsible for one of the three commands.

7.3 Additional drone operations

command Assign (transfer) - Drones can be transferred to the control of a member located with you in the same fleet. Sometimes this is very helpful. For example, when a shredded ship jumps into the camp, passing drones to inters (interceptors) for control, they have an increased chance to knock an enemy ship out of shreds.
Scoop to cargo command - any unmanaged drone (both your own and enemy) can be taken into the hold.
command Scoop to drone bay (pick up in the bay for drones) - also any uncontrolled drone can be skomizdit in your drone bay. He immediately goes under your control, you can put him in a group and use them like the rest.

Bookmark Drones In Distant Space (Drones at a long distance) is needed mainly for owners of carriers, for everyone else it only signals that you have lost your drones somewhere and they are now sadly hanging there.

In addition, you can trick yourself and poke at one of your drones right in the main window. It will be selected like any other object, but in the Selected Item panel on the right, there will be commands for that particular drone.

Yes, to dig, you need to lock the asteroid and tell the mining drone to Mine Repeatedly, the scheme is the same as for attacking with combat drones. And watch your range!

And finally, it is worth knowing that your character also has a drone control distance parameter. This parameter is not displayed anywhere, defaults to approximately 15-20 km and increases by 5 km with each Scout Drone Operation skill level. In fact, this is the area around your ship, beyond which the drones simply cannot fly.

7.4 Drone control in PvP

So let's imagine a normal battle between two ships. Two ships reach the optimal distance for combat, stack various electronic modules on top of each other, activate turret guns and… release drones, now read and memorize carefully:
1. We release a group of drones and immediately open the tab with the group for a detailed display of the number of hit points of our drones.
2. Once every 5-10 seconds, we turn our eyes to a group of drones and look at which of them is firing.
3. If one of your drones is under fire, send it to the drone bay immediately. It is worth noting that when returning to dronebay and subsequent release, the drone recovers all or part of its shield.
4. If the damage went to all the drones at once, pay attention that the enemy may be using a smart bomb. In this case, it is worth playing around with the release of drones into orbit and an instant return to dronebay.
5. When using Heavy and Sentinel Drones, always keep an eye on the distance of the enemy. Remember that the further away the enemy is, the longer the Heavy Drones will have to drag themselves into the dronebay. Return time - affects the risk of losing a drone from the group.

7.5 The most important parameters for combat drones.

1. Tracking - just like with military guns, your drones should not smear.
2. Velocity - drones must fly fast and catch up with targets.
3. Optimal - the farther drones fly, the better. Very important for Sentry drones.
4. Rate of Fire, Damage, - just like fluff, an important parameter for a drone.
5. Number of drones - REMEMBER that drones should be loaded to the maximum of their possible use, it makes no sense to throw 2-3 drones into a drone bay and then forget about them if the ship can release 5 full-fledged combat animals.
6. Watch your drones - do not let them attack everyone, set focus fire in the settings (fire to the whole group), control and do not let the enemy kill them.
7. Load various types of drones into your dronebay - have light, medium, heavy ones on hand.

a little clumsy, but drone control is there

V.III Ships specialized in drone control

Some pilots consider drones only additional view weapons and do not attach any serious importance to them, but in vain drones can be a very formidable and powerful weapon, for the Gallente race it is even the main type of weapon. Specialization is expressed in the amount of dronebay and bonuses that increase the effectiveness of drones. As well as on turret guns, combat tactics can be expressed in combat at close range and at long range. The most commonly used tactics are close combat, because. The main range of drones is 50 km. The only possible type of sniping tactics are sentry drones (Sentry)
So what kind of ships use drones as their main weapon? I immediately warn you to paint the full and detailed capabilities of these ships, I will not, our guide is dedicated to drones, since there are enough topics and sections on eve-ru where they discuss both these ships and their equipment (fitting), application possibilities, tactics, etc...
Let's start traditionally from the lowest level:
Ishkur - gallente assault () his dronebee increase bonuses allow you to carry almost 2 packs of light drones.
Vexor - gallente cruiser () its bonuses increase the amount of damage dealt, the amount of ore excavated and the number of drone hit points. Suitable for using the sniper configuration.
Vexor Navy Issue - gallente cruiser () is a fractional version of the regular Vexor, the number of slots has been increased, and the channel width has been increased to 100 mbit\sec. Suitable for using the sniper configuration.
Arbitrator - amarr cruiser () its bonuses increase damage dealt, ore mined, and drone hitpoints. Not suitable for using the sniper configuration.
Pilgrim - amarr recon ship () its bonuses increase damage dealt and drone hitpoints. Not suitable for using the sniper configuration.
Curse - amarr recon ship () its bonuses increase damage dealt and drone hitpoints. Not suitable for using the sniper configuration.
Ishtar - gallente heavy assault () t2 Vexor modification its bonuses increase the damage dealt, the number of drone hit points, the control range of light and medium drones, as well as the volume of the drone. One of the best options for using the sniper configuration.
Myrmidon - gallente battlecruiser () his bonuses increase the damage dealt and the number of hit points of drones. Suitable for using the sniper configuration.
Eos - gallente command ship () its bonus is very meager increases dronebay. Not suitable for using the sniper configuration.
Dominix - gallente battleship () its bonuses increase the damage dealt and the number of drone hitpoints. One of the best options for using the sniper configuration.
Dominix Navy Issue - gallente battleship () is a fractional variant of Dominix, its bonuses increase damage dealt and drone hitpoints. One of the best options for using the sniper configuration.
Sin - gallente black ops () the specialization of this ship is a bit distant from active combat, but does not preclude the use of a sniper configuration. its bonuses increase the damage dealt and the number of hitpoints of the drones.
Moros - gallente dreadnought () although the ship specializes in large target warfare, it is the only dreadnought that has high additional damage from drones. Its bonuses increase the damage dealt and the number of hitpoints of drones (as much as +20% per level)
Oneiros - gallente logistic () its bonus increases the number of hitpoints pumped by drones.
Rorqual - capital industrial ship () its bonuses increase the damage dealt and the number of hitpoints of the drones.
Carriers and Super carriers () there is a very important and significant division by races here, but first we note the main bonuses for fighter/bomber drones. They have 200% control distance, the ability to release +1 drone per carrier skill level, for super carriers this figure is +3 drones and the ability to install the Drone Control Unit I module is +1 drone for each installed module. Racial bonuses to drone damage (+5% damage per level) are only for Gallente, Amarr and Caldari have a bonus to increase resistances, Minmatar have a bonus to drain modules.

Summing up the above, we can conclude that drones are not so narrow specialization. Do not neglect it and divert the study into the background. Coming close to the study of ships such as cruiser, battlecruiser, battleship, light and medium drones should be learned up to t2 modifications. Remember that drones, like everything else in this game, directly depend on the level of pumped skills, do not hesitate to upgrade the drone branch perfectly and the drones will repay you with excellent work throughout your time in the game.

Drones cannot be ignored as they can raise your ISK per hour. Naturally, I'm talking about Mining Drones if you haven't figured it out yet... however, having a few combat drones is by no means such a bad idea as it might seem. Especially in the case of the appearance of a delivery ceptor on the horizon.

Before I continue, I want to give you one piece of advice that you should read and remember.

SPIT ON HARVESTER MINING DRONES!

I advise you not to waste your time on them, they are not worth it. Considering they no longer drop as loot, prices have skyrocketed while people don't realize just how bad these jerks are.

Okay, back to the mainstream. As I mentioned in section 6, two skills affect drone mining (although there is also a gang module, but more on that later), namely Mining Drone Operations and Drone Interfacing. Remember that drones cannot mine ICE and MERCOCITE.

Let's see how different drones differ from each other:

Mining drones

Did you pay attention to anything? Take a look at the speed and you will immediately see how slow Harvester Mining Drones are! What's wrong with that!

Flight time!

Unlike mining lasers, drones have to fly back and forth bringing ore into your hold. They need 60 seconds to complete their cycle. Travel time to and from the asteroid is not included in this figure. Simply put, Harvester Mining Drones are twice as slow as the T2 variant, and the base production is only 20% higher ... and they cost much more than the T2 mining drone! It looks idiotic, so save your money and hassle and don't buy them.

8.1 What drones can do

As with lasers, each drone's production is calculated individually and the amount of ore that enters the hold is rounded down before it enters your hold. In my calculations, I use drone skill as max, but you can change the formula to suit your skill level.

As stated above, Mining Drone Operations 5 will increase the yield of your Drones by 25% and Drone Interfacing 5 by 100%. I also explained that harvester drones suck and in the example we will use T2 mining drones.

25 * 1.25 * 2 = 62.5 m3/cycle

For Omber 62.5/0.6 = 104.17 -> 104 Omber per drone cycle.

You can control 5 drones at the same time, which means you will have 520 additional units of Omber per cycle, or 31200 per hour. This however does not take into account the flight time mentioned earlier.

8.2 Minimize dependence on flight time

By bringing your ship close to the asteroids, you can minimize the flight time. If you are less than one kilometer from the asteroid, then the flight time will tend to zero. Not exactly 31,200 Omber, but pretty close.

Another disadvantage of drones is that they suffer from a high volume of Bistot-type ores (16 m3 per unit), especially since the number of ore units is rounded down in each cycle. And, for example, when mining Bistot, Drone Interfacing level 5 will not give us anything. How does it work?

The largest drone production volume is 62.5 m3/cycle, which means:

62.5/16 = 3.90 -> 3 Bistote per cycle from each drone.

The Drone Coordination Link will help you get past the 4 units per cycle barrier, but if you're digging through nulls solo, then Drone Interfacing 5 won't give you any advantage, at least not in this case! Rigs like Drone Mining Augmentator can also help your drones (more details in section 12).

We're done with drones. As you can see, they are far from useless. In fact, by mining Bistot you will receive an additional 9kk per hour (rounding up naturally), so you should not give up on them. However, maximizing the production of your Drones is not a priority compared to pumping Barges or Crystals. In fact, it is better to put it in a distant box, as an additional activity for a veteran miner. As usual, it's up to you.

8.3 Arguments for Harvester Drones

It seems that my opinion about the Harvester Drones sucks is still not shared. For me, this is more than IMHO, given that I showed with numbers that the advantages of harvesting Harvesters are less than the risk of losing them (which is very simple - for example, you are knocked out of an EVE, you warp, but your drones remain in place for breakfast to rats).

The last prices that I observed were in the region of 17 to 25 kk. The time for which you will pay back your money will be something around 50 hours. A very long time, considering that they are only 20% better than their T2 counterparts.

Someone can cite the practice of "sitting on the aster" as an example. But these people do not have much experience and have no idea about long-term digging. Any experienced miner will tell you that all barges are usually very slow, and asteroids (even very good ones) tend to run out. The likelihood that your drones will be busy with one stone for an hour, and you will have a noteworthy asteroids within 15 kilometers is almost zero. You will definitely have to fly from place to place several times. And although I can not give an exact calculation, but the payback will be reduced to almost nothing.

Drones as an effective weapon in EVE Classification of drones in Eve, skills, modules and rigs to improve the characteristics of drones, drone control.

Some information about drones:

1. Characteristics of eve drones
2. Drone classes
3. Drones and skills
4. Drone Efficiency Modules
5. Riga. (Tuning modules)
6. Drone settings and control
7. Plan. The order of learning skills for drones.

Drones eve are a good help in the game for both PVP and PVE

Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles.

Drones can deal additional or basic damage depending on the bonuses of the ship, can repair shields and armor, jam the targeting system, etc.

Drones do not require ammo.

How drone damage dealers are used both in PVP combat and on missions.

If you equipped Drake to complete missions, then the best option would be Hobgoblin II, as the drones with the maximum damage from the group of light drones. If Drake is intended for pvp, then Hobgoblin II can be changed to Warrior II (faster drones) or Hornet EC-300 (can jam the enemy ship's targeting system)

1. Characteristics of eve drones

Drones can be used on ships with special bay for drones dronbey (Drone bay). Ships that have a combat drone bonus are mostly Gallente ships. But even on ships without bonuses, drones are quite effective when used correctly.

You can control a maximum of 5 drones (except for Carrier-class CBT ships, they allow you to control a large number of drones). Drones skill is responsible for the number of controlled drones (+1 drone per skill level). The Drones skill group is also responsible for other characteristics of drones, by studying the skills of this group, you can increase the range of drones, the volume of the shield, armor and hull, the speed of drones, the optimal range of fire and increase the damage done by drones. All skills for drones are described in more detail below.

Drones come in T1, T2 and fractional versions.

Drones of the T2 version are more efficient than the T1 version, some fractional drones are at the T2 level, but are more expensive.

An example of Gallente drone options

The characteristics of drones can be seen in the information window on the "Characteristics" tab. Some of the characteristics of drones are constant, unchanged values, and some are improved by learning skills, ship bonuses and installing modules and rigs on the ship.

Drone control range - not displayed in the characteristics. The default value is 20km and is increased by Scout Drone Operation (+5km per skill level) and Electronic Warfare Drone Interfacing (+3km per skill level), as well as modules and rigs.

Drone volume, m3 - determines how many drones fit in the ship's drone bay. Constant characteristic. Control channel width, Mbps - determines how many drones you can control. Constant characteristic. In the information on the ship there are corresponding characteristics: the volume of dronebey (m3) and the width of the control channel (Mbps).

Example.The cruiser Gnosis has a dronebay volume of 75m3, a control channel width of 50Mbps, i.e. From the cruiser, you can easily control 5 light (5m3\5Mbps) and 5 medium drones (10m3\10Mbps), and heavy drones (25m3\25Mbps) will fit into the dronebay in the amount of 3pcs, but it will only be possible to control two.

Damage dealt and damage modifier - the higher these characteristics, the greater the overall damage of the drone. The damage dealt is a basic unchanging stat, and the damage modifier changes depending on the skills learned and the installed modules and rigs.

Example. Basic drone (1) from the market and the same drone (2) placed in the ship's drone bay (the learned character skills affect the drone)

The DPS value of the drones is indicated in the "Equipment Service" window of the ship - the item "Firepower"

Each combat drone has its own type of damage dealt depending on the race:

drones Amar - EM,

drones Caldary - KINETIC,

Drones Gallente - THERMAL,

Minmatar drones - EXPLOSIVE

Some faction drones (Augumented and Integrated) can deal two types of damage, for example "Integrated" Hobgoblin damage to Termal and Kinetic

Maneuverability - determined by the mass and inertia modifier of the drone. Permanent feature.

Shield, armor and structure volume(increased by skills and modules) and the degree of resistance to various types of damage (constant characteristic).

Optimal and effective range. The optimal range is the range at which the weapon deals 100% damage to the target. Effective range - the range at which the amount of damage inflicted on the target is reduced by 50%. Improved with skills, modules and rigs.

Tracking speed- tracking, like the turrets. The more tracking, the more likely it is to hit the target with max. damage. Improved by the module.

rate of fire- Constant characteristic.Maximum speed - changes by learning the skill and modules

Orbital speed- Constant characteristic.

Shield cooldown- shields of drones as well as ships are passively restored. Permanent feature.

The signature is the size of the drone. Permanent feature.

Drones of different races differ from each other in many characteristics. Of all the drones, Minmatar drones are the fastest, and Gallente drones have the highest damage modifier

So the Galenta drones are the most damage and the slowest Matara, the fastest drones with damage in 3rd place. Caldari, with slightly less damage than Galenta and speed in 3rd place. They have good defense. Amara drones have the least damage and the speed is slightly less than Matar ones. Just in case, "damage" (damage) is the damage caused by drones. And do not forget that this damage is profiled, amara is EM, Caldari is kinetic, Galenta is thermal, and Matara is explosive damage.

As an example, a comparative table of light drones:

2. Drone classes

Drones are divided into classes according to their functions:

1. Combat Drones Combat drones have several subclasses:

1.1 Light Scout Drones

1.2 Medium Scout Drones

1.3 Heavy Attack Drones

1.4 Sentry Drones

1.1 Light Scout Drones

Species: Acolyte, Hornet, Hobgoblin, Warrior

Volume 5 m3,

The fastest drones to destroy frigates best option. And with a good pumping of skills and in the T2 variant, they will cope with the cruiser. Convenient and as additional firepower to help the main weapon.

1.2 Medium Scout Drones

Species: Infiltrator, Vespa, Hammerhead, Valkyrie.

Volume 10 m3,

Control channel width 10Mbps
Drones are slower than light drones, but stronger and more damaging. For shooting cruisers and Battlecruisers (BC). For frigates, the efficiency is reduced compared to light ones.

1.3 Heavy Attack Drones)

Species: Praetor, Wasp, Ogre, Berserker.

Volume 25 m3,

Drones with low speed and maneuverability, but with good damage, especially on a ship with bonuses. Good for attacking cruisers, BCs and Battleships (BSh). There is not enough speed for frigates.

An example of the characteristics of light, medium and heavy drones

1.4 Sentry Drones

Species: Curator, Warden, Garde, Bouncer.

Volume 25 m3,

Control channel width 25Mbps
Drones without marching engines, i.e. they cannot fly, but they can do a lot of damage, especially on ships with bonuses. They move very slowly and if you want to cancel the attack of the target and enter the command "Return to the ship", the drones will stop firing and slowly crawl towards the ship.

They also have profile damage by race (as described above). The most important characteristics of these drones are the firing range: the optimal and effective range, as well as the tracking speed of the guns (tracking). There are drones leading effective fire at close range and long-range drones.

Melee drones are Galente Garde - tracking is the largest, optimal / effective range is the smallest. The damage factor is the highest.

Long range drones. Although the Caldari Warden drones have the highest optimal, but the coefficient. damage is the smallest and the effective range is not the largest. Therefore, it is better to use matar Bouncers for long-range combat, because. the effective range of the battle is the largest and the coefficient. damage is second only to Garde.

The activation distance of sentry drones is 250 km. But you can only give a command to attack a target to drones if your ship is at a distance of drone control from the target (depending on the skills learned).

Example: Warden II drone 90km rangeThe pilot can control drones at a distance of 57km. The distance from the ship to the target is 50km, and from the target to the drone is 150km. Drone ship distance 100km. The drone is activated on the target and will fire, but will not hit. The distance from the ship to the target is 70 km, the distance from the drone to the target is 50 km, the distance from the ship to the drone is 20 km, i.e. the drone can easily hit the target, but you will not be able to issue a command to attack.

Fractional versions of guard drones have better tracking parameters than T2 drones, and their optimal / effective range is less than that of T2 counterparts and the damage coefficient is also lower, but higher than that of T1 drones.

Drones fighters and fighter-bombers, due to their characteristics, are used on large tonnage ships (CBT) Carrier and Supercarrier (example: Thanatos and Nyx)

1.5 Fighters (Fighters) - drones for ships of the KBT class Carrier

Species: Templar, Dragonfly, Firbolg, Einherji.

Volume 5000 m3,

The width of the control channel is 25Mbit / s. There are no versions of T2 and fractions.
Decent sized drones, comparable to a cruiser. Including in terms of damage and protection. More than 5 fighters can be launched from the carrier ship (including bonuses). These fighter drones can be escorted to other ships and they can independently jump after them within the system. They can also warp behind a target. They don’t hit small targets, but large ones are just for them - BC, BSh, etc.

1.6 Fighter Bombers (Fighter-bombers) - drones for ships of the KBT class Supercarrier

Species: Malleus, Mantis, Cyclops, Tyrfing..

Volume 5000 m3,

The width of the control channel is 500 Mbit / s There are no versions of T2 and fractions.
These drones will be smaller and more durable than fighters. They have a torpedo launcher on board instead of a cannon. Accordingly, it is advisable to use more BS on ships. Good for attacking capital class ships. Cannot be escorted.

2. Combat Utility Drones (Combat auxiliary drones)
Stasis Webifier Drones Reduce the target's speed.

Presented on the eve market in three versions: light Warrior SW-300, medium Valkyrie SW-600 and heavy Berserker SW-900

Drones energy neutralizers (Energy Vampires)

They neutralize by taking away the energy of the enemy ship's drive.

Species: Acolyte EV-300, Infiltrator EV-600, Praetor EV-900

3. Electronic Warfare Drones (Drones of electronic countermeasures)
Drones with ECM system - Jammer

With a certain probability, they can block the target capture system of the enemy ship, which makes it impossible for him to fire or otherwise affect your ship. Affects all racial sensors with the same strength.

EW drone types: Hornet EC-300, Vespa EC-600, Wasp EC-900

Target Lighting Drones (Target Painter)

Increase target signature

Species: Warrior TP-300, Valkyrie TP-600, Berserker TP-900

Turret Jamming Drones (Tracking Disruptor)

Deteriorate the characteristics of turrets in terms of firing range and target tracking speed (tracking)

Drone types: Acolyte TD-300, Infiltrator TD-600, Praetor TD-900

Sensor Dampener Drones

Reduce the range and aiming speed of the enemy ship.

Drone types: Hobgoblin SD-300, Hammerhead SD-600, Ogre SD-900

4. Salvage Drones

Species: Salvage Drone I - There is one lightweight drone on the eve market for salvaging shipwrecks.

Volume 5 m3,

Control channel width 5Mbps
The skill for this drone is Salvage Drone Operation - Increases the chance of a successful dismantling by 2% per skill level.

5. Mining Drones

Mining Drones are represented by T1, T2 and Harvester versions - drones for mining ore

Two skills affect the amount of ore mined by Mining Drone Operations and Drone Interfacing drones

6. Logistic Drones (Repair drones)

Drones Shield Maintenance Bot and Armor Maintenance Bot,

Available in three versions light, medium and heavy, T1 and T2 technologies.

Serve to repair the shield and armor of allied ships.

To manage and improve work efficiency, use the Repair Drone Operation skill.

These drones reveal all their advantages on repair ships, such as the Osprey and the ships of the Logistics group.

3. Drones and skills.

Skills are allocated to a separate branch "Drones" and include:

• Advanced Drone Interfacing - Allows you to install a drone control module - Drone Control Unit. One additional module can be installed per skill level. Each installed module provides control of one additional drone. For KBT-class ships.
• Drones - Skill for remote control of drones. Allows you to control 1 additional drone per skill level. (Max 5)
• Drone Durability - Increases drone hit points. 5% bonus to shield, armor, and drone hull hit points per skill level.
• Drone Navigation - Drone control skill on high speeds. Increase the speed of Quantum Microdrives (MicroWarpdrive) drones by 5% per skill level.
• Drone Sharpshooting - Increases the optimal range of drones.
• Electronic Warfare Drone Interfacing - This skill is required to use electronic warfare drones, and in addition, it gives a bonus to the control range of all types of drones. Increase drone control range by 3000 meters per skill level.
• Scout Drone Operation - Skill to control combat reconnaissance drones. Increase drone control range by 5000m per skill level.
• Mining Drone Operation - Skill to control extractor drones. 5% increase in drone ore output per skill level.
• Repair Drone Operation - Skill to control repair drones. 5% increase in repair efficiency per skill level.
• Salvage Drone Operation - Skill to control salvage drones. Increase the chance of successful dismantling - 2% per skill level.
• Drones Rigging - Skill for installing T1 and T2 version rigs. Reduces the negative effect of Drone Rig Impros by 10% per skill level.

Drone DPS Skills:

• Combat Drone Operation - Skill to control reconnaissance drones. 5% increased damage dealt by light and medium drones per skill level.
• Drone Interfacing - Allows you to more effectively control drones. Increase in the damaging effect of onboard weapons of drones - by 20%; increase in the volume of ore mining by drones - by 20%. Exceptions are sentry drones, fighters and fighter-bombers.
• Heavy Drone Operation - The skill to control heavy combat drones. 5% increased damage dealt by heavy drones per skill level.
• Amarr/Caldari/Gallente/Minmatar Drone Specialization - Skill to fly advanced Amarr/Caldari/Gallente/Minmatar T2 version drones. Increases damage dealt by light, medium, and heavy drones that require Drone Specialization by 2%.
• Fighters - Allows you to control fighters. 20% increased Fighter Damage per Skill Level
• Fighter Bombers - Allows you to control fighter-bombers. 20% increased damage dealt by fighter-bombers per skill level
• Sentry Drone Interfacing - Skill to control sentry drones. 5% increased damage dealt by Sentinel Drones per skill level.

4. Modules to improve the efficiency of drones

Found on the market in ship equipment - Drone Upgrades

Drone Control Unit T1, officers

Top slot
Grants the ability to control one additional drone. This module requires the Advanced Drone Interfacing skill, which allows you to install one drone control module per skill level. The T1 and officer variants of modules differ in the use of the ship's CPU. Can only be installed on carrier ships and carrier superships.

Drone Link Augumentor Т1, Т2, special, officer

Top slot
Increases drone control range by 20km…30km

Drone Navigation Computer Т1, Т2, officers

Middle slot
Increases the movement speed of drones when using onboard warp microdrives. Bonus thrust from 25N to 38N

Drone Damage Amplifier T1, T2, officer

bottom slot
Increases damage caused by drones by 16% ...28.5% This module is designed to control combat drones.
When using several modules of this type (or modules that change the same characteristics of the ship), their overall effectiveness is reduced. Does not affect fighter and bomber drones.

Omnidirectional Tracking Link Т1, Т2, factional, officer

Middle slot

Increases the optimal range and tracking speed of all drones by 20%...42%. It is advisable to use with sentry drones.
When using several modules of this type (or modules that change the same characteristics of the ship), their overall effectiveness is reduced.

5. Rigi. (Tuning modules)

Requires the Drones Rigging skill (described above in Skills)

Negative effect of rigs: reduce cpu power -10% (partially neutralized by the Drones Rigging skill)

Rigs by size: Small, Medium, Large, Capital Drone Rigs

Versions T1 and T2.

• Drone Control Range Augmentor I/II - Increases the effective range of drones by 15/20 km.
• Drone Durability Enhancer I/II - Increases the hit points of shields, armor, and drone hulls by 20/25%
• Drone Mining Augmentor I/II - Increases the amount of ore mined by drones by 10/15%
• Drone Repair Augmentor I/II - Increases the effectiveness of repair drones by 10/15%
• Drone Scope Chip I/II - Increases the optimal range of drones by 15/20%
• Drone Speed ​​Augmentor I/II - Increases the speed of drones by 10/15%
• Sentry Damage Augmentor I/II - Increases damage dealt by Sentry Drones by 10/15%.
• Minus: when using several modules of this type or modules that change the same characteristics of the ship, their effectiveness decreases.
• Stasis Drone Augmentor I/II - Increases the effectiveness of Stasis Network Drones by 15/20%.

6. Drone settings and control.

Drones are placed in special. ship compartment - dronebay. Open the ship's "Equipment Service" (Alt+F) and see the dronebey icon in the lower left corner. Drones are dragged with the mouse.

After leaving the station in space, a new drone control window “Drones” will appear next to the overview. It displays all the drones that are on the ship and in space.

Drone behavior settings menu.
It opens by clicking LMB on the white square at the top-left of the drone control window. It has the following items:

• Passive mode - drones will only obey your orders. After the destruction of the next target will be inactive. Attack the next target at your command.
• Aggressive mode - will attack all objects with aggression. Drones after destroying a target will automatically switch to the next target. On missions, you can lose the ship due to an untimely trigger attack.
• Attack of one target - makes all drones, without exception, attack one target. It is advisable to activate this setting.
• Attack and pursue - setting for fighters (Fighters). Will accompany the target throughout the system.

Creation of a group of drones and launch
Drones can be combined into groups (the number can be any), which increases the efficiency of control various types drones. Select the drone or drones (Shift) in the "Drones in the compartment" - RMB window and in the drop-down menu "Move drone" - "Create group" - enter the name. In the same menu, you can move drones from group to group, you can also drag drones with the mouse.

Drones can be launched through the same menu or by dragging drones or a group of drones into space with the mouse, or by clicking on the drones with LMB and holding for 2 seconds, give a command through the radial menu.

You can also launch drones through the "Selected object" window

Drone menu in space.
After you launch the drones, they will move to the “Drones in Near Space” tab. RMB on drones or a group will drop out a menu for controlling drones in space.

• "Attack target" - drones will attack the selected target

• “Immerse in drone bay” - drones return to drone bay, drones can also be returned to drone bay simply by dragging the mouse from the “Drones in space” window to the “Drones in bay” window.
• "Disable Drone Communications" - Leave stationary drones in space.

The same actions are possible through the radial menu (LMB 2sec.), by keyboard shortcut (this is done through the main game menu (Esc), in the Shortcuts tab (keyboard shortcut) - the “Drone Control” tab) or through the “Selected object” window

Drones in the fleet

If you are in the fleet then appear additional features: "Help" and "Protection". You can give drones to help any fleet pilot and they will already follow his orders. Convenient for focusing fire on a single target.

Current activities Drones are displayed as colored captions in the Drones in Space window

Inactive - green

Returns - yellow color

Fighting - red

It also visually displays information about the state of the shield, armor and structure of the drones.

7. Plan. The order of learning skills for drones.

Approximate plan for learning skills

Well, firstly, you need to strive for T2 drones, and secondly, it is advisable to study the skills responsible for increasing damage up to level 5 in the first place (except for specializations - level 4 is enough)

If you are actively playing and using drones, then below is a rough plan for learning skills. The study time is given for a null character without implants and skill redistribution.

First stage (approximately 6 days)

Drones Profile Skill - Level IV

Scout Drone Operation Range Skill - Level IV

Damage Responsible Combat Drone Operation Level IV

Drone Navigation Speed ​​Skill Level IV Drone Durability Defense Skill Level III

Stage 2 (approximately 10 days)

Learn skills for T2 dronesDrones (level V)

Scout Drone Operation (Tier V)

Drone Specialization (level III) - for those drones you use.

Stage 3 (approximately 6 days)

Drone Sharpshooting Optimal Skill Level IV

And the damage skill Drone Interfacing level IV

Stage 4 (approximately 34 days)

Upgrade your damage to 5

Drone Interfacing - Tier V (20%)

Combat Drone Operation - level V (5%), this skill can be completed later.

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Then you learn skills from level 3 to level 4.

You learn the Electronic Warfare skill level IV, for the Electronic Warfare Drone Interfacing skill level III (another + 9km to the range of drones) and the ability to use Electronic Warfare drones.

Learn skills for heavy or guard drones, etc.

You can start learning Heavy Drone Operation after learning the Drones skill (level V)

Sentry Drones (Sentry Drone Interfacing) will open for study after pumping skills:

Drones (Tier V)

Drone Sharpshooting (level IV),

Drone Interfacing (Level IV)