FTL: Faster Than Light Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
FTL: Faster Than Light Wiki
FTL: Faster Than Light Wiki
418
pages
in: Blue Options, Systems

Drone Control

Revision as of 20:57, 7 March 2021 by Mike Hopley (Message Wall | contribs) (More drone copyediting)
 Edit
DroneRoomLarge

4 square Drone Control room

DroneRoomSmall

2 Square Drone Control room

DroneControlCircle The Drone Control system powers and operates two to three Drones. Drones perform various tasks such as attacking enemy ships and crew, defending your ship and crew, and repairing your ship. Drone schematics are slotted into the drone control system from the equipment screen and can then be deployed by powering them, though only one drone may be deployed for each schematic. Most ships will have slots for two drone schematics; the exceptions are all Engi Cruisers, and the Stealth Cruiser C/Simo-H which have 3 slots. Each drone requires one to four power to operate depending on the schematic and powering up the slot the schematic occupies will activate the respective drone; if that drone is not deployed, a drone part will be spent to deploy a copy of that drone, and a destroyed drone can be redeployed after a short delay. The drone system can be upgraded to handle up to eight bars of power, though the current level limits the number of drones you can use. The drone system only comes pre-installed on Engi cruisers, the Cerenkov, The Basilisk, and the Simo-H; other ships must first buy the system at a Store, whereupon the system will start with 2 bars of power and come with a free drone schematic. The free drone schematic can be either a System Repair Drone, a Defense Drone Mark I, or a Combat Drone Mark I. The cost of buying the system from a Store depends on the free drone schematic that comes with it. If the free schematic is a System Repair Drone, the system costs 75 scrap; otherwise, it costs 85 scrap.

Overview

Drone

Powers all of the ship's drones. Drones are automated robots that perform tasks like attacking enemy ships or repairing systems.

  • Powers all of the ship's drones.
  • Drones are automated robots that each perform a different task.
  • Activating a drone is done in a similar way as activating weapons, by clicking on or pressing the key (5-7).
    • Activating a drone will power it and, if the drone is not already deployed, will spend one drone part to deploy the drone.
    • The drone will stay active until it is destroyed, its system is too damaged to power it, or you deactivate it.
    • External and boarding drones are lost when jumping to a new system and have to be redeployed at each new location or encounter, though a Drone Recovery Arm lets you recover the drone parts of external drones.
    • Crew drones stay on the ship and only need to be redeployed when destroyed.
  • Upgrading lets you power more drones simultaneously (although you can have multiple deployed and only have one powered at a time, switching power as necessary).
  • Most ships have 2 slots for Drone Schematics, though a few ships have 3.
  • Drones that fly around a ship can be shot down by enemy fire if they are in direct line of fire. Your weapons cannot hit your own drones.
  • Crew and boarding drones can be damaged and destroyed by hostile crewmen, and also take damage if the room they are in is struck by a missile, laser, bomb (except for Healing Burst or Repair Burst), or flak, or if the tile they occupy is hit by a beam (except for the Anti-Bio Beam).

Guide and Tactics

Like with weapons, stronger drones require more power, which can limit the ability to have all drones active at the same time — though this is mitigated slightly by the fact that most ships only have 2 drone slots, so both slots can be powered even with the most power-hungry drones once the system is fully upgraded. Furthermore, not all drones are useful in the same situations, so a fully upgraded drone control may be more of a luxury to soak damage than a requirement to actually use all of your drones. Some drones, such as the Hull Repair Drone are also useful out of combat, so they can even be stored in the cargo bay and only fitted as needed. As it can recover some of the drone parts used in a battle, a drone recovery arm is a very useful Augmentation for any ship that relies on drones heavily. Additionally, the Drone Reactor Booster that comes fitted to The Vortex and can be installed on other ships from The Engi Virus event is somewhat useful since crew drones move more slowly than regular crew, but is still somewhat replaceable since crew drones spend more time standing around. The Defense Scrambler fitted to the Tetragon and purchasable at a store is an awesome augment, as it prevents defensive drones from locking on to anything letting your combat drones orbit unopposed and for Hacking and boarding drones to land in ships with defense drones orbiting. Though you can depower hacking drones just as a defense drone fires to "dodge" the shot and just hack through any number of defense drones.

Bypass Enemy Defense Drones Exploit: The player can bypass enemy Defense Drones by using Boarding Drones, Ion Intruders, and even Hacking by managing the power in the respective Drone/System at the right time. When the enemy Defense Drone fires a shot at the respective approaching Drone, the player can shut off the Drone/System to stop the Drone where it is at and cause it to become immune to damage. After a brief moment, restoring power to the respective Drone/System will continue the fired Drone from where it was at, usually giving it enough time to hit the enemy ship.

Blue Options

Some equipment opens additional Options during certain events. While the Drone Control System itself does not open any options, the various different drones do.


Blue Options are choices within Random Encounters and Events that can be selected only if your ship has the required equipment, crew, or system upgrades. Blue options often have more favorable outcomes than their counterparts.

Events with 'blue options' are sorted below by their requirements. Note that the blue option choices are sometimes named slightly differently in-game, and the events pages often contain the sic! examples of these notations.

Augmentations

Advanced FTL Navigation

Backup DNA Bank

Damaged Stasis Pod

Distraction Buoys

Engi Med-bot Dispersal

Lifeform Scanner

Long-Ranged Scanners

Rock Plating

Scrap Recovery Arm

Crew

Crystal crew

Engi crew

Human crew

Lanius crew

Mantis crew

Rockman crew

Slug crew

Zoltan crew

Drones

Anti-Personnel Drone AntiPersonelDrone

Anti-Ship Fire Drone FireDrone

Beam Drone BeamDroneIBeamDroneII

Boarding Drone Boarding Drone

Combat Drone CombatDroneICombatDroneII

Defense Drone Defense Drone IDefense Drone II

Hull Repair Drone HullRepairDrone

System Repair Drone SystemRepairDrone

Systems

Artillery Beam

Cloaking

Clone Bay

Crew Teleporter

Door System

Drone Control

Engines

Hacking

Medbay

Mind Control

Oxygen

Piloting

Sensors

Weapon Control

Weapons

Anti-Bio Beam

Beam weapon

Breach Missiles

Fire Beam

Fire Bomb

Healing Burst

Ion weapon

Missile weapon


Drone Schematics

A drone schematic is required to operate a drone, and there are four types: Boarding Drones, Combat Drones, Crew Drones, and Defensive Drones.

Boarding Drones

Tip: Boarding Drones require 1 drone part to deploy for each new enemy. They will board the enemy ship and attack as long as they are powered.

When deployed, Boarding Drones fly to the enemy ship, breach the hull and attack crew and systems inside. They are unaffected by fires and low oxygen. They ignore regular shields, but are destroyed when contacting a Zoltan Shield.

They can be shot down by defensive drones, and stunned by Anti-Combat Drones with a 50% chance to be destroyed. They cannot board a cloaked ship. And like all drones, the player has no direct control of them.

Boarding Drone

Boarding Drone

Breaches through the enemy hull and wreaks havoc. Awesome.

  • Boards enemy ships and attacks enemy crew and systems.
  • Health: 150
  • Speed: 18
  • Power: 3
  • Rarity: 4
  • ID: BOARDER
  • Cost: 70 Ftlgame-scrap

Boarding Drone (Boss)

Boarding Drone

Breaches through the enemy hull and wreaks havoc. Awesome.

  • Rebel Flagship's special boarding drone. It is unique to the Flagship.
  • Health: 150
  • Speed: 18
  • Power: 2
  • Rarity: 0
  • ID: BOARDER_BOSS
  • Cost: 70 Ftlgame-scrap (cannot be bought nor found)

Ion Intruder

IonIntruderDrone

Breaches through the enemy hull and randomly ionizes systems.

  • Periodically emits an ion blast that deals 3 ion damage to the system and stuns enemy crew, then moves to a different, non-ioned system.
  • Health: 125
  • Speed: 18
  • Power: 3
  • Rarity: 4
  • Cost: 65 Ftlgame-scrap
  • ID: BOARDER_ION
  • Advanced Edition only.

Tip: When used against the Rebel Flagship, Ion Intruder always targets the isolated weapons rooms first.

Tip: Specific animation played few seconds before its charge attack gives enough time to leave the room to avoid being stunned.

Combat Drones

Tip: Combat Drones require 1 drone part to deploy at each encounter and, if destroyed in battle, 1 more drone part each time redeployed. They will attack the enemy as long as they are powered and can freely be switched on and off. You can only power and deploy a combat drone when in combat.

Combat drones orbit the enemy ship and attack it at regular intervals choosing targets on their own. They can be destroyed if they happen to fly into the path of enemy weapons fire or asteroids, but they can only be intentionally attacked by the Anti-Combat Drone. Players may intentionally shoot enemy combative drones by carefully timing shots and positioning their ship's laser, ion, or missile weapons to intercept.

Though combat drones cannot be controlled and often will choose undesirable targets (such as empty rooms), their increased rate of fire in comparison to ship weapons causes them to do incredibly rapid damage to the enemy hull when shields are down. If you are planning to use a combat drone strategy, make sure you have some way of quickly disabling, destroying, or overwhelming the enemy shields so your drones can make short work of the enemy ship. Missile, flak weapons, and the hacking system are good for this.

Combat Drone Mark I

CombatDroneI

Powerful drone that continually attacks the enemy ship.

  • Continually attacks the enemy ship with a single laser blast; slower than normal shield recharge.
  • Can be given for free upon installation of Drone Control system.
  • Speed: 15
  • Power: 2
  • Rarity: 2
  • ID: COMBAT_1
  • Cost: 50 Ftlgame-scrap

Combat Drone Mark II

CombatDroneII

Powerful drone that continually attacks the enemy ship. Moves and shoots faster than Mark I.

  • Increased rate of fire and speed of maneuvering.
  • Speed: 28
  • Power: 4
  • Rarity: 5
  • ID: COMBAT_2
  • Cost: 75 Ftlgame-scrap

Anti-Ship Beam Drone I

BeamDroneI

Combat Drone that repeatedly attacks with a small beam weapon.

  • Uses a small beam weapon to continually attack the enemy ship. While fast and 100% accurate, the beam cannot penetrate shields at all.
  • Beam length: 20 (0.4 tile diagonally)
  • Speed: 15
  • Power: 2
  • Rarity: 3
  • ID: COMBAT_BEAM
  • Cost: 50 Ftlgame-scrap

Anti-Ship Beam Drone II

BeamDroneII

Combat drone that repeatedly attacks with a larger beam weapon.

  • Moves a bit slower than Mark I, but has a longer beam length, so it can often hit 2 rooms. Also does 2 damage to a Zoltan Shield, compared to 1 for Mark I.
  • Beam length: 40 (0.9 tile diagonally)
  • Speed: 11
  • Power: 3
  • Rarity: 5
  • Cost: 60 Ftlgame-scrap
  • ID: COMBAT_BEAM_2
  • Advanced Edition only.

Anti-Ship Fire Drone

FireDrone

Combat drone that repeatedly attacks with a small beam weapon that lights rooms on fire.

  • A variant of the beam drone that uses a Fire Beam equivalent to ignite specific rooms.
  • Beam length: 10 (0.2 tile diagonally)
  • Speed: 12
  • Power: 3
  • Rarity: 4
  • ID: COMBAT_FIRE
  • Cost: 50 Ftlgame-scrap
  • Advanced Edition only.

Anti-Ship Ion Drone I

Slow moving drone that repeatedly attacks the enemy ship with ion blasts

  • Unused drone in the game files
  • Can be obtained with save editing
  • Has same texture as Combat Drone Mark I
  • Does 1 ion damage
  • Speed: 5
  • Power: 2
  • Rarity: 0
  • ID: COMBAT_ION
  • Cost: 50 Ftlgame-scrap (cannot be bought nor found)

Anti-Ship Missile Drone I

Slow moving drone that repeatedly attacks the enemy ship with mini missiles

  • Unused drone in the game files
  • Can be obtained with save editing
  • Has same texture as Combat Drone Mark I
  • Missiles go through shields
  • Speed: 5
  • Power: 2
  • Rarity: 0
  • ID: COMBAT_MISSILE
  • Cost: 50 Ftlgame-scrap (cannot be bought nor found)

Crew Drones

Tip: Crew Drones require 1 drone to deploy, but will not need to be deployed again until destroyed. They stay on ship and help your crew as long as they are powered.

Crew drones are deployed on your own ship and act like AI controlled crew members. They move slowly, but are unaffected by low oxygen and immune to fire. As with regular crew, they will break down doors that are locked by hacking.

They take half damage from enemy weapons. When idle they return to the drone bay, where they heal, providing the system is powered.

Anti-Personnel Drone

AntiPersonelDrone

Will seek out and attempt to destroy any intruders on-board your ship.

  • Attacks intruders, dealing the same damage as an untrained Human.
  • Will attack friendly crew that are mind controlled.
  • Health: 150
  • Power: 2
  • Rarity: 2
  • ID: BATTLE
  • Cost: 35 Ftlgame-scrap

System Repair Drone

SystemRepairDrone

Will seek out damaged systems and repair them automatically.

  • Repairs damaged systems, breaches, and puts out fires.
  • Gives System and Sub-System rooms priority, repairing rooms in the order that they were damaged.
  • Ignores enemy boarders.
  • Can be given for free upon installation of Drone Control system.
  • Power: 1
  • Rarity: 1
  • ID: REPAIR
  • Cost: 30 Ftlgame-scrap

Hull Repair Drone

HullRepairDrone

Automatically repairs 3-5 damage to your hull. Drone part is consumed once it finishes.

  • Moves around and outside of your ship, repairing 3-5 hull points and then self-destructs.
  • Can be shot down by stray fire.
  • Each deployment requires a drone part. Drone Recovery Arm will not recover it after it self-destructs. Prior to FTL 1.6 AE, it was possible to jump before repair is finished, for a free repair (see bugs).
  • Can be helpful as a way to repair hull when fighting the Rebel Flagship.
  • As repair costs at Stores increase in each Sector, can become more cost-efficient alternative once Store repairing costs 3 scrap or more.
  • Speed: 20
  • Power: 2
  • Rarity: 4
  • ID: SHIP_REPAIR
  • Cost: 85 Ftlgame-scrap

Defensive Drones

Tip: Defensive Drones require 1 drone part to deploy at each new location. they will defend your ship as long as they are powered.

Defensive drones orbit your own ship and shoot down asteroids, enemy weapons fire, and some drones. Unless destroyed, they can be recovered with the Drone Recovery Arm augment upon jumping.

It is possible for defensive drones to miss their target, letting the occasional shot get through. Like all drones, their targeting is not player-controlled, so their target selection and timing may prove sub-optimal. They also require approximately a second to acquire a target after being deployed or reactivated; powering up as soon as an enemy missile launches is sufficient.

Defense Drone Mark I

Defense Drone I

Shoots down incoming missiles, asteroids, and flak debris.

  • Shoots down incoming missiles, hacking and boarding drones, individual flak debris, and asteroids with its laser.
  • Can be given for free upon installation of Drone Control system.
  • Cooldown: 1000 ms
  • Speed: 5
  • Power: 2
  • Rarity: 1
  • ID: DEFENSE_1
  • Cost: 50 Ftlgame-scrap

Defense Drone Mark II

Defense Drone II

It fires faster than Mark I and can also shoot down incoming lasers.

  • Shoots down incoming missiles, hacking and boarding drones, individual flak debris, asteroids, but also ion blasts and lasers (including those shot by combat drones).
  • Cooldown: 880 ms
  • Speed: 7
  • Power: 3
  • Rarity: 3
  • ID: DEFENSE_2
  • Cost: 70 Ftlgame-scrap

Defense Drone Mark II (Boss)

Defense Drone II

Shoots faster than Mark I and can also shoot down incoming lasers.

  • Unlike its name suggests, the Rebel Flagship doesn't use this drone. (anymore?)
  • Unusable during Blue options.
  • Shoots down incoming missiles, hacking and boarding drones, ion blasts, individual flak debris, asteroids, and lasers.
  • Cooldown: 750 ms (faster than others)
  • Speed: 7
  • Power: 2
  • Rarity: 0
  • ID: BOSS_DEFENSE_2
  • Cost: 75 Ftlgame-scrap (cannot be bought nor found)

Defense Drone Mark II (Enemy)

BUG- Should not be seen (Yes that is the description)

  • Enemies use this?
  • Cooldown: 880 ms
  • Speed: 7
  • Power: 3
  • Rarity: 0
  • ID: DEFENSE_2_ENEMY
  • Cost: 70 Ftlgame-scrap

Anti-Combat Drone

Anti-CombatDrone

Stuns combat drones attacking your ship.

  • Stuns Combat, Hacking, and Boarding drones with Ion weapon. Each shot has a chance to outright destroy the affected drone.
  • Cooldown: 7000 ms
  • Speed: 5
  • Power: 1
  • Rarity: 1
  • ID: ANTI_DRONE
  • Cost: 35 Ftlgame-scrap
  • Advanced Edition only.

Shield Overcharger

ShieldDrone

Creates single Supershield barrier periodically.

  • Periodically adds 1 point of Zoltan Super Shield to regular shields.
  • Each additional layer has longer cool-down time: 8s/10s/13s/16s/20s for 0/1/2/3/4 existing layers. Each timer resets should the drone become unpowered.
  • Overcharged shields are lost when you jump
  • Speed: 5
  • Power: 3
  • Rarity: 4
  • ID: DRONE_SHIELD
  • Cost: 60 Ftlgame-scrap
  • Advanced Edition only.

Shield Overcharger +

ShieldDrone

Creates single Supershield barrier periodically. This modified schematic requires 1 less power.

  • Variant of the Shield Overcharger that only comes equipped on Simo-H.
  • Uses 1 power instead of 2, but otherwise identical to the regular drone.
  • ID: DRONE_SHIELD_PLAYER
  • Cost: 60 Ftlgame-scrap (cannot be bought nor found)
  • Advanced Edition only.
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More FTL: Faster Than Light Wiki