*Sigh*
The only problem I see is that Drones overlap with fighter-sized craft in a way that makes a meaningful distinction difficult. They're small, speedy, armed, and usually controlled from another craft. Technically, a small carrier with several wings of snub fighters isn't too different from a drone carrier with several wings of combat drones. You say po-tay-toe, I say po-tah-toe, the basic function is the same, as is the way to order them to kill things.
Unless we deliberately design drones to be consumable throwaway munitions (as in, they can't be reused or even picked up after launch), the only meaningful distinction would be via AI behavior, which in my opinion is NOT a good way of balancing things. It'll be hard enough to get AI loyalty and combat performance working properly in the context of actually having wingmen - splitting hairs in distinguising drone craft from very small spacecraft and assigning them underperforming combat AI sounds like a lot of extra work for getting something that would end up as "like fighters, just worse".
Balancing them via cost is similarly useless, as Gazz already mentioned elsewhere. When you reach the point where you can consider carriers, the cost for fighters will be a minor speedbump at best, but not a balancing issue anymore.
Whether the thing has a pilot or not is a lore case at best - when it comes to sending a pack of them to kill something, I couldn't care less. It's about efficiency, if fighter swarms suck then they won't get used, if they shred everything to glowing scraps or tortured metal, I'd wager a guess that the exact size of the craft within its size class is far less important than the number fielded.
We also have no basis in judging the efficiency of small craft so far, since the mechanics regarding combat AI, upkeep and loyalty aren't in place yet. Or to quote the great bard: Much ado about nothing (yet).
Post
Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:48 pm
#16
Re: Combat Drones & Why I Oppose them for Limit Theory
Hardenberg was my name
And Terra was my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination
And Terra was my nation
Deep space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination