I'll just say, I'm looking at what it'd take to make them useful in some way with AS. I mean, the frigate-sized ones are probably mostly on the outs regardless, but the bigger ones could have some play in them. It's hard to see them being a top-tier choice, but if they were at least viable, that'd be a fun extra option to have.
Also you could get the mothership to drop a blueprint package so you can keep using them in the later game.
What if they all got... Rugged Construction built-in?
What if they all got... Rugged Construction built-in?
I think that would clash with the way officers decide how large your DP share is at the start of a battle.This already happens with the second popular use of Automated Ships, spamming Gamma Core Glimmers.
Largely mirrors my thoughts, yeah. One thing I was thinking is perhaps AI cores could cost based on the cost of the ship they're in. The derelicts having no cost I think might just mean "you only use the largest one". Their impact on DP would need to be adjusted, though (which, I mean, fine - can't trust them for tactical advice!)Only using the largest one would still have the inherent limitation of Ramparts being all-around 'far worse Dominators' (point for point when deploying them in battle), off-set only by the power of whatever AI Core you install in them. Without Cores, they're really kind of bad. I really wouldn't mind if Derelicts being free to the AS limit came at the cost of Cores contributing less to battle DP, given that Automated Ships already somewhat treads on the value of Officer Management.
What if they all got... Rugged Construction built-in?This and the blueprint idea would both be cool!
I feel the primary issue with them is that they’re heavily overcost in terms of Deployment Points; you’re giving up a slot that a far, far better ship could have taken. If Derelict ships were assigned DP values closer to their actual performance, in conjunction with measures like Rugged Construction and perhaps a discount to the AI core assigned to them (maybe -2?), they’d be more competitive.I'm fine with them retaining their current sub-par DP and battle stats, if only because both SP and Cores can bring them more up to speed - and that using Automated Ships for having a lot of cheaper, sub-par ships with Officers compared to the intense quality of a couple Remnant vessels sounds fun. It wouldn't be far from the challenge of using Pirate vessels, or Pather vessels - sure, most of them suck anyways, but that doesn't discourage me from wanting to build a fleet of them.
To pre-face, Explorarium Drones are currently extremely unappealing choices when you're running the Automated Ships skill. They generally underperform compared to Remnant counterparts of similar cost (and even versus crewed ships of similar cost), and the only strong case where you'd consider using them would be in early game if you manage to get the skill before fighting any Remnants til that point.
To that end, I spent some time thinking about how you would make them more appealing: What if the DP of Explorarium Drones simply didn't count against the limit of the Automated Ships skill? AI Cores in them would still count against the skill as usual, but this means that if you're feeling funky, instead of a Radiant with an Alpha Core that dominates the battlefield - at the same CR limit you could do something silly like 5 Ramparts with Alpha Cores, being brought in one after the other as they fall in battle. Or, more reasonably, you could field 3 Alpha'd Ramparts and have a trio of below-average Cruisers with powerful Officers bringing them more up to speed.
This would both suit the lore given that these droneships are old, modular and designed for fairly independent operation - as well as offering an alternative playstyle for Automated Ships that focuses more on Quantity over Quality (Explorarium vs Remnant). Plus, it would bring a greater emphasis on droneships in your fleet without making the player overpowered, as the fleet limit that exists would serve to prevent bringing an 'infinite' amount of no-Core droneships (as well as that they're fairly abysmal vessels without Cores in them already).
Realized I never replied here - yeah, one thing I want to do is look at the DP of the larger drones. (The small ones are not going to be much good regardless.)Rugged Construction certainly fits their lore, but from testing I wouldn't say they're limited to a junker playstyle; I'd argue the Rampart is most usable with a build involving makeshift shield generator and hardened shields built-in, further boosted by an (Alpha) AI Core with Shield Modulation. I suspect a similar strategy would work for the Berserker, albeit held back by the inefficiency of 6 DP + 5/7/10 for the AI core meaning you'll have generally 2-4 of them in a fleet at best.
Adding "Rugged Construction" to them may be worth a look, too, since we're likely looking at a drone-junker style if these are involved.