What do drones add?

[Bacteriophage]

I find drones more annoying than anything else.  There are certainly very interesting ways that they can be used (like in shields up!), but the issue I find is that there are so few ways to deal with them.  Friendly creeper will reduce their health, but a large area is needed (not to mention the fact that a drone explosion damages all good creeper around it).  Shields are taken down in a few hits.  Therefore, the only practical strategy is lots of blasters.  Creeper, on the other hand, has several different possible approaches to defeating it.  I guess my problem is that what attracted me to creeper world and creeper world 2 was the very organic, continuous enemy.  Drones are back in the realm of discreet, artificial units.  I'm sure that when the map editor comes out, map makers will find unique and creative ways to use them, but for now, they are just annoying to me.

P.S.  I love both games and find cw2 very fun, in spite of my drone problem.  Thanks, knucklecracker, for such an amazing game!

[Fisherck]

Yeah, creeper is the most fun to fight against. 8)

But the fight can be somewhat one sided sometimes, hence spores in CW1 and drones and phantoms in CW2. But I can understand why you do not like them. I disliked spores very much in CW1. ::) But in CW2 they are nicer becuase it is easier to set up against them and they come from a fixed location.

But I think drones are fairly well made. As far as drones go, they are a secondary enemy to creeper, icing on the cake. But very good icing. ;)

In CW1, a lot of map makers made emitters very strong to slow the enemy down. This could get rather tedious. It is a lot easier in CW2 to keep the player busy by this new enemy. Since you have to combat two enemies, you won't be able to move as fast. But this is not caused by overly powerfull emitters.

[Kithros]

I would disagree with shields/creeper makers being bad to use against drones (at least the low health ones), if you run the math on shields vs. blasters against 4 health drones after accounting for regeneration (a few assumptions here, assuming the blasters do not shoot all at the same frame, assuming the drones do not all hit the shield at the same frame, and assuming there's no creeper or anti-creeper interference) then it will take 20 blaster shots to kill 4 drones, which is 4 energy + the upfront cost of having built the blasters (yeah you would have built them anyway, but if you wait longer to build them then you can build more reactors which gives a big energy advantage assuming you have space for them) vs. 5 energy for a shield blocking 4 drones. Creeper makers are quite effective in some situations, particularly against the stacked drones that show up in some missions since it effects all the drones at once and also costs no energy once built. It doesn't even need to be on 4x production since the density of anti-creeper does not affect the damage drones take. Of course once you're starting to push towards them blasters become almost necessary, but really, how often do you push forward against creeper without blasters either? Another minor note, it doesn't apply to many missions obviously, but dark beams are extremely good at killing drones.

[Bacteriophage]

Hmm...  I never really used makers against drones that much...  Maybe it is time for a second look.  They never seemed to be able to kill the drones before they escaped.  Maybe I should let Anti-creeper flood my reactor farm instead of releasing it all into the sealed chamber like I usually do.  And creeper can be just as annoying, and just as one-dimensional.  I will be intriuged to see what uses custom mapmakers find for drones.

[Ebon Heart]

if cw2 were all creeper and phantoms, it would be far too easy. The drones just add that extra touch of difficulty.

[Kithros]

Hmm...  I never really used makers against drones that much...  Maybe it is time for a second look.  They never seemed to be able to kill the drones before they escaped.  Maybe I should let Anti-creeper flood my reactor farm instead of releasing it all into the sealed chamber like I usually do.  And creeper can be just as annoying, and just as one-dimensional.  I will be intriuged to see what uses custom mapmakers find for drones.

Well, it's admittedly quite rare to use anti-creeper as the only defense against drones (it can be viable sometimes still), but it certainly softens them up a lot for the blasters, 1 blaster and 1 maker can deal with quite a lot of the 4 HP drones if positioned well. Makers are mostly useful against large numbers of drones though, their main use is in that they hit all of the drones at once.

[Ytaker]

I like droids. They add a lot of extra challenge. They keep you on your toes. You can't just shield up the creeper and slowly kill it. You have to make sure you have sufficient firepower always to kill.

[Ebon Heart]

Hmm...  I never really used makers against drones that much...  Maybe it is time for a second look.  They never seemed to be able to kill the drones before they escaped.  Maybe I should let Anti-creeper flood my reactor farm instead of releasing it all into the sealed chamber like I usually do.  And creeper can be just as annoying, and just as one-dimensional.  I will be intriuged to see what uses custom mapmakers find for drones.

Well, it's admittedly quite rare to use anti-creeper as the only defense against drones (it can be viable sometimes still), but it certainly softens them up a lot for the blasters, 1 blaster and 1 maker can deal with quite a lot of the 4 HP drones if positioned well. Makers are mostly useful against large numbers of drones though, their main use is in that they hit all of the drones at once.

the problem with using AC though is, drones destroy all AC around them when they blow up... and with levels with limited ore, it's best not to waste a ton of it keeping back a never ending line of drones.

[Kithros]

Hmm...  I never really used makers against drones that much...  Maybe it is time for a second look.  They never seemed to be able to kill the drones before they escaped.  Maybe I should let Anti-creeper flood my reactor farm instead of releasing it all into the sealed chamber like I usually do.  And creeper can be just as annoying, and just as one-dimensional.  I will be intriuged to see what uses custom mapmakers find for drones.

Well, it's admittedly quite rare to use anti-creeper as the only defense against drones (it can be viable sometimes still), but it certainly softens them up a lot for the blasters, 1 blaster and 1 maker can deal with quite a lot of the 4 HP drones if positioned well. Makers are mostly useful against large numbers of drones though, their main use is in that they hit all of the drones at once.

the problem with using AC though is, drones destroy all AC around them when they blow up... and with levels with limited ore, it's best not to waste a ton of it keeping back a never ending line of drones.

That's why you use them on 1x production (when using them against drones), because the density of the creeper does not affect the damage it does to drones.

[Fisherck]

the problem with using AC though is, drones destroy all AC around them when they blow up... and with levels with limited ore, it's best not to waste a ton of it keeping back a never ending line of drones.

Actually, if I remember correctly, a drone can only do as much damage to the surrounding anti-creeper as a launcher shot can do to creeper. Now, it is not to often (currently ;)) that you get anti-creeper in densities high enough not to be wiped out by drones. So Kithros' technique is the best to use against drones... :)

[Ebon Heart]

true... I tend to seriously overmake anti creeper.... that's why I'm gonna love the vacuum feature.

[thepenguin]

true... I tend to seriously overmake anti creeper.... that's why I'm gonna love the vacuum feature.

that's why I have the vacuum feature :P

[Ebon Heart]

lucky.... but back on topic. Without drones, cw2 would just be too easy. I mean, sure the creeper's a little challenging... but drones can add an earlier assault, and force you to have defences ready earlier.

[UpperKEES]

Yep, compared to CW1 the Creeper doesn't spread that easily (because the terrain limits it much more), so the drones are a welcome addition to increase the difficulty a little, especially during the start of a map. Once you're collecting enough energy and upgraded your blasters a little they shouldn't be a problem (with maps like Barbarian Hordes being the exception).

[Jeff]

Drones are annoying and there are some very power full like 750 Hp