Overview
A Drone is a sphere shaped NPC robot that follows a player's ship wherever they go. Each one has the ability to equip additional lasers, shield generators, or CPU extras.
While progressing through the orbit, you will find that any equipped drone starts earning experience points just as you do and has a max level of 6. Any available ship is capable of having a total of 10 drones equipped at the same time. Also while having a maxed out level 6 drone, you gain an additional 10% damage and 20% shield boost to the laser cannons or shield generators that are equipped to the level 6 drone. Extra CPUs cannot be boosted.
Please visit the Drone Formations page for more info about the available formations for drones.
Cost
Flax Drone Cost
- When you buy a flax drone, the next flax drone's price will be doubled. As an example, your first flax costs 100,00 credits. If you buy 1st flax, the next flax will be 2 * 100,000 = 200,000 Credits. If you buy the 2nd flax, the next flax will be 2 * 200,000 = 400,000 Credits and so on.
Iris Drone Cost
- Iris drones' price won't get doubled, but instead it has a different pricing system. The first iris costs 15,000 uridium, the second one costs 24,000 uridium and so on.
Apis and Zeus Drone Cost
- Apis costs 1,080,000 Uridium to produce instantly, but you can collect 45 Apis Drone Parts to craft it for free.
- Zeus costs 1,485,000 Uridium to produce instantly, but you can collect 45 Zeus Drone Parts to craft it for free.
Drone Nr. | Flax Drone Cost | Iris Drone Cost | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Normal | Premium | Rebate | Premium + Rebate | ||
1 | 100,000 Credits | 15,000 Uridium | 14,250 Uridium | 11,250 Uridium | 10,500 Uridium |
2 | 200,000 Credits | 24,000 Uridium | 22,800 Uridium | 20,250 Uridium | 16,800 Uridium |
3 | 400,000 Credits | 42,000 Uridium | 40,800 Uridium | 36,000 Uridium | 29,400 Uridium |
4 | 800,000 Credits | 60,000 Uridium | 57,900 Uridium | 49,500 Uridium | 47,400 Uridium |
5 | 1,600,000 Credits | 84,000 Uridium | 81,000 Uridium | 69,000 Uridium | 66,000 Uridium |
6 | 3,200,000 Credits | 96,000 Uridium | 91,800 Uridium | 75,000 Uridium | 70,800 Uridium |
7 | 6,400,000 Credits | 126,000 Uridium | 121,200 Uridium | 102,000 Uridium | 97,200 Uridium |
8 | 12,800,000 Credits | 200,000 Uridium | 193,700 Uridium | 168,500 Uridium | 162,200 Uridium |
Damage, Repairing and Upgrading
Every time you are destroyed, your drones are destroyed as well. The items that were in place on the drones at the time are returned to your equipment. Flaxes and irises are damaged each time by 2.5% and after reaching 100% they are gone for good. Apis and Zeus will last longer than flaxes and irises because they take half of the damage, therefore they are damaged each time by 1.25%. You can simply repair your drones in the Hangar to 0% by:
Do keep in mind that repairing your drone will lower its' level by 1. If your drone is lvl 1 and reaches 100% damage, it will be destroyed instead.
You can also upgrade your drones. It is preffered to upgrade your Irises, Apis and Zeus instead of Flaxes because Irises are stronger than Flaxes by having 1 more slot, which allows for more damage output or for more tank capability or for more CPUs. (for more information about upgrading, click here. If you're interested in the most cost-effective option to upgrade your drones, click here.)
Battle Drones
(BD-01 F) Flax drone is a battle drone with one slot and is bought with Credits, it does not tend to garant the FE status, but is good for new players. Although a full ship of 8 Flax is not bad, you're only Sub-Elite. You must have 8 Irises to be FE. Bonus at level 6: 10% (lasers) / 20% (generators)
(BD-02 I) Iris drone is an elite battle drone with two slots and is bought with Uridium. (can be bid on in Auction) It is recommended to have a ship full of these and not have any Flax. Flax only have one slot while these have two. Bonus at level 6: 10% (lasers) / 20% (generators)
(BD-03 A)Apis is a battle drone with 2 slots (similar to the Iris) but is only attained by collecting 45 blueprints from pirate booty, which is later exchanged in the tech center. If one has 8 Drones, the Apis drone can be added as a 9th drone. You can assemble an Apis Drone Part in the Assembly for 24,000 Uridium. Bonus at level 6: 10% (lasers) / 20% (generators)
(BD-04 Z)Zeus is a battle drone (similiar to the Apis) which is only attained by collecting blueprints from golden pirate booty, which is later exchanged in the tech center. You can assemble a Zeus Drone Part in the Assembly for 33,000 Uridium. Bonus at level 6: 10% (lasers) / 20% (generators)
Battle Drone's Experience Earning System
Battle Drones don't earn experience like the user, they win experience when the player destroys an enemy. List of battle drone's experience earning below:
Drone Designs
Drones can be equipped with two types of drone designs. The functional ones like the Havoc or Hercules, or the cosmetic designs that are more common in Dark Orbit by now.
Trade Drone
HM7 is the only trade drone available that allows you to sell ore no matter where your location is. Action is limited to 100 uses. This drone is only Payment bought. However, if you purchase the Amber, Jade, or Sapphire designs for the Goliath, you get unlimited number of HM7 trade Drones. You can not see this drone because it isn't a battle drone. The cost of an HM7 trade drone remains constant.
Tips
- As a beginner, focus on getting 7 Flaxes then bid for irises. Once you get an iris, sell a flax drone to get to bid for more irises and so on till you have 8 irises.
- It isn't recommended to produce irises with Assembly, as the materials required for assembling one are quite hard to get.
- To bid easier for irises, bid for a Goliath and a Cargo Bay Doubler, send promerium to your ship via Skylab and sell it. The process is tiresome yet entirely F2P.
- To assemble Apis faster, collect Apis Drone Parts during the Apis Day. Likewise, to assemble Zeus faster, collect Zeus Drone Parts during Zeus Day.
- You should be FE before even assembling Apis or Zeus.