Drones can Upgrade.

[saronsen]

Summary: Drones can upgrade, gaining a small increase in all stats each time (speed, strength, health, deflection, plasma and plasma generation)

Benefits: Drones will no longer be stuck as an un-upgraded T1 forever with some of the slowest plasma generation of a support ever.

Details: Drones get a little bit better at everything, capable of being a great support, and an actually decent combat unit by the time they're Elite or Ancient.

Implementation: Letting drones upgrade.

Let's be honest, more than one hivelord is unnecessary, and takes up T2 slots. An upgraded drone is a more mobile support.

[Jroinc1]

+1, IF a drone never gets a more powerful attack than a young runner, and health/deflection stays low. Drones aren't combat units, but I think the plasma regen would be worth it.

[saronsen]

I mean, by ancient it should be hitting a little harder than a Mature runner, but not nearly as fast.

Like I said, they could BECOME one, they just have to survive the long-ass evolution period of being a Drone.

Of course it's up to the coders to decide what's fair for them. I personally like harassing lone marines as a Drone, and Drones have a history of being absurdly dangerous in literature and movies (Isn't it a drone on Alien: Isolation and some AvPs?)

[Renomaki]

I dunno... If a queen dies, and all the drones matured, who will become queen then?

Thing about drones is that, unlike sentinels and runners, they can grow to only become one of 3 things. It is a very simple growth tree unlike runner or sentinel, so it is easier for them to get what they want compared to other castes. That, and queens are important, not having any drones in reserve would really hurt the hive should a queen get unlucky and die.

[saronsen]

Isn't that sort of the point of taking risks like that?

And how frequently do you see a Drone immediately after the queen dies anyway?

[SPACEpotato1]

Couldn't we just code in the ability for drones to evolve into queen no matter if they've upgraded or not?

Quite simple really, just make the Queen evolution a separate verb from the other 2 evolutions, and make it so that a Drone can always evolve into a queen.

[Renomaki]

Isn't that sort of the point of taking risks like that?

And how frequently do you see a Drone immediately after the queen dies anyway?

The thing about xeno is that is a very communication heavy job, where a good xeno will always ask before doing. However, in my experience, a lot of xenos just do whatever without asking, either stealing T3 slots or maturing when you want them to evolve.

If Drones could upgrade, no doubt would there be a lot of cases where a queen dies, and all of a sudden, the 3 drones in the hive can't take her place because they all upgraded instead, causing the aliens to lose real hard.

There is also the problem of aliens REFUSING the call as well, and knowing some players, they'll mature as an excuse to NOT take the responsibility of replacing the queen so they can resume their mostly carefree lives. This always is an issue round start, I don't want it midgame either.

[Casany]

I like the idea of separating the queen variable so no matter what a drone can become a queen

[Warnipple]

+1 for upgrading. Their plasma regen is pretty mediocre for being the builders of the hive aside for hivelords and the Queenie.

I think they should retain their ability to evolve into the Queen when evolving, the only exception thats able to do this. Hopefully this'll encourage more drone players and less drone ghosting.

[saronsen]

Aye, it's 12 per tick.

Hunters get 8 per tick iirc

[GarlicBread]

I'd +1 if they retain the ability to evolve to queen , plus they could be really weak upgrades till ancient

[saronsen]

That's what it is. Pretty much weak overall upgrades to Mature and Elite, besides the normal increase in Plasma and Regeneration. Then a reasonably sizeable increase in everything once Ancient. Still not great for fighting, but excellent as support for both defense and offense, without the huge bonuses of those specialized supports (Hivelord, Praetorian)

[N8-Toe]

+1 drones fall behind fast in ability to keep up with demand for more construction, pheromones, and securing. I play drone alot, and still being young even though you have been alive 2 hours is not fun.

[Toroic]

Drones are actually the hardest to evolve normally. They have the longest timer, and with needing full plasma they generally can't compete when a slot opens up because they're using their large plasma pool for building.

+1 to drones upgrading and +1 to evolving to queen after upgrading.

[Joe4444]

this is in the game now I think

[TopHatPenguin]

this is in the game now I think

Yeah, it is.

Needs to be moved to accepted.

[Sarah_U.]

Duplicate, already done now~...

Thus, thread can be closed most likely xP

[forwardslashN]

Implemented.