IDEAS for Dronenet
Dronenet is an attempt by Niantic to make the game playable during these difficult times. However, this function is currently extremely limited.
In the future, Dronenet has the potential to be a great tool within the game, and for that I list some ideas to improve this function.
I will separate it into two parts: NOW and FUTURE
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NOW:
1. Allow as many hacks as possible on the chosen portal.
Reason: This change would make the function more attractive, allowing the agent to make the most of the portals around him.
2. Allow Recharge
Reason: The Drone would become a Universal Key, the agent can keep its portals reloaded.
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FUTURE:
These ideas are for improving Dronenet, after these difficult times.
1. Be a level 11 agent to access all Dronenet functions.
Reason: Agents level 10 or below, will only have access to the hack and recharge.
2. Allow the capture of a portal using Dronenet.
2.1 Resonators applied by Dronenet will only have 25% health, cannot be recharged or updated
2.2 Generate notification in COMM when an agent captures a portal using Dronenet.
EX "AgenteX captured PortalX using Drone Mark I"
2.3 Dronenet cannot add mods to the portal.
2.4 It is not possible to link using Dronenet.
Reason: This point can divide ideas, so I thought well when writing this part. Capturing a portal using Dronenet is not a viable option, taking into account that the portal will be very fragile, cannot be reloaded and you will only be able to move the dronenet again after 60 minutes. Capturing a portal using dronenet will be a purely strategic move.
3. Allow to destroy a portal using Dronenet.
3.1 XMPs and USs will have 50% reduced damage if used in conjunction with the dronenet.
3.2 You cannot use ADA or JARVIS in conjunction with the dronenet.
3.3 Generate notification in COMM when an agent destroy a portal using Dronenet.
EX "AgenteX destroyed PortalX using Drone Mark I"
Reason: If you can capture, you can also destroy using Dronenet. Again, it is not a very viable option. It will take you twice as long to destroy a portal, if this portal is protected with shields, it will be even more difficult. With that, the enemy agent will have more time to reload the portal that is being destroyed. After the portal is destroyed, you will still need to wait 60 minutes to move the Dronenet harmfully. So, destroying a portal using Dronenet will be a very strategic move.
4. Reduce the range from 500m to 200m.
Reason: In the future, we will be able to walk on the streets again, it will not be necessary to reach as far as it is today. Dronenet will be restricted to strategic moves.
Destroy a block, inside a park at night, for example.
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With these resources, I believe that Dronenet will be a very strategic and extremely useful function in the future. Mainly for large operations.
Feel free to comment and suggest changes. I love to talk!
Comments
All this would make the Drone much to powerfull and change Ingress to Dronegress. I dont like this, sorry.
You already can make many hacks from a portal, but once a hour, and a think it is perfectly fine that way. The drone is supposed to be a little help, not a substitute.
About recharge I agree, but with limited power, like one simple charge all once per hour (not the superrecharge). That will help to keep portals alive, preventing them to fall for decay only. Considering the current limitations of the drone, you're gonna need to access the portal I person to full recharge it and get a key for full recharge.
About your future ideas:
1. Makes senses, depends on what mark II will do.
2. nope. Totally disagree with capture. That gonna be abused by spoofers for sure, like capturing a extremely restricted portal with a drone and them proceeds into spoof-farming keys to make fields with it.
3. Also a nope. The range for destroying is already really big. I can accept it only with a lot of restrictions like: a new drone, with only 1 flight (can't change portals) and one attacking per hour. This way is still needed to be at location, and practically impossible to destroy the portal it is being recharged. To boost attack power, several agent will be needed at location.
4. With the current limitations, I don't see the need to limit it's movement. But if any of your ideas be added, this one should too, to balance the power.
I hope for drone battle wars instead outside the normal gameplay.
I am strongly opposed to being able to affect a portal via drone, though I would concede recharge. Your proposals undermine some of the most interesting strategic elements of the game, that being the use of durable portals. It may have taken 20+ agents to put up that very carefully planned overnight-durable field, and your proposal allows one agent sitting on his couch to take it down. Droning one's way into that park to build a portal would allow me to build the field anchor for other people to link to and it doesn't matter how weak the portal is. "Capturing/destroying a portal using dronenet will be a purely strategic move." This is precisely the problem. Please understand that Niantic has a rule that prohibits putting my telephone on a drone and flying it to a portal-- they consider that falsifying my location. What you have proposed does pretty much exactly the thing that they have prohibited.
You also seem to be thinking about this in terms of individual actions, but teamwork is a big element of this game. If multiple agents drone to a portal or a group of portals and attack together, then you only need twice as many agents per portal if weapons do half the damage. Also note that weapons have range, and a small number of agents could do a significant amount of damage if they coordinated carefully.
This also opens up the field for bots to do more damage. It's not hard to imagine a systemic operation where bots work to destroy a large area overnight.
I do, however, think the drone is an interesting tool for exploration. We used to have a "navigate to portal" function that would let us essentially bookmark a portal and use the bookmark to examine other portals in the area. We could see missing XM, look at each individual portal around it, and even make edits like submitting a photo or editing the description. I lament the loss of navigate to nortal a few times per week, which is every time I want to use it and can't.
In order to facilitate this exploration it should be possible to drone to a key, or using the link in a comm action. This would also allow agents to hack for sojourner even if they are not within scanner range of a portal.
Well that's one way to get easy disagreements. meh...
Drone was/is just meant to save your Sojourner medal. And if you see it that way, it's a great addition, not just for Covid-19, but in other situations as well.
Moving to a portal spending a key to that portal for moving further than the drone footage area would be nice.
I don't believe hacking for keys from a drone should generally be allowed.
It would be nice to be able to send drone to portal close to current physical location and get a key to be able to help when microfielding and run out of keys and need to temporarily backtrack. This would be analogous to a real drone you would send out and return the key to you.
Beyond that, I believe the current Ingress "drone" isn't really anything like a real drone since it doesn't need any recharging, has no limit real to range and can send gear to you while it hovers indefinitely in a farm.
I also don't think that gear hacked by drone makes sense without recalling the drone? Why can you send out a drone and magically any gear it hacks goes straight into your inventory and is able to be used?
drone can travel through a link like a Shard
a drone should have its own inventory like 50-100 or something...
that would make further link really too easy.
1 key -> instant 10+k km 🤣
I like the drone so far, I am currently working on hacking the opposing faction's L8 farm in the neighboring town. (Long process for sure, but I like not being zapped every time). I do have a few ideas though.
1. Variable cooldown time depending on how far the drone moves between portals.
2. Keep it as one hack per portal per flight, but allow key hacks (only upon request).
3. Keep it unable to destroy, build, link, or field, however add the ability to perform one "XM Pulse" per flight (or per a specific time period) that can temporarily burn out a portal for all players.
4. Allow for recharging of a portal without a key (no boost charge though).
5. Eventually introduce a rare or ultra rare "drone detector" mod that can neutralize (automatically return) an opposing player's drone when it tries to hack that portal.
Will there be a medal or badge for Drone Hacks
Drone hack counting for Mission Day would help enable participation when mission day lands on a regional holiday that means local players are out with their families instead of available to participate.
really need to stop bumping all of the drone topics to post the same thing
@b4n4n4p4nd4 It would also take away from the primary purpose of missions, which is exploring.
Mission Day is also about meeting up and doing a walk about.
Can't do that in your arm chair
I'd like if the drone could perform the last hack of a mission. It would be for times you can't get to a portal because of construction, road work, etc. Especially helpful if you're partway into a banner.
Same drone rules would still be in effect - you'd have to recall your drone to you, then deploy it to the portal, then hack with it. Then it would be stuck for an hour, or however long is the current cooldown.
This would only be one hack per mission - you have to do the rest of the mission in person, and be close enough to launch your drone at the difficult one. If you get stuck again on your very next mission, you might need to stop for a snack while your drone is running hot.
"Last hack" or "A single hack". Sequential missions don't need the "last" specifically.
I was thinking of Any Order hack missions. That's what most of them are.
However if Niantic could code a Y/N switch (and pass it amongst all the routines used) when the single drone hack has been used... it could then be "drone any one hack" and would work on Any Order AND Sequential missions.
The majority of banners are sequential so that they lead you down a path.
If "last hack" for any order is do-able, "once in a mission" would be a simpler coding block, as a binary flag.
The only real problem becomes Agents complaining there are two portals unreachable...or three ... And so on. That's usually where the discussion goes.
Turn the drones into spooky ghosts for Halloween
This would very cool