Dealing with drones

[Peekaboo]

Is'nt shock just another form of a KO?

 

I believe what's meant by shock is the EMP

[ShadowSimmons]

Volt Disrupter would count as shock wouldn't it? I understand Neural Disrupters wouldn't work - Neural = nervous system = human. Shock traps should work. 

 

I'm not sure if I encountered was a bug. I hacked a drone (can't remember which one) and put it in a infrared or laser door. Didn't matter if I was in control of it or not but when I turned on the door it raised the alarm one and did not stun or kill it. I remember putting one of those things in laser/infrared before and it fried it dead. 

 

I think with humans too its different. A laser will kill an enemy but infrared will just stun for one turn and then they get up regardless whether its on (you can zap them again though). 

 

Can someone confirm/debunk these observations?

[HolyDeath]

Volt Disrupter would count as shock wouldn't it? I understand Neural Disrupters wouldn't work - Neural = nervous system = human. Shock traps should work.

Well, I managed to KO drones with upgraded Neural Disrupters... All information is sent by electrical means, so what can immobilize a man should immobilize a machine if you can find a way to bypass outer layer of material that ain't conducting electricity into the drone's internal structure.

[Yarrr]

Well, I managed to KO drones with upgraded Neural Disrupters... All information is sent by electrical means, so what can immobilize a man should immobilize a machine if you can find a way to bypass outer layer of material that ain't conducting electricity into the drone's internal structure.

I tried that yesterday and it for sure didn't work. Did not even get an attack icon over its 'head' like guards do. That was with both a Neural and Volt Disruptor handy. Both 1 armor piercing.

[HolyDeath]

I am going to test this and bring pictures if I can.

[Raaaahman]

I managed to stun drones with infrared and EMP. So I don't understand "KO immune" and "shock vulnerable anymore". They're just immune to dart guns/tasers (all forms) it seems.

 

By the way, I was in big trouble on a particular mission where a null drone was blocking the ONLY door which lead to the elevator, I couldn't hack it, it wouldn't move and I haven't any guns. So I went stunning every guard in the level to find a weapon and luckily manage to find an EMP. It was really frustrating that I couldn't do anything even if it was my fault that I didn't bring any gun...

[driveme]

I tried that yesterday and it for sure didn't work. Did not even get an attack icon over its 'head' like guards do. That was with both a Neural and Volt Disruptor handy. Both 1 armor piercing.

 

When your agent stands next to a drone you can use a neural disruptor on it, by clicking on the disruptor in your inventory (same as you would use other items like the serative), after that you should have an icon at the drone that says deal 3 or 2 KO dmg, click it and you will send the drone sleeping.

 

I don´t know if this is a glitch or intended, because drones are supposed to be immune to KO dmg.

[obliviondoll]

I had an unarmoured null drone aiming at Shalem 11.

 

Decided that it was worth seeing if Banks could save him by using her disrupter.

 

Moved over, and got no attack prompt.

 

My immediate thought wasn't "I guess I can't use it", I instead though "that's probably linked to the inability to melee reaction drones" and clicked the disrupter. Sure enough, I got an icon to click which would let me disrupt the drone.

 

KO for 3 turns with a standard disrupter, too. Added an extra +1 to the KO timer for no apparent reason.

[Yarrr]

Haven't tried on Null drones yet. Was one of the other ones. Obake or something. Can't remember. And yes I tried with clicking. No dice. That might have been an issue with me holding both Neural and Volt disruptors. But I tried dropping each one and then attacking. Still no dice.

Turn after my Volt disappeared from inventory too. Don't understand how that happened. Still need to file a bug report about that.

[the truthseeker]

Haven't tried on Null drones yet. Was one of the other ones. Obake or something. Can't remember. And yes I tried with clicking. No dice. That might have been an issue with me holding both Neural and Volt disruptors. But I tried dropping each one and then attacking. Still no dice.

Turn after my Volt disappeared from inventory too. Don't understand how that happened. Still need to file a bug report about that.

That is exterminator level buggy as if the item itself went corrupt. 

[Sunswords]

Just adding my experience to this thread, Shock Traps work wonders against drones - they actually kill the drones when they attempt to open the trapped door (I used a Shock Trap III).

 

Oddly, there was a guard in the blast zone standing next to a cluster of 3 drones when this happened - he died as well (I cannot verify this, but his body was in a pile with another drone). I walked into the room and found his corpse.

[Joopac]

Just adding my experience to this thread, Shock Traps work wonders against drones - they actually kill the drones when they attempt to open the trapped door (I used a Shock Trap III).

Oddly, there was a guard in the blast zone standing next to a cluster of 3 drones when this happened - he died as well (I cannot verify this, but his body was in a pile with another drone). I walked into the room and found his corpse.

The same happened to me! When I activated shock trap with my agent, a guard just died and the alarm level went up to make things complicated! This never happened before the first update I think.

Also, Obake drone Mk. 2 would not die, showing "shock immune" message. This was strange, too, because before I remember killing Akuma drone with shock trap, which has a better armor. This is why I am always confused about drone mechanics... Last time I tried to taser a drone with an advanced version of it but it would not work, but then the other time it would stun them. Weird...

[the truthseeker]

The same happened to me! When I activated shock trap with my agent, a guard just died and the alarm level went up to make things complicated! This never happened before the first update I think.

Also, Obake drone Mk. 2 would not die, showing "shock immune" message. This was strange, too, because before I remember killing Akuma drone with shock trap, which has a better armor. This is why I am always confused about drone mechanics... Last time I tried to taser a drone with an advanced version of it but it would not work, but then the other time it would stun them. Weird...

I thought the Mk2 implied they were hard-wired against Shock/EMP-like items but now I do not know....

[obliviondoll]

There's a thread on the Steam forum about shock traps killing guards when they hit a drone. I suspect the drone's presence might be turning the shock damage lethal for everything. Possible a nasty problem in some situations...

[Bahger]

I encountered null drones in a Vault mission for the first time and was completely baffled, even though I had Shalem and Deckard had a gun.  How do you draw them out and shoot them?  If you get in their LOS they will shoot you first.  And is it true that you cannot hack the laser gates in a vault with null drones until you have killed all the drones?  Apart from guns, what gadgets should I try to get in Nanofab missions that will help me with drones?  Many thanks.

[jimwinsor]

I just tried using Volt Disruptors and EMP on drones, and both failed to have any effect (even clicking on the Volt Disruptor brought up no targeting option). I lost the final mission as a result.

 

The jury here in this thread seems split on the effectiveness of VDs vs drones, but from what I've been reading here, the EMP bomb should have worked. I tried using on two drones (including a Null drone) in the blast radius, but on the other side of a wall. Should the wall have mattered? Logically I would think not, as electromagnetic pulses wouldn't be blocked by drywall. But there you have it.

 

There needs to be a massive amount of clarification from the designers on this issue.

[J20hawkz]

I just tried using Volt Disruptors and EMP on drones, and both failed to have any effect (even clicking on the Volt Disruptor brought up no targeting option). I lost the final mission as a result.

The jury here in this thread seems split on the effectiveness of VDs vs drones, but from what I've been reading here, the EMP bomb should have worked. I tried using on two drones (including a Null drone) in the blast radius, but on the other side of a wall. Should the wall have mattered? Logically I would think not, as electromagnetic pulses wouldn't be blocked by drywall. But there you have it.

There needs to be a massive amount of clarification from the designers on this issue.

I've used an EMP through a wall to disable a turret and two safes. I'm too scared to do any missions that involve drones now.

Just as I'm scared to befriend rocklobsters.

[the truthseeker]

Every time I find a new way to deal with drones, it no longer works. Maybe i'll quit playing until Tuesday and figure out what's changed first....

[Galdred]

You might have problems with EMP against drones because EMP3 is currently bugged : it displays a range of 7(?) when you arm it, but only affects things on a 3 tiles radius when it detonates (and behaves as EMP1).

I have found EMP, and armor piercing weapons to be very effective against drones (and turning them against each other). I usually don't care much about the guards hunting for me afterwards, as drone heavy levels usually feature few guards(and even fewer with heavy armor or vision augmentation).

[jimwinsor]

You might have problems with EMP against drones because EMP3 is currently bugged : it displays a range of 7(?) when you arm it, but only affects things on a 3 tiles radius when it detonates (and behaves as EMP1).

 

 

Yep, that must have been my problem! It was an EMP3 placed beyond three tiles. Good to know (for now) ...

[Uberosh]

[i stupid] Try don't touch a Sankaku Corp. levels. - someone ask me why?

Take answer lol: (And this just not one screenshot - l have 36 situations....)

THAT A EXPERT DIFFICULTY.....

• Game don't get you end level
• You don't buy gun because, GREEEEEED!
• Inventory slots - greed?

Sorry for russian lang...l lazy to cut this :3

[Sunswords]

Just wanted to add to this thread - as of the latest update patch:

1. Shock traps no longer disable drones
2. Neural disrupters no longer stun drones (they indicated the said tasers for 'brain disruption').

Time to update my agents inventory with EMP packs and Volt Disrupters III

[Yarrr]

On the flipside, a hacked drone now has 1 turn it spends rebooting after being hacked. This does seem to alert guards in the same way a dead or unconscious body does. And I do believe it puts drones into hunting mode as well, which is a mixed blessing.

I'm loving and hating the new camera drones. Loving because they give me an extra party member to scout the floor with, hating because I'm still learning how to deal with them. Their sightrange is annoyingly big, and I do believe they alert guards as well. Have not really tested it, but it seems every step you take in their vision cone raises the alarm by 2 as well. Or I may be misremembering and I stepped into a Hidden spot there somewhere trying to get away.

[Goatboy881]

running with parasite and fusion always helped me move around them and hack them at the right time to take out guards. However every level I've visited with drones also have laser walls. if you hack the lasers and hack drone you can put the drone in the laser wall to either stun them for a turn or kill them. If your lucky as well you can limit their patrol patterns by switching the lasers on and off when needed to pen them in.

 

Alternatively you could just buy "Ping" and lure them away. I find thats cheaper then trying to buy emp packs.

[jimwinsor]

Does Ping work on drones? I've always assumed no, since they have no hearing ...