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I just started my first game with the Torus and I don't understand why I can't power up my drone system (which seems to be the only way to deal damage).

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I would expect that I could simply click on the drone system symbol and it would be powered up. But nothing happens.

What am I missing here?

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4 Answers 4

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It says "Combat I" which is an attacking drone. There's no hostile ship to attack, so the game won't let you use it.

But! If you were in an asteroid field, you could deploy Defense drones:

def 1 drone def 2 drone

If you've got uninvited visitors on your ship, deploy an Anti-personnel drone:

anti-pers drone

Even in a safe zone you can use a Hull Repair and System Repair drones:

hull repair drone icon sys repair

There are more drone types in Advanced Edition that you can use in various situations.

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  • This is a much more thorough answer.
    – jfa
    Apr 17, 2014 at 0:36
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Its because you are not in combat. Its pointless to launch a combat drone when there is no hostile ships there.

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    To add, every time you use a drone it takes a drone part away from your inventory so it doesn't allow you to essentially waste one.
    – Mkalafut
    Apr 16, 2014 at 20:25
  • @Mkalafut It let me deploy a defense drone on calm yesterday, so it does allow you to waste drones, just not like this.
    – Darkhogg
    Apr 16, 2014 at 22:18
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    Defense drones do serve a purpose against asteroid fields, however, so it appears that only half the logic made it in: combat drones ONLY when there's a hostile ship and defense drones anytime (instead of just when there is an impending danger).
    – hexparrot
    Apr 16, 2014 at 22:56
  • Can you actually power drones by clicking the drone system icon? I was under the impression you had to click on the drone itself.
    – Chris Hayes
    Apr 16, 2014 at 23:48
  • I should have clarified between attack and defense drones, but yes good call.
    – Mkalafut
    Apr 17, 2014 at 11:40
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Attack drones, such as the combat drone, can only be used during combat. Since they only last for one encounter, using one outside of combat would just waste drone parts.

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Drone System cannot be powered up itself, but the drones you deploy. So you have to save some energy to deploy the drones when necessary. So you cannot keep a Drone System powered up all the time. Each time you jump the drones get reset.

It will consume a drone part for each drone you deploy, so it is recommended to power/deploy the drone only when needed.

In this case, the game doesn't allow you to deploy an Attack Drone because you are not in combat.

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  • Certain drones do stay powered after a jump - repair drones and anti-personnel drones in particular. It would be possible to leave your drone system powered all the time that way, though I've never seen the point of doing so.
    – Brilliand
    Apr 17, 2014 at 21:15
  • @@Brilliand Good point
    – SysDragon
    Apr 17, 2014 at 21:17

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