The Tristan's bandwidth is 25 Mbit/s, allowing it to deploy, at most, five light drones in space at once (they need 5 Mbit/s each), but only if the pilot has trained the Drones skill to level V. (The only exception to this limit is the very rare Guardian-Vexor cruiser.) This means that with high bandwidth you might be able to deploy five heavy or five light drones, while with lower bandwidth you may only be able to put out five of the light ones. However, irrespective of your ship's bandwidth, you can only only have as many drones in space at once as you have levels in the Drones skill which allows up to 5 drones at level V. With the exception of fighters (which are only used by capital ships) and special limited edition drones, a drone's bandwidth requirements (in Mbit/sec) is always the same number as its volume (in m 3). Many ships (and especially dedicated drone ships) can carry many more drones in their drone bays than they can deploy at once this allows them to selectively deploy different types of drones, or to replace drones which are destroyed in combat. Your ship's bandwidth is fixed, and is not affected by skills or modules. You can only deploy as many drones as you have available bandwidth on your ship, and bigger drones require more bandwidth. This is the ship's ability to control drones in space and is measured in Mbit/sec. The other important ship attribute is its "bandwidth". You can only move drones in or out of your drone bay while docked at a station, or by using a ship/structure with fitting service (e.g. While you can carry drones in your cargo bay, you can only use them if they are in the drone bay.
Only drones can be carried in a drone bay it cannot be used to carry other cargo. The size of your ship's drone bay is fixed and cannot be enlarged using modules or skills. The Tristan has a 40 m 3 drone bay, which means it can carry up to eight light drones (which take up 5 m 3 each), or four medium drones (10 m 3 each), or a combination of the two (e.g. On the other hand, drones need to travel to their targets before applying their damage, and they can be destroyed by enemy fire. In addition, there are drones for specialized uses: such as mining, electronic warfare, and logistics.Ĭompared to the other combat weapons systems in EVE, drones provide a great deal of flexibility. While most drones are used as support, some ships use drones as their primary way of dealing damage. All four races use drones to a greater or lesser degree, so many ships, especially larger ships, will have drone capabilities. Weapon Systemsĭrones are semi-autonomous vehicles launched from ships and designed to augment the launching ship's capabilities. If you are looking for ships that carry drones, see Drone Capable Ships.
For a detailed discussion of the use of drones, including PvP and PvE tactics, see Drone mechanics. This article describes the various kinds of drones and explains how they work.