Correct.semiliterate wrote:MARS problems: Goblins are not offensive creatures. nor is a single IRE enough to stop a capital ship, no matter how many Goblins are carrying them. nor, i suspect, will Goblins work so well OOS. the key issue is that the logic for Goblins is advanced but ultimately specialised to draw targets inwards. also correct me if i'm wrong but a zig-zag, the Goblin's main evasive strategy, is a little poor OOS.
They are not designed as an offensive weapon and MARS (automatically) never uses them as such.
The simple reason:
They would be too good.
About 50 Mk2 are the firepower equivalent of a full blown M2...
This would radically unbalance the game and MARS was designed to make fights more interesting - not as a contest of who can launch more drones.
So they are used tactically and not as zerglings.
That said, MARS Goblins (up to 12 for a huge ship) can be launched manually as a hit squad.
And yes, combined arms do work very well.
Like, lead with 2 regulars to quickly engage the enemy (fighter), followed by 4+ Mk2 to finish it off.
The Mk1 will lure the fighter straight into the swarm of slower Mk2. Normally the Mk2 couldn't catch an M4 but with a little help from their little friends...
OOS they would lose the benefit of their drunken monkey flight style so they automatically RTB when OOS. It would be pointless.
Drones can be deployed normally OOS and Mk2 aren't too shabby.
Of course there will be losses. They are drones after all.
But a single ship can only shoot one drone per turn so if one is destroyed every turn, 20 drones will get a total of 200 attacks over the course of 20 rounds...