Whats going on?

PvE Gameplay Center PvE Ships & Modules
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Ive been running level 4s for a while in a Gila without any real issues but today I have had full room de-agro me and start shooting my drones. Its never happened before, some NPCs yeh, but the whole room?

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Was it exciting?

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not really

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Have you tried pulling your drones in and putting them out again? Considered using agressive modules on your ship against the NPCs?

I’ve heard some voodoo about exiting your ship in space for a minute, which could reset drone aggro. I never had a chance of trying it myself, as I never rat and thus have never had this issue.

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Okay, so different rats can have different A.I.'s, so aggro can work differently depending on the rat. Anyway, things that can affect agro is:

  • Who lands on grid/moves first - Initial room agro
  • Proximity - if you are out of their damage range, they will be inclined to switch to a closer player or your drones
  • DPS - The more DPS you do, the higher you’ll move up on the agro table. This can move you higher than other players and your own drones.
  • Ewar - Ewar modules (including the autotargeter for some reason) will also help to move you up on the table. This is why many PvE drone boats will fit an autotargeter.
  • Logi - Remote reps, remote cap transfers, and possibly other beneficial mods (i.e. ReSeBo’s and Tracking Links) can also move you up on the agro table. This applies to normal logi ships and spider tanked ships. Thus, one advantage of spider tanking is that your drones will be far less likely to get agro.
  • Player separated from fleet - Doesn’t matter for you, but included for the sake of completeness. Anyway, players who are separated from the fleet have a increased chance of drawing new spawn agro. If more than one player is separated from the fleet, they seem to favor the closer one.
  • Remaining EHP- (One of my theories) At least when it comes to drones, it seems like rats will prefer to target those that already have armor or structure damage.
  • Inability to break tank- This is another one of my theories, but it is difficult to confirm because rats will periodically switch targets on their own. So, take it with a grain of salt. Regardless, I have a suspicion that rats seem to know when they can no longer break a tank due to DPS being cleared from the field, and will switch targets to another ship with a weaker tank. I say this based upon my experience multiboxing with different ships at the same time (i.e. DPS + Logi, or DPS + Drone Boat).

Anyway, you’ll have some long ass reloads if you have RLML’s fitted, and you don’t have a utility high for fitting an autotargeter. Thus, my best advice for keeping agro off of your drones is to try to stay within damage range of the rats in order to keep them keen. You should also keep an eye on your drone health, so that you can pull them in if needed. Webbing rats should also be a higher priority. They not only increase damage application to your drones, but will make them putter back when your recall them. Also, try to draw initial room agro before pooping out your drones.

Oh, I’ve also heard about the eject from your ship vodoo, but I’ve never tried it or seen it done.

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