I thought exactly the same thing, Flak.The 1st thing I did was re-install AH 1.071 from scratch using AH1071.exe full install and not the patched version.I'm afraid there were still NO drones.
Btw, I have a dual-boot system (WinMe & Win2k).I normally play AH on WinMe, so I thought it may be something specific with WinMe registry, so I tried a brand new install of AH 1.071 as well as playing the patched version under Win2k.Guess what? No bloody difference.The no drones prob exists for me under Windows 2000 as well - whether I'm using a patched AH or a full install of the latest version.
After being away from AH for 2 weeks, I suspect my gunnery has gone sour.I'd have loved to have got a few hours practicing my gunnery offline before jumping in to the MA.However, by the sounds of it Dale has suffered a family tragedy, so I can't see this bug being fixed in the immediate future.With his situation, I can't see hunting for a bug that only affects a handful of people (that we know of) as a big priority, and that's totally understandable.
Btw, I installed my new GF 2Pro in case it was a video card (or driver) problem, and still no joy.I didn't really expect it would fix my problem, but I was hoping against hope it might.