What;s the deal with Drones?

[Puck]

I'm loosing drones right and left in the main lately.  They suddenly (for no apparent reason) will fall WAY back and self destruct.  This is after 30 minutes of steady cruising with no problems.

It's worse if I try to make a turn.  They'll make the turn fine, line up on the new course, then fall WAY back and self destruct.  I'm having to do all kinds of gymnastics with the throttle and autopilot to get them to come back.  Half the time they'll catch up, pass me, then fall WAY back and self destruct.

Anyone else seeing a pattern here?  Something about falling WAY back and self destructing?

HT, please tell me this is on your bomber tweak list, along with a dot command for lateral seperation  

[Shiva]

I'm having to do all kinds of gymnastics with the throttle and autopilot to get them to come back.

I've found that the drone planes mirror your throttle settings, so chopping throttle doesn't help them catch up. What seems to work best to get the drones to catch up is porpoising -- pulling up into a climb, then levelling out, then pulling up again, then levelling out. The drones seem to respond to altitude changes by returning to formation better than they respond to anything else.

Except for Lancaster drones. Whoever they've got flying those birds are about as sharp as a bag of marbles.

[Saintaw]

They do not seem to respond to rudder input either. A quick way for you to loose speed. I've never experienced this problem myself... perhaps you are a bit hard on those poor knuckeheads driving with you? .. Make sure you turn gently. (Or might this be a Switch to TCP mystery again???)

[Puck]

Originally posted by Shiva

Except for Lancaster drones. Whoever they've got flying those birds are about as sharp as a bag of marbles.

Naturally Lancs are where I'm having my problems.  I think they have Rooks flying the Lanc drones  

If you set auto-pilot level and chop the throttle the stragglers will catch up, but if you don't time it right they'll pass you, then immediatly fall back and blow up.

The most dangerous thing you can do in a lanc is change your .speed setting.  This seems to be the trigger that looses the drones.

[poopster]

The problem I'm having with drones is that there loitering in front of my house...

Twenty or thirty of them just walking around bumping into each other..

And when I tell them to move along, go somewhere else...

The just look at me..with that blank look...

It was all a bunch of fun the first couple of days. Making wise cracks at them while sitting on a lawn chair out in front...

Tossed basketballs at them for a while...

Hits them in the nogin, bounces away as they try to comprehend what is going on..

almost had them trained to bring the balls back..

But it gets old..

Really, something must be done...

something HAS to be done..