22 replies to this topic

[Catalina Steiner]

This is my UAV thread. First of all there is a need for this because all found threads or posts were very "special": very professional or a bit "noobish".

UAV means: "Un-manned Aerial Vehicle"

This is the definition of "UAV": UAV means a flying drone that shows all targets within the UAV range for a short period of time.

You can equip your mech with an UAV. It's a consumable, that means that you have to equip it and it's consumed upon use. If you have used it you have to equip a new one if you want to use it again.


Additional to this thread, PGI has posted some general information and advice for the different UAV variants respectively upgrades.

PGI said:

UAVs - General Info:

- With a UAV module equipped, you can press Insert to launch a UAV into the air, 150 m directly above you. The UAV will automatically target all enemy Mechs that come within its sensor radius; this information will be shared to your team
- A UAV will not launch if there is insufficient clearance above you
- The UAV can target Mechs that are shielded by ECM and will share this with your team
- Like other shared enemy information, friendly Mechs blocked by ECM will not be able to receive this
- A UAV will be destroyed after taking a cumulative 10 damage. The UAV will self-destruct after being in the air for a certain length of time
- Destroying an enemy UAV is worth 50 XP


Consumable Module: UAV



- Automatically unlocked
- 40,000 C-Bills
- Hovers for 45 seconds before self-destructing
- Detects enemies up to 240 m away
- Can be detected and targeted by enemies within 180 m
- Consumed upon use


Consumable Module: Advanced UAV



- Automatically unlocked
- 15 MC
- Hovers for 60 seconds before self-destructing
- Detects enemies up to 240 m away
- Can be detected and targeted by enemies within 180 m
- Consumed upon use


Upgrade Module: Improved UAV



- 15,000 GXP to unlock
- Upgrades the UAV module
- Increases the UAV's hover time by 15 seconds (60 seconds total)
- Does not need to be equipped to a BattleMech


Upgrade Module: UAV Upgrade



- 15,000 GXP to unlock
- Increases the sensor range of all your UAVs by 25%
- Does not need to be equipped to a BattleMech

(Pictures taken and inserted from new UI 2.0 by myself)


Now I want to show you how UAV really works. Today I had luck. I took some screenshots from a great UAV scenario at Crimson Strait (click screenshots to enlarge).



You can see the blue light above the enemy mechs, this is the UAV drone (open the hidden screenshot for a better view with arrows). It's now possible to target nearly all enemy mechs, disregarding the fact that they are hidden or simply not in sight for any friendly mech.

Spoiler

This is the battlegrid screenshot where you can watch lots of enemies now due to the UAV (open the hidden screenshot with a marking for the UAV).

Spoiler

This is a video where a player activates an UAV.
It's launched right above him and it happens at 3:05 minutes of the vid.




My thread needs an addition of the rewarded XP or C-Bills per UAV launch. Please don't post any thoughts but facts (maybe with a PGI link).

Edited by Catalina Steiner, 27 May 2014 - 03:50 PM.

[Arnold J Rimmer]

UAV Detection bonuses are given after a unique contact (not already discovered by another friendly UAV) has been detected for 5 seconds. Each one gives 500 c-bills and 25 XP.

UAV Assists are given as soon as a friendly mech hits an enemy to whom they either have no LOS or are out of normal radar range, for 2100 c-b and 25XP.

Counter-ECM bonuses (still bothers me it's not ECCM...) are given after 5 seconds of an ECM-equipped enemy being revealed by your UAV, and give 1500 c-b and 25 XP.

UAV's are liable to being shot down. If you nail an enemy UAV, you get 50 XP.

I'll edit this post if I'm wrong

EDIT: had to edit the Assist.

Edited Edit: aaaand the C-ECM.

Above values tested in-game.

Edited by Arnold J Rimmer, 14 January 2014 - 03:57 PM.

[Victor Morson]

Just a reminder that the UAV is great to rank up 'mechs with, in particular otherwise hard to rank 'mechs like Locusts.

[luxebo]

Cool, thanks for another guide Catalina Steiner. I do want to learn about consumables, as I've never really used any. I see what they look like, but I'm not sure how to activate some and stuff like that as I never bothered to get them for cash.

[Buckminster]

Any chance we could get a screenshot of an after-match screen, showing UAV bonuses?

[IraqiWalker]

Arnold J Rimmer, on 14 January 2014 - 01:55 PM, said:

Counter-ECM bonuses (still bothers me it's not ECCM...) are given after 5 seconds of an ECM-equipped enemy being revealed by your UAV, and give 1500 c-b and 25 XP.

Same here my friend, same here.

[Arnold J Rimmer]

Buckminster, on 14 January 2014 - 06:50 PM, said:

Any chance we could get a screenshot of an after-match screen, showing UAV bonuses?

I was going to add one to my post, but it didn't tell you how many bonuses you received, only the total reward. I thought it would have been of limited use. I'll get one up later this evening, though, for thoroughness

[Koniving]

Catalina Steiner, on 14 January 2014 - 12:16 PM, said:

Now I want to show you how UAV really works. Today I had luck. I took some screenshots from a great UAV scenario at Crimson Strait (click screenshots to enlarge).

Good stuff so far.

I'd like to mention that all spotted mechs happen to be within a line of sight radius of the UAV. Notice that not a single target is underneath the platform -- if there were, they would remain undetected.

*References a past post.*

Koniving, on 11 January 2014 - 04:29 PM, said:

Choppah, on 11 January 2014 - 02:28 PM, said:

Does UAV require LOS for target detection and counter-ECM?

I was on the upper platform of Crimson Straight when I launched a UAV. I could not see any enemies on the min-map, but I did get credit for UAV target detection. There clearly was a battle going on below me. Perhaps there were multiple ECM equipped mechs, but that doesn't explain why I got credit for UAV detections.

Explained in past pages but will answer this again: The UAV counts as a "Player" in its own right. To detect, it requires line of sight (it is looking directly below itself) and its LoS can be blocked by bridges, debris, allies, enemies, etc. It does not require counter ECM as it does ~Not~ use sensors. It is literally a visual camera. However, just because it does not use sensors to get information is not an implication that it is impervious to ECM jamming of its communications relay. An ECM mech within 180 meters of the actual UAV can jam its communications, blocking 100% of signals from it

An ECM mech, however, cannot 'hide' from a UAV using electronic means. Like any other mech, it must use a visual means of camouflage by hiding from plain sight.

Feel free to test. Alpine Peaks is a great place to jam UAVs by synchdropping to opposite sides and launching the drone from a low point next to a high hill with an ECM mech up high.

Anything above the UAV, ECM or not, is undetectable. Anything standing beside the UAV, undetectable. Anything under an obstacle between the UAV and the target, undetectable -- including a friendly assault mech standing on an enemy light mech will block detection. Interesting notes:

UAV appears to have 302 meters radius of detection. A mech must be 303 meters away to stop detection. "Waiting" at 301 was done to test and see if there was a delay. There is not. Though this could be related to body/leg shape as a Raven was used in the test and the distance from the cockpit isn't the same as distance from the mech.

UAV detection is obstructed by the invisible 'walls' on the pillars of Tourmaline. These invisible walls are the simplified collision meshes for the pillars and as such cannot perfectly match the shape of the real deal. They are known to block bullets, but also block UAV sight. (Truth be told, these occasionally block player sensors, too. So this was expected.)

The UAV is encoded in a way similar to the Testing Grounds "No pilot mechs." They essentially have player-style detection abilities with a modification to ignore ECM "masking" which is not the same as ECM "jamming." This is to say masking prevents a mech from being detected. Jamming prevents the jammed target from communicating detection data (low signal).

UAV has a limited amount of health. It has no self-defense capabilities. It will always launch a specific distance above the cockpit of the mech who deployed it. Thus, taller cockpits can launch it higher than shorter ones simply because the taller cockpit is already higher in the air. Using jumpjets prior to launching one will put the UAV higher in the air.

Special note: UAV detection radius appears to be 300 meters (note: Maxed level UAV). UAV detection range does not appear to have a limit; highest test so far was launching from approximately 600 meters above detection target. The UAV tends to leap an additional 250 or so meters into the air. Still detected the target. Found this interesting, as it'd put UAV detection distance as beyond a player's ability.

Disclaimer: Testing conducted in May and June, 2013 and as such some changes may have occurred between then and now. Be aware, as Testing Grounds does not apply unlocked skills, results of testing grounds versus live server are very different. Tests conducted on live servers.

[Arnold J Rimmer]

I would say I've never seen a UAV's communication be jammed by ECM. I've launched them over the heads of enemy -D-DC's and they've still relayed information to my team. The only thing I'd say is if your mech is within 180m of an enemy ECM, you won't receive information from a UAV, wherever it is. The information is transmitted regardless.

[Victor Morson]

Koniving, on 15 January 2014 - 07:49 AM, said:

UAV has a limited amount of health. It has no self-defense capabilities. It will always launch a specific distance above the cockpit of the mech who deployed it. Thus, taller cockpits can launch it higher than shorter ones simply because the taller cockpit is already higher in the air. Using jumpjets prior to launching one will put the UAV higher in the air.

I do this all the time - it's definitely worth it.

If you find yourself on Tourmaline Desert or something, try to launch one from a peak after jumping and it will be so high up that only people 1200+ away can shoot at it.

[Fang01]

Koniving, on 15 January 2014 - 07:49 AM, said:

Using jumpjets prior to launching one will put the UAV higher in the air.

And THIS is where the Spider 5V really shines. with 12 jumpjets you can boost your recon platform to double the regular height or more and make an enemy shootdown MUCH more difficult.

[Koniving]

Arnold J Rimmer, on 15 January 2014 - 11:39 AM, said:

I would say I've never seen a UAV's communication be jammed by ECM. I've launched them over the heads of enemy -D-DC's and they've still relayed information to my team. The only thing I'd say is if your mech is within 180m of an enemy ECM, you won't receive information from a UAV, wherever it is. The information is transmitted regardless.

Typically, the UAV is launched somewhere between 300 and 400 meters into the air above the mech [can't recall the exact height] (+ or - up to the height difference between different mechs launching it depending on the mech's height; the focal point that the UAV is launched from is the cockpit's elevation).

So, most of the time an ECM is never going to get close enough to the UAV. Only reason we noticed it was launching it at the bottom of a hill to detect things on top. Nothing could be detected, and we found the disruption icons on the UAV.

[Deathlike]

When it works, it works well. Usually UAV deployments are followed by massive missile volleys incoming to some target. This is usually the hint to look up in the air and see if there's a UAV within the vicinity.

What tends to happen is most people try to get cover instead of shooting down the UAV. That is not optimal since the UAV's placement will allow it to still see you (it's above you, negating cover from short building/low hills). Also, weapon placement of lasers (ideally) in the arm is key because most mech torsos won't fire high enough to take them down.

[Deathlike]

Arnold J Rimmer, on 15 January 2014 - 05:02 AM, said:

I was going to add one to my post, but it didn't tell you how many bonuses you received, only the total reward. I thought it would have been of limited use. I'll get one up later this evening, though, for thoroughness

The math is actually simple although the game "should" be able to give you this info (PGI, please add them to the list of tracked bonuses). It's simply worth the C-bill->XP conversion, but still requires exceptional placement of the UAV to maximize on the rewards. There is an actual launching "height" requirement because the UAV will refuse to deploy if there's a "low ceiling".

[Koniving]

Deathlike, on 15 January 2014 - 09:36 PM, said:

When it works, it works well. Usually UAV deployments are followed by massive missile volleys incoming to some target. This is usually the hint to look up in the air and see if there's a UAV within the vicinity.

What tends to happen is most people try to get cover instead of shooting down the UAV. That is not optimal since the UAV's placement will allow it to still see you (it's above you, negating cover from short building/low hills). Also, weapon placement of lasers (ideally) in the arm is key because most mech torsos won't fire high enough to take them down.

First time I encountered a UAV it was deployed by a suicidal Raven 4X who leaped into the air as he launched a UAV between 12 of us. Within seconds, an entire premade of LRM boats was firing. We lost two players within seconds. I found myself under fire, and I tried the usual tricks. I'm out of line of sight, the raven is gone. I powered down. I called an ECM mech toward me to jam it. "How in the [redacted] are they still hitting me?" It was less than 6 seconds of going through the entire list of tricks and the missiles killed me, going on to take out a total of 5 players including myself.

It wasn't even 2 minutes into the match, yet.

Edited by Koniving, 15 January 2014 - 11:31 PM.

[Sparks Murphey]

And remember, assuming you're using the default key bindings:

You INSert a UAV into the enemy territory to watch for them.
You DELete your heat with a coolant flush.
You call the guys back at HOME base for an artillery strike.
You call for the guys at the END of the runway for an air strike.

Note from the future: This no longer applies, as the keys now refer to specific module slots, not the modules themselves.

Edited by Sparks Murphey, 10 October 2014 - 08:07 PM.

[Alaskan Nobody]

Sparks Murphey, on 15 January 2014 - 11:38 PM, said:

And remember, assuming you're using the default key bindings:

You INSert a UAV into the enemy territory to watch for them.
You DELete your heat with a coolant flush.
You call the guys back at HOME base for an artillery strike.
You call for the guys at the END of the runway for an air strike.

THAT is clever!

[Catalina Steiner]

Video with UAV launch added in post #1.

Edited by Catalina Steiner, 21 May 2014 - 01:01 PM.

[Satan n stuff]

I've seen some spider players jump to max height to release their UAV as high in the air as possible to make it harder to see it and shoot it down, this doesn't seem to affect the UAV's sight range so it might be a useful addition to the guide.
The UAV is supposedly line of sight only so this would give it better area coverage in urban environments, but make it less effective near overhead cover.
I have not personally tested this so I am not sure how exactly the UAV's altitude is determined, maybe someone who uses it frequently would know.

[TheCaptainJZ]

It does have a max visual range so throwing it up high in the sky might not work so well. I forget what the range is.