With the recent infantry updates and growing interest in drones, I’m starting a discussion focused on drone counterplay and how it could be implemented in-game.
The goal here is to explore equipment and mechanics that create both play and counterplay, rather than making drones either overpowered or useless.
There are three main approaches to anti-drone systems:
1. SOFT KILL (Electronic Warfare)
Doesn’t destroy the drone, but disrupts or disables it.
Examples:
Anti-drone jammers / EW rifles (“anti-drone guns”)
Signal disruption devices (area-based jamming fields)
GPS spoofing or interference
Possible in-game effects:
Loss of control (drone drifts or lands)
Delayed input or reduced responsiveness
Camera/static interference or temporary blackout
Gameplay role:
Great for area denial and support roles stops drones without outright removing them. Can be avoided but also overcome AKA fiber optic drones or special radio control
2. HARD KILL (Direct Destruction)
Physically destroys the drone using weapons or specialized systems.
Examples:
Small arms with anti-drone ammo types
Shotguns (close-range counter)
Dedicated anti-drone launchers
Directed energy / laser systems (higher-tier concept)
Possible in-game effects:
Immediate destruction on hit
Lock-on or assist mechanics for balance (optional)
Gameplay role:
Fast, direct solution but requires accuracy, positioning, or resource investment. Sometimes up to the skill of the user or requiring a specialized member like a field engineer.
3. PASSIVE DEFENSE (Protection & Denial)
Doesn’t target the drone directly, but reduces its effectiveness.
Examples:
“Cope cages” / overhead protection on vehicles or positions
Deployable nets or mesh structures
Camouflage or concealment systems
Buildable cover that blocks top-down attacks
Possible in-game effects:
Reduced damage from drone strikes
Drones unable to lock or deploy payloads in certain zones
Physical obstruction of drone paths
Gameplay role:
Defensive and strategic rewards preparation and positioning. There is a cost and a good drone pilot can avoid them.
So with the understanding of what drones are and how annoying they are lets find equipment that can be added in game to solve this issue.
If we ever see jammers on tanks/apc, in my opinion the dev should limit time of use to avoid a LDIRCM situation, aka to not create a magic force field around the vehicle that drone cannot enter. For exemple you can middle jammers in a way where prolong use will make the jammers overheat and reduce its efficiency or outright break it if abused.
I disagree. Videos online show that jammers are not force fields, and so they shouldn’t be implemented as such either. They would simply degrade the video feed and possibly drone responsiveness until disconnect a couple meters before impact, forcing you to aim the drone to where the tank is going to be.
It would add a level of close calls which can add to a battle. Drone guns depending on there producer can attempt to hijack the controls and force a landing though that depends on the seller I will find some websites and sellers you can buy one even my local mall has one for security (saw the mall cops training with it a few days ago on a target drone.) There are personal general jammers but some reports say they suck still should be added. Fiber optic drones just go lol nice try so remember that.
Drone jammer guns still would be useful equipment to any anti-air trooper next to there manpad
Overall these devices are very simple in there task they send how high power beam of radio waves 2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz or GPS bands sometimes all at once you can change the frequency to the correct band the drone is operating on. There distance of effect can go up to 4km but that can be hard to physically do and usually is more effective up close. You would need to keep the drone in your sites in order to maintain the interference if the drone falls out the drone may reconnect.
Drones may resist using frequency hopping when one is jammed you fight that by jamming many frequency
Multi-frequency need to jam many frequencies
Fail-safe behavior drone will attempt to flee or retreat on its own
Low probability of intercept harder to find the air waves the drone is on to jam
Drones will use a mix of these to survive long enough to finish there mission
A Good Anti-Drone squad will have a dedicated drone jammer using the gun to pin down the drone. Even if the drone is not fully jammed throwing lots of microwaves and radio waves at it will cause problems like poor connectivity and poor image (static, blurry, image skipping, no color, poor command inputs, black screen) You fully succeed if it crashes under your jam
A spotter/ secondary rifle man they spot drones and prevent you from getting attacked by supporting drones / ground troopers
A gunner will protect you and try to snipe drones using shot guns and anti-drone ammo
A engineer trooper will use structures and set up equipment like anti-drone lasers to support the team
