The draw back is the inability to gain points from the marking action. It is a pure support tool. Yes it gives you access to information but the enemy equally has the same tools it’s not limited to one nation.
A timed flight then a short recharge would provide gaps in intelligence but would benefit solo minded players more. Players who are using it for active scouting are in a support role they can merely relay information they can’t act on it without producing gaps in said information. It would also remove the ability to scout for HE lobbers effectively which is a neat gimmick some players enjoy doing.
Imo the biggest problem with them is their durability. They can take .50s with no problem and even the WZ305’s prox rounds will splash them without killing them. These things should be falling apart with nearly any kinetic impact, not taking hit after hit.
You can jump in and out of your drone constantly. I would say playing with your drone like this would give you more points as you can see the map from above and know where your enemy is at, and what they are doing. If your drone gets shot down, then you just go back to playing like everybody else. That is not a drawback. That intel you praise gives you a huge advantage over the enemy players and I think its a crutch to play this game with a scout drone that can be flown the whole match. Anybody who defends them definitely leans on this mechanic too much. Why not give every player the ability to fly drones? Why limit them to only light tanks? Light tanks seem to be able to kill any tanks at their BR as well as any other. Why do only light tanks have access to such a game breaking tool? If a battery life is placed on your scout drone then its use would be strategic, and you would need to use it at the right time.
Main drawback is being unable to use your vehicle while using the drone.
Because light tanks are scouts and thus get scouting mechanics.
At least in my case, i havent really touched them since the first month they came out. Sure i could get a look at possible enemies around me. But i could usually get the info by using the regular cameras
You have to be out of your drone taking action to gain points from your intel. The only thing that you can do besides is scout or call in artillery.
Your team has equal access to scout drones. There is no nation lock for the ability.
This is like labeling APFSDS a “crutch” compared to HEAT-FS. You should utilize the tools available to you.
Light tanks are more vulnerable to penetrating shots. “Why are light tanks able to scout” because that is their role in real life. We don’t have simulated comms / VOIP so scout drones provide this function ingame.
There isn’t a benefit to staying in the sky constantly unless you’re relaying information over VOIP or marking consistently for your team to engage. Constant camera flicking like you’re playing FNAF is possible, yes, but you’re not taking action while you’re in the drone. You have to play the game at some point if you want to take action on the information.
Adding a timed flight would prevent team scouting yes. It will not prevent players from using it to spot you around a corner. I personally find the dynamic introduced by scouting for your team to be worth the trade off in “balance” that being lack of direct intel.
As a mechanic both teams are able to engage with your argument can only be that you don’t enjoy the gameplay presented from the mechanic. I will have to disagree with you.
I do knock down drones with WZZ305 proxy shell, but it is quirky in it’s hit detection. There are times you you’ll get the puff of black smoke but no hit, but I’ve found that if it’s flying across your path it’s more apt to get a damage hit.
This seems like massive cope, they are really only OP if you have active coms with squadmates or your team. I personally use it to make sure an area is safe to move into or from. Imma be honest, I think there are more important things to do in your SPAA other than lob things at these small nuisances.
If you want realism then the shockwave from those proxy shells in the video posted above would have blown that piece of flying fiberglass to bits. I have shot at and watched these scout drones survive being hit with air to ground missiles. You think these things are realistic? You think tank commanders pop up and just yeet these things out of a hatch out of thin air? Realism in war thunder? Not for a long time. We cannot even get proper immersion with the way Gaijin balances this game.
War Thunder is currently realistic, and just as and more realistic than DCS.
There already is proper immersion; if you don’t feel that, then you have an incorrect view of what realism is, for which I recommend looking it up in the dictionary to start.
Then view videos on “realism vs authenticity” and “realism is not what people think/people don’t know what realism is”.
It is entirely possible to know the range of a drone from the controlling vehicle, and a laser range finder to tell you distance to target.
Granted, they should be hover-drones, but that’s about the only real discrepancy between the game and real life.
We don’t know whether the rounds would fuze because the drone is a small target IRL…
…but, in game, the shells burst but the hit detection is incredibly spotty. I shoot at them with the Begleitswagen and it’s one of the more ammo consuming targets. Even Puma which can lock it takes like half a dozen ‘hits’ to take it down.
