How to make quite likely the most efficient armour in version 0.3.1

Overview

A guide for how to make the T H I C C E S T drone for battle in version 0.3.1

Introduction

Well welcome to version 0.3.1! A lot has changed since the last guide, so lets get into it. Me and my friends have found new ways of making your drone excessively thicc, taking into account drone budget, space and resistance. Although, with the change of the maximum tier going from T5 to T4 a greater numerical limitation has been imposed upon us which has changed the meta of the game as you’ll later find out.

As with the other guide, I’d like preface this information with a couple things:

Originally posted by Krana is stored in the Bohrok:

• This is, of course, in an early build of the game so if you spend ages building a drone which then breaks in a future update then don’t blame me!
• There are a few things in this guide which have broken the game in my experience, and as such for the sake of mine, your and everyone else’s enjoyment I implore you to at the very least read every section in bold

The most efficient armour piece

In version 3.1 most of the armour pieces have been significantly nerfed in an effort to reduce the impact of armour spam, so now the most efficient armour piece is drastically different from the SPEISD 3×1.

The SPUX-67 has the best durability : budget of 1.5 in this version, with a durability : budget : volume of 0.375. However, it has an issue in that every piece only contributes 3 durability each. This means drones which solely use this armour will be massive, even with the reduction to T4.

Although the SPUX-77 has a durability : budget of 1.33 and a consequent durability : budget : volume of 0.33, it contributes almost triple the amount of durability per piece, meaning drones can be significantly more compact than were you to use the SPUX-67.

From this, we would suggest that, similarly to the last design, you make front-facing horizontal 1×1 lines of blocks, with each side covered in the SPUX-77. With this design you minimise the amount of blocks necessary to place armour, allowing you to build with a durability : budget of 1.29 (36 durability for 28 budget). As with in the last version, we also recommend the DICE-DO1 2×1 and the BRIK-100 1×1 where the SPUX-77 won’t fit.

The extreme of this design

Thankfully, the fact that this armour design uses around three times fewer pieces than the last one, combined with the patch reducing the lag in custom drone battles, means that we no longer crash servers with such big drones.
However, while the update has solved this problem it has brought another with the balancing: tanky drones like this are no longer the META. With the armour nerfs and reduction to T4, the maximum resistance has gone from around 11.6k to only 6.5k while the maximum offensive capability of everyone has stayed the same. as a result, “sacrificing everything for pure durability no longer makes you an immortal monster, but just a mildly-tanky, fat free-kill”.

From here, we had to find an alternative solution:

The actual most efficient armour piece

In our quest for efficiency, we came across the glider section in the movement tab and there we found the STRYKER 800.
The glider has an even better durability : budget of 1.8 and while it takes up a lot of space, its the equivalent of 56.25 SPUX-77 armour pieces. This makes drones a lot more compact and leaves more room for movement pieces and systems. Though one would assume so, gliders have not been fully implemented and have no bearing on flight stats, effectively functioning as massive stores of resistance.

From this, we would suggest that, for the highest efficacy, you place the STRYKER 800s on an isosceles triangular prism. The build limit of STRYKER 800s is 6, so the triangle being to STRYKERs long gives the greatest density with the least wasted space, as shown here. (this will be asymetrical unless the shift centre option is used). After that, build around the centre with the 1×1 lines of blocks covered in SPUX-77, also making space for movement pieces which you will need and again using the DICE-DO1 2×1 and the BRIK-100 1×1 where necessary.

Not including the blocks required to connect two of these units, three STRYKER 800s placed in this fashion will give a whopping durability : budget of 1.78 (1,374 durability for 774 budget).

The best movement piece

Because being a slow tank is no longer a viable strategy, we also had to find the best method of movement, this being the Thunderboost T-500. We didn’t use any hovers becuase they tended to be worse, both in terms of power and top speed.

The T-500 is superior to its cousin the T-1000 because while the latter has a higher power, it has a worse power : budget. The T-500 has one of 0.83, while the T-1000 has one of 0.76.
The shadowfly has the highest power : budget of over 1.00, but it has a top speed of only 32 rather than 40.

Therefore it would be advisable to solely use the Thunderboost T-500 for movement.

What to do with this information: function over form.

With this new doctrine appropraite for version 0.3.1, my friend made this drone.
It has around 2.5k less durability, but is significantly faster and therefore better in practice than the pure tube design above. However, I decided to go in a different direction…

What to do with this information: form over function.

Hover + Wing Design
My drone is slightly heavier and slower, but I decided to construct it with a smaller front profile in mind at the cost of making it longer. Additionally I obviously decided to put aesthetics over numbers somewhat. While in a head-to-head battle this would certainly lose against my friend’s design I like mine ’cause it looks cool.

Plus I was able to somehow get this score on a game with it.

Wing-Only Design
This drone is slightly faster and approximately the same weight as the one above. It has the same weapons a slightly higher durability. The only noticeable difference is that this one has no hover propulsion and solely uses wings and boosters.

This drone has a slightly larger hitbox and front profile than the above due to the large nature of wings in the game. This makes you more likely to get hit but the increased booster power certainly makes up for it.

I was also able to attain similar results to the drone above using the wing-only drone.

Conclusion

The devs have definitely made the game more balanced with the new balancing changes, but that evidently hasn’t stopped us from becoming stupidly armoured. Thankfully, with this new doctrine we won’t crash the game either, so you aren’t really limited with your builds… at least until you reach T4’s budget limit.

Have fun!