Strange Discovery

[MaRcuSTheDAWG]

What I meant to do in Research Drydock 80, was to find the strange outpost near the station, but I entered the other Z-space instead. Anyways.
I found a large, black ship, with strange bulbs on the end. I entered, breaking into the thing, I also found a strange machine.



This little guy is interesting, when I wandered around, they did not react. They just stood there. However, when I entered the main room, and touched one of the servers, everything seemed to start up. The little machine starting scurrying around. They, however, were docile. They just wandered about, unaware of my presence. When the servers powered up, this must have triggered a power surge, killing me. The robots appear to be the Syndicate variants of Guardbuddies, they roam around, and open doors.

[UrsulaMejor]

that's the Z drone, the culmination of project Iridium, complete with electrical surge weaponry and plasma coffee pot

[BaneOfGiygas]

[sarcasm]that's the Z drone, the culmination of project Iridium, complete with electrical surge weaponry and plasma coffee pot[/sarcasm]

This is already pretty common knowledge to some folks, but if you're still wondering what the deal is, consider the following.

It's a big black ship with bulbs on the end. It has the Syndicate's mitts all over it. And there's no human life to be found. So what other things float around in space that are ominous, owned by the Syndicate, and have weird bulbs on the end?

[UrsulaMejor]

my post wasn't the slightest bit sarcastic, don't misquote me you nerd

[Telegnats]

If you think that's strange, I wonder what you'll think when you see the REDACTED circle in the depths of the REDACTED

[MaRcuSTheDAWG]

that's the Z drone, the culmination of project Iridium, complete with electrical surge weaponry and plasma coffee pot

Interesting! How did you get that information?

[UrsulaMejor]

there's a telescience area that will take you to a syndicate drone factory with lots of info on how the syndicate death bots were manufactured

[BaneOfGiygas]

Sorry, the "plasma coffee pot" thing made me think that you were joking, and I personally haven't investigated the place too thoroughly. My bad!

Also, another little tidbit: There's an X-Drone, and there's a Z-Drone...so what about the Y-Drone? Well, there is one kicking around, and you can actually fight it! It takes a rather convoluted process to summon it, but summoning and destroying it will net you a fancy iridium plate, which can presumably be used for material smelting shenanigans. Also it drops another thing which tends to be the actual reason why people fight it. Careful, though. It's big, nasty, and armed to the teeth with all sorts of weird shit. Bring guns, bring friends, bring welders.

[MaRcuSTheDAWG]

Sorry, the "plasma coffee pot" thing made me think that you were joking, and I personally haven't investigated the place too thoroughly. My bad!

Also, another little tidbit: There's an X-Drone, and there's a Z-Drone...so what about the Y-Drone? Well, there is one kicking around, and you can actually fight it! It takes a rather convoluted process to summon it, but summoning and destroying it will net you a fancy iridium plate, which can presumably be used for material smelting shenanigans. Also it drops another thing which tends to be the actual reason why people fight it. Careful, though. It's big, nasty, and armed to the teeth with all sorts of weird shit. Bring guns, bring friends, bring welders.

I really wish there was a forum post screening every Syndicate drone with pictures and information.

[69andahalf]

Sorry, the "plasma coffee pot" thing made me think that you were joking, and I personally haven't investigated the place too thoroughly. My bad!

Also, another little tidbit: There's an X-Drone, and there's a Z-Drone...so what about the Y-Drone? Well, there is one kicking around, and you can actually fight it! It takes a rather convoluted process to summon it, but summoning and destroying it will net you a fancy iridium plate, which can presumably be used for material smelting shenanigans. Also it drops another thing which tends to be the actual reason why people fight it. Careful, though. It's big, nasty, and armed to the teeth with all sorts of weird shit. Bring guns, bring friends, bring welders.

I really wish there was a forum post screening every Syndicate drone with pictures and information.

But then you wouldn't have the !!FUN!! of discovering it for yourself!

[BaneOfGiygas]

By the way, in case it wasn't clear: That tiny little robot that putters around is not the Z-Drone.

The ship is the Z-Drone.

I really wish there was a forum post screening every Syndicate drone with pictures and information.

Ask and you shall receive! (If I end up revealing too much here, feel free to lambast me as hard as possible.)

SC-Model Scout Drone

The most common model of drone, these guys shoot phaser blasts at you. Not extremely dangerous, and fairly frail.

CR-Model Cutter Drone

The next most common drone model, the cutter drones will rush up to your pod and attempt to slice it into pieces. They require a bit of maneuvering to avoid properly, but their cutting doesn't do TOO high of damage. However, if you aren't in your pod, these things hurt like a BITCH.

HK-Model Hunter-Killer Drone

The nastier cousin of the scout drone, these drones will shoot disruptor beams at you. Disruptor beams are, in essence, a combination of tasers and lasers. So not only does it do damage, but it has a chance of locking your systems, leaving you vulnerable to more shots. Not very nice.

X-Model Drone

Only seen in its lair deep in space, the X-Drone is the second-most dangerous drone you'll find during normal play. It shoots what can only be accurately described as railgun blasts that inflict insane amounts of burn damage. It also takes a major walloping before going down, but gives you great rewards upon its destruction.

Y-Model Drone
???
The Y-Drone I talked about before. There's a satellite deep in space you can use to summon it, but you need a particular gadget to activate the mechanism. These are the first-most dangerous drone you'll find, and requires a squad of heavily-armed and armored pods to take down.

Everything after this is only seen in the Pod Colosseum or admin shenanigans.

LZ-Model Laser Drone

Similar to the scout drone, these drones sacrifice defense for offense. Their laser blasts hurt more than the scout drone's phaser blasts, but they're even more frail as a result.

PC-Model Plasma Cutter Drone

These ones fire superheated plasma that do considerable damage to ships and light you the fuck on fire if you're not in your ship.

BR-Model Breach Drone

These drones shoot assault lasers, which are identical to the blasts from the AI's turrets when set to lethal, but not only that, they melt through walls! (Not the Colosseum's walls, though.)

CA-Model Caustic Drone

Unseen unless you make it a considerable portion of the way through the Colosseum, these drones fling caustic acid at you that eats through metal and flesh with ease. Watch out for these guys.

AR-Model Artillery Drone

Probably even more dangerous than most of the other drones, these guys can spit out 40mm grenades at you. Not only does this hurt hell, but splash damage also hurts anything near the impact zone.

Omega Battledrone
???
One of the first bosses you fight, the Omega Battledrone is still not to be taken lightly. Its combat capabilities are insane and its physical defenses are equally insane. Lots of ducking and dodging will be needed to avoid this thing's attacks.

[MaRcuSTheDAWG]

By the way, in case it wasn't clear: That tiny little robot that putters around is not the Z-Drone.

The ship is the Z-Drone.

I really wish there was a forum post screening every Syndicate drone with pictures and information.

Ask and you shall receive! (If I end up revealing too much here, feel free to lambast me as hard as possible.)

SC-Model Scout Drone

The most common model of drone, these guys shoot phaser blasts at you. Not extremely dangerous, and fairly frail.

CR-Model Cutter Drone

The next most common drone model, the cutter drones will rush up to your pod and attempt to slice it into pieces. They require a bit of maneuvering to avoid properly, but their cutting doesn't do TOO high of damage. However, if you aren't in your pod, these things hurt like a BITCH.

HK-Model Hunter-Killer Drone

The nastier cousin of the scout drone, these drones will shoot disruptor beams at you. Disruptor beams are, in essence, a combination of tasers and lasers. So not only does it do damage, but it has a chance of locking your systems, leaving you vulnerable to more shots. Not very nice.

X-Model Drone

Only seen in its lair deep in space, the X-Drone is the second-most dangerous drone you'll find during normal play. It shoots what can only be accurately described as railgun blasts that inflict insane amounts of burn damage. It also takes a major walloping before going down, but gives you great rewards upon its destruction.

Y-Model Drone
???
The Y-Drone I talked about before. There's a satellite deep in space you can use to summon it, but you need a particular gadget to activate the mechanism. These are the first-most dangerous drone you'll find, and requires a squad of heavily-armed and armored pods to take down.

Everything after this is only seen in the Pod Colosseum or admin shenanigans.

LZ-Model Laser Drone

Similar to the scout drone, these drones sacrifice defense for offense. Their laser blasts hurt more than the scout drone's phaser blasts, but they're even more frail as a result.

PC-Model Plasma Cutter Drone

These ones fire superheated plasma that do considerable damage to ships and light you the fuck on fire if you're not in your ship.

BR-Model Breach Drone

These drones shoot assault lasers, which are identical to the blasts from the AI's turrets when set to lethal, but not only that, they melt through walls! (Not the Colosseum's walls, though.)

CA-Model Caustic Drone

Unseen unless you make it a considerable portion of the way through the Colosseum, these drones fling caustic acid at you that eats through metal and flesh with ease. Watch out for these guys.

AR-Model Artillery Drone

Probably even more dangerous than most of the other drones, these guys can spit out 40mm grenades at you. Not only does this hurt hell, but splash damage also hurts anything near the impact zone.

Omega Battledrone
???
One of the first bosses you fight, the Omega Battledrone is still not to be taken lightly. Its combat capabilities are insane and its physical defenses are equally insane. Lots of ducking and dodging will be needed to avoid this thing's attacks.

Ah. Thanks, I still don't know what the little machines scampering around the Z-drone, are. Perhaps on a different thread you can list all the mobs that appear on space station 13? With several differnent mobs? the Secbuddies, THE GOOSE, The Automaton, Space Geese, Gaurdbuddies. All of them. In different categories. (posts.)

[BaneOfGiygas]

Ah. Thanks, I still don't know what the little machines scampering around the Z-drone, are. Perhaps on a different thread you can list all the mobs that appear on space station 13? With several differnent mobs? the Secbuddies, THE GOOSE, The Automaton, Space Geese, Gaurdbuddies. All of them. In different categories. (posts.)

Ah, I'm afraid not. I listed the drones mainly because they're common/well-known/spawned in a controlled enough environment so as to render spoilers mostly moot. And even then, I purposefully left out the exact capabilities of the bigger and badder drones.

Truth be told, I do actually have a Critter Compendium hidden away in my [nerdalert]treasure trove of documents detailing discoveries/secrets/etc. in SS13[/nerdalert] with what you describe, but that lists everything, and 69andahalf is right, part of the joy (and occasional terror) is in discovery.

However, there is a trimmed-down version of that document that me and a friend revised specifically to be included as an in-game book! You can find it in the little storage area in the telesci room, and it lists some more of the commonplace critters. The rest is up to you to discover!