Drone Squad

From RelicWiki

This article is part of the Dawn of War Player's Guide. From RelicWiki

This article has been updated for Soulstorm. The Dark Crusade version is now archived.

Dawn of War Vehicle

Drone Squad
Race	Tau
Version	Soulstorm v1.2
Build Info
Hotkey R	Build Cost 105 195  2 Build Time 30 s Built From Vehicle Beacon Squad Size 3/5 Requires Nothing Limit None
Unit Stats
Hitpoints	325
Armour	Vehicle Low
Unit Mass	10
Move Speed	24
Sight Radius	35 (cannot detect)
Reinforcement
Reinforce Cost	40 70
Reinforce Time	20 s
Weapons
Ranged	Twin-Linked Pulse Carbine
Melee	None

Contents 1 Drone Squad 2 Tactics 3 Abilities 3.1 Burrow 3.2 Self Destruct 4 Weapons 4.1 Twin-Linked Pulse Carbine 5 Researchable Upgrades 5.1 Improved Metallurgy 6 The Dawn of War Player's Guide

Drone Squad

"All systems ready."

By themselves Tau Drones only have a very basic AI and rely highly on orders from their masters but, when linked together in a group the Drones can share their intelligence enabling them to act independently on the battlefield.

Tactics

The Drone Squad's Twin-Linked Pulse Carbine has a very short range but is used even when engaged in melee with enemy squads. This short range is beneficial as it ensures enemy units will be in proximity when a drone activates its Self Destruct.

The main use of these units is to take advantage of their vehicle armour (which somewhat compensates for their low health) and use them to take on enemy melee units such as Grey Knights or Possessed Space Marines. In large numbers they easily overwhelm even the most elite melee specialists. They aren't efficient in very large numbers so more than 2 squads working together would be a waste.

They aren't cheap and die very fast under AV or just heavy AI fire, so make sure to look after them.

Unfortunately, both the cost to reinforce the Drone Squad and the reinforce time make it difficult to use them too offensively. Note that area of effect abilities (like the Librarian's Smite) will kill them quickly because of their low health.

Massed Drone Squads become more viable when the Ethereal is on the field. He provides a 60% bonus to the health of the Drones, making it much easier to earn back their expensive cost.

Abilities

Burrow

	Burrow			Hotkey: B
	Requires	Nothing
	Target Types	Own squad
	Range	0
	Area of effect	None	Cooldown time	4.5 s
Effects	The Drones burrow into the ground thus becoming Infiltrated. In this state they can not move or attack. However, when an enemy enters within the Area of Effect the Drones unburrow and start to engage the target. Upon unburrowing the Drone Squad deals 50-100 damage in a radius of 10 to all enemy non-building targets and knocks back enemy units (40 force).

Self Destruct

	Self Destruct			Hotkey: Del
	Requires	Nothing
	Target Types	All enemy units and buildings
	Range	0
	Area of effect	4	Cooldown time	0 s
Effects	When a Drone loses all its health it explodes in a violent manner inflicting damage on nearby enemies and sending infantry flying (45-60 force).
Damage Values Infantry Vehicles Buildings Daemons Base Damage Low Med High H.Med H.Hi Cmdr Low Med High Air Low Med High Med High Morale Min Max Min.D 120-200 180-300 180-300 180-300 180-300 120-200 210-350 180-300 150-250 15 90-150 60-100 30-50 90-150 75-125 30 300 500 15

Weapons

Twin-Linked Pulse Carbine

	Twin-Linked Pulse Carbine
Damage Per Second Values Infantry Vehicles Buildings Daemons Morale Base Damage Low Med High H.Med H.Hi Cmdr Low Med High Air Low Med High Med High DPS Base Min Max Min.D Initial DPS: 28.8 28.8 28.8 33.6 28.8 16.0 16.0 16.0 16.0 16.0 16.0 16.0 16.0 16.0 16.0 1.6 1 25 35 5
Cost	Default Weapon	Range	10	Setup Time	0 s
Build Time	Default Weapon	Accuracy	80%	Refire Rate	0.25 s
Area of Effect	0	Requires	Nothing

Researchable Upgrades

Improved Metallurgy

	Improved Metallurgy			Hotkey: I
	Cost	150 150	Research Time	25 s
	Researched From	Path to Enlightenment
	Requires	Kauyon Command Post
Effects	Fire Warrior armour is upgraded from Infantry Heavy Medium to Infantry Heavy High. Health of Fire Warriors increased by 10% to 374. 35% health bonus to Skyray Missile Gunship (1350 HP), Drone Harbinger (1013 HP), Drone Squad (439 HP), Barracuda (1687 HP), Krootox (8775 HP) and Greater Knarloc (10800 HP). Health of Tau Commander increased by 200 to 1200.

The Dawn of War Player's Guide

The Dawn of War Player's Guide - Thought of the day: Knowledge is power, guard it well.
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