Doomed Drone

Doomed Drone

**Colorless unit** (see more)4 (Lifespan 4: dies after 4 turns)
: gain 1

 Cost:

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**Doomed Drone** is a Colorless unit. It's a gold producer with limited Lifespan that can be used as a cost-effective blocker or as a means to accelerate your early economy.

## Strategy

**Doomed Drone** costs 1 Gold less than Drone, but with a Lifespan of just four turns.

Being cheap, it breaks even quickly; only during very the next round are you any poorer than if you'd bought nothing. Compared to buying a regular Drone it has certain advantages, but will do nothing to build your medium-term economy.

How to think about this unit depends a lot on whether and when you can block with it. (Since this unit is a poor choice for covering threat, the below assumes you are using it to block only when you expect it to actually be destroyed and deliver its 1 soak value.)

### Block on the last (1) turn

Since the drone will be gone either way, you forgo only a single Gold (from unclicking it) to get 1 soak, which is extremely efficient (particularly for granular defense). In retrospect, apart from that soak you also came out 1 gold ahead. The catch is that your opponent has seen this coming and often has ways to thwart it.

### Block on the 2 turn

In this case you forgo 2 gold for the 1 soak, slightly better than cycling an Engineer because you lose 1 gold this turn and the other on the next.

Any risk that this drone could expire next turn, without soaking up any damage, is more reason to cash it in now instead. In retrospect, you'll have earned back only the money you spent on it, and gotten the slight-better-than-an-Engineer deal just mentioned, so overall, having bought it was approximately a wash.

### Block sooner than that

If energy is abundant, and you aren't focused on growing your economy (and these are common conditions in the mid- to late-game), it's reasonable to buy Doomed Drone as preemptive soak, even if you might need to use it the very next turn. It costs the same 2 gold as Engineer, but has a bit more flexibility: on any of the next few turns, you might choose to take gold instead of blocking, based on your circumstances. The catch, obviously, is that unlike an Engineer it will expire.

Suppose you are certain (somehow) that you will be forced to lose a regular Drone on defense sometime in the next 4 turns. This is not an ideal situation to be in, but if you are, then buying Doomed Drone instead of Drone becomes a pure 1-gold savings with no downside.

### Never block

Even in this case Doomed Drone has some appeal -- as long as you can accept your economy tanking several turns from now. In particular, it carries less short-term risk than does a Drone (you would regret choosing the latter if you soon found yourself 1 Gold short for something very important).

This comes at a price. Just to keep your economy flat you would need to immediately re-buy these drones as they expire. While at the same time getting no help with the soak you need. This can easily cause your Attack growth to falter.

### General notes

Assuming you can succesfully cash them in for soak value, Doomed Drone are good in both high and low economy:

* In a high economy game, Doomed Drones can be extremely efficient if well-timed.
* In a low economy game, Doomed Drone let you purchase tech buildings faster, and help provide a bit of defense while you build up your attack.

They are especially good for rushes that can expect a counter rush, to block right after the starting defense is down.

## Openings

Doomed Drone (1) can strengthen several openings.

Player 1 Fast Conduit:

1. DD
2. C + 11

Supports early Green rush. Useful for Chrono Filter.

Player 1 Econ Animus:

1. DD
2. DDE
3. DDD
4. DDA + 1 (or CC + 111)

Avoids floating 2 Gold or delaying the Animus.

Player 1 Higher Econ:

1. DD
2. DDE
3. DDE + 1
4. DDDD (or DDDE + 1)

High Econ.

Player 1 Econ Conduit Rush:

1. DD
2. DDE
3. C +111
4. CDE +11
5. CC +1111

Venge Cannon or Cluster Bolt rush. Defends the Drones for some time.

Player 2 Rush:

1. DD
2. A + 11 or BD + 1

When speed is important.

Player 2 Fast Econ:

1. DE + 1
2. DDD
3. A + 111 or DB + 11 or DDC + 1

Best opening for Player 2.

Player 2 Higher Econ:

1. DE + 1
2. DDD
3. DDEE + 1
4. DDDDD

Very smooth High Econ.

Player 2 Blastforge Rush:

1. B + 1
2. Flame Animus + 1 (or Shredder or Synthetizer)

Early tech rush, can make Breachproof faster.

## Change log

* September 18th, 2015
	+ Supply decreased from 20 to 10.
* January 8th, 2015
	+ Lifespan increased from 3 to 4.