Overview[]
Drones are a mid-game product only featured in Assembly Line 1.
They are one of the first good examples of a complex, multi-stage production chain that players normally encounter. They are regarded by many as the ideal product before AI Robot components in a blitz-style strategy focused on rapid increase in profits with the goal of unlocking the most profitable paths as quickly as possible.
Production Line[]
Drones are comprised of a total of 30 raw materials resulting in a profit per raw of $569 and they are the most complex product among all non-bot products. Both Batteries and Processors require Circuits to craft as well as supplemental raw and/or processed materials. Additionally, they require Aluminum Plates, which is a significantly more costly machine to unlock, upgrade, and operate compared to other machines that refine raw materials directly.
The theoretical minimum number of machines to craft regardless of rates is 8; or 1 of each of the following: Wire Drawer, 4 Crafters (for Circuits, Batteries, Processors, and the Drone itself), a Furnace, and 3 Starters. Crafting them at a significant rate takes a good deal of redundancy and unless the player's goal is the smallest footprint and not profit, production chains are typically much larger. Many players build their first Drone line while still progressing through the unlocking/upgrading periods of the game and will thus use it to finance the research to make it far more efficient.
While not specifically required, most players will build a Drone production line at least once before the first time they unlock AI Robots.
As Part of a Blitz Strategy[]
It's quite common that players who have completed the game (to their satisfaction, as there is no true defined winning or end) to start over and improve on their previous iterations. The first run through, significant time and resources are consumed as part of the learning process. While every player's experience is unique, there are several common methods to make it to end game as quickly as possible. One such strategy is Drone Blitzing.
Drone Blitzing is a strategy in which a player bypasses short term avenues for profit increase and instead focuses on a set progression of unlocks and upgrades to minimize the time from beginning the game to unlocking and crafting AI Robots. This is not a recommended strategy for first time players as it eliminates much of the exploration the game offers and bypasses the majority of products.
First, the player crafts only Starters feeding directly into Sellers. Optionally, they may process resources through Furnaces or Wire Drawers as these will be required for Drones. They will purposefully bypass any machines that are not required for Drones such as Cutters. The first unlock they need to target is the Hydraulic Press. At this stage, the player will often lean heavily on Ad Bonuses as this will accelerate the process (note - optional ads leverage Unity's ad service to provide a significant boost in early game and are the only monetization method Assembly Line 1).
Once the player has unlocked the Hydraulic Press, they shift their focus to unlocking as many starters as possible as well as opening all of their first Assembly Line (aka floor). All raw materials are directed to the production of Plates which feed to a single seller. The player ignores any upgrades and unlocks except for Starters, Hydraulic Presses and space as needed. The player may optionally continue to ad boost as needed. This pairs well with a semi-AFK approach like watching media and clicking ads as they become available as the player will have very minimal direct interaction with the game at this time.
Once the player feels that their cash reserves and unlocks have reached critical mass, they will move to the next stage. This involves purchasing the upgrades they will want for their first Drone line. While their are no rules for how a player may implement this approach, fully unlocking 2 floors, a significant portion of Starter progress, and 1 second operation on all relevant machines. The Plate farm should remain operational on floor 1 while the player designs and debugs their Drone production on floor 2. Only once they are fully satisfied that they have maximized what floor 2 can make from Drones should they move to the next stage.
For the next stage, unlocking 3 per second Starters is strongly advised. It is assumed that the Drone production line on floor 2 is not utilizing 3 per second Starters and is no longer operating at maximum efficiency. It should remain in place at this stage. The player should now dismantle the Plate farm and utilize floor 1 to build a Drone line that makes the best use of maximized upgrades. Once it's fully functional and debugged, the floor 2 line should either be upgraded to meet the floor 1 standard, or deleted entirely and replaced with a copy of floor 1.
2 floors of Drones should be adequate for the average player. The exception may be players who have already refined the perfect maximized Drone farms and are just replicating them. If the player is actively designing as they play, they the player will typically now have enough wealth to begin to unlocking and producing AI Robot components (though the veteran player who stands this up very quickly may want a third floor or more to offset their speed). The floors of Drones should remain in place until production of AI Robot components are more profitable and the player has exhausted as much space as they can without a considerable investment of time.
Lastly, the player deprecates and removes their Drone farms and the Blitz is complete.