The Driver Drone and Overdrive Charge: Not what it seems

[TheCongoSpider 8,954]

@At_Shin This is my response to you. 

 

For quite a while, I've noticed that the Driver Drone has been giving me less Overdrive charge than it states it does. Despite this, it was a great drone and did its job. Only recently did I decide to look into this Drone and how it toys with the Overdrive charge of each hull. After toying with it extensively, I tried to come up with reasons as to why this Drone was giving me less Overdrive charge than it should be. And what I found was interesting, but first, the hulls. 

 

Each hull receives a certain amount of OD charge for actions in the game. Each action is tied to a certain score that is credited for completing the action. For a while I've been keeping track of how much OD charge the hulls received for getting a kill in the Let's Discuss Overdrives thread. The numbers have changed since the first recordings due either to balance updates or further meticulous approaches. After finding the OD charge for kills, I decided to find the OD charged gained for every possible action in the game. So for about 2 weeks, I've been doing so. I did not collect everything, but I collected most. What I collected will be shown later. 

 

It came to my surprise, when I went to the Wiki just now, that the information for each hull's Overdrive was there. And after fact-checking with the numbers, it all came together smoothly. So both numbers from the WIki and experience from battles told the same tale and justified each other. Ever since Overdrives were released and a balance change came, I had always wondered what "Overdrive charge gained from points" meant. I only saw that information for 2 hulls: Viking and Dictator. We did not have any information on the others. I sought after old videos to see how much charge they got and compare them to now to see what impact it had, and the impact is clear now. 
 

So, we know that the Overdrives gain charge based on how much score they obtained from actions. But what does that have to do with Driver? Driver states that it "speeds up the overdrive recharge time while destroying tanks", and the parameter that speeds up the Overdrive charging is in seconds. If it were in seconds, then all hulls should have gotten more OD charge than they actually got. After experimenting with different upgrade levels of Driver, I found a pattern. A pattern that ties back to what was aforementioned. The parameter does not give you Overdrive charge based on how quickly your Overdrive charges (seconds). It should be interpreted as score and not seconds. 

 

At 5-interval upgrades, I saw how much of an increase there was, and it all ties in with score. At 0/20, which says 10 seconds, the total charge you receive for a kill when you activate the drone is equal to the charge you would receive if you were to gain 25 score. And 20/20 would give you how much charge you'd receive if you were to gain 45 score. 

 

For example, Wasp gains 9% charge every time it gets a kill. If you were to equip a 0/20 Driver drone, then a kill that activates the drone will be like if you had gained 25 score. 25 score would give a Wasp 15% OD charge. And, as done with a 0/20 drone in a MM battle, Wasp received 15% Overdrive charge. 

With a 20/20 Driver, it would be as if you had gotten 45 score. That would give Wasp 27% charge and as done in a MM battle, Wasp received 27%. 

 

So, while Driver is worse than what it lets on, it is still a very great drone that can certainly change the tide of battles. 

 

---

 

I would like to give a huge thanks to the Wiki Administration for publicising the parameters for each Overdrive. This confirms that Hunter underwent a buff when its supply-disable ability was nerfed. 

 

For those who wanted to see, here is the % charge each hull gets when they perform actions in MM battles in chronological order. Larger numbers were rounded down to the nearest 1. 

 

Kills:

Spoiler

 

 

Hornet:  7.5%

 

Viking:   7.5%

 

Titan:    7.5% 

 

Wasp:  9%

 

Hunter:  9%

 

Mammoth:  9% 

 

Dictator:  10.5% 

 

 

Assists: 

Spoiler

 

 

Hornet: 2.5%

 

Viking: 2.5%

 

Titan: 2.5%

 

Wasp: 3%

 

Hunter: 3%

 

Mammoth: 3% 

 

Dictator: 3.5%

 

 

CTF flag capture/flag capture assist:

 

Spoiler

 

 

Hornet: 37 / 12.5%

 

Viking:  37 / 12.5%

 

Titan:  37 / 12.5%

 

Wasp: 45 / 15%

 

Hunter: 45 / 15%

 

Mammoth: 45 / 15%

 

Dictator: 53 / 17.5%

 

 

Returning the CTF flag:

Spoiler

 

 

Hornet: 5%

 

Viking: 5%

 

Titan:  5%

 

Wasp: 6%

 

Hunter: 6%

 

Mammoth: 6%

 

Dictator: 7%

 

 

ASL Flag capture:

Spoiler

 

 

Hornet: 25%

 

Viking: 25%

 

Titan: 25%

 

Wasp: 30%

 

Hunter: 30%

 

Mammoth: 30%

 

Dictator: 35%

 

 

Control Point neutralise/capture:

Spoiler

 

 

Hornet: 5 / 7.5%

 

Viking: 5 / 7.5%

 

Titan: 5 / 7.5%

 

Wasp: 6 / 9%

 

Hunter: 6 / 9%

 

Mammoth: 6 / 9%

 

Dictator: 7 / 10.5%

 

 

Rugby touchdown/touchdown assist:

Spoiler

 

 

Hornet: 37 / 12.5%

 

Viking:  37 / 12.5%

 

Titan:  37 / 12.5%

 

Wasp: 45 / 15%

 

Hunter: 45 / 15%

 

Mammoth: 45 / 15%

 

Dictator: 53 / 17.5%

 

 

Destroying a Juggernaut/assist:

Spoiler

 

 

Hornet: 32 / 15%

 

Viking:  32 / 15%

 

Titan:  32 / 15%

 

Wasp: 39 / 18%

 

Hunter: 39 / 18%

 

Mammoth: 39 / 18%

 

Dictator: 45 / 20%

 

 

SGE point capture/assist:

Spoiler

 

 

Hornet: 25 / 5%

 

Viking: 25 / 5%

 

Titan: 25 / 5%

 

Wasp: 30 / 6%

 

Hunter: 30 / 6%

 

Mammoth: 30 / 6% 

 

Dictator: 35 / 7%

 

 

Isida healing from 1-100% HP - this one was a bit unreliable and from doing it with each hull, I ended up with similar numbers for each. It was hard to keep track of. They are supposed to get the same % OD charge as a kill but I'll put what I saw and will try this specific action again in the future. 

Spoiler

 

 

Hornet: 7%

 

Viking:  7%

 

Titan:  7%

 

Wasp: 7%

 

Hunter: 7%

 

Mammoth: 7%

 

Dictator: 7%

 

 

Edited June 13, 2020 by TheCongoSpider

[coconuttree 519]

Spoiler

If I may ask, are you a scientist in real life?

On a more serious note, I have noticed that sometimes my overdrive percentage goes down by 5% sometimes(i think just after i die). Any idea why?

Also, while going through the overedrive hull table of charecteristics, I saw a parameter call deprectiation for all hulls. There is no explanation as to what it means. Could the 2 things be related?

Edited June 13, 2020 by coconuttree

[Viking4s 10,791]

1 hour ago, coconuttree said:

  Reveal hidden contents

If I may ask, are you a scientist in real life?

On a more serious note, I have noticed that sometimes my overdrive percentage goes down by 5% sometimes(i think just after i die). Any idea why?

Also, while going through the overedrive hull table of charecteristics, I saw a parameter call deprectiation for all hulls. There is no explanation as to what it means. Could the 2 things be related?

Lag

[Maf 32,305]

From my experience, Driver is extremely helpful if you are able to get kills and your main goal is to get overdrive. When I want to kill Juggernaut (like in the solo JGR mode last week), I equip Viking and Driver, get 3 kills 20 seconds apart, and my OD is ready. At that rate I'm able to get up to 6 viking ODs per game, compared to 2 without Driver. So it's not a great drone for normal gameplay, but it helps in specific goals.

[coconuttree 519]

47 minutes ago, Maf said:

So it's not a great drone for normal gameplay,

Unless you use hornet + one shot turret. Then its amazing for gameplay.

[Rajawi14 0]

I can no longer play, I suffer a lot for playing, will you die tanki

[Maf 32,305]

20 minutes ago, coconuttree said:

Unless you use hornet + one shot turret. Then its amazing for gameplay.

Hornet OD already charges very quickly. I'd rather use a more useful drone with it, like Defender.

[Viking4s 10,791]

26 minutes ago, Maf said:

Hornet OD already charges very quickly. I'd rather use a more useful drone with it, like Defender.

well yes and no, Driver do not consume extra supplies, while defender suck up all your double armor. It maybe true at legend rank where you can use your crystal for supplies, but at low rank (unless you are a buyer), I would not recommend it.

Poor Hornet, nerfed to the core.

[TheCongoSpider 8,954]

6 hours ago, coconuttree said:

  Reveal hidden contents

If I may ask, are you a scientist in real life?

On a more serious note, I have noticed that sometimes my overdrive percentage goes down by 5% sometimes(i think just after i die). Any idea why?

While finding the % for each action, I needed to make sure that the Overdrives were charging the way they're supposed to be. 

 

When I first join the battle, my Overdrives charge in 5-second jumps. So every 5 seconds, it would give you 5-seconds of OD charge for that hull. When I first use it the Overdrive though, it starts charging at the rate it is supposed to be, in 1% jumps depending on how quick the cheating rate is. At any point, sometimes my Overdrive starts charging very quickly at a rate that looks like 3% per seconds for about 3 seconds, and then it jumps down. So I would be on 55%, then suddenly I see it ticking upwards to 64% and then suddenly drop back to about 58%.

 

6 hours ago, coconuttree said:

  Reveal hidden contents

If I may ask, are you a scientist in real life?

Also, while going through the overedrive hull table of charecteristics, I saw a parameter call deprectiation for all hulls. There is no explanation as to what it means. Could the 2 things be related?

It might be how quickly your Overdrive % discharges from 100% to 0% after activating the Overdrive. IIRC, Hornet has the longest grace period for retaining Overdrive charge which is about 3 seconds (maybe 2.5). Wasp discharges from 100-0 immediately and Dictator has a very small window where you can retain Overdrive charge. The numbers don't seem accurate though so my guess is that a balance change is coming and those numbers are a part of it. 

6 hours ago, coconuttree said:

  Reveal hidden contents

If I may ask, are you a scientist in real life?

 

No.

 

6 hours ago, At_Shin said:

So if driver's description had been accurate, hull ODs which require less time to charge up would have gained lots of charge % with a driver-activating kill.

And those which take longer periods wouldn't have benefitted from it by that much...

Precisely. I guess you could say this is some sort of middle ground between the hulls. If it were 30 seconds, then Wasp would get 39% for a kill that activates the drone, and Viking would get about 19.5%

 

Dictator has the perfect point-to-Overdrive charge ratio for it to be the only hull that Driver would properly work on if the parameter indeed counted in seconds. Hence why I said that "it only worked with Dictator". 

 

For a kill with 20/20 Driver if it counted in seconds, here's what they would have gotten:

 

Wasp: 39%

 

Hornet: 33%

 

Hunter: 35%

 

Titan: 31%

 

Dictator: 31%

 

Mammoth: 29%

 

Viking: 19%

 

 

[DieselPlatinum 5,121]

5 hours ago, Maf said:

From my experience, Driver is extremely helpful if you are able to get kills and your main goal is to get overdrive. When I want to kill Juggernaut (like in the solo JGR mode last week), I equip Viking and Driver, get 3 kills 20 seconds apart, and my OD is ready. At that rate I'm able to get up to 6 viking ODs per game, compared to 2 without Driver. So it's not a great drone for normal gameplay, but it helps in specific goals.

Also helps with the OD missions that is if you're a Viking user.

[TheCongoSpider 8,954]

16 hours ago, At_Shin said:

But as I see from your findings, hornet, Viking and titan receive the same % of charge with a driver-activating kill. This clearly favours hulls such as Viking because it's OD takes a lot of time to charge up passively... But with a kill, you gain 12.5 charge which translated to a lot of seconds of passive OD charge for the hull. ( am I right? ).

I wouldn't say so. You also have to look at the passive recharge times for the hulls. Driver has downtime and your kills may be stolen at any time. If you can't gain score easily in a battle, then hulls with a fast recharge rate will be able to use their Overdrive much quicker than Viking can. Out of the 3 hulls, I say it favours Hornet more due to how powerful the Overdrive is and the fact that you're able to gain Overdrive charge during the duration of the Overdrive. And if it can't activate the drone plenty, it has its fast Overdrive recharge rate to fall back on. 

 

13 hours ago, Viking4s said:

well yes and no, Driver do not consume extra supplies, while defender suck up all your double armor. It maybe true at legend rank where you can use your crystal for supplies, but at low rank (unless you are a buyer), I would not recommend it.

If I'm using Hornet, I would use Driver if I'm supporting the attackers from a distance, with turrets like SCCM Thunder, "Scout" Railgun and Gauss. 

 

If I'm on the offensive up in the enemies' faces, I will use Defender. 

[Viking4s 10,791]

According to the wiki

Hull	Charge in Second	Charge per battle point	Driver MU 0	Driver Mu 20	Hull Class
Viking	250	500	4%	12%	Medium
Mammy	143	600	7%	21%	Heavy
Titan	125	500	8%	24%	Heavy
Dictator	111	700	9%	27%	Medium
Hunter	111	600	9%	27%	Medium
Hornet	111	500	9%	27%	Light
Wasp	100	600	10%	30%	Light
Juggernaut	40	0	n/a	n/a	n/a

 

Juggernaut OD charge is purely based on time. Dictator, Hunter and Hornet have the same charge based time: 111 second. But Dictator gets more charge for activity in the game. The biggest loser is Viking it takes 250 seconds on time and has the lowest charge per point (with Hornet).

Edited June 25, 2020 by Viking4s

[wolverine848 13,097]

13 minutes ago, Viking4s said:

Dictator, Hunter and Hornet have the same charge based time: 111 second. But Dictator gets more charge for activity in the game. The biggest loser is Viking it takes 250 seconds on time and has the lowest charge per point (with Hornet).

Titan is not exactly a winner either.  Might have quick charge up - but all that does is rush it toward the next "counter" - and we know there's lots of those.  And it's not like the dome does a lot to facilitate it's own charge-up.

Viking on the other hand is difficult to counter as it can clear a lot of enemies if they are bunched  - and will charge quickly as well when it kills those targets.

Hornet really should not have that fast a charge - no wonder it aways seems lke they have OD - because they in fact do.

[TheCongoSpider 8,954]

18 minutes ago, wolverine848 said:

Viking on the other hand is difficult to counter as it can clear a lot of enemies if they are bunched  - and will charge quickly as well when it kills those targets.

Viking and Mammoth do not receive Overdrive charge whilst the Overdrive is active. 

[TheCongoSpider 8,954]

@Viking4s Curious, where did you get the Driver Drone figures?

[Viking4s 10,791]

12 minutes ago, TheCongoSpider said:

@Viking4s Curious, where did you get the Driver Drone figures?

I calculated by using the charge in second of each OD and then use 10s for Driver 0 and 30s for Driver 20 (from the wiki - time reduction).

Driver

Speeds up Overdrive recharge time while destroying tanks.

Recharge: 15s  Overdrive Recharge Reduction: (10 → 30) s / kill

Edited June 25, 2020 by Viking4s

[mjmj5558 2,346]

4 minutes ago, Viking4s said:

I calculated by using the charge in second of each OD and then use 10s for Driver 0 and 30s for Driver 20 (form the wiki - time reduction).

 

Driver

Speeds up Overdrive recharge time while destroying tanks.

Recharge: 15s  Overdrive Recharge Reduction: (10 → 30) s / kill

That imagine  flat driver. 

[Viking4s 10,791]

So now score and Overdrive percentage charge boost in %

	Charge per score point ratio	Capping CTF & Touchdown RGB	Kill JGR / ASL Flag	Assist CTF, JGR & ASL	Kill / cap CP	Others
Hull		75	50	25	15	10
Viking	500	37.5%	25.0%	12.5%	7.5%	5.0%
Titan	500	37.5%	25.0%	12.5%	7.5%	5.0%
Hornet	500	37.5%	25.0%	12.5%	7.5%	5.0%
Mammy	600	45.0%	30.0%	15.0%	9.0%	6.0%
Hunter	600	45.0%	30.0%	15.0%	9.0%	6.0%
Wasp	600	45.0%	30.0%	15.0%	9.0%	6.0%
Dictator	700	52.5%	35.0%	17.5%	10.5%	7.0%

 

Edited June 26, 2020 by Viking4s

[TheCongoSpider 8,954]

56 minutes ago, Viking4s said:

I calculated by using the charge in second of each OD and then use 10s for Driver 0 and 30s for Driver 20 (from the wiki - time reduction).

Driver

Speeds up Overdrive recharge time while destroying tanks.

Recharge: 15s  Overdrive Recharge Reduction: (10 → 30) s / kill

Understood. And thank you very much for the tables. Some of the numbers are inaccurate but I presume you may not have had enough space when making the table so you joined together similarly-scored actions.

[Viking4s 10,791]

15 hours ago, TheCongoSpider said:

Understood. And thank you very much for the tables. Some of the numbers are inaccurate but I presume you may not have had enough space when making the table so you joined together similarly-scored actions.

This is based on data from the wiki, the same calculation was applied for all the hull. Discrepancies with yours live-game value would be tweaks unreported (updates and/or another factor not shared by developers).

The score from the wiki are as follow (I sorted them for clarity)

Action	Battle Score	Experience
Capturing a Flag (CTF)	75	10
Scoring a touchdown in Rugby	75	10
Capturing a Flag (ASL)	50	10
Destroying a Juggernaut	50	15
Participating in scoring a touchdown in Rugby	25	5
Participating in destroying a Juggernaut	25	10
Participating in the delivery of a flag	25	5
Participating in the capturing a control point	15	5
Destroying a tank	15	10
Participating in neutralizing a control point	10	5
Returning a Flag	10	5

We have difference with the Juggernaut. On the wiki, Juggernaut is 50 score points and ASL capping too, they should yield the same %. For Titan the charge score is 500, but all value from TO are actually 1000 fold so 500 is 0.5. 50 x 0.5 = 25%.

You have 32 % - reverse calculation suggest a battle score point of 65.

	Jug ex-Congo
Hull	65
Viking	32.5%
Titan	32.5%
Hornet	32.5%
Mammy	39.0%
Hunter	39.0%
Wasp	39.0%
Dictator	45.5%

Therefore either wiki is not up to date or your value are already obsolete due to a recent update.

 

Edited June 26, 2020 by Viking4s