The Drone Roulette
Upon recieving the escalation message: Among the debris from this formidable hive, you find a blown out hangar containing a few burnt out space ships of various types, probably the possessions of some unfortunate adventurers that came here before you and didn't live to tell the story. As your scanners routinely run through this material, they come across some report with information on a few sister hives to this one. The explorer seems to have found that each of these so called 'Independence hives' are surrounded with outposts that serve both as an early warning system against intruders on the drones territory and also as a resource gathering facility. It seems that if the hive is attacked, the drones from the outposts warp instantly back to defend it. One interesting bit of information the unfortunate explorer has noted is that the drones frequently move the hive itself between these outposts, so hunting these things is like playing Russian roulette, you never know if you are fortunate enough to hit an outpost and thereby reduce the inevitable resistance at the main hive, or if you are warping straight into the lair of the drones. The report continues to list four locations, the nearest one being...''
The Drone Roulette Part 1:
5x Drone cruise missile battery 4x drone cruisers (nuker/atomizer/desintegrator alvum) 3x drone frigates (silverfish alvi) 6x elite drone frigates (strain raider/render/decimator alvi) NOTE: renders and decimators using warp disruption and stasis webifier 7x elite drone cruisers (strain devastator/annihilator alvum) 0-1x sentient drone battleship (drops drone component, faction loot and may produce t2 salvage)