This is the Deploy Drone option and ONLY appears when you are in orbit of an Asteroid Field. From here you can Deploy Mining Drones you may have in your ships stores.
Drones: The list displayed at this stage will depend on your Captain Level and the drones you have in your Ships Stores. There are a variety of Mining drones available, it is up to you to locate the best ones for you and your Level.
Control Points: Each player has a standard ’10’ Drone Control Points. These are allocated to you when you start in the Core Exiles game. Each drone you deploy will use a certain amount of these Points. These act just like Structure points, but only refer to drones. When you deploy a Drone, points are deducted from your total D.C.P and returned to you when you Recall a Drone. You can see how many D.C.P’s you have on the right of the Deploy Drone title bar.
Deploy: Simply click the ‘Deploy’ button for the Drone you wish to set to work for you. Mining Drones are industrious little machines that will mine the Asteroid Field and automatically ship the ore in its hoppers back and forth to the nearest Ore Refinery. *(There must be an Ore Refinery in the system for the Drone to operate fully). They neither tire nor complain and are an excellent method of collecting large quantities of ore over time. Each Drone has a set extraction amount per hour and will ONLY drop off the ore at the local Refinery. Note: Drones will sustain wear and tear and damage as they go about their business. When a drone reaches a certain amount of damage, it is destroyed.
Active Drones?: There is a handy screen available to you to see what drones you have active and how much they have mined in total since they have been deployed. This is called ‘View Drones’ and is available from the Top Right hand drop down selection within the main Game Header. This screen also allows you the option to recall your drones should you wish too.