Ideas for Drone/UCAV call-ins
Given the setting it would seem logical that UCAV's would be featured in 2042. Here's some ideas I had for Infantry call-in abilities:
Strike Drone
Summon a strike drone against either an armored vehicle or a static position. The AI drone would appear on the battlefield and attempt to lock on and strike the target. If, in the case of a vehicle target, it could not lock on it would attempt another pass. If that vehicle was destroyed the AI drone could be "smart" and pick and choose another target - it will remain on the BF until it finds a suitable target and fires at it. Once it finally launches its weapons, it then retreats - it would not auto replenish its ammo. And given that it would actually appear on the BF it could be intercepted and destroyed before it has a chance to deploy its payload. The Strike Drone could sort of take the place of the Attack Jet in some respects.
Fighter Drone
The fighter drone could be a simple drone that spawns in and just fires AA missiles at a player specified target and leaves or it could be a more advanced dogfighting variant that not only has AA missiles but also guns as well and can dogfight. If the latter, then it could be made to have a better turn rate than the manned fighters (no pilot to hamper it) but to balance that it would have low HP - perhaps half that of a manned jet. It might also be more susceptible to ECM. Just like its Strike brother it would focus on destroying its intended target first and, once successful, it would loiter on the BF searching for other viable air targets (jet's, heli's, aerial drones) until its fixed ammo was expended and then retreat (no auto ammo replen on these guys).
Recon Drone
Deploy a drone to the BF that would circle an area and provide enemy positions to friendlies via their minimap. Another benefit could be to extend the range of guided weapons by about 20% and virtually eliminate their lock time for any enemies in the Recon drone sphere. It would fly over its target area indefinitely until shot down and could even be directed to another position. A hardcap could optionally be set by devs so that the BF doesn't become over saturated (although they would be easily enough killed by AA weapons so perhaps this won't be an issue) - either a simultaneous cap or a total cap (once x amount of recon drones destroyed then that's it, no more)
ECM Drone
The counter to the above. In areas where a recon drone was present it would cancel out the benefits of the Recon Drone. In areas where Recon Drone was not present it would either cause distortion to the minimap or show fake enemies on - perhaps alternate between both. For guided munitions it would have the opposite effect as the above - it would increase the lock on time for enemies to target your vehicles/aircraft and it would shorten the max range at which you can be locked on to by about 20%. Vehicles would be able to see the ECM bubble so they could use it strategically to minimize their exposure to lock on weaponry. Like the Recon Drone, it would fly indefinitely until destroyed and could be redeployed to a new location at the player's discretion.
*Drones would not auto replenish health nor ammo.
