RAGE 2

Yea I just found out about this a little late as I think I'm about halfway through game ... hoping it can be done on a second playthrough instead of a full 30 in one game .. but with soy tracker and knowing what to look for been finding them pretty consistently

What I’d like to know is do they spawn randomly or do they spawn at specific locations?

I just got done testing to see if you could farm these using save reloads and sadly you can't. Unlike every other achievement in the game, this one is tied to your journal. You have to have 30 drone logs for the achievement to pop. You can't just farm them in the same spot.

According to the video, the locations the drones spawn at r random.

Thanks Anthony Q Davis! You just saved me a lot of time as I was about to try the same method. The only help I can offer is this: After a few failed attempts trying to use the assault rifle, I killed my first drone painlessly by activating overdrive and quickly shooting it with the shotgun just as it was taking off. Destroyed it instantly.

This achievement fucking sucks. i have 27 and have spent all day going through every single location on the map. No idea what else i can do other than go through them all again.

EDIT: Ok, found a map online and went to a few locations i hadn't even found the '?' for yet and found another to make 28 and the achievement unlocked. Seems even the tracking for these is off too then.

Having finished this achievement yesterday, this is what I would advise people (some repetition from the above comments). For context, it took me around 6 hours to get 27 drones, so I did this in one day more or less from scratch.

CRITICAL:
- Re-load your save if you miss a drone, under any circumstances. It is absolutely not worth trying to find them again. Re-loading your checkpoint ALWAYS works. They also stay in the same place, so no need to find the drone again.
- Only unlock Spy Drone, Data Pad, and Storage Container tracking in your projects (you have to unlock the latter two as part of the skill tree, unfortunately). If you're clearing out an area, follow your tracker to get rid of the storage containers and data pads. If your sensor is still going, its a drone, if not, move on. The problems only really start when you start unlocking the Ark chests and Feltrite containers, as I can only imagine your sensor is always on the go.
- The sound of drones is a dead giveaway and is important. This is a big one. You can (usually) hear drones throughout the entire location you're in. By the time I did my last 10 or so drones, I knew there was one as soon as I entered the location, so I just sprinted through on easy, destroyed it, and moved on. If you can't hear any form of buzz when you arrive at a location, there is a pretty good chance there isn't a drone. The exceptions to this are super large bandit dens (e.g. Doomsayer Peak in Twisting Canyons), its worth searching in this case. If you are deaf or hearing impaired, this is still very possible with the sensors, so don't worry too much, this is just helpful to do if you can.
- Drones can spawn almost everywhere, but they can only spawn overground. They will never spawn within buildings, down pits, etc. They are usually affixed to a building or a wall, and it will always be on the exterior. The only buildings it will ever be "inside" are ones with blown walls or roofs.
- Progress on drones only "saved" when you get to a new location. Manual saves immediately after finding drones didn't bank my drones. It also didn't bank if I fast traveled to a trading town. It is a stupid system, but manual saves basically back up your most recent autosave. If you reload a manual save, it'll put you at the most recent autosaved location. Your progress is only saved if you finish an area's main objective (i.e. kill all enemies, destroy all gas containers), as you get a new autosave. To get around this, just go to the closest possible location and it'll autosave your progress, you're then fine to back up with manual saves and close your session. If you don't finish the main objective of an area, kill a drone, save, then reload it, it'll take you back to the start of that area and the drone won't have been added to your log. I got caught out by this 3 times. If you do, reloading your manually save effectively works the same as reloading an autosave, so just get the drone again.


HELPFUL:
- Drones were most common at Exploration Locations, Bandit Camps, Pit Stops, and Ark Locations (for me, at least) . I had the most luck with exploration locations (particularly smaller ones) and bandit dens (roughly 18 - 20 between these two). Arks probably had one 1/3 of the time (I found 4 at Arks). I found the rest at Recharging Stations, Road Blocks, Ranger Echos and Crusher Locations (only if they have an exterior) but nowhere near as many, so I'd leave these type of areas to the end of your grind. I personally NEVER found any at authority turrets, so don't bother there.
- Write down/log"successful" and "unsuccessful" locations. This was important for me. I kept a log of the name, location type, and region of every drone I found, but also where I didn't find one. This meant that I wasn't looking in the same places more than once, and there is a ton of locations. 2 kind souls linked me this map https://game-maps.com/RAGE2/Full-Rage-2-Map.asp which was helpful, as it may show you some places to search that isn't on the map.
- This is reportedly accumulative between playthroughs. I can't confirm this, as I did do it in one playthrough, but Nexus above was very helpful and I have faith that if they are mentioning this then it is most likely the case. Meaning, if you have 25 and just can't find anymore, it may be worth making some backup saves and getting another 5 in a fresh playthrough.

I just unlocked this with 28 log entries. I died at least 2 times after killing one and had to shoot it down again. Tracking seems broken...

Does anyone know what exactly happens to the drones that disappeare? Do they respawn at a random location? I got 28 now and searched every spot they can appear at but missed like 4 when I didn't know what they were yet. I really hope I won't have to to this again.

Honestly sound is your friend with this. I haven't cleared the northern most area yet but I am up to 17 without trying that hard. The tip about saving before taking down the drone is helpful. The other big thing is try and locate it slowly, listening for it. As long as the blue light on it doesn't approach the center of your screen it won't fly away. What I did was slowly look for it and once I spotted it I would take out the rocket launcher and just toss one near it. Way easier than using overdrive or trying to shoot it out of the air. Most of the time the light on it wont even turn red since you can shoot a decent distance next to it and let the splash damage take it out. Hopefully I find the rest in the area I am in because early on in the game some did fly away from me.

I can confirm that this is accumulative between playthroughs.
Had 27 Spy drones destroyed, searched for hours throughout the various wasteland locations and couldn't find anything. Started a new playthrough and within an hour found 1 spy drone and achievement unlocked. Seems to be unlocking for alot of people at 28 instead of 30.

Great guide, thanks for help. This will probably be last achievements I go for before final mission. Seems like an excessively high count for these dumb little drones!

I've been using this guide.

http://www.powerpyx.com/rage-2-spy-drone-locations/

For me it wasn't accumulative between playthroughs. On my first save that I beat the game with I found 27, I had to start a new game as one of the story based achievements glitched on my so I had found another 6 on that one but no achievement. I went back to my other save and found the other three that I needed and the achievement popped Really hate that they put this achievement in this game

Under Statistics I have 30 done, but under the lore I only have 26! I hate this damn game because of this achievement!

Seeing some comments - is it confirmed or not that you can do another quick run and grab the achievement?

As soon as drones carrying over to new playthroughs is more than hearsay and can be considered reliable information, I will add it to my solution.

The bear is not scary....I think the issue is that I died sometimes after getting drone. On the respawn, the drone is there again, you can kill it again, it increments main counter, but not counter for this Cheevo.

What do the drones sound like exactly

CoreScan drones do not carry over to new playthroughs you have to do these all in 1 playthrough, as i just tried it. I have 2 in a new playthrough (starting it after i finished my original one) and i have 29 in my original one. I am now hunting a needle in a haystack.

@C5 Prime when drones fly away they are heading for a new location - this is actually one of the loading screen tips. You can get a good idea by looking at the direction the drone headed then see what the nearest location is in that direction on the map (ignore locations they're known to avoid like trade towns and sentry turrets).

I've done this 4x now to find drones that flew away.

31 drones and the achievement don't pop up

With the new update, all drones collected in New Game+ add to count. There is no reason now to go back through every location. I was missing three and found them within the first 15 minutes of New Game+.

Confirmed that they stack with NG+ :)

Confirmed that they stack with NG+ :)

Can also confirm NG+ is the way to go made the last 7 drones so much faster.

I currently have 58 drones across my 3 playthroughs (normal, NG+ Extreme nightmare, and Ironman) and still no achievement. I am so aggravated!
Edit - finally got it at 62. Kept going around to locations in Icarus using this map= https://game-maps.com/RAGE2/Full-Rage-2-Map.asp

Another confirmation that this stacks with NG+. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s easier or quicker, but if you’re going for Ultra Nightmare and Ironman difficulties anyways, you could just as well start with those rather than grinding on your finished playthrough.

And if you’re in Ultra Nightmare and spot a drone but don’t want to clear the entire location, they can also be sniped from a distance with one charged shot from the Hyper cannon.

If you’re sufficiently far away, they won’t fly away and you can take your time setting up a good shot.

@anyone who is afraid of this achievement due to the comment of DuBear61: mine unlocked at exactly 30 drones (25 in first playthrough, 5 in NG+).

CED RadBAD BOY unless they patched something, you might just have gotten lucky. Lots of people experience needing more than 30, and some less. YMMV

I'm buying the game tonight. Is this the sort of game where parts of the world are gated off or there are level requirements for certain regions, or is everything open and are all the enemies scaled to your level? Wondering if I can just knock this achievement out once I unlock the drone tracker and not have to worry about it later.

Also, "Spy Drones Destroyed" under Statistics in the pause menu may not update accurately. Under LOG > INFO > LORE I had 30 Spy Drone Intel shown when I got the achievement, but under Statistics it said I had only destroyed 24. I can also confirm what NoHeroes94 said about saving by going to a new location, because after I got the achievement and had 30 intel listed under LOG, I manually saved and quit and when I returned it was at 29 intel and the last Spy Drone I destroyed was no longer in the location I had found it.

@PlusATHEY I've read elsewhere that these collectable achievements have a "global" total that extends beyond one game, so if you were a few short starting up a new game and getting a few more should be enough. @True Owlcaholic also confirms this.

The comment from @NoHeroes94 (which is good enough to be a solution in of itself) is solid and if people follow their advice that should be enough. The humming sound the drone makes it an indicator that it's the vicinity. One additional data point I'll raise is that spy drones only seem to fly off once you look at it from a relatively close distance, or shoot at it. What I'd do is clear a location and if I heard it, I would try not to look around too wildly until I cleared all the enemies out. After that I would locate the drone and shoot it (it does seem to be impervious to damage before it detaches from the wall it's clinging too and flies off, but it doesn't take much to kill it.)

I want to also reinforce the need to kill every drone you find, and reload your autosave if you miss one. I missed at least 2 early on and I found my 30th drone after a lot of searching to find new locations in areas that I thought I had explored properly before (in this case, southeast wetlands). The last 3 or 4 were hard to find. People have seen drone logs up to #0034 but don't let a single out get away from you if you want to clear all of this in one save!

Ugh, currently at 35 and no achievement.

Probably would be better to put the edits at the top rather than the bottom, just so it's the first thing people see.

Just a small note. You do not need to save before attempting to kill a drone. The game autosaves when you arrive at any location so if the drone gets away just load the last autosave.

Can you just reload a save and kill the same drone over and over?

Never mind done it. Used the powerpyx guide and searched everywhere. Popped at 28 in the log.

I had to destroy about 40. I did 28 in my first playthrough and the rest in an easy ng+ run that I started just to grind this buggy achievement out. I just used the powerpyx guide and systematically went over the map (using the icarus), starting at the bottom and never fast traveling anywhere.

Don’t forget to us focus mode in the area you are in. That will show you a highlight of the drone hiding. Must easier to spot that way.

When they fly off do they return or they gone for good anyone know? ????

@FALLENANGELSEMO , Drones that fly away go to a nearby location. Just check in which direction they take of, and go to a couple of the nearest locations in that direction to find it again.

Whoever decided that hunting down 30 randomly spawned drones that can disappear at any point was a good idea is an actual monster. So glad I never have todo this achievement ever again.

Wow. That was so nerve wreckin. About halfway my internet went off, but I kept doing it. But I didn't know the statistic only works if you have internet. So after 30 drones I noticed, when I have internet again it said 18 drones. So I kept doing it secretly hoping it will unlock eventually. Around 32 I got the achievement. My log file said 29, but I don't care.
I hate collectibles, but random collectibles are annoying and tedious.

A few tips.
I'm spanish so I'll try to explain the best I can.

- Is easier if you save the game before attempting to kill a drone but If a drone flies away, aim at it until you lose it on the horizon. Open the map and trace a line from the arrow of the player to the next location in that direction. The drone will be there (or in the nearest one). I've lost the same drone twice and found using this method. Also, it's mentioned in the loading screen.

- You can do it in several playthroughs: I first played on Ultra Nigthmare, then Easy Ironman, then Iron Man NG+, then loaded my Ultra Nightmare, changed to easy and completed all locations... I had 19 intels from drones and was unable to find any other...
Started a NG+ with this save, went to Professor mission (so I can search for drones) and after doing the mission I was able to easily find a lot of spy drones. My stats showed 31 when I got the achievement but I think I found like 35+

I actually didn't follow advice to only unlock the least number of Search and Discover perks, I unlocked all of them because for me, the noise they give off is the clue as to where they are, you can ignore the signal strength somewhat for these. Plus I wanted an easy life clearing out locations, not having to search all over for everything or come back later with the perks just because of the drones.

They are almost every time attached to the outside of a building at a location but the key thing I found when doing the ones I have so far is if you do not look at the drone directly it does NOT change colour and fly away however close you get to it. The tip then is essentially to get a feel for where it is based on the noise, find as open an area as you can within relative close proximity and sight of the drone (so you can manoeuvre to follow it), turn around and fire away with the assault rifle as you have a much better chance of shooting it down the more bullets you're firing at it. I think I have only missed one (due to my poor aiming on the occasion) out of about 20 so far.

Should work for anyone.

I now mapped all drone locations and will include them into a video along with a map and marker before every drone and a map with all locations marked at the beginning of that sequence.

But what I noticed is the LOG Numbers are random, so as an example I got 3 times a 0006 in the same game. And the locations also are randomized each time you start a new game, so there seem to be a set of locations where they get randomized placed on new game start.

I think I found all locations where they can appear, but it's also possible that there are more, it's hard to figure out. I did scan 638 Gigabytes of MP4 video files I recorded and pinpointed every drone that I saw or shot down with the corresponding LOG numbers. I also started a new game and checked them and they where there, so either I really got them all or it was coincidence, but I won't redo everything again because it did take a day already to scan all that data.

I will also need some time to do the Video that also will contain all achievements at once, I only finished doing a list of timestamps across the 638GB of MP4 files and now will need to cut and assemble everything into one file.

Also another important thing, once missed(flyed away) they don't come back to the location later, so if you miss one instantly reload an autosave. To make it worse they also sometimes fly away because of enemy fire too, pay attention to the sound they make to notice if there is one and if there suddenly isn't one anymore after you search for, reload an auto save.

If you missed too much already, you can start a new game and get some there, they luckily count cumulative over games.