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Drones are constructed from Drone components and from Smart chips. When you dock a ship that can stock drones at a wharf or shipyard, you can order drones and the wharf or shipyard will instantly produce and then deliver them to your ship. These drones can then be used on the ship or transferred to player-owned stations. However, to supply player-owned stations, it is much more convenient to let the station manufacture its own drones. Right-click your station and select "Logistic overview". There, you can set how many cargoCargo drones, defence Defence drones and repair Repair drones the station should keep in stock. The station will then order Drone components and Smart chips and once the station is supplied with these wares, it will produce drones on its own (and presumably maintain their number in the case of losses). However, experience shows that it may take a very long time for stations to get supplied with these wares by NPCs, so send one of your own freighters if you want this to happen more quickly.
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