This is a fork of rearth's (of OriTech fame) Buddy Drones mod. It's really fun but had some issues that were distracting. So I started fixing them, and it kind of spiraled from there.

The original mod hasn't been updated in 8 months as of this writing. I'm not sure if rearth is planning to come back to it at some point or is focused on other things, and out of respect I'd be happy to have some or all of this folded in. But as I'm planning some balance changes that may not fit the original vision, I'm keeping it separate for now and am happy to put some work into maintaining it. This project mostly exists to make it easier to add to a modpack for my friends.

Important 1.21.11 update notes:

Integration with the Accessories mod has been dropped, due to that mod being effectively dead at the moment.
- Both Curios (NeoForge) and Trinkets Updated (Fabric) mods are now supported for a way to equip your drone without having to use the head slot.
- I have heard on Discord that the Accessories author may resurrect it for 26.2, but that backports to 1.21.11 or 26.1 are unlikely. If that happens, I'll look at re-adding the integration at that time.
If you have Curios or Trinkets installed, the drone can no longer be equipped to the head armor slot and must now go into the dedicated Drone slot.
- I wanted to do this previously, but it was not feasible (in a sane way) to change the item at runtime until Minecraft 1.21.2 revamped the Equippable system.
- The drone slot is objectively better in every way, so there's no reason to ever equip the drone as a helmet if you have the extra slot available.

Changes from the original:

Curious/Trinkets/Accessories integration

If you have the Curios, Trinkets, or Accessories mod installed, now adds a dedicated Drone slot to activate your companion without having to hide your helmet
The cosmetic head slot (Accessories only) is still supported for backwards compatibility, though this will be removed in a future version

Revamped movement to make it seem more natural

Eliminated whiplash-inducing zips to targets
Reworked speed/power mechanics to make them smoother and have a more intuitive relationship with "Speed" bar in the drone builder UI
Fixed sluggish turning
The drone is much better about navigating geometry and not phasing through solid blocks
Has several different flight modes it can choose from to better navigate tight passages and 2-block high spaces

Arrow attack improvements

Will not target Endermen, since projectiles make them teleport
Arrow actually fires from the drone instead of above the player's head
Doesn't try to target enemies through walls and underground
Won't shoot if the player is in the way and likely to be hit
Flies out a little ahead of the player when engaging enemies to get a better angle on them
Some extra polish like recoil when firing, sound effects, etc
Fixed targeting of small mobs (baby zombies) so it can hit them consistently
Prefers to fight enemies that are close to the player, in order to defend them

Melee attack improvements

Will not target Endermen unless they are already angry
Perfers to fight enemies that are close to the drone itself, to minimize travel time

Item pickup improvements

Reworked animation to make it much more smooth while carrying
Can pick up to an entire stack of items and carry it below the drone
Will try to gather items stackable with the one it's currently holding before returning to the player
Tries to insert items directly into the player's inventory after returning, drops the item in the world only if the inventory is full
Is smart about not immediately picking something up that it just dropped
Can hold onto an item if a higher priority task like fighting an enemy interrupts it, and resume delivery after

Priority system overhaul

Priotitizes using the dispenser (arrow) launcher over a melee weapon if the drone has both, since the arrows deal more average DPS
Can still use melee on inelgible targets like Endermen, or if it can't get clean line of sight
Fixed some bugs with tasks being interrupted
Internal timers prevent rapid oscillation between tasks - drones should not be indecisive

Balance tweaks

No longer uses the hardness of the block to determine weight, since I don't think the mod should punish players who want drones that look techy and aestehtic and reward players who slap rotors on a couple leaves or carpets
Weight is now determined solely by number of blocks
Excluded rotors/thrusters from the weight calculation to avoid unintuitive situations where adding a rotor can decrease your flight power

Misc

Using a beacon block to activate the ultimate beam/sonic attack no longer looks silly; the beacon block is rotated to face forward when it's installed on the drone
Fixed some miscellaneous bugs, including a nasty one that let players break bedrock and other unbreakable blocks
Unified attack cooldown system for consistency