Get all tech on Trans?

[MariOne]

once every citizen is a drone on the unmodified line you can't get any more drones

well... you can get SuperDrones...

[dnzrx]

Super Drones?!

[GooglyBoogly]

Superdrones require 4 psych to revert to citizens, twice the amount of their less super counterparts.

[Marchantbard]

Can someone please tell me how Drones happen in the first place? No matter how carefully I calibrate my terraforming, I always end up with 'em.

[BlackCat]

Can someone please tell me how Drones happen in the first place? No matter how carefully I calibrate my terraforming, I always end up with 'em.

First, there are NO connection between drones and terraforming, so that is probably why you can't control them

Drones basically arrives due to population and the limit varies from one faction to another. Another source is number of bases.

You can only control them with police units, a number of facilities and psych allocation.

Edit: Well, there are one connection between terraforming and drones - if you don't produce enough food, then you won't get that extra citizen that turns into a drone. (added for nitpickers )

[GooglyBoogly]

The datalinks provided with SMAC provide some information on how drones are created, and the bureaucracy section mentions that breaching the limits creates drones as well. The game difficulty also determines how soon drones become a problem.
If you are playing SMAX I recommend you try using my comprehensive datalinks update (see sig) as it provides a little more information on how drones work.

[CEO Aaron]

The key with superdrones and dealing with them for a high population strategy is to realize that drone quelling facilities and police treat them exactly like ordinary drones, while budget spent on psych is half as effective.

[vyeh]

well... you can get SuperDrones...

Once every citizen on the unmodified line is a SuperDrone ...

After awhile, every one of my bases requires the same drone control methods and I can expand as much as I want.

[Wobbo]

I have no problem getting all techs on a transcendence victory, but like CAO Aaron says, you got to build a lot of bases. Not necessarily ICS, but many times the bureaucracy limit.

Make sure you aggressively pod-pop, (although I usually cash in my AA immediately; I usually play as the drones, who have a difficult time keeping up on their own), and build facilities and you'll be fine.