@archangelzeriel @cstross The pros have that exact same problem of the head-meats.

Also getting a bit fixated on the how of doing the thing as should be presently customary, which is why cavalry-in-a-can comes as a shock.

(I maintain that the easiest and best way to think of drones is just that; they have all the functions and the same limitations as classic "horse guns and foot" cavalry. And the mental images of a bunch of grunts lugging around a can of compressed horse soldier are funny.)