In my opinion, I find that the drums have a negative effect on gameplay as they are activated by proximity. This is a problem because it causes ambushes/feats of stealth to be less effective.
E.g. A sniper who has been successfully snuck up on, should not be rewarded with the knowledge of knowing an enemy ship is close by via the sounding of the drums.
Instead of drums activating on just proximity, I believe a second prerequisite should be included. This being the actual beginning of the engagement between the two ships involved. If however this second prerequisite cannot be implemented due to other complications, I would suggest that an option be included in perhaps the lobby creation to able/disable the battle drums.
*If in the unlikely scenario that finding enemy ships on some maps becomes somewhat time consuming perhaps new tools could be designed to have a proximity device implemented or other system...*
