Bio Engineer Archive

The purpose of this post is to create some standardization of BE pets. This is needed for BE’s due to the fact pets are being declared invalid because of the unstable creation process. The proposal includes a new method of creation of pet. Please understand that I am not a BE, so some of the finer details need worked out within the BE community. The second purpose of this proposal is to return some niche to the CH community. CH’s have little sense of purpose within the game and this creates one solution for giving them something to do. Another result of this proposal would be that DE Droids could directly reflect power of Bio-Pets. Ferro-Pets of the same strength and power could be assigned a proper CL.

In order to make this proposal we must first look at the system as it is now. Some BE pets go through the Pet Validity check and fail and are reassigned some arbitrary CL. In a player driven economy this Validity Check is unacceptable to players. Both the creators and buyers are left frustrated from the process. BE’s in good faith create what they believe to be a valid pet and then place it on their vendor. This pet is bought buy an unsuspecting player with the intent to use it. A CL10 pet bought by a non-CH is then declared invalid and made CL15. This leaves the non-CH frustrated and feeling ripped off. This also seems to have affected DE Droids as well. Many non-combat R2’s are suddenly CL13 and are unusable by non-CH. Then there is the other side of the spectrum where some entirely Uber Pets are still CL1(0). This defeats the purpose of the December anti-Dabbler CH patch. Those who were dabblers had to at least spend Skill Points to get their free checkers.

The solution is an easy one. First the creation process needs revamped. BE’s understandably want to do creation from start to finish. This however is where the validation goes wrong. CL’s are a major part of the game and create the biggest reason for invalid pets. Clone Engineering needs to be done on wild caught tames. The process would be one that a CH tames a baby and gives it to a BE to genetically alter. The same processes for creating DNA could remain but instead use them towards the gene therapy. DNA samples from wild creatures CL 1-10 would be used in Clone Engineering pets with a 5% alteration to stats.

Many of you may have noticed that Damage and Resists were not covered thus far. It too could be covered by the same percentages in the same CL ranges of wild versions. It is more important to lay the groundwork for these standards than to hammer everything out in one sitting.

Now the Bio Engineers in the crowd may have notived that this mentions everything in the context of modifying the current creatures. This is because of the second purpose of this proposal. Giving something back to the CH’s who seem to be wandering around with no sense of direction. The cloning process as I imagine it would include the CH community. I would love to see better interaction between the two communities.

So let me explain the cloning process. First the Dev team will create a new crafting station. This crafting station would be a Clone Tube. The station itself would not have modifiers like current crafting stations. These will be crafting stations that hold a (baby) captured by the CH. CH’s would then slap a slave collar on the tamed (baby). These collars would retard the growth of all babies. The collar would also allow for the transferring of babies to and from BE or allow for their sales on bazaars and vendors. The baby would be placed in the clone tube along with the appropriate modification stim. This baby would undergo the transformation from being a wild caught type into the bio engineered pet over its normal growth cycle. This could be halfed for the purpose of creating the new pet due to the fact BE’s will need a quick turnover.

The underlying problem with this proposal is the over all economy. Currently a level 10 BE pet will go for 10K. This in the scheme of things is more than fair. CH’s will need to take into consideration that they should not receive a large chunk of this. We will be our own market ultimately and do not need to reflect our own greed upon ourselves. Likewise we do not want to hunt the babies for free and be neglected in this economy. So it is with great anxiety that I believe this to be the best plan it can also be a plan that we all make backfire on ourselves.

Lastly, I stated that I would answer some of the DE concerns with their own Droid CL levels. As seen in this plan a CL10 creature reaches near 1K ham. I think it is appropriate for CL10 Droids to have a value of 950 (based on quality of resources) +/- 50 (based on droid experimentation). In the likely event that Uber Combat Droids make a debut in the game the same CL standards can be placed across the board.

I have posted in the CH forum something I believe can ultimately help the BE and CH profession at the same time. Please read it and provide feedback. Here is the link.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=creature_handler&message.id=169740

The BE pet making system isn't really in need of an overall revamp, there are better things to do with dev time.

They need a way of determining a creatures level based on its stats entirely (calculated) rather than what appears to be manually implemented. Why is a krayt dragon CL 125, while a huurton pup 2. Why not 124 and 3 or 126 and 1 or whatever. Therein lies our problem. Or a mutant rancor 75. Right now the method of assigning a CL is arbitrary, and needs to be addressed before they go trying to revamp everything else.

In theory, none of it's been truly arbitrary since the LAST pet overhaul, where they normalized everything against common standards. That's when the frenzied graul took the place of the graul mauler, etc.

First let me state I am MCH/MBE. Next let me state I completely disagree with your proposal.

BE’s understandably want to do creation from start to finish. This however is where the validation goes wrong.

Yes, Castillo you are moer than right. I found no need to go into great details about the coding. But I am merely offering the best solution for figuring up the CL of a creature. The CL would not change and the BE is basically slicing the creature up to 25% like a master smuggler. It keeps the animals we utilize somewhat consistent. The problem you as a BE are going to see now is a crushed economy because of the Validity checks. I am certainly a cheap person. I do not like to spend cash as it is, let alone spend it on something that may or may not work. BE's themselves realize its a problem and every other profession must rely on others for soem part or another. This offers the CH a chance to get back into the game. And it certainly offers BE a chance to be consistent.

Again, you are right it is not the BE's fault. But it is that point in crafting where things go awry simply by the process of slapping it together. It is much like the stim process for medics. If they just built a Stim and a CL was arbitrarily assigned after the creation process then it would certain FUBAR the market. One time they would build Stim A but then the validity check would make it Stim D. Or vice versa. This process I am proposing is reductionist and gives more control. Just like the current Medic processes for creating stims.

Tell me though other than disagreeing with the coding argument, is there any place we can find a common ground? Some points on which to build? I would really like for something in this game to work and if we CH must rely on BE your processes are going to have to work for us to work.

Castillo,

I more than appreciate the honesty. I think we both agree on the cynicism directed at the Devs. I guess I left my points vague. I would prefer the DNA Mod Stims to be permanent. Not a timer buff. So it would be something that the CH catches and brings to you and you grow in a Clone Tube for him.

I liken this process to slicing. When a CDEF pistol is sliced it does not suddenly become a Scout Blaster. So a CL10 pet should not become a CL20 pet in the BE process. The modification needs some stipulations. I do appreciate your desireto see a morecomplex system generating more content for BE. I am not sure how to replace that in my proposal. Admittedly I understand very little about the BE class. Although I do have an ALT that I want to work on BE with. I do understand genetics and when I read the BE overview it was nice too see that they used the A-T G-C principles for putting together DNA strands.

Too bad coding for albinism, melanism and other such selective breeding traits cannot be a better part of the game. As a hobbyist snake breeder the real money is there.

The simpler fix is to remove the 'skin' templates from BE and replace them with wild creatures. This would create a natural market for CHs to sell to BEs and would give CH's a 'mission' as well. The BE could either start with the base creature stats and work them up or down or maybe it would just be a skin for the BE. That could also open up a better CL10 market since you could create some cool non-CH pets at lvl 10 stats.

Fantoq,

That is exactly what I mean. Did it not come through like that? The DNA modification stim would be a one time injection that allows the BE to modify the baby. The stim would last the duration of the Wild Tames natural life.

Anyway. There does not seem to be much interest in this. Oh well, I ran it up the proverbial flag pole. Back to the drawing board.

I really thought this solved the CH and BE plight, and would ultimately set the standards for DE. Instead we CH will remain nicheless, BE pets sales will plummet due to inconsistent Validity Checks, DE will keep calling for Uber Bots or Nerfed BE pets.

I liked the new idea until I started thinking about it. From the bio-engineer side my business would only be with a creature handler that brought me babies. I'd be constantly hounding creature handlers for more and more babies. That would get annoying after a short while. I know, being a master creature handler, I'd get real tired of all three BE's on my server constantly asking me for babies.

Also, my business would all have to be done in real time. I wouldn't be able to make a variety of animals and put them on my vendor so anybody can purchase them at their leisure as I do now. I would have to be logged on and with the creature handler to make any money. That's why I don't like playing doctor except they can stand in front of a starport and rake in the dough buffing people.

The concept of the existingbio-engineer crafting system is one of the coolest things. Its not cookie cutter like making a gun or a hat or a glass of brandy. The variables are huge. Its also a lot of fun. Unfortunately the crafting system can't calculate the creature level correctly. Until that's fix bio-engineered animals will always be a thorn in the creature handlers side. We don't need a new system. We need the existing system to calculate correctly.