Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Concept Series: Illegal Combat Droid
Neat idea for a compromise of power-versus-price, but maybe a bit too harsh. If it's really as easy to foil as you suggest, then what's the point?
I might suggest something more like this:
The Control Device in the datapad, like spice, *may* be detected in a scan and punished (regardless of faction, I hope). After all, just walking past Imperials doesn't mean they know I have this devicein my pocket. Why should it be automatically detected?
BUT if you have the illegal droid out and active, then the detection is automatic and the punishment swift and severe. So, one would have to be careful when using such a droid. Yes, it might help your harvester run if you have to fight some tusk cats.... But if Imperials are parked outside your harvester, this droid will hurt more than help.
Well I'm sort of operating under the assumption that the penalty needs to be big or else the Devs won't even look at it. They've said flat out that they're not going to add any combat droids above CL 10 without the expenditure of additional time, experience, and skill points for the character. So whatever penalty we put on this droid has to be the equivalent of the time, experience, and skill point expenditure that they're looking for.
As for the detection being automatic, I was trying to put in something that would make Smugglers much more useful. I have yet to be caught with my 3 sliced weapons as it is, so the whole "scan" part of the Imperial Crackdown doesn't seem to be very significant. If we make it auto-detect, though, the risk is a lot higher. At which point you might want to call on your local Smuggler before you journey into town for groceries.
I want Crafters to really have to think about it before they use one of these. Which is a greater risk - running into a pack of Plains Hunters without having an Illegal Combat Droid, or running into an Imperial Patrol if you do have one?
I suspect that most combat players won't worry about it too much unless they are Imperial. Imps will have a hard choice to make because they probably won't want to risk having to kill a patrol and lose faction in the process.
Which means that the only players likely to get a lot of use out of these will be Rebel combat players. And somehow, that seems correct. They ARE Rebels, after all.
Much love. /rose. I like this a LOT.
/bow
Kollos wrote:
Well I'm sort of operating under the assumption that the penalty needs to be big or else the Devs won't even look at it.
Yup. I'd agree with that. The issue is how to properly balance the risk vs. reward of this kind of change.
I like that it gives Smugglers a way to feel like they can really play into their profession.
They've said flat out that they're not going to add any combat droids above CL 10 without the expenditure of additional time, experience, and skill points for the character. So whatever penalty we put on this droid has to be the equivalent of the time, experience, and skill point expenditure that they're looking for.
Correct. This is a deal-breaker for them on any >CL10 combat droid/module. As long as we try to meet that hard line, I'm sure they might consider whatever we put forward. I like this idea a lot. Since these are supposed to be illegal, SWG can use that to its immersive advantage (for smugglers and others) toward those ends.
As for the detection being automatic, I was trying to put in something that would make Smugglers much more useful. I have yet to be caught with my 3 sliced weapons as it is, so the whole "scan" part of the Imperial Crackdown doesn't seem to be very significant.
I have yet to bescanned at all yet. Ever. And...I did spend quite some time in the various wilds since the Crackdown started. Note: I live outside Kor Vella too, and I've neverbeen scanned.
If we make it auto-detect, though, the risk is a lot higher. At which point you might want to call on your local Smuggler before you journey into town for groceries.
I don't know if it should be 100% chance of getting detected..but VERY high. Whatever number the Devs think would be properly balanced, I suppose.
I want Crafters to really have to think about it before they use one of these. Which is a greater risk - running into a pack of Plains Hunters without having an Illegal Combat Droid, or running into an Imperial Patrol if you do have one?
I'd love to have this kind of gameplay choice, personally.
I suspect that most combat players won't worry about it too much unless they are Imperial. Imps will have a hard choice to make because they probably won't want to risk having to kill a patrol and lose faction in the process.
Yes, this is a neutral and/or Rebel droid for sure. Should we not try to think of some alternate situation for the Imperials? I mean....it IS the Empire afterall. They can use what they want.
Which means that the only players likely to get a lot of use out of these will be Rebel combat players. And somehow, that seems correct. They ARE Rebels, after all.
Indeed.
As a side-suggestion, I might put forth that a good Smuggler droid would be one that had 20 item (or 30?) storage for items. That makes a "Smuggler Storage module" VERY useful, I'd think....especially if non-decay stays in place.
That'd be a lot easier to implement for Smugglers, since it's a similar mod to giving Ent's a cert. and adding on new cool 'powers'.
A Novice (or at some point higher) Smuggler would get a cert.
If they are the owner/user of a droid with Item storage, they'd get, say....3x's the space on any current Droid Item Storage module. (note: that's just a tossed-out-there number. I'm sure this would be tweaked).
Basically, the idea is to modify the current working Item storage modules to give Smuggler more usefulness. Your idea to tag them with possibly getting 'flagged' and aggro'ed could well go along with this as well.
Respectfully,
(note: can you believe I forgot to bow?!? Must be tired or something...)
Message Edited by TheRealTK421 on 02-23-2004 09:40 PM
SinjenRandall wrote:
Illegal? Absolutely. But unless they make a way for you to leave something in your datapad at home or at the bank, this isn't going to be worth the development time. You are basically saying that by owning one, you are going to get griefed. There are now imperials everywhere, and especially at starports at many major cities. If they just instantly attack you if it is your datapad, and the droid won't even help you in this situation, I just don't know how useful this droid becomes.
How about this idea. Instead of being killed, how about being arrested? Once arrested you are transported to the imperial prison on Dathimor and have to get all teh way back to the nearest outpost.
Now I guess you could just kill your self and clone at the outpost; however still i think this should be a punishment worth looking at for anything.
Here's another idea:
Keep the above pretty much as-is, but on top of that add another layer.
For some (large) number of faction points, Imperial players with sufficiently high rank could purchase a license for an Illegal Combat Droid. I haven't a clue what a reasonable number of faction points would be or what a sufficiently high rank would be, but I'm thinking that it should be really big. Like AT-ST big. So let's just round it off and call it 10k faction points and at least 3 promotions (is that enough?). Imperial players who possess a license would still be stopped and scanned like anyone else, but there would be no penalty for them. After all, they're licensed to operate one of these Droids, right?
Then for the Rebels, allow them to spend some similar number of faction points at a similarly high rank (possibly fewer because this isn't as good) to purchase an "anti-disabler jammer" so that, if scanned and attacked, they could still use their Illegal Combat Droid to fight the attacking Imperial Patrol.
Neutrals wouldn't have one of these options.
This allows anyone to use an Illegal Combat Droid at great risk, while those who have spent a lot of time and effort to acquire rank and faction points to "buy down" the risk a bit.
Thoughts?
Alacrity wrote:
Minor curiosity: Where's the SW reference that combat droids are illegal? (I know it makes sense that they'd be illegal; I just want a reference.)
That'll require someone who's a bit more of a Star Wars geek than me.
I recall seeing several posts refering to the fact that they're banned (and/or illegal) at this point in the timeline, but I can't provide you with that information myself. I'm more of a "casual" Star Wars fan.
Kollos wrote:
For some (large) number of faction points, Imperial players with sufficiently high rank could purchase a license for an Illegal Combat Droid. I haven't a clue what a reasonable number of faction points would be or what a sufficiently high rank would be, but I'm thinking that it should be really big. Like AT-ST big. So let's just round it off and call it 10k faction points and at least 3 promotions (is that enough?). Imperial players who possess a license would still be stopped and scanned like anyone else, but there would be no penalty for them. After all, they're licensed to operate one of these Droids, right?
Now we are talking. You sign up for a faction and earn faction points, and you are then part of the military. If you are using military ordinance, then you should certainly be able to buy into that somehow. I am a Liutenant Colonel, however, and my next rank of Colonel only takes 6000 faction points (maybe 6500, not looking at the moment). So I would say that the 10k faction is probably too steep. Also, Stormtroopers and Rebel "pets" are rated at least CL20, and probably more. The license should be more expensive, but not that much. Perhaps if it has to be renewed every so often.How about3k factionfor a license that lasts 30 days. After thelicense expires, you had better have enough faction to renew or you are in trouble.
Then for the Rebels, allow them to spend some similar number of faction points at a similarly high rank (possibly fewer because this isn't as good) to purchase an "anti-disabler jammer" so that, if scanned and attacked, they could still use their Illegal Combat Droid to fight the attacking Imperial Patrol.
Excellent. Make this jammer cost enough to make it more desirable to hire a smuggler if the need arises, but not so cost prohibitive as to make it not worth buying. This is one of those "rainy day" perks for when you just can't find a smuggler to help you.
Neutrals wouldn't have one of these options.
Sounds okay. At least until they add more factions in (Jabba's for instance). They still have the option of hiring smugglers. By not joining a faction, they are imperial citizens who place themselves under imperial law, basically.
Thoughts?
plzurpilot's idea of being arrested sounds like a broader concept, but boy do I love it. On top of that idea, If you get arrested, you get sent to prison, and it would take a team to bust you out. If you aren't able to break out of prison or get rescued, then you are either interrogated, executed, or both. Now this sounds pretty harsh, but maybe it is reasonable to provide enough "outs" that would make this fun. Perhaps you could bribe a guard, with enough money. Perhaps you could slice your way out. Perhaps you could shoot your way out. Perhaps you could give information that would spare your life. Dance for the prison guards and charm your way out.
At most, execution should simply be a trip to the nearest cloning center. Interrogation wounds the mind. There is a lot of coolness that could come from this, but that is for another thread I think.
SinjenRandall wrote:
Now we are talking. You sign up for a faction and earn faction points, and you are then part of the military. If you are using military ordinance, then you should certainly be able to buy into that somehow. I am a Liutenant Colonel, however, and my next rank of Colonel only takes 6000 faction points (maybe 6500, not looking at the moment). So I would say that the 10k faction is probably too steep. Also, Stormtroopers and Rebel "pets" are rated at least CL20, and probably more. The license should be more expensive, but not that much. Perhaps if it has to be renewed every so often.How about3k factionfor a license that lasts 30 days. After thelicense expires, you had better have enough faction to renew or you are in trouble.
Kollos wrote:
Alacrity wrote:
Minor curiosity: Where's the SW reference that combat droids are illegal? (I know it makes sense that they'd be illegal; I just want a reference.)
That'll require someone who's a bit more of a Star Wars geek than me.
Majority of the references that I know of come from the Star Wars RPG (pen and paper type). Before Episode I was ever written, a company called West End Games, or more commonly known as WEG, published vast amounts of Star Wars Extended Universe information. If I recall correctly, combat droids were deemed illegal after an incident at a Swoop race where a couple of Combat Droids opened up on the crowd. A few of the more vocal members of the Galactic Senate became involved in the incident, due to personally being effect, which in turn resulted in a Galactic wide ban on all personally owned Combat Droids. It was later rumored that Palapatine had a hand in created the tragic events at the Swoop race, so that he could further push forth Stormtrooper taking over all key positions of enforcement. Is that geeky enough an answer? I think that after Episode I was released, WEG went bankrupt, and WotC took over the SWRPG line the back story on why Combat Droids are illegal was changed.
I really like the concept of making Combat Droids illegal and included in the Contaband scans, however I think that this would fall under the same problem that exists with items being stored in a Droid not being detected or decaying. The Datapad really does appear to be a pocket universe that anything can be pulled from. I think that this comes down to a database issue and how the datapad had to be coded so that items could be stored there.