Droid Engineer Archive

I want to try and bring some of my other ideas and thoughtsfrom thread #1 in to this thread.

- The experience/skill points the droid uses is the players that must be spent on the droid. This makes it fit the requirements TH posted. I do like the idea better that the droids XP/skill points would be seperate from the players. In this case the droid would not have a master level and would not have enough skill points to learn all skills. This would force the player to choose what skill he would like the droid to have. All droids would not have the same amount of skill points, either experimentation would give more, the type of droid, or maybe DE possesed droids get a skill point bonus for being in the constant care of it's master. Or maybe you could slice a droid to get it more skill points. This would make droids more personal and customizable. This is similar to spending player XP on the droid because if you use the droid in combat you will be splitting the experience points with the droid and slowing down your own progression. Droid advancement should also be much slower than how a creature levels. A basic non-upgraded droid would be up to CL 10. I think an entertainer should be able to have a body guard for those shopping trips and this would be possible if the droid owned it's own XP and had it's own skill points.

-Combat droids should only be allowed to attack only creatures to a certain extent. The Empire will not allow droids that kill people. This would help seperate droids from pet and faction pets. There are many ways you could go with this one, but a military grade combat droid that kills people would definitely be contraband. Maybe breaking this Imperial Law could get a bounty place on you.

- Some level of droid personallity would be very cool. Partially programmed and partially how you use/interact with the droid. Many people would get much enjoyment form role playing with their droid. Some players could attatched to their droids the way Luke does his in the movies

An effective combat droid would take much more time and moneythan a pet, but it is more available to many types of players.

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blaisedinsd wrote:

about military droids. (I would like to call these Body Guard Droids)

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I believe I like this idea... I do have a couple of questions though...

1.) If you want to change toa different droid chassis do the droid skill move to the new droid or are they lost? Basiclly is the "Droid Brain" transferable to the new droid? If so very nice... if no... I don't see how this is a good thing... I have spent 50 hours hunting with Robby the robot... but i need a robot with better stats (ham,damage, slot for a shield generator). So now i am stuck upgradeing Robby to the max... but Robby will never be as good as he could be if i could move robby's brain into the new Droideka series 2 with the new 1k OQ duralloy steel armor...

2.) The droid gains experience but you don't use skill points to unlock the skills?

Ok, what this idea is... is Droid Handler with NO skill point cost!

The skills are the droids not yours(it doesn'tmake a difference, the only difference is how it is presented (smoke and mirrors)), but they will appear in the skill tab with the rest of YOUR skills.The database isn't set up to have droids(objects) with skill sets... now the database could be rebuilt... But in actuallity your character NOT the droid will contain the droid skills!

Now if the droid dies or you upgrade, and you cannot transfer its skills to the new droid... this is like Jedi Death... and i don't think people are going to like this, I know I don't... I'd rather spend skill points than have "skill perma-death" for my droid.

I do like the idea... making the skills tied toa droid brain... but i really don't see how this is different from a Droid Handler profession?

If i confused # 1 and 2... explain it and maybe I'll see the light

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RebelsHand wrote:

I believe I like this idea... I do have a couple of questions though...

1.) If you want to change toa different droid chassis do the droid skill move to the new droid or are they lost? Basiclly is the "Droid Brain" transferable to the new droid? If so very nice... if no... I don't see how this is a good thing... I have spent 50 hours hunting with Robby the robot... but i need a robot with better stats (ham,damage, slot for a shield generator). So now i am stuck upgradeing Robby to the max... but Robby will never be as good as he could be if i could move robby's brain into the new Droideka series 2 with the new 1k OQ duralloy steel armor...

Personally I think that brains should be transferable between bodies, but taking a skill drop upon transfer ( minor incompatabilities etc)

2.) The droid gains experience but you don't use skill points to unlock the skills?

I think it would be possible to remodel it so that you do pay skillpoints for the droid skills. I know it's inconsistant with the system, but this system would have to make that change in the name of game balance

Ok, what this idea is... is Droid Handler with NO skill point cost!

The skills are the droids not yours(it doesn'tmake a difference, the only difference is how it is presented (smoke and mirrors)), but they will appear in the skill tab with the rest of YOUR skills.The database isn't set up to have droids(objects) with skill sets... now the database could be rebuilt... But in actuallity your character NOT the droid will contain the droid skills!

Agreed, but I don't think they would have to make very significant changes to how the system is handled

Now if the droid dies or you upgrade, and you cannot transfer its skills to the new droid... this is like Jedi Death... and i don't think people are going to like this, I know I don't... I'd rather spend skill points than have "skill perma-death" for my droid.

Again agreed

I do like the idea... making the skills tied toa droid brain... but i really don't see how this is different from a Droid Handler profession?

It provides more flexability for how the droid develops, And would allow a wider range of possibilities for the individual droids for a lower dev workload than attempting to provide seperate droids to cover each possibility

If i confused # 1 and 2... explain it and maybe I'll see the light

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I like the concept, though I imagine it would be hard for them to implement. It inspired this thought, tho, which might be easier for them:

Droid-Owner Efficiency Rating.

It's a single number per droid, that indicates how well the droid works with its owner. It's starting amount is based on the Efficiency Rating that DEs tune when crafting it, and it increases over time as its used.

It influences the droid's combat speed, damage, and accuracy. A low-efficiency droid shoots infrequently ("shoot once, boss, or keep shooting?"), misses somewhat more ("who should I shoot?"), and does poor damage ("do you really think I should *hurt* them boss?"). Ahigh-efficiency droid knows his master's intent and fights more effectively.

When the droid transfers to a new owner, the whole process starts over.

This has a few advantages:

1. It's very hard to get a droid right off the vendor that kicks butt. You have to keep your droid around for a while and use it.

2. It encourages people to protect and nurture (and repair) a droid rather than slinging it about casually.

3. It's a bit easier to implement than a separate droid skill tree.

The principle of Droid-Owner Efficiency could apply to non-combat droids as well. Perhaps that medical droid takes some time to get up to 110% effectiveness, or that crafting droid needs some practice to get the right tools for his owner's work.

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Arcid wrote:

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RebelsHand wrote:

I believe I like this idea... I do have a couple of questions though...

1.) If you want to change toa different droid chassis do the droid skill move to the new droid or are they lost? Basiclly is the "Droid Brain" transferable to the new droid? If so very nice... if no... I don't see how this is a good thing... I have spent 50 hours hunting with Robby the robot... but i need a robot with better stats (ham,damage, slot for a shield generator). So now i am stuck upgradeing Robby to the max... but Robby will never be as good as he could be if i could move robby's brain into the new Droideka series 2 with the new 1k OQ duralloy steel armor...

Personally I think that brains should be transferable between bodies, but taking a skill drop upon transfer ( minor incompatabilities etc)

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Oooohhh nice... loose some EXP when upgradeing... so there is a cost to upgrade... but nothing that is permenant... you just go and let the droid kill some more... This is looking good to me...

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Barfalomue wrote:

To clear up a possible misunderstanding. Let's say you are a warrior. You have a combat droid. It is a master combat droid. You drop your entire combat profession to become a dancer. The droid will retain those skills, but they will be lost if you try to use it in battle. It keeps them there in case you decide to go back to combat profession. (This is a little dicey, perhaps a small modification in concept on the DEVS' part would clear it up.)

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I don't think i like the fact that the droid looses its combat skills. I shouldn't matter what profession the owner eventually becomes. It only matters what the droid was trained to do... The droid doesn't forget its programming (except for a memory wipe during ownership transfer).

Your method would prevent combat training by artisans and such... If they spent the skill points and the exp, as long as the droid isn't traded; the droid needs to keep it's combat abilities...

Besides that i am liking this idea...

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RebelsHand wrote:

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Barfalomue wrote:

To clear up a possible misunderstanding. Let's say you are a warrior. You have a combat droid. It is a master combat droid. You drop your entire combat profession to become a dancer. The droid will retain those skills, but they will be lost if you try to use it in battle. It keeps them there in case you decide to go back to combat profession. (This is a little dicey, perhaps a small modification in concept on the DEVS' part would clear it up.)

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I don't think i like the fact that the droid looses its combat skills. I shouldn't matter what profession the owner eventually becomes. It only matters what the droid was trained to do... The droid doesn't forget its programming (except for a memory wipe during ownership transfer).

Your method would prevent combat training by artisans and such... If they spent the skill points and the exp, as long as the droid isn't traded; the droid needs to keep it's combat abilities...

Besides that i am liking this idea...

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I would too Norax. Who knows, maybe TH is forwarding an email with a clip of this post and the previous...

PFFT! Ye, in our dreams right? HA! Ya never know really.