CUEmu - Thread Posts

EnigmaBSc

Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:08 am

If the issue with stats reporting is indeed balance and not implementation difficulty then could we at least push for some kind of reduced stat reporting, i.e. highest and lowest attribute values, average attribute value, average attribute value (ignoring highest and lowest), number of stats above 500 or some other threshold, time since the resource spawned (great suggestion from someone else earlier in the thread) or something similar.

What it returns now would be fine if it were reuseable or didn't have named resources and didn't eat a survey tool, but to my mind as it stands the cost of this droid far outweighs the benefits, even with charges.

EnigmaBSc

Jenden

Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:12 am

#132

TheRealTK421 wrote:

Jenden,

Did you note the time it took for the email to return?

I have it listed as 15 min. in the main post but I know we've seen that change to around 30 min.

Whatcha seeing now? (so I can update it with hopefully final info...)

/bow

Respectfully,

24 minutes for the low quality one (rating 21) and 54 minutes for the high quality one (rating 80). Still backwards it seems.

Jenden Morn - Master of Droids- Tarquinas
Droid Engineer Blue Glowy
Owner, Operator, and Founder of DarkStar Inc.
Groupy of the best band in the galaxy, Solar Flair
3D art of Jenden by Saeelwenea

TheRealTK421

Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:13 am

#133

We may have to live with the situation as is for awhile.

It's possible that we can get this looked at if the metrics seem to show that it's not getting used very much.

/shrug

....more to come when I know more...

/bow

Respectfully,

TheRealTK421 a.k.a. "Doughbacca"

SWG DE Correspondent

Co-Founding member of Ahazi DENet & SWG DEA (Droid Engineer Association)

"I think all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. ...I'm certainly not. And I'm sick and tired of being told that I am."

Chaz_uk

Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:36 am

#134

Just a thought but could the longer time taken be due to the higher complexity? (In much the same way Factory run time is increased due to complexity of the item)???

As I say, just a thought - whatever it does need looking at or it'll be the first time I've actively sought out the lowest possible stats for a given resource!

Another cruel trick by the Devs's...

Stormkraken

Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:47 am

#135

Great work Devs, Jenden and TK.

The current email information will suffice.

Stormkraken Starstrider
Always Buying Panties! Paying 25,000 credits per pair!
SERIOUSLY, on the Radiant Server!
Thread Updated 04/06/04

SkyeDarkangel

Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:51 am

#136

That might be a decently useful tool then, but I really don't see a whole lot of need... especially at one survey tool per go. I only have to look at mine to get that. Will be handy to watch the Advanced Planets, and since it lists the NAME of the specific resources you can use it to keep track of Organic stuff.

Just a quick question and no disrespect towards the Dev's or SOE...

Do they actually PLAY the game at all? I mean, has TH spent time trying to make a Droid Engineer and trying to hunt down resources? Has Rogue_5 been a Bounty Hunter and tried to buy stuff or worked up Investigation?

Again, I mean no disrespect, but if they don't want to play their own game, I'm a bit worried. Also, if they don't have time, how are others with full time jobs, children, and other responsibilites supposed to have time to play?

If stats were returned, I could just concentrate more on the business and crafting aspect as opposed to spending most of my time telling clients "I'd love to build you that Krayt pistol/BE Brandy crate, but I'm 3 planets away trying to see if this fruit's worth my time."

I just find it a bit sad how the biggest time sink is the least fun, least challenging, and most repetetive and pointless.

As for swgcraft.com... well, I guess it's only as good as the players on the server want it to be. With 10 minutes of my time and others time Lowca is usually updated on a new resources within 3 hours of it's initial spawn. It's something to do while waiting for that shuttle after all.

No disrespect meant, I'd just rather CRAFT, as opposed to spend 2/3 of my time moving harvestors. To stay competetive I sometimes need to lose a few hours of sleep, I love this game but if I can't enjoy it without being competetive and it costs me too much of my real time to stay competetive... then I can't afford to play it.

I think the original Mining profession would have been a really good thing to leave in, so many people make a business of selling resources as it is... and we wouldn't see this gigantic CPU Inflation that we see on Lowca. (Anything non grinding goes for anywhere from 6 - 350 cpu)

This is just my opinion, as one who loves to craft but is finding it hard to find the TIME to doall this intensive resources harvesting. (Staying competetive can sometimes cost 2-5 hours a day)

ps. What would be really neat was an in-game swgcraft system, where you connect to an "in-game" database that players would have to update.

And to answer a previous post, I don't think there are any DENet's for other professions, especially since most other professions do NOT have the feeling of unity that the DE Community does (everyone here wants to work together and helps each other, other boards saying "Hi" turns into a competetion about how someone on Bria or Wanderhome can make a better "Hi" and how cool their +20 Exp suit is...)

Message Edited by SkyeDarkangel on 04-21-2004 03:54 PM

.-----------------------------------------------------.
| Skye Blueriver:                                     | 
| Master Droid Engineer & Master Weaponsmith          |
| Lost City on Naboo, Lowca : Vendors at 3660 5667    |
'-----------------------------------------------------'

TheRealTK421

Thu Apr 22, 2004 1:07 am

#137

Tonight's Survey droid report:

I took some time to see how a full set of 10 Survey droids would behave. Here's what I found:

I had 11 Survey droids (one as a 5 use and one as a 6). I'm pretty sure the Quality stat outcome on the final droid sets were different (but not massively so).

Then, I made up 10 Mineral Survey tools and put them into different packs (equipped, not equpped) and my main inventory.
Nothing fancy with these...just what I had on-hand.

Off to Corellia...to drop a harvester (to test off-world structure mods, which I forgot)...

Right after I got outside of Kor Vella, I stopped and deployed all 10 of the Survey droids from the same spot.

Picking the planet:

When picking the planets...the order was static every time. Any planet to which you've already sent a droidwill still show up if you go to launch another. So, be careful not to order a Survey of the same type to the same planet (that you already have) and waste a droid.

(Note: I'll ask about having them removed if there's a survey-of-type for a given planet.)

The list given was:

Tatooine

Naboo

Corellia

Rori

Talus

Endor

Dantooine

Dathomir

Lok

Yavin IV

Selecting a survey tool:

There was only one choice for "Mineral Survey Device" when it asked me, even though I had multiple tools all over my inventory and in packs. It only ever asked for one at a time (but goes to the main inventory first). It then seemed to take them from my unequipped backback. When I did all those, it wouldn't show me any more. So, I had to move the few I had (in my equipped backpack) into my main inventory and move forward.

At 10:26 pm, I launched the first one, Tatooine...and then surveyed in the order listed above.

Note: the times listed are approx. only and will have some small margin of error. I didn't use a stopwatch.

Droids 1-5 from stack 1 (5 use set):

Launched: 10:26 pm - 10:28 pm

Estimated time to complete: 36 min. and change

Actual 'real' time of arrival of email from these 5: 11:02-11:03 pm

Time taken to receive email: approx. 36-37 min.

Droids 6-10 from stack 2 (6 use set):

Launched: 10:28 pm - 10:29 pm

Estimated time to complete: 26 min. and change

Actual 'real' time of arrival of email from these 5: 10:54-10:55 pm

Time taken to receive email: approx. 26-27 min.

So...the timer seems to work pretty reliably, which is good to know. I'm thinking the difference in the time needed here was due to the difference in Quality of the final Survey droid sets that I used. So, this stat looks to affect time needed (but I'd call that unconfirmed, for now).

The email:

This took on the format reported earlier in the thread. Basically, the same list you'd see via the Survey tool had you opened it on the planet in question yourself.

For now, it appears that returning stats isn't likely to happen, so this sort of report is what you can probably count on getting when this goes Live.

My thoughts:

I asked a guy that had helped me a few nights back...

'How fast do you think you get this list yourself if you had to go to all 10 planets at once? Would it take longer than 35 minutes?'

His response basically led us to decide that it might realistically take a person about 45 min. (depending on shuttle times) to hit 6 of the planets. Maybe 7 or 8 if you really got lucky (but that might be stretching it).

I'm thinking this droid will be of great use to send out just after the spawn shift occurs for a particular type.If you were so inclined, you could send out a set of 10 on a weekly basis, give or take. This gives all the info needed for anyone keeping an eye out for rares and leaves you free to do other things (craft, answer emails, work with clients, go on a hunt, etc.).

Tonight, for me, it was giving me time to run out and drop my Fusion on a 77% spot, forget to use "Assign Droid" (so I could test remove mintenace) and head back to Dantooine....plus a few other things (making droids for people, etc.).

/bow

Respectfully,

TheRealTK421 a.k.a. "Doughbacca"

SWG DE Correspondent

Co-Founding member of Ahazi DENet & SWG DEA (Droid Engineer Association)

"I think all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. ...I'm certainly not. And I'm sick and tired of being told that I am."

supermatteus

Thu Apr 22, 2004 8:22 am

#138

This is for everyone who has posted saying they think this module is "useless"

Please consider this ...

If it costs 30k to do a round trip to all planets from correllia (someone could correct me on how much it actually costs) and if it took you an hour and a half. I could sell you a 10 use droid for 20k, costing 2k per planet then you could launch them all and then go do some factory runs, or go hunting or hang with your buddies yada yada yada ....

30 minutes later you get 9 emails with all the available resources in a list for each planet so you can easily refer to them again if there are other resources you need later on (rather then having to remember it all or scribble it all down while you wait 10 minutes for the next shuttle) so in other words - you save 12k in credit and you save 1 and a half hourstime and you now have a comprehansive list of resources.

I dont think that is "useless" at all.

I am very concerned that most potential customers are going to take the same point of view and refuse to buy any because they dont provide stats. If someone could confirm the amount of credit needed to visit all 9 planets from correllia and roughly how much time it takes this would be a great help as I expect to have to explain this to a lot of people who think it is "useless" after I tell them it wont return stats

BoogerMcGee

Thu Apr 22, 2004 8:26 am

#139

BAH! AGAIN BAH!

Many artisans I know were VERY excited about the possibilities of this droid. As a DE I was also excited about the possibility of a consumable droid that would be used by soooo many people that I could actually make a profit as a DE. But NOOOO!!!

This is botched in 2 ways as so many people have pointed out. They are way too complex for the VERY limited amount of info they give. The cost in droids and survey tools will outweigh ANY potential time savings or convienience these could have given. THEY WILL NOT BE USED!!! (Again, do the people who write this game play???)

Given the amount and rarity of the resources what will they sell for? Lets just say 1000 creds. Would you pay 1000 credits plus a survey tool just to find out what minerals are on a planet... then another 1000 for chem... oops.. I need a special gas.. there goes another 1000. I guess I could have just payed a few creds to the starport and flown to a planet and found out for myself all at once. Guess I wont bother with those useless survey droids anymore...

SOLUTIONS: If they are going to be this complex and expensive to make and use, they better tell me something useful like what the stats on the minerals are. OR if they are going to give me such lame info they better be cheap as hell. Why are the BH droids so damn cheap and easy to make???

If this goes in as is it proves that the developers have never played the game. These will be as useful as a level 2 data storage module!

Jenden

Thu Apr 22, 2004 8:44 am

#140

TheRealTK421 wrote:

Tonight's Survey droid report:

So...the timer seems to work pretty reliably, which is good to know. I'm thinking the difference in the time needed here was due to the difference in Quality of the final Survey droid sets that I used. So, this stat looks to affect time needed (but I'd call that unconfirmed, for now).

I can confirm it, can also confirm that it still seems to be inverted (higher quality rating == longer wait). Making some droids with 12 charges and 21 quality they had a travel time of 24 minutes or so, making droids with the same resources but 6 charges and 80 quality they took 54 minutes or so... While I'm not complaining since you get the best of both worlds this way (max uses and fastest droids), it is bugged. I'd definately say these are a time/money saver. I'll probably sell them for 5k each, and with 12 uses that would be under 500c per use. Thats cheaper than you'll get a starport ticket for, and it leaves you free to do other things.

Jenden Morn - Master of Droids- Tarquinas
Droid Engineer Blue Glowy
Owner, Operator, and Founder of DarkStar Inc.
Groupy of the best band in the galaxy, Solar Flair
3D art of Jenden by Saeelwenea

supermatteus

Thu Apr 22, 2004 9:07 am

#141

BoogerMcGee wrote:

BAH! AGAIN BAH!

Many artisans I know were VERY excited about the possibilities of this droid. As a DE I was also excited about the possibility of a consumable droid that would be used by soooo many people that I could actually make a profit as a DE. But NOOOO!!!

This is botched in 2 ways as so many people have pointed out. They are way too complex for the VERY limited amount of info they give. The cost in droids and survey tools will outweigh ANY potential time savings or convienience these could have given. THEY WILL NOT BE USED!!! (Again, do the people who write this game play???)

Given the amount and rarity of the resources what will they sell for? Lets just say 1000 creds. Would you pay 1000 credits plus a survey tool just to find out what minerals are on a planet... then another 1000 for chem... oops.. I need a special gas.. there goes another 1000. I guess I could have just payed a few creds to the starport and flown to a planet and found out for myself all at once. Guess I wont bother with those useless survey droids anymore...

SOLUTIONS: If they are going to be this complex and expensive to make and use, they better tell me something useful like what the stats on the minerals are. OR if they are going to give me such lame info they better be cheap as hell. Why are the BH droids so damn cheap and easy to make???

If this goes in as is it proves that the developers have never played the game. These will be as useful as a level 2 data storage module!

Um, I guess you didn't have time to read my post then Booger. As I calculated it (although not that accurately I admit) it would cost about 30K tovisit all 9 planets. So even at 2k per planet you still save some cash as long as you are only looking for one type of resource (which most people will).

The devs also hinted that Vertex gemstone was gonna be a lot more common. Many people have reported Vertex gemstone appearing on their servers (myself included) over the past week or so, so this ay not even be an issue.

The price could even be dropped further for people whoneed different types of resources. Especially as these people would most probably buy a crate load.

As far as survey tools are concerned, I would include these in the price personally - the quality of resources doesn't matter for survey tools so I can use any old crap I have lying around and soeasily afford to bundle them with these droids. I bet most ppl will follow suite eventually.

I do agree about the complexity though,the amount of GP modules is a bit much for a disposable droid making them a bit complex but thats exactly what the devs want, they want you to enjoy the game but they also want you to spend a veeeery long time doing so, so that SOE makes more money. Its only logical that they ..

A) wont give us a tool that cuts a major time sink in half, or

B) make them a piece of cake to assemble so everyone can manufacture 1000s within a few hours and sell them dirt cheap.

I'm sure they made it so some will use them, but others will always do the manual run As they put it, everything has to be "balanced", the most important of which is the time vs. fun factor as it is this that affects how long your subscription lasts - the longer it takes you to do something the better, as long as you enjoy it enough to come back and do it all again tomorrow

If you disgree I hope you have fun watching TIE fighters fly over the starport as you wait ... and wait ... and wait ... and wait

supermatteus

Thu Apr 22, 2004 9:08 am

#142