Droid Engineer Archive

REAL combat droids. Screw moduals for current droids. I don't want an R2 with a blaster... ok, so that might be kinda cool...

Anyhoo, we need something huge. We need rancor type drooling good droids. Frick, **edit** was the primary combatant in EP 1 and 2. Give us the small, and slightly larger droids we saw in EP1 and 2 respectively, and then add a spider droid and droiddeka as our uber droids. Make the spider droid hit crazy hard but be crazy slow... I.E. if you have to haul him very far, you're screwed.

Anyhoo... the Oct. 23 post is discouraging because it was all fluff. No, "we're fixing this in the next patch," no, "Nov 18th you'll have 2 droids out at the SAME TIME." We need real info, not make people happy pandering. Because it doesn't make us happier... we're broken... it just makes us more angry.

These ideas are all well and good....and someday I would like to see them bleed into the game....but right now we have junk that noone wants to buy....how can you sell a probot that hits for 60 max lol....thats like a fly toying with an ape. how can you sell a healing droid when by day 2 everyone knows that mse droid can heal as well as an R3.......and the one that really gets me is you finally get an order for a really good versatile droid and you have to stack 2 level 3 item storages to get max storage because in the 8 weeks since i made master not one ounce of lidium extrusive has migrated to Naritus.....now obvious to the most casual observer ....if you stack ...you lose one module hole....doh....a multitude of other problems exist like the technicolor R models that we make that come in a different color everytime they are called.....like the incapability to name a droid that has a personality chip....like the fact that the most impressive looking droid we have at present cost 6 times to make what all other models take...and they cant blow their nose....yeah I think its time to fix what we were told we would be able to do, before the many hours of grinding. Get all those bugs fixed and then maybe add a whole batch of new ones.

Signed,

Still on quest for Lidium Extrusive...:-))

Just read a few of them, ifany of thisis a repeat then it probably makes good sense!

a

Oops:

Survey Droid; that would require the service of artisans with varied levels of /survey skill to program. I don't need waypoints, I just need a report from the droid telling me if my resource is there or not and I don't mind if the droid costs a one or two day delay (when compared to a player who can survey all the planets in less than two hours).

The ability to load the droid on a shuttle; that would require the service of a /scout to program it's trip.

I havent read every post here, so I dont know if this has been thought of.

A crafting droid module or factory module(s). A module that allows a droid to opperate as a "mini-factory". Perhaps with limited schematic and hopper size.

Background...

R2 was made to be a bartender in Return of the Jedi. Seems like a food/chem factory to me.

one more thing while I am thinking about it.....it would be nice if there was a chassis for every model we can make so that people can see what they are getting before ordering it....right now I use two of my vendors just to let people see what a Treadwell and a power droid look like and since we are limited to only one droid out at a time it is hard to show the remaining types that dont have chassis.

Haw'kdavi Master DE Naritus

im not going to read all of these posts, so im sure im already repeating what others have said:

1. Droideka for Master DE only

2. Assassain droids, super battle droids(the big grey ones in ep2) for Master Elite combat class

3. Battle droid (roger rogers, ep1-2) for novice elite combat class

4. Probot for everyone! (or at least lvl 4 in any base combat class.)

Not a DE but just going to add one that I personally think is great but hasn't been added to the list yet (that I spotted at least).

Fire extinguisher for an R2-unit! R2-D2 used one in the movies and there's currently no way to remove a fire-DoT other than jumping in the water.

I've just found a really great source of idea's (assuming you like this one!) and I'm gonna go dig some more out soon.

DK

I only glanced at a couple of the previous posts, so forgive me if I mention something that already has been, or just count it as an additional vote for it.

1) Combat droids of various models and power. I did see one post that said to go ahead and make us the crafting version of CH, I'm up for it.

2) Weapon type modules - not just melee or range, but be able to have a droid that has an acid rifle, one that does cold, blast, etc. Put them in modules that can be switched out. That way if your going hunting for something you know is weak vs. acid, you know what kind of module to put in there.

3) Armor configuration modules - Planning on getting involved in the GCW, place armor on your droid thats good against blast, energy, and heat. Going hunting nighspiders, change it out for impact armor.

4) I'm against medical droids or modules that actually heal wounds by themselves, sort of kills the point of doctors. At best, if such is included, it should heal half as fast as sitting inside the med center, and thats for fully experimented ones created by a master out of the best materials. That way you'd still want a doctor along just for speed. Damage however is fine, just refill with stim-packs.

5) Droids to maintain and collect from your harvesters I'm sure has been mentioned quite a bit by now.

6) Survey droids, should be fairly high level to make. 2 types, an expendable one, fairly expensive as well, that will survey for a resource planet wide, and put waypoints for all the high concentrations on you map. The other is a module addable to a R2 type, extends survey range significantly, at a cost of increased power consumption.

7) Building security droids - set up in your pa to attack anyone who enters who's not on your friend list. Should be a mid to high level combat droid, no more than 2 per building size (2 for small, 4 for med, 6 for large, 8 for PA hall). Usefull in PA wars, or to shoot at overt members of other factions as they get too near.

8) Personal security droid - small floating droid, enhanced radar functions so you have a larger radius. Perhaps give it the ability to determine who might be of a different faction (overt/covert). Also handy for making it easy to avoid those large groups of hostiles that pop up between you and your mission on adventure planets.

9) Delivery droids - Are you on naboo, your home is on tattooine, but that weaponsmith you had ordered from has your new rifle ready. Instead of going to pick it up, he can send it via delivery droid. There will probably be an added charge.

10) Training droids - The little floating spheres in episode IV and II. Great for grinding out some melee exp. Might also be good for some target practice for ranged users.

11) Not really a droid type or module, but how about some floating or flying droids? Seems like it would be a very handy thing for several different types of droids to be able to do.

Here's a list of droid functions I think everyone would like to see. They are in no particular Order. Please note: all names are obviously tenative.

• Field-Medic Module This module allows a player to stock a droid with stims (the level of stims a droid can hold will be based on the module level). This droid will then automatically heal youwhen youhavelost a certain amount of damage during combat (Droid will also heal anyone's damage while in group). As not to make people invinsible with these droids, the droid should have a "Power" HAM bar, or use a regenerative mind HAM, which will in turn permit the droid to use a certain amount of stims in a certain time period.


• Vendor Module Permits a Player to stock a droid with sale items. Much like a mobile Vendor or Bazar, this droid could follow a player, and people could buy from that droid while on hunts, in the middle of town, or in any circumstance where a sale is inconvienient if stationary. This saves some hardcore crafters the lots needed to set up a shop.


• Harvestor Module Much like the patrol function, a droid can make those aggrovating harvestor runs via waypoints stored in its memory. A player can stock it with cash and power, and tell it to go evenly distribute (or specifically distribute) these things into harvestors on the same planet. After fueling up a harvestor, a droid can also pick up a certain amount of resource out of the hopper and bring it back.


• Factory Module I think this may be a bit over powered, but much like the Vendor Module above, this droid could b a more limited, but mobile form of a stationary schematic factory. I suppose this could only be installed in larger droids?


• Combat Module There could be specific modules for combative skill. They could be proffession oriented. Many battledroid in the universe have different twists to their combat. We could make this no different. For example, you could install a droid with a "Commando Class C Combat Module" and toss that droid a flamethrower and tell it do do your dirty work. As droids have little HAM, there could be no tanking with this function. Nonetheless, this would also correct some flaws in the game that claim you can solo everything, where in fact you need other people, or at any rate, a droid to cover you.

Here are some ideas for droids, yet only a dream, and mroe obvious desires:

• Droideka Everyone wants one.They're already in the game.How unreasonable would it be to permit them to be usable? I would have to say it is a bit more reasonable than allowing everyone on the server to walk around with Rancors and Grauls


• IG Assassin Droids Perhaps the combative form of BH seekers? You could dispatch an IG droid on a planet (cannot fly interstellar) and it could hunt down and destroy a bounty. If not this, it could jsut be another combat droid that can be equiped with crafted weapons.

Ok, here is my suggestion for balancing pets overall. I put it here because there are several ideas that affect DE and some new modules. Hope someone reads this.

1) All "Pets" (Creatures/Faction and Droids) should have a level. The level that a player can control should be based off of a skill. IE Higher level creatures should require higher level CH skill, Higher level Faction Pets require a Higher Rank and Higher Level Droids require a higher DE skill.

a) Total # of Levels of creatures out should be determined by MIND/10. 900 Mind 90 levels of creatures, 400 mind 40 levels of creatures
b) # of creatures out should be limited to 2 for all Non-DE, Non-CH classes. DE and CH get +1 creatures @ level 3 of a skill and +1 at master.

2) DEs need more droids. If they are going to be another pet handling class, They should have a droid that can stand up to a AT-ST or Graul/Rancor. Now before you say "We're a crafting class!", Yes and we will build our droids. We can put Medical, cargo and data modules in our droids and never leave the city. We can stand at the edge and heal droids whose masters have attacked Rancors or Tusken Chieftans. Or we can load for bear (Level 6 weapons modules on our highest level droid chassis) and take out the Grauls and what have you ourselves. Depending on what the player wants.

3) Modules should only be allowable in certain droids. an MSE droid should only be allowed to have a Medical/Data/storage 1 module. Adv. MSE should allow Level 2 etc. Until we reach Level 6. Specialized droids should be allowed all levels of the appropriate module (Medical == Medical Modules, BLL= Storage). Also the number of module slots should raise based on the complexity of the droid. MSE =1 , Adv MSE=2, Adv Protocol/Adv BLL = 6

4) More modules. Reinforcement Modules (Raising HAM), Self repair modules (Raising Secondary Characteistics). Part of making a droid should be like outfitting a Mech, choosing the modules to produce the effect you want. The more modules you put in, the higher the "Level" of the droid. I also thing that the Item and Data Storage units should hold their level as a power of 2 (Level 1 = 2, Level 2= 4, level 6 = 64). THe level and number of a module should affect its usefullness (ie healing with a droid that has 6 Level 6 Medical Modules should be much more effective than a MSE droind with 1 level 1)

5) PowerDroids attaching to harvesters/factories etc. Here is a suggestion: You tell the droid to charge the structure and it sits there and charges 1 Unit of power per unit of Mind it loses, then when its done, it has to recover just like any other creature, if you help it with batteries, all is good.

These are some different suggestions, they do not preclude the bug fixes like: Medical modules not letting you heal, not being able to call droids at all, repair droids not repairing. Etc. THese suggestions are primarily meant to address the balance issues that everyone is facing. These changes would allow a single player with 1 pet have a chance against another single player with 1 pet, no matter what the profession of the players, it does give some advantage to CH and DE, if adopted in its whole would make DE's more than just Droid Handlers, and make them powerful support staff as well.

This has been crossposted to CH, DE and GCW forums

From my other post:

Let me preface this by saying, one, I'm not a DE and have no desire to be. I also refuse to jump on the CH bandwagon. I just don't think everybody and their mother running around with a pack of Grauls named Fluffy and Muffin is Star-warsy and I won't play along.

I think that droids are very Star-Warsy. TH, in response to some of the threads, I started thinking about what droids in the actual movies could be seen doing, and how that could translate into the game. Some things, like translator droids, didn't seem all that useful without major changes. And Combat Droids is something that everybody has already brought up.

But I was able to come up with these five ideas. An important caveat: at first glance, you might say, "these ideas are taking roles away from real flesh-and-blood players." I respond, by limiting the usefulness of what a droid can do, you eliminate that problem. Nobody is complaining that mobs drop weapons as loot, because even a novice Weaponsmith can make better. By the same token, even a novice player should be able to outperform what a droid can do.

Okay, here we go:

1. Scout droid. There are plenty of dungeons and interesting POIs that I would like to explore, but I'm just not powerful enough to do so. I would like a mouse droid that I could send into the Tusken Village or the volcano cave on Lok just to scope things out--see what mobs are there, where loot might be, etc. This droid couldn't engage in combat, although it could certainly have to roll occasionally to see if it had been detected by any mobs present, who could then destroy it. Of course, the stealth level and range of the droid could be controlled by the DE who built it. It would be great if you could take over the perspective of the droid and move around just as if the droid were now the player.

2. Radar droid. This one is a gimme--TH, you alluded to one of the best uses of droids in the actual movies from your thread title, "There are several creatures approaching from the Southwest." Remember that it was R2 who detected those Banthas. I would like a droid that could scan in all directions searching for particular mobs, hostile mobs, large concentrations of creatures, POIs, etc. This would be similar to equipping the droid with a Ranger's tracking skill. You could tell your droid, "Scan and find a Krayt dragon within a range of 500m" or something like that, or "Scan and tell me what direction has the highest concentration of life forms."

3. Decoy droid. Equip an R2 unit with a hologram projector. Then, take cover. Project a hologram of yourself somewhere else. Attack a mob. The mob attacks the hologram first, buying you extra time of being covered before you are attacked. Virtua Tank. A subset of this idea is to have a "Gronk" droid go charging at some mobs, literally tanking for you. The droid could do little or no damage, take a walloping, and give you the chance to stand back and shoot.

4. Field Surgeon droid. Have a medical droid that is capable of equipping no higher than Stim-As, and that cannot heal wounds. The droid could be targetted and disabled by mobs, but while functioning, it could follow you around and heal you in battle. This takes care of the huge number of combat people who only have Novice Medic so they can heal themselves in battle; the droid takes care of that for you. But because it isn't even as effective as a Novice Medic, having a Medic along on a combat mission is still desirable.

5. Slicing droid. Again, taken right from R2-D2 hacking the Death Star computer in Ep. 4. Equip a droid with a module that allows you to hack mission terminals for better control over missions, better mission payouts, etc. The droid couldn't slice locked containers, armor or weapons, thereby saving Smugglers from being made obsolete. But if your droid could increase your credits from a mission by 25%, that's a good deal.

There ya go. If droids could do things like this--things that supplement, but don't replace, the abilities of flesh-and-blood players--I'd be calling my friendly neighborhood DE in a second to order my own droid. As it stands, though, droids just aren't that useful, and certainly not as useful as pets.

First, players should be able to have multiple droids out. (1 protocol, 1 BLL ... see below. )

Protocol Droids should translate languages. Teaching languages should take time - like 10-20 minutes real time. Grouped with someone teaching you the language.

Protocol Droids should be able to be vendors. There should be some sort of charge (like say 5%) applied to the bank transfer between the droid and the bank. Besides hawking wares - protocol droids should be able to be more aggressive - following players and pestering them to buy something. Droids should not be able to enter buildings with droid scanners in them. Perhaps a droid pestering you can be targeted for attack? The aggressive selling droid should give up after 128m or something and return to the point it was told to stay at.

The binary load lifters should be able to : have a data modules with waypoints to harvesting equipment, a storage module which does not combine energy resources, and the binary load lifter should be able to go out onto the field and service harvesting equipment. Adding power and maintenance could be coded into the waypoints in the BLL. This would be great. Now you could run missions while your harvesters are serviced and sell goods in front of the starport.

Hologram Module : Show a holoimage of a stored pet or the owner. Play a message while the image is displayed. This could be used for hawking wares.

Droid Scripting : droids should have a scripting pad which a DE can open and put scripts into. These could be 'aliases' which when you say something - the droid starts the script. Droid commands should be things like beep, chirp, whistle, walk, hop, trade and all the commands which can be trained on a droid.