Droid Engineer Archive

Well I'm satisfied. We'll get some form of "new" combat droid in the near future and combat modules. Can't say much about the new modules though, cept the "self-destruct" module heheh. Bomber MSE Droid!!!

Just one question. It was mentioned that all characters could have a CL10 creature pet and droid pet. Does this mean that players will now be able to have CL10 creature pets without having to take Creature Handler? Ohhhhh would that piss them off hehheh.

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I am so making crates of MSE bombs... But that does bring up a potential concern, more turret griefing.

Player sets up out of turret range, targes the turret and just lets MSE bomb after MSE bomb fly.

Just something for Devs to think about as they implement this.

Well, there is one way to fix this: price. If you charge them 50ka MSE, they'll be less liekly to go waste them. But you'll always have some moron selling them for 5k tho.

And on the person going on and on about the Droidekas, of course they're going to put them in. They've been an issue the whole time. The question is when. Will it be in 7 or 8? Probably not. It could be with the expansion. But they will come out with them eventually.

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AlaManQ5 wrote:

You say the droids are coming, huh? Well I have two words for ya......

RESTRAINING BOLTS!!!

These are in the Star Wars Universe, and are used to limit a droids functional capabilities for certain reasons...i.e. out of control, berserk, killing machines LOL.

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True, but we need some balance between players that would rather hunt and protect themselves with droids instead of a rancor or other beast.

Alen Vondor
Radiant
Master Artisan, Master DE

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Gorantoth wrote:

Two words: KICK ASS

I'm really impressed with the direction things are finally headed. Well done TH. Kudos.

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Gorantoth,

If you're impressed, it makes me feel like we finally have a ton of hope (and more than just hope).

You're one of the folks that every DE in the game should consider a shining example of DE 'goodness'. (I'd actually been trying to watch for you post on this issue since I was interested in what you were going to think.)



/bow

Respectfully,

Thunderheart -

First of all, I would like to say again that I am pleased that you have listened to us, and are working towards a wide range of droid capabilities for utility droids.

However, after thinking about the utility modules you have out there for discussion, and some in game experiences last night, I have some thoughts I wish to express.

Last night, my guild's master tailor and our master BE were working together to make skill enhancing clothing for people. This included some +20 mask scent clothing,and some anti-bleed clothing.

So, I would like to ask again, why cannot utility droids have skill and ability enhancing modules?

The modules that you listed are a great list - but none of them actually enhance skills. Don't get me wrong - I like the new modules. But I think that placing the constraint of not being able to actually enhance player abilities is too strict, especially with the chef and bio engineered products out there. This rather negates the "checkers" argument. Also, skill enhancement droids are inherrently certed. Consider a droid that gave a smuggler a slicing bonus. Such a droid module would not be usable unless the smuggler had the requisite slicing skill.

The modules you have listed are great. But there should be modules for every profession out there.

1. Can you provide more detail on the Wound Repair Kit? It sounds like a simple hand-operated version of the Droid Repair Module.


2. Have you considered allowing multiple batteries to be used? The power increase could be on a diminishing returns basis or something, i.e. 1st battery = +40 minutes, 2nd battery = +20 minutes, 3rd battery = +10 minutes, etc.


3. Currently the combat-capable droids are the DZ-70 and the Probot. Will you please provide a list of the combat-capable droids as of Publish 7?


4. Will a Cluster module be able to accept Combat Modules, or will there be no combat droids with cluster module sockets, making this a null question?


5. No detail is provided on exactly what a Combat Module does. Is this done deliberately to provoke discussion and ideas?


6. One pet and one droid out simultaneous? If you can distinguish between a combat and a non-combat droid, it's time to modify the code to allow one pet and one droid or one combat droid and one non-combat droid. Also, I thought we had reduced the creatures-out to 1 in order to stop exactly the sort of shennanigans that allowing multiple pets out caused...?

If the answer to #5 is "Yes," or even if it isn't, here are a few ideas:

Combat module types can/should map to current weapons technology. Acid, Stun, Blaster, Energy, Heat, Electrical, and Kinetic (melee or projectile)damage should all be available. This would be various hot-wired modifications of peaceful soldering, welding, and industrial tools. Stacking different types together is a question I leave unanswered.

If you include the BLL as a combat droid,it could fill the low-damage high-armor niche in the CL10 combat droid spectrum. For this to work you will need to fix the armor segment stacking that ceased to function in Publish 6.

Last comment: Goranoth has a long list of DE bugs and issues....how about handing it to the DE developer(s) and saying, "Answer all of these, please." Please?

Kilarny

I am uncomfortable about arming droids or making droids for combat due to the strict laws the empire has and stigmas the general population has about combat droids due to the clone wars. Lots of people have trouble trusting droids period let alone arming them.

As long as droids with combat moduals are considered illigal byimperial patroles and the relevent penalties areupheald for the illigal goods, all should be fine.

With the upcoming droid publishes, there is a lot to talk about and I know everyone is curious about how this is all going to shakeout.

Where we were

Back in November, when the high level discussions about the future of SWG’s development were taking place, the development team was hard at work with player cities and vehicles. JustG, Shug, Blair, Runesabre, Q-3PO and many others worked to create a new vision and a new direction for SWG in 2004. The core of that change was to create a theme for each publish as well as establish a sustainable development/service environment. The first few steps in the thematic direction included the Imperial Crackdown and the Droid Invasion. The team was excited because there were a bunch of combat droids that the art team had produced, and everyone wanted to get them in the game.

The Droid Invasion would have two primary stages. The first stage was to add combat functionality to the existing set of droids. This would create the underlying foundation for all future combat droid functionality. The second stage would be to put as many combat droids out while making the most out of the available development time.

Typically, design drives the majority of the schedule. Art and some programming tasks fall out of the overall design direction as part of integrating a design feature. The developers start adding the art assets into the game by connecting to movement systems, animation logic systems, combat systems, crafting systems, low level program functions and many more. Now, under-the-hood, droids are droids. The crafting, the modules, and all of the programmed and scripted elements are all intertwined. As such, the effort to give combat functionality to the existing set of droids was more to get things ready for a measured, consistent droid invasion than it was to give combat functionality specifically to humanoid droids and astromechs (In the end, the combat functionality the Publish 7 droids will have is very much in line with the context of droids in the galaxy at that time. They have a bit of utility and helpfulness, but not the big powerful (and illegal) combat droids).

Moving into December/January, I posted a development thread about the possibility of a new Droid Handler profession (over the course of that discussion, the name “Droid Commander” came up and stuck because it sounds neat. ) During that process, the Droid Engineers had communicated to me that they preferred to remain a crafting profession. In doing so, the developers turned to their alternative solution of creating a type of mini-profession as opposed to adding a droid handler tree or certifications to the existing Droid Engineer profession, and the Droid Commander was born. This new profession would basically work like a Creature Handler, but would handle droids…and thus began the big debate.

I read the threads and counted up all of the opinions and 2/3’s of the community basically said, “we want additional functionality in the existing droids” or “we want utility droids”. We did too, but basically there was enough time to do either utility droids or add the combat droid profession, but not both and that created a really difficult choice. So we’ve all read the threads, the forums, had meetings and strongly debated the issues internally. We’ve talked about all the possibilities and what we can do in the amount of time we have.

There are lots of pros and cons here. On one hand, the Droid Commander was very flashy and exciting and would add a lot of combat droids into the game. The DE economic need would be answered by droid commanders buying their droids and low level players would also have a need for regular droids with combat abilities (the existing droids that are slated to get combat module functionality in Publish 7). It wouldn’t address the DE problems directly, but it would provide alternative solutions. The downside is that it would add another profession into the game and the DE’s are left without the utility droids that they have been patient in requesting. There are a great many permutations of the debate, but that generally represents the two sides. (There is the third angle of doing both by adding in the combat droids with the certification, but that’s a lot messier than it seems. I’ll try to explain it in a post this week or next, but I want to keep it out of this post so as not to further confuse the issue).

In short, the development team was strongly divided but all angles were considered. The direction we are going is the DE requests about the utility droids, and we are committed to that path. So for Publish 8, we are going with addressing the existing droid functionalities and creating as many interesting Utility Droid Modules as possible. Another aspect to consider is that there will be a solid foundation combat droid in the game in a future publish.

Where we are going

Here is a recap of the Droids and Droid Engineer changes made in publish 6 along with our direction for Publish 7 and Publish 8:

Publish 6

· Probot HAM was adjusted, making it a low-to-medium level combat droid

· The DZ70 droid was increased from level 1 to level 6, making it a more effective low level combat droid.

· Module Clusters were fixed to prevent cluster nesting, making different types of droid chassis have a real relevance to the Droid Frames.

· Repaired the instance of multiple crafting stations in a single droid negating the crafting

modules in the droid causing only one of the modules to work in that case. Now all different types of crafting modules will function properly instead of over-riding each other.

· Advanced Binary Load Lifters now have generic module capabilities

· The Examine window for droids will now reflect proper attributes if a droid has combat abilities

and will not display combat attributes if they do not have combat capabilities.

· Item Storage Module 2 and Data Storage Module 2 reflect the correct item name

· Protocol Droids have a service module

· Droid storage compartments are now using droid experimentation rather than artisan.

· Droid customization tool now gives droid crafting experience points instead of general

experience points

Publish 7: Droid Invasion

Droid Engineer Issues Addressed:

· Wound Repair Kit

· Droid Battery consumption rate halved (enabling them to last twice as long)

· Droids will no longer be susceptible to poisons, bleeds, /warcry or /intimidate

A basic overview of the combat module functionality looks like this:

· Combat Droids will have all the fighting functionality of a regular combat-capable creature (CL10)

· These options will function like creature pets.

· All players will have the ability to own and operate these combat droids.

· All players will now be able to have both a CL10 creature pet and a CL10 combat droid called out at the same time.

· Combat Droids will be crafted.

· A combat droid is a droid that is capable of attacking things, in addition to other potential droid capabilities that can be added to droids currently.

· The normal crafting process is used, and a combat module is included in the droid.

· Combat module will only mount in droids capable of combat. They can be placed in one of the general droid module slots that already exist on the droid chassis’, seen during the crafting of the droid.

· Combat module is crafted in exactly the same fashion as other droid modules, using a draft schematic, resource ingredients, and previously crafted component ingredients.

· Combat modules can be crafted at varying quality levels, which can be seen when the module is examined.

· Combat modules stack and if more than one of them is placed in a single droid, they have a cumulative effect.

· To have the strongest combat droid, six 100% combat modules must be used in constructing a droid.

Publish 8: Droids Rebuilt

Droid Engineer Issues Addressed:

· Droid HAM Experimentation to make droids more powerful has been implemented

· Display for power meter

· Droid Customization Kit

- kit useable by anyone

- customization lasts longer

· Customized appearances for Droid Deeds so that Droid Engineers can display the models they sell.

It is still an early look, but here is our goal for Droid Modules:

Entertainer module: Entertainers would get a certification so that only they could use this droid (no combat functionality is added so its different that the combat certs). This module would allow an entertainer to queue one of 10 different new effects (smoke, lighting, etc.) The advantage is that the droid won’t consume entertainers HAM (just batteries). Each module will represent a different effect. So with 10 different effects, there will be 10 Entertainer modules which means the higher level droids with more module slots will be more useful for queuing different effects.

Merchant Barker module: This would give droids the ability to bark advertisements, give waypoints to shops, have additional information available so players could list prices, services, etc through a radial menu command.

Covert Detector Module: The covert detector module would allow a droid to detect and disable a covert detector in an area.

Exploding Module: This combat ability would consume a droid in a fixed damage blast.

These changes in addition to combat droid modules and utility modules will address 8 of the 10 Droid Engineers’ Questions. We are very interested in hearing what people have to say throughout this discussion. I’ll post follow-up threads on In Dev and In Concept for each main topic.

Mommy!!! I pee'd my pants...

Will smugglers be able to slice the new combat droids?

D'oh... can't edit here.

Oh, well, how about smugglers being able to slice the droids and/or the droid combat modules before they are installed?

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Dyna_Jones wrote:

One change I would like to see is that the regular BLL would take one regular module and the Adv BLL would hold a general module socket cluster. That way it could hold 3 modules and be a bit more useful for being one of the hardest droids to build.

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/agree

If this went through it'd be nice if they changed the cap (on BLLs only) to 30. That would allow the BLL to be a lifter and make that chassis unique.

Other than that this all looks good. I feel MUCH better now that I have an idea where we're going.