Droid Engineer Archive

yeah maybe if I had two factories (and the money and power to do that lol) they'd be less of a pain, but they are quite a job seeing as they cost more to make than the schematic shows. Good to know I'm not overpricing. ty for the replies

Ok maybe I should have been more specific. BHs need them in crates, so how much does the standard crate of 5 go for?

Myself:

Seeker crate: 5k (1k per stack, 100c per charge)

Probe crate: 7k (1.4k per stack, 140c per charge)

btw, Haelon's Custom Droids is going to be revamping into "Haelon's Custom Droids for of Killing Stuff" what with the DE revamp coming out. frickn' medical modules and crafting stations can eat my *selfedit*

Lol, yes this is true. Maybe if there were some sort of factory that had multiple stages and slots for schematics...

5k for a crate of 5 for both seeker and probe- seems to be great can never keep them in stock everyday factory run of 100- great money

6k for seekers, 8k for akaryds, anything less and your wasting your time. Not only that but bounty hunters can afford to pay big money for these crates so dont feel bad about charging this much.

So just make sure you keep them in stock, and they will make a beaten path to your door.

yeah def. That stock is already gone :-) maybe I need to up the price a little hehe

I find I am compelled to respond to this post. I am a bounty hunter, and I rely on you engineers to provide a means for tracking my marks. Of course I shop around and I buy in bulk, and I also know quite a few DE's who provide these items so I am never at a loss to find any if I run low. But... I just have to say that some of the comments in this post had the hair on the back of my neck bristlin'.

It wasn't that long ago you DE's were complaining cause no one supported your profession. People didn't use droids cause creatures could be had by all, and modules didnt work right and you felt you were a overlooked profession (very true). Well the complaints were addressed and a quick solution was found... make BH's reliant on your profession to do their job. No more droid terminals, we're at your mercy, pretty please can I have them in stacks. When the change went live DE's said "hey we recognize this is a big change and you BH's are our new best friends, so we want to be fair, but still make a good profit" Reasonable request and thus a status quo was formed.

Now, some of the aforementioned posters say it isn't worth it to make these necessary items, and that some engineers don't even bother to produce them anymore, rather referring them on to another, who in turn may refer to another, and so on and so on. And yet another post says "when I make them, they are in such demand, I may raise the price even more, hehheh". Now with the "big invasion" coming and you engineers given new schematics to toy with, and hoping that with them comes the new ability to call and control multiple mechanical monstrosities, what then of the poor Arakyd and little seeker? What I see is you DE's holding what is essentially a profession staller, that you quite frankly don't care to make, and have no desire to offer at a fair price. If this then does turn out to be true, I hope the devs will see it for what it is and not allow you the means to hold a profession hostage, and put the droid vendors back in place.

When the invasion comes please remember that everything new you can create will be candy for the many citizens of SWG; it will be shiny, colorful and effective. Like a corvette, people don't need it but they want it, and will pay for it...any price if it proves its worth. The Arakyd and seeker? That is food on the table...we don't just want it, we need it. Without them how can I progress? It doesn't have to be flashy, it has to track my marks. So when this new dawn arises for all you droid engineers, remember who needs you and provides the steady income for your rent. Make your fortune off the glamour professions who use you to showboat but may never buy from you again.

As I mentioned earlier I have no trouble finding my "tools" as there are many great DE's who do provide these materials, and I am always willing to pay not just fair price but above market value to show my support of your profession. I apologize for taking the original topic a little off course and would make this suggestion. If you intend to become one of the DE's not disinclined of making BH tools, go to your server board instead, and announce yourself as someone who is willing to provide this service. There you'll find your steady customers, who more than likely, once getting to know you, will be more than happy to pay whatever price you ask, within reason, of course

Jake Windstar
Flurry
Bounty Hunter

I'm very interested to hear a responsefromthe DE community in regardsto Jake Windstar's post. It's a topic which could really set BHs back, and something which has been overseen.

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JakeWindstar wrote:
1. Well the complaints were addressed and a quick solution was found... make BH's reliant on your profession to do their job. No more droid terminals, we're at your mercy...

2. What I see is you DE's holding what is essentially a profession staller, that you quite frankly don't care to make, and have no desire to offer at a fair price. If this then does turn out to be true, I hope the devs will see it for what it is and not allow you the means to hold a profession hostage, and put the droid vendors back in place.

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Ok, comments:

1. I don't think many DEs would agree that our complaints have been "addressed" even with the BH terminals not selling droids anymore. And in terms of you being at our mercy, there happens to be this little bug that hasn't been "addressed" involving the duping of seekers that many BHs seem to do on a daily basis instead of visit our shops. I assume you're not one of them, as your stance would probably be otherwise were this true.

2. Nobody in this profession has any desire to hold the BH profession hostage by any means. The main reason why most DEs do not make BH droids is because they take too **edit** long and don't give enough in return. If you want to see more DEs stocking seekers and probes, I suggest taking the issue up with those who have control over the game as a BH issue. Until then, most of us (myself not included) will be forgoing the thousands of GP and Memory modules (at a 2:1 and 3:1 ratio, seeker and probe, respectfully) that it takes to make a decent stock of BH droids in favor of other items that have a better return for our efforts.

BTW (approx): 1 crate of 5 probes which I guess I sell at 5,000c takes 10 minutes + 173 units of mixed specificmetals, gas, ore and chemicals + 1 Memory module + 3 GP modules per unit, 517 units and almost and hour total. The components: thememory module takes 20 units of the same mix of resources and 1 minute 36 seconds to make per unit in a factory. The 3GP modules take78 units of the same mix of resources and about 5 minutes to complete. In addition to this we also have to add power to the factory and maintainence to it when we're not using it so it doesn't disappear, further taking away from our profit margin. Also, when we do a run of any BH droid we have to match up the GP or Memory moduleschematic so that it makes crates at multiples that are compatible with the seeker or probe schematic so we don't win up with semi-useless leftovers. Then we have to multiply out how many resources we'll need to make EXACTLY crates of 5 so that we don't have a crate that nobody wants to buy b/c they'd have 1 less stack before they'd have to come back to get more even if we DID discount it.

Anyways, the point is that we DEs have a very good reason for not wanting to make seekers or probes but none of them are malicious in any way whatsoever. The main reason is that 5,000c is not worth 517 units mixes resourcesplus nearly an hour of factory time which costs power resourcesand credits as well as gets in the way of us making crates of other items.

And in terms of "putting the Droid vendors back in place" all I have to say is that we'd have to have had a place beforehand, for the devs to put us back into it.

JediKnightMark, I think you explained well the process and the amount of time it takes to make a probe. A little thing about your math. Besides the hours involved in factory runs, a crate of 5 Arakyd probes, including the seperately factory produced GP and Mem electronics, is 173 x 5 = 865 units per final crate, not 517.

So, that means you are selling these for 5.8 cr/unit. I think that is quite low for the amount of work it takes, the cost of resources, the cost of factories, and the effort and expertise it took to be a DE of at least BP 3.


For the question at hand, my prices are 1.7k(8.5k/crate) for Seekers and 2.5k(12.5k/crate) for Arakyd Probes. All of the factors above goes into setting this price, and more importantly what the value is that these products provide. Selling discount BH droids for slim profit margins at high volumes is not my business model. But I will continue to make them available on my vendor. Besides the relatively small volume in a crate, buying them in a crate is more of an advantage to the inventory space of the buyer, so I do not offer a volume discount on buying a crate.

well said kollos

i sell a crate of seekers for 7.5k and a crate of probes for 10k, i can make then pretty fast too with 3 factories

Thanks for the input and insights. Bottom line is I care about the success and profitability of your profession as well as my own or else I wouldn't have bothered with my initial post. I realize the cost and effort in game you guys put into making the probes and seekers, as well as making them available to us in stacks and/or crates. By all means make a profit, we all know weaponsmiths and armorsmiths make a tidy sum. Like I said, I personally would pay more than what I do currently (and once again, partly because I need them to do my job).

Bounty Hunters who pursue Investigation need Droid Engineers. I don't know if that reminder needed to be given, but it's true and I just didn't want you engineers to overlook that fact once the new toys come in. Kollos, JediKnightMark... Thanks for responding. I know there are DE's who find a profit in providing for BH needs, as well as the fact that since the beginning of the game, inflation has occurred, and supply and demand is alive and well.

Since none of us can change game mechanics, you'll still need to use the same resource and time consuming schematic, and I'll still need to send out probes to progress. I don't expect every DE to be a probe and seeker factory, but also, don't give up on making them alltogether. Well, no more thread highjacking for me. I promise

Jake Windstar
Flurry
Bounty Hunter