Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Top 5ish Droid Engineer Issues
Don't know if it was mentioned, but another bug is alot of the animations for walking/running need to be checked. My humanoid and R-series droids freak out when they move to me.
I spent the last 12 hours trying to come up with a Top 5 Droid Engineer Issues list, and this was about the best that I could come up with on such short notice. I think it that it best represents the community as a whole and covers most of the major concerns that many of us have. I pulled a number of the module ideas from threads that I have started in the past, since wading through the Module Idea Thread was taking more time that I wanted to spend at the moment. I plan on going back through the thread at some later point and compiling a list of options from the DE community. I hope that majority are happy with what I have come up with. (By the Way, yes I know that there are 6 issues here and not 5, but I jut wanted to make sure that I covered all the bases.)
Issue 1- Bug Fixes. Bug Fixes, Bug Fixes - See Abridged Centralized Droid Issues (Jan 05, 2004) The DE Profession has been bug ridden since the days of Beta. The bugs need to come first before any new content is added.
Issue 2 - Experimentation - Droid Experimentation practically has no use currently. With Mechanism Qualities not acting as intended and experimentation having an unusual affect on function ratings, some times it is better not to experiment on components, as explained in Bug Fix Items 10 & 11. Not only do I wish to stress those items, but Droid Experimentation in general needs to be re-thought. DE can experiment on a droids until they have lost all feeling in their finger tips, yet any two droid of the same type will look virtually the same. HAM and damage increases are a major issue that needs to be looked at, with the upcoming combat droids 'rolling' out. /crosses fingers that Droidekas will soon be on the market.
Issue 3 - Modules and lots of them - Droids are currently limited to a total of 8 modules. 2 of those modules, repair modules and data storage modules have very limited use. 4 modules are limited to the 4 crafting types and 1 module is limited to medics. This leaves 1 module is used by the general public, Item storage, but is limited due to the fact that you can only store up to 10 items in it.
Issue 4 - New Droids - Droidekas, Battle Droids, IG-Series, LiN Demolitions Droid, FX Medical Droid, M38 Explorer Droid, EV Supervisor Droid, NR-5 Maintenance Droid, Etc. These are all prime examples of Droids pulled from existing SWRPG material. One thing that needs to be made clear though; Droid Engineers want to be able to sell the droids that they build and use some of these droids as well, but this does not mean that DEs wish to become the metallic form of Creature Handlers.
Issue 5 - Being able to call more than one droid - I know that the last statement in Issue # 4 stated that DE do not wish to become CHs, but being able to call more than one droid is quite a different issue than being the only profession to call better combat droids. Droid Engineers typically need to search out other Droid Engineers, just so that they can have their own droid repaired. For a DE to have the ability to power his/her own droid or repair the wound damage, using a second droid, would go a long way in the DE community. The problem arises of where should such a cert be placed. How about Master Droid Refinement, since the only benefit that it currently entails is better experimentation and assembly results.
Issue 6 - Droid Cert System - Many months ago, hints were dropped about a droid Cert System. Many DE are concern that this will limit droid sales if handled incorrectly, or could hurt the DE profession if only DE received these certs. Allowing for more than just Combat Professions gain access to Certs for different droids is something that the DE community would like to see, since it would open up more sales, which is an area that is very lacking for many in the profession.
Abridged Centralized Droid Issues (Jan 05, 2004)
BUGS 1 Cluster modules can currently be placed into any service module socket, including other cluster modules. This allows for the ability to finitely stack any droid with every single module that a DE can craft.
2 Repair modules do not function at all when placed in an LE Repair droid, Surgical droid, Protocol droid or Power droid.
3 Converse style droids, such as the Surgical droid, Protocol droid, and LE repair droid cannot be named. This ability was lost when changes to droid personality chips were made, many months ago.
4 Item storage modules are not working in either Surgical droid model. The option to use item storage is not available in the radial menu.
5 Reports of Seekers not using their final charge of Bounty Hunters with Investigations III have been made. Kind of hard for DE to test this one out and I'm not up-to-date on BH fixes, so I am not 100% sure of its validity.
6 Armor ratings seem to change occasionally after a droid is first called or after crossing some server boundaries. This issue appears to be related to the issue with Personal Shield Generators.
7 Droids, and pets in general, suffer from many pathing issues. Items such as server boundaries, building doors, and assorted other items will stop a droid from following its owner.
8 Advanced Droids are not retaining custom colors that are chosen during the ADV Chassis creation
9 The droid/pet call duplication bug is still in evidence. You can call a droid, tell it to say, travel across multiple server boundaries and then call the same droid again. This can be repeated a few times, with the same droid/pet or with different droids. Instances of this occurrence have decreased since the vehicle patch.
10 High Mechanism Quality ratings on droid subcomponents appears to lower the success rate on droid construction, instead of increasing it as was intended. It is theorized that because the Complexity rating of the component is increased during the experimentation, greater success become harder to achieve.
11 Experimentation on all sub-components is erratic at best. In the case of Droid Repair modules, lesser successes raise the MQ rating while better successes tend to lower it. Medical, Data, and Item modules can have their function rating increased yet at the same time have a lowered MQ rating result.
12 Droids are not giving UXP. 13 Level 2 Item Storage Modules are being incorrectly displayed during the assembly phase and in the final product. Both the name and the artwork displayed are those for Level 2 Data Storage Modules. The module does however function as a Level 2 Item Storage module, so this is only limited to the artwork and name.
14 Some experimentation values show 0% as the value, each and every time that the component, or droid is built. This mostly pertains to Durability experimentation values on modules and droid. These values need to be removed if they serve no purpose
15 The rating of a Medical modules affect the effectiveness of stimpacks. It also takes precedence over the modifier provided by the structure that medical skills are used in, including Medical Centers.
16 The color palette for Droid Customization Tools are not dependent on the current skills of the DE using them. All DE, regardless of skill gain the same color palette.
17 Experimentation values for Effectiveness listed in the schematics for ALL droid chassis' are incorrect. They list dependence on 50% Unit Toughness and 50% Shock Resistance, where they should list 100% Overall Quality.
18 Droid Complexity Skill Tapes are not having an affect. As of the Mount patch they no longer reduce the overall complexity of an droid schematics. I believe that this is a universal crafters issue.
Development Requests
1 Binary Load Lifters, Advanced Binary Load Lifters, and Protocol droids do not have any slots for service modules. 0 service modules - 0 game function. 1 Module slot for the Protocol droid, 5 for the BLL and 6 for the Advanced BLL would greatly improve these droids.
2 There are many, many complaints on the recharge rate of all droids. A typical batter charge lasts slightly less than 30 minutes. Suggest upping the time between recharge to 1-2 hours.
3 A power level indicator would be greatly appreciated. No one knows when their droid is going to stop following commands or when their medical modules is going to quit working on them. This combined with the recharge rate has influenced many customers to stop buying combat droids.
4 Droid deeds do not show all values such as modules and module ratings installed, armor ratings, or attack speeds and damages.
5 Customization lifespan is extremely too limiting. All it takes is 20 calls of a droid and the custom colors fade. Many wish to do away with the color fade, or at least make the lifespan on all droids much, much higher.
6 Droid names use the standard PC name filter.
7 Power Droids require recharging? Power droids can only recharge 5 other droids before hitting *Lower Power* status. They also run out of juice just like other droids. If this is how they are supposed to be intended, then why do they require Power Core Units from an Architect?
8 Batteries do not list how many charges that they have in the examine window, which leads to not listing
how many charges that they have while in factories crates. Since majority of Droid Battery sales are made by the crate, the buyer isn't always sure if they are getting a good deal.
9 Droid Customization skill only adds up to +64 at Master. Not sure if this is as intended or not
10 Allow for Protocol droid to be customized. Goldernrod is great, but many would like to see their droid in other colors as well.
11 Patrol points are not being saved after a droid is stored.
Game Play
The datapad radial menu is not updating for approximately 10-20 seconds after a droid is called or stored. This seems to be related to pets and vehicles as well.
Droids without combat capabilities are still listing attack speed and damage in the datapad.
Droid Module Ideas
Entertainment module Similar in function to the Medical module, the Entertainment module give an Entertainer the ability to use his/her skills else where besides in a Cantina, house, or tent. Non-functioning in the Med Center, the Entertainment module follows the same level progression as the Medical Module with a maximum rating of 110%.
Slicing Module This module would assist a Smuggler when ever slicing weapons or armor, by granting the user a percentage based chance to picking the outcome of the slice. This module could be level based and follow the standard level module progression. At level 1, the module could grant a Smuggler a 0 -10% chance of successfully choosing the out come of any slice made on weapons and armor. The percentage at each level is based on the quality of the module produced. A Level 6 Slicing module would allow for a 0 - 60% of success at choosing the outcome of a slice.
Scouting Module The Scouting Module would give Scouts information on an organic resource, without actually harvesting the resource. The Scout could target a creature and order their droid to scan it. The player would then be able to examine the creature an find out what type of resource could be harvested, what the stats are on the resource, and how long the resource has been present. This module would also benefit Bio-Engineers, by giving the BE information about the DNA that can be harvested from each creature. This would need a balancing mechanism such as a time limit between each command.
Sampling Module The Sampling Module would allow a PC the ability to ascertain the stats of any given resource in their direct vicinity. The Sampling module would list the stats of a chosen resource and the length of time that it has been present. It would not give the density of the resource, nor would it list resources that are not located in the spot that command was given. This would need a balancing mechanism such as a time limit between each command.
Personality Chips Not a new module, but a revamp of the existing droid Personality chips. Droids with personality chips installed could give you information about different POIs, depending on what personality chips is installed. For instance, a droid with the Prissy personality chip could offer historical information about a POI, but only when it is near the POI. This information could be a spatial text, or the idea that I like, it could create a next document that is stored in your datapad and can be traded, or stored in a droids data storage module. The document could offer Extended Universe information about the POI. The Slang personality could offer underworld information about the POI, the Worshipful personality could offer regional information that could relate to ruling bodies, the Stupid personality could offer rumors, and the Geeky personality could offer DEV notes on the actual design of the POI. This would give the personality chips a purpose and at the same time add content to the game in the form of EU information.
Merchant Module The Merchant module would allow a Novice Merchant set a droid on patrol in a city and sell a limited number of wares, based on something like the Item storage module, and leave it to its own accord. Anyone would then have the ability to open the droids radial and discover a Browse Vendor option that would allow you to see what items the droid has for sale. Balancing issues could include power costs, or a droid maintenance fee.
GCW Spy Personality Chip Available to only a factioned DE through a recruiter, the Spy Personality chip could be installed into a Converse style droid and sold to someone of the opposite faction. When ever the droid is called out, a chat channel opens for the DE that crafted the droid and spatial text is displayed for the DE to read. A MDE of the opposite faction can detect the spy chip by simply /examining the droid and then is given the option to remove the chip, without harm to the droid. The chip could be added to any existing personality chip schematic.
GCW Anti-Detection module Available to only a factioned DE through a recruiter, the Anti-Detection module would allow for someone and their droid to appear as a neutral on radar, while declared. Direct line of sight, or targeting, would reveal the PC and droid to be declared faction members.
2 bugs down.....16+ more to go.
Message Edited by Drashk on 02-14-2004 04:23 PM
Ackis wrote:
Just a thought... is there such thing as a R1 droid?
AIBO. "Woof woof!" 
Ackis wrote:
Just a thought... is there such thing as a R1 droid?
"Droid manufacturing giant Industrial Automaton has all but cornered the astromech droid market with their immensely successful R-series. Started during the Republic, Industrial Automaton's foray into the astromech market began with the oversized prototype P2 series. While the P2 tested successfully on merchant ships, copyright issues tied up full-scale production of the series.
Instead, Industrial Automaton recycled body shells of their old Mark II reactor drones to produce the R1 series, a stopgap measure that allowed them to have a new droid on the market, and dodge any legal issues regarding the P2. The tall cylindrical R1 proved to be a success aboard larger vessels and capital ships and paved the way for the revolutionary R2.
The R2 was marketed as a "droid of all trades." Although designed specifically for deep-space repair and maintenance, the R2 could be modified to maintain a variety of equipment. Built-in navigation software allowed it to calculate and store hyperspace jump coordinates, a definite benefit for those consumers who own small starships with limited navicomputer capability. The Rebel Alliance employed astromech droids to enact in-flight repairs and increase the hyperspace range of their snubfighters. "
http://www.starwars.com/databank/droid/astromechdroid/?id=eu
I have never had a single customer sit there and agonize whether to get level 3 or level 4 medical. The instant response is "give me the best you got". 95% of my customers want the best, and if they can't afford it now, they'll go out and mission until they have the credits to buy the best.
I realize that level-based modules are there so as to give newb DEs some hope of selling their stuff, but I think that in a carefully designed tree, more module variety would be just as effective.
I sell 30 or 40 R3s with level 6 med for every 1 R5 with level 4 med.
Levels 1-5 of med and item storage are basically unsaleable, levels 1-6 of data storage unsaleable. That leaves 4 crafting modules, 2 level 6 modules, and droid repair.
There are 23 service modules in the tree (if I counted correctly, but who knows, I have the flu). I can sell seven of them.
Wow!!! Great post Drahsk!!
Now... relating to:
Drashk wrote:
BUGS
8 Advanced Droids are not retaining custom colors that are chosen during the ADV Chassis creation
16 The color palette for Droid Customization Tools are not dependent on the current skills of the DE using them. All DE, regardless of skill gain the same color palette.
Are you sure number 16 is a bug? I'll try to explain my point of view:
I'm at 3/3/0/3 level right now. When crafting a chassis, there are very few color options I can choose (6, if I recall right) because I have not gained any new customization point, while lets say a Master DE, with all his/hers customization points, can choose between a widely color palette (or thats what Im assuming... just tell me if Im wrong!)
The problem is Bug 8. If that bug were fixed, the situation would be like this:
- a Master DE could customize the droid choosing whatever color he/she want, and get a final droid with that color. No customization kit needed.
- A low level DE (like me) would need the customization kit to allow him/her to choose more colors that the ones he/she can choose during the chassis crafting process.
Im not sure if Im explain myself clearly... hehe...
Thats what I meant. I dont think the customization kit should use the skill level, as I see it as a way for low level DEs to paint the droids in the same colors a Master should be able to paint them without that kit...
Its like a "if you want more colors you have to pay for them crafting the kit"...