Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: This quote sums it up.
ResourceMonkey wrote:
Message Edited by ResourceMonkey on 02-04-2004 06:37 PM
CapnSteve wrote:
Master Doctor Buff
+3000 HAM, at least 300% increase
Skill Points: Free
Credits cost; Low-Medium
neinnunb wrote:
CapnSteve wrote:
Master Doctor Buff
+3000 HAM, at least 300% increase
Skill Points: Free
Credits cost; Low-Medium
You know, I guess we dont really think about it, but doctor buffs when I think about it are way too overpowered IF you just consider all this balancing issue the devs talk about. All this talk about balancing, yet when you see a buffed player on PvP owns everyone who isnt buffed.. isnt that unbalanced as it is?
Getting doctor buffs requires you to spend the time to look for a doc and paying for the service.
How about this: If you want to use that great droid you have, you need to goto a Droid Engineer and he will "activate" your droid for a period of time. Those Roger-Roger droids didjack **edit** after thecontrol ship wasput out of commision...then why not do something similar andhaveyour great droids require some sort of activation that only a Droid Engineer can do for you? Add to that, rapid decay of a droid so it would be very costly to use and maintain a droid. Balance can be maintained by something other than skill points.
With a more involved unit required to actually improve the droid, and a change of semantics (just my opinion on that) this could be the way to go. I think it would probably have to work in much the same way as Doc buffs (Droid Engineer builds improved power distributer, ablative armour covering etc) and installs them on the droid. The Devs might be a bit unwilling to go this route, but it is exactly what gets done to creature pets though
I like this idea vaguely, but I just don't think droids should be so limited -- especially in light of the "balance" issues for skilltapes. Still, its at least brings the disparity of DE powelessness to the foreground.
Arcid wrote:
neinnunb wrote:
CapnSteve wrote:
Master Doctor Buff
+3000 HAM, at least 300% increase
Skill Points: Free
Credits cost; Low-Medium
You know, I guess we dont really think about it, but doctor buffs when I think about it are way too overpowered IF you just consider all this balancing issue the devs talk about. All this talk about balancing, yet when you see a buffed player on PvP owns everyone who isnt buffed.. isnt that unbalanced as it is?
Getting doctor buffs requires you to spend the time to look for a doc and paying for the service.
How about this: If you want to use that great droid you have, you need to goto a Droid Engineer and he will "activate" your droid for a period of time. Those Roger-Roger droids didjack **edit** after thecontrol ship wasput out of commision...then why not do something similar andhaveyour great droids require some sort of activation that only a Droid Engineer can do for you? Add to that, rapid decay of a droid so it would be very costly to use and maintain a droid. Balance can be maintained by something other than skill points.
With a more involved unit required to actually improve the droid, and a change of semantics (just my opinion on that) this could be the way to go. I think it would probably have to work in much the same way as Doc buffs (Droid Engineer builds improved power distributer, ablative armour covering etc) and installs them on the droid. The Devs might be a bit unwilling to go this route, but it is exactly what gets done to creature pets though
Combat droid balance issue :
I can have a 2700 HAM damage deal faction pet in an evening and have to do 2 missions to replace it in case it die, making money in the process, why would I even spent thousands of ressources to be able to build a good looking caniche?
Sodan-droiddreamer wrote:
ResourceMonkey wrote:
Message Edited by ResourceMonkey on 02-04-2004 06:37 PM
Put your post back man. Was about to rip it apart. Li'l hint: this aint a thread about combat droids.
Hence the reason I removed it. I finally tracked down the original thread, the one that this one was taken out of context about, and realized that my comments did not fit with the discussion. I would suggest that whenever someone quotes another, they should include all information in the quote. Nowhere in the original post does it state that this is not about combat droids.
Sodan-droiddreamer wrote:
I like this idea vaguely, but I just don't think droids should be so limited -- especially in light of the "balance" issues for skilltapes. Still, its at least brings the disparity of DE powelessness to the foreground.
Arcid wrote:
neinnunb wrote:
CapnSteve wrote:
Master Doctor Buff
+3000 HAM, at least 300% increase
Skill Points: Free
Credits cost; Low-Medium
You know, I guess we dont really think about it, but doctor buffs when I think about it are way too overpowered IF you just consider all this balancing issue the devs talk about. All this talk about balancing, yet when you see a buffed player on PvP owns everyone who isnt buffed.. isnt that unbalanced as it is?
Getting doctor buffs requires you to spend the time to look for a doc and paying for the service.
How about this: If you want to use that great droid you have, you need to goto a Droid Engineer and he will "activate" your droid for a period of time. Those Roger-Roger droids didjack **edit** after thecontrol ship wasput out of commision...then why not do something similar andhaveyour great droids require some sort of activation that only a Droid Engineer can do for you? Add to that, rapid decay of a droid so it would be very costly to use and maintain a droid. Balance can be maintained by something other than skill points.
With a more involved unit required to actually improve the droid, and a change of semantics (just my opinion on that) this could be the way to go. I think it would probably have to work in much the same way as Doc buffs (Droid Engineer builds improved power distributer, ablative armour covering etc) and installs them on the droid. The Devs might be a bit unwilling to go this route, but it is exactly what gets done to creature pets though
OrionsByte wrote:
Sodan-droiddreamer wrote:
I like this idea vaguely, but I just don't think droids should be so limited -- especially in light of the "balance" issues for skilltapes. Still, its at least brings the disparity of DE powelessness to the foreground.
Arcid wrote:
neinnunb wrote:
CapnSteve wrote:
Master Doctor Buff
+3000 HAM, at least 300% increase
Skill Points: Free
Credits cost; Low-Medium
You know, I guess we dont really think about it, but doctor buffs when I think about it are way too overpowered IF you just consider all this balancing issue the devs talk about. All this talk about balancing, yet when you see a buffed player on PvP owns everyone who isnt buffed.. isnt that unbalanced as it is?
Getting doctor buffs requires you to spend the time to look for a doc and paying for the service.
How about this: If you want to use that great droid you have, you need to goto a Droid Engineer and he will "activate" your droid for a period of time. Those Roger-Roger droids didjack **edit** after thecontrol ship wasput out of commision...then why not do something similar andhaveyour great droids require some sort of activation that only a Droid Engineer can do for you? Add to that, rapid decay of a droid so it would be very costly to use and maintain a droid. Balance can be maintained by something other than skill points.
With a more involved unit required to actually improve the droid, and a change of semantics (just my opinion on that) this could be the way to go. I think it would probably have to work in much the same way as Doc buffs (Droid Engineer builds improved power distributer, ablative armour covering etc) and installs them on the droid. The Devs might be a bit unwilling to go this route, but it is exactly what gets done to creature pets though
I was thinking the same thing. The common thread in the items compared in the original post isthat they're all temporary (except for, arguably, skill tapes, which aren't nearly as powerful as the other things mentioned). If we're going to be comparing droids to those things, then the usefulness of droids needs to be temporary too.
Perhaps a different approach - currently droids still basically function after *low power* rears it's ugly head; you can still use item storage, crafting stations, medical modules, etc. The only thing affected by loss of power, really, is the ability for the droid to follow commands.
What if this was reversed? What if the droid could still respond to commands when the battery was dead (except for combat commands), but it's modules stopped working? That would cause droids to be consumables, and to me, the whole droid power system would make more sense. Of course you'd have to make the batteries last longer than they do right now, and certain modules would be exempt as logic would dictate (i.e. item storage shouldn't require power to operate).
Programming-wise this may not be feasible, but it's another angle to bring to the table.
Thoughts?
The problem with this approach, and like I said I think its a refreshing approach, is that there is an up front cost for the droid, followed by a consumable cost for the droid and a transaction cost for finding a DE and paying for them to "hot-wire" the droid. DEs are getting harder and harder to find. You're on Intrepid, OsirisOrion, so you know that Fubar and Rialia are in retirement right now. I'm in semi-retirement myself with craploads of backed up orders (including yours) because I'm so demoralized by the state of DE affairs.
Who would buy these droid if they know they constantly need to go back to the DE for recharges? As it is, droid batteries -- makable by any artisan -- only last 30 minutes. That's a pain in the @ss for me, and I'm a DE! 
This is a utility droid discussion. Skilltapes are an important balance consideration. ANYONE can use them and buy them, thought the devs control how many skilltapes are put into the world. (Or is it the case that BEs can make them?) But nonetheless, they give permanent bonuses to utility skills.
This is an interesting avenue to explore. I think the thing to remember is that, item storage, low-bonus remote crafting, and wound-healing are about the only thing that droids do right now. And, apart from wound healing, they don't do it really well. Given the kind of bonuses you can get from foods and spices and skilltapes, we are decidedly underpowered right now.
Now there is a fresh idea. If the devs are too skittish -- even in the face of all these other bonuses -- to give us droids that are useful, why not let them operate like buffs and require hot wiring from a DE. Docs make lots of cash selling buffs. Maybe one solution is letting DEs make the same sort of cash sitting by the starport.
neinnunb wrote:
How about this: If you want to use that great droid you have, you need to goto a Droid Engineer and he will "activate" your droid for a period of time. Those Roger-Roger droids didjack **edit** after thecontrol ship wasput out of commision...then why not do something similar andhaveyour great droids require some sort of activation that only a Droid Engineer can do for you? Add to that, rapid decay of a droid so it would be very costly to use and maintain a droid. Balance can be maintained by something other than skill points.
"Balance can be maintained by something other than skill points."
That's something that needs to be stamped on TH's forehead.