Droid Engineer Archive

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Traie wrote:

I'm not a BH, but from what I understand:

-Arakyd Droids give you the planet the mark is on

-Seekers give the waypoint to the mark on a planet

So it would take more seekers to find the mark than arakyds. You just need to find a planet once, maybe twice. But the mark could be moving on the planet, needing several seekers. Plus some of the lower level BH missions don't even require leaving the planet.

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You're right about the general use. Here's how the process works for the missions that require droids, for those who have not played a BH:

You go to the BH terminal and get the mission.

You go to the informant who gives you the bio signature of the mark.

You leave town and use an Arakyd. After 20 seconds the probe droid appears. You give it the bio signature, and after a while you get a message telling you what planet the mark is on, and an initial waypoint.

You go to that planet, and then use the seekers to find/track the mark. I usually use at least a couple. When you get to the point where you can track (Investigation III), then it becomes easier. The tracking function will update the position of the mark periodically. At Investigation II, you have to send a new seeker each time you want an update of the position.

I think your last statement is unclear/incorrect, though. The novice BH missions don't require leaving the planet, but those don't use droids, you just get the location from the informant.

Once you start to use the droids you do sometimes get missions on your own planet, but you still have to burn an Arakyd to find that out. It's not really any different, although it maybe saves me a seeker, since I would normally launch one right away when landing. When the mission is on the same planet I tend to go straight to the first location I'm given and then launch a seeker.

I'd be glad to maybe write this up with maybe more details and maybe even some screenies, like to be stickied, if people think it would be helpful. I had no idea how these droids worked until I had played a BH, but now I understand both sides of it.

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firefds wrote:

I just srated a DE on Farstar.

I sell Seeker Droids for 25K per crate of 25 and Arakyds for 50K per crate of 25.

Is that reasonable?

Shee-Zell

(On the way to be)

Master DE/Master Merchant

and another something i dont know yet

Message Edited by firefds on 09-01-2005 04:20 AM

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Reasonable to you may not be resonable to me For example. I sell both for 60k a crate of 25. My reasoning (tested as I have a BH alt) is that from a crate of arakyds I get 11(uses per droid) *25 (number in crate) = 275 missions. multiply that by 30k (average mission price @ MBH) = 8.25Mill. Its not exact, the BH may use more seekers. Of course, this figure doesn't include whatever cash and loot the BH gets and sells from those 275 missions (275 jars of foraged bugs would be worth... oooh about 50cr on the bazaar ).

So I feel justified in charging 60k/60k for them, its about 1.5 - 2% of the total profit from the droids, based on NPC missions alone of course. Understandably, its only part of the cost of doing business for a BH, but its a critical part.

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schmokay1 wrote:

and i have never been more proud! searched thebazaar and it turns out i was, hehe i encourage everyone to search the bazaar tonight and make sure u arnt the lowest priced DE on your server, cause if you are you are only hurting your own profits.

Message Edited by schmokay1 on 08-29-2005 06:04 PM

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Not sure about that Nee I think I have you beat on prices for Big Bomb droids... 200K for a single power 58.

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firefds wrote:

Ijust srated a DE on Farstar.

I sell Seeker Droids for 25K per crate of 25 and Arakyds for 50K per crate of 25.

Is that reasonable?

Shee-Zell

(On the way to be)

Master DE/Master Merchant

and another something i dont know yet

Message Edited by firefds on 09-01-2005 04:20 AM

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I think it's low. As I mentioned, I sell them for 20k each for crates of 5. That would be 100k for crates of 25.

Of course my BH character is happy to see the lowest prices possible

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Aerec_Krouse wrote:
My reasoning (tested as I have a BH alt) is that from a crate of arakyds I get 11(uses per droid) *25 (number in crate) = 275 missions. multiply that by 30k (average mission price @ MBH) = 8.25Mill. Its not exact, the BH may use more seekers. Of course, this figure doesn't include whatever cash and loot the BH gets and sells from those 275 missions (275 jars of foraged bugs would be worth... oooh about 50cr on the bazaar ).

So I feel justified in charging 60k/60k for them, its about 1.5 - 2% of the total profit from the droids, based on NPC missions alone of course. Understandably, its only part of the cost of doing business for a BH, but its a critical part.

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Yeah, I think that's more than fair. As a level 28 novice BH I make about 17k per mission, and I would gladly pay 120k for a couple of crates of droids that would make me at least a couple of million credits. The BH is still making a ton of profit, even at 60k per crate of 25.

I've only recently completed my grind in Master Droids and I'm currently operating all factories night and day to accumulate a sense of stock before I drop another (my seventh) vendor in our city mall.

Personally, I take comments such as, "I could've gotten this cheaper," or "you're the highest priced architect on the map" with a grain of salt. I was a Master Artisan and Master Architect before I decided to throw droids into my template. Just last week, someone came to me with a special order of 15 small Tatooine House Deeds. Individually, these sell on my vendor for 10k. I've seen themgo as much as 15k butnaturally, I quoted him 150K for the order. He went ballistic. He told me that he could then find the same houses for 6k a piece or less on my server (Naritus). I told him to go for it but I was not willing to budge on my price.

What most players don't understand is how much investment goes into a product before it hits the vendor. My own Guild Leader who plays an alt toon wtih a template of Master Ranger was shocked when she discovred the amount of resources that went into making a small house deed. I can easily gobble up a 100k unit crate of ore within minutes when crafitng buildings. When I take into consideration that 100k units of ore goes for as much as 125 - 225k in credits, I would be shooting myself like a moron to just give stuff away.

It's important that players all have different needs. What some guy wasn't willing to pay for, another player will. I have no problem keeping my vendors dust free. I can dump 15 of the same houses on my vendor at the prices I always charge and they'll be gone within a day or two. Someone will pay for whatever it is you're selling as long as they perceive a need or a demand for it.

Some players are just greedy. I have seen two year veterans haggle with me on prices when I know they're sitting on millions of credits in their bank accounts.

Just my own .02 credits worth

I honestly have no clue where I stand on prices on my server and I could care less. I do get somewhat irritated to see posts on trade forums from some new DE announcing his rock-bottom prices. I occasionally send them a mail explaining how its an unwise strategy to sell Droids cheaply since they dont really decay like weapons do. I usually get a nasty response sigh

My prices on eclipse

Message Edited by Sandsifter on 09-02-2005 01:18 AM

I came to the same realization last night. I searched the Lowca global vendor listing and found:

- I'm selling v6 Flight Computers (never decay, never need replacing, best computer for Neutrals and Imperials) for 10k apiece. Given the perceived value of what I'm selling, I think that price is more than fair. But, apparently I'm too greedy as there are DEs on my server selling them for 500 credits. That's not a typo: 500 credits.

- I'm selling the best droid I can make, the Advanced R3, for 100k. I mass produce the Adv R3 chassis, but each final droid deed is made by hand instead of in the factory. I use the best materials I can find for the armor and modules. Considering these droids never decay and comparing my prices against food, armor, weapons, etc., I think I'm in the ballpark. Apparently not. The next most expensive DE on my server sells Adv R3s for 55k.

- Advanced LE Repair droids for personal combat. My price: 20k. Their prices: ranging between 1k-5k.

Bleah.

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MickGrey wrote:
I came to the same realization last night. I searched the Lowca global vendor listing and found:

- I'm selling v6 Flight Computers (never decay, never need replacing, best computer for Neutrals and Imperials) for 10k apiece. Given the perceived value of what I'm selling, I think that price is more than fair. But, apparently I'm too greedy as there are DEs on my server selling them for 500 credits. That's not a typo: 500 credits.

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I had to cut my BH droids prices again, I hate that other DEs are making us all lose money, the new BH missions are getting the BH alot of Cash but we have to keep cutting are prices