Droid Engineer Archive

(Keep thinking this is "The-Maker" and wondering why he's asking this. gotta keep it straight).

But there were some mentions of acustomer email form that you send out when they ask to purchase a droid. I cannot agree more with those. Switching to using one of those is by far one of the best things I have done for my business. All I do now is stand in Coronet shouting various msgs like "DROIDS FOR SALE! PST me for a brochure mateys!" or "Want a droid? PST for my brochure." when they ask I send it to them. It contains a description of how every module works (so I no longer have to train customers or answer hte same questions over and over) and also it has a list of all the droids I build and prices. I build them right there on the spot, on demand. If you have a factory crate of each of the components you use (or at least most of em) then it takes only 5 minutes per droid... give or take.

Here's the link to the brochure I published (scroll down till about halfway to see the revised version, without the cluster bug/exploit/whatever)

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=droid_engineer&message.id=41868

I usually count prices as non-negotiable. By sending out a brochure without any strings attached I let those customers that don't agree with my prices off without an incident and those that do usually write back within short order. Even those that don't have the money for my prices still enjoy the brochure for the info purposes, and I've gotten people who have written in days later once they have earned up the money.

Lastly, due to my position as the (unwitting) head of the Droid Engineer Association, I thought it'd be best if I give the waypoints to all the Droid Engineer stores on the server as well. This lets people browse around for a best price (and leads a lot of them to think I offer the best, or at least the same price as all other DEs if I'm bold enough to give out their waypoints) and makes the whole thing a real class act. Course you won't have to do that, so I'd suggest editing out those parts if you reuse my brochure.

Anyhow, that's my take on this whole thing. Good luck matey, and feel free to ask any questions if you like aboutmywhole process.

DC, you mean you don'tcustom already???
This is my Master Plan (tm).
I'm not there yet, but I have The Plan.

You'll have EVERYTHING you need IN your crafting droid wherever you go and whatever you do.

You might have already picked up on this - crate EVERYTHING. Even chassis.

Make yourself a sweet little WDG crafting droid with Repair AND Item storage.

If you want to exploit stick a GSC in a Power Droid and you have everything.

Load up the input hopper with EVERY component and resource you'll ever need.
At least enough to build25 droids (crate size).
Always keep the hopper stocked.

Now you can stand by the bank or starport or wherever and hawk.
I stopped to admire someones huge camp and sold 2 MSE Item and a Surgical......

Pre-select the Droid tab and back out of crafting.
Or make a Seeker so theitem list is already at the bottom where the deeds are.

Keep your tool satchel open and once you get an order GO!

Since the ingredients are filtered on the schematic screen,
just start clicking everything like crazy as soon as it comes up.

Since experimentation and customization mean squat, once everything is filled, just Continue/Continue/Continue. Keep your buttons lined up.

In about 1 minute a brand spanking new droid pops out.

Mail a Tnx with info and waypoint while you wait for the final build.

Pack the Item module with Battery 25 crates and an
extra few in your inventory to Split or Withdraw from
and throw a freebie battery in with each droid.

Follow up, ALWAYS look at the back end:

Offer to train the droid as a service.

Offer to customize the droid for a fee.

Offer a 5-pack (crate) of batteries for a fee.

If you use The Plan, you must give me credit

HaHaHa.

I think I got that.

Can't remember the song, but it was a college commencement set to music.....

bump

Heres what you need:

Crates of Adv Brains

Crates of Adv Frames

Crates of Adv motive systems

Crates of droid Brains

Crates of Droid sensor units

Crates of Manipulator arm package sets/Manipulator arms

Crates of level 6 armor

Crates of Combat modules (not combat socket clusters just the combat modules)

Crates of level 6 Medical modules/Level 6 Item storage

Crates of EGPs EMMs

What is a WDG crafting droid? Weapon droid general?

What is a GSC?

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Noobiwankanoobi wrote:

What is a WDG crafting droid? Weapon droid general?

What is a GSC?

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Yes WDG is Weapon, Droid, General crafting station. GSC is General Socket Cluster as opposed to the CSC or Combat Socket Cluster. make sure you check the droid scheme before you craft the clusters as they are not interchangeable. Any module will fit in any cluster though with the exception of the combat module which needs a combat cluster.

They key is to create several informative e-mails that list all your available modules and prices.

I went custom-order only for quite some time before I switched to an exclusively industrial vendor business, but I found making a stock email catalog is the most essential thing you can do. It serves to not only help you establish a firm pricing schedule (no, "I'll give ya X creds for this droid" - your prices are up-front and apparent), but it also helps you answer the often-times dreaded question of, "What droids can you make?" or "What's da best droid u can make?"

I used to make a list of chassis types (and prices), and then a list of available modules (and their cost). A simple list like this (as long as you specify how many modules each chassis can hold) allows a customer to get an idea of what is available and what they'd like to mix and match.

You can still provide ultra-personal service, but it helps to give your customer a basic framework so you are both on (close to) the same page. Personal service is great, but even the most sociable DE gets a bit tired the 100th time someone asks the same question. You can spend your time actually socializing, if that's what you enjoy - instead of making your fingers go numb typing the same module descriptions into tells over and over.

I also eventually developed a seperate FAQ from the catalog for personality chips, armor, and repair/batteries. I still update and use these with my vendor business,but keep the catalog for nostalgic purposes only. I have thought of making up a new one to reflect my current prices, but then realized I just didn't wanna go down that road again.

I never wear my tag even though my droids are made very well. Word of mouth will spread especially if you stick around awhile. I have a vendor I keep some droids onas well assupplies but I am still busy. Decide if you want to do nothing but DE before advertising custom orders, you'll find yourself on demand with no time to play or explore. Personally I love making droids, especially getting emails back from happy customers singing my praises. It takes some time to get set up with the factory runs of parts etc. but making droids gets easy after you understnd what you're doing. I have weeks where I clear almost 1 mil credits and some whereI sell one or two droids. I just keep making them because thats what I do in this game, I'm a masterdroid engineer, and I like it.