Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Datapad limits, calling multiple droids and the loopholes it could cause.
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Zenoee
Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:07 pm
#1
First off...
Datapad limits...
Since they are upping the datapad limits for ToO expansion, think MDEs will be able to hold more than 5 droids one day? There is really no reason why we can't have more than 5 in our datapad. How many weapons can a combatant choose from in his inventory? 129! Why can we only store 5 droids when droids are our livelihood? I personally think every box of DE should give one more droid datapad capacity. That would only give a total of 23 droids if my math is correct. Loopholes..... Can't think of any for that. Well unless you call 23 item storage droids a loophole. However when it comes right down to it that would only be 150 more items. (230 - 50 we already have) I don't see this as a big deal considering when you look at 129 body inventory, 200 per house inventory, 100 bank inventory, currently 50 datapad droid item storage, and the vendor storage. What's the limit on vendors now? Pfft, whatever it is, 150 more items for a MDE wouldn't be a drop in the bucket compared to item storage that we already have.
Datapad limits...
Since they are upping the datapad limits for ToO expansion, think MDEs will be able to hold more than 5 droids one day? There is really no reason why we can't have more than 5 in our datapad. How many weapons can a combatant choose from in his inventory? 129! Why can we only store 5 droids when droids are our livelihood? I personally think every box of DE should give one more droid datapad capacity. That would only give a total of 23 droids if my math is correct. Loopholes..... Can't think of any for that. Well unless you call 23 item storage droids a loophole. However when it comes right down to it that would only be 150 more items. (230 - 50 we already have) I don't see this as a big deal considering when you look at 129 body inventory, 200 per house inventory, 100 bank inventory, currently 50 datapad droid item storage, and the vendor storage. What's the limit on vendors now? Pfft, whatever it is, 150 more items for a MDE wouldn't be a drop in the bucket compared to item storage that we already have.
There has been many good ideas on the multiple droid issue. I scrolled back a few pages but couldn't find any about calling multiple droids. I don't know if these things have ever been brought up, but I've been doing a lot of thinking on the issue since it keeps coming up in other posts on the forums.
Here is my take on how it could be implemented...
All players +1 CL1-30 Combat/NonCombat Droid (same as now)
All novice elite Crafting professions "second" CL1-30 NonCombat Droid
All Master Droid Engineer players "third" CL1-30 NonCombat Droid
This gives all Crafters an 'extra' utility droid out. All elite crafters should have the knowledge and capability to operate two droids at once, due to their advanced knowledge of their own equipment. The biggest benefit this would give is being able to have 1 barker running and be able to call a combat/crafter when doing factories or clearing out around harvesters. That or simply being able to run 2 barkers at once in different cities.
This gives MDEs the ability to pull 3 droids out, but only one that is combat capable. This allows them to show off their superior droid knowledge and use multiple droids at once. This would be mainly for show, so we could dazzle potential buyers with the wonder of droids. Somebody wants to know what kind of combat droid they can buy... The MDE pulls out an Adv. Probot, Adv. Battle Droid, and an Adv. Droideka. (Yah that is a pipe dream but if they added them as CL30 max we could have them!) If they increased our datapad limit we could easily have one of each chassis without combat mods so we could show people what is available. How cool would it be to walk through a crowded starport with 3 Probots following you in wedge formation? Droidekas for that matter too? 
It would look like a private army but wouldn't unbalance any other profession.
It would look like a private army but wouldn't unbalance any other profession. Now of course there are gonna be loopholes...
One possible loophole would be the "Big Boomers"... The MDE/BH or MDE/Smuggler. Det droids don't technically have a combat mod in them. Being MDE they would get the full 3 droid limit. This would allow for 3 Adv. R3 60 power det droids to be called. This would cause an explosion that has yet to be witnessed in this game. (That would be a big loophole wouldn't it?) I can't imagine the fight for players to change around their template to be able to do this. Sure they would have a lower CL, but man wouldn't that be fun to REALLY blow stuff up? Sorry jedi. 
Sorry GCW. This would play big in those categories. Not to even mention PVP. Imagine standing at the bazaar and some guy is standing behind you saying "duel...duel...duel...I challenge you to duel.... duel...duel....duel...." (that is so irritating isn't it?) You turn to him and say "Ok." Within seconds 3 level 60 det droids roll towards him. You get this large smile and say "Bye!" Not a single shot would need to be fired.
Sorry GCW. This would play big in those categories. Not to even mention PVP. Imagine standing at the bazaar and some guy is standing behind you saying "duel...duel...duel...I challenge you to duel.... duel...duel....duel...." (that is so irritating isn't it?) You turn to him and say "Ok." Within seconds 3 level 60 det droids roll towards him. You get this large smile and say "Bye!" Not a single shot would need to be fired. That brings up another loophole. The mighty Empire. With this ability in the hands of Bounty Hunters across the galaxy, they could easily wipe out the remaining jedi. The fight would be taken from the rebels and directed at ridding the galaxy of the jedi. The Empire would suffer some heavy blows from rebels with this ability also, but their numbers would keep them strong. Having BHs at their beck and call would increase their numbers tenfold. Imperial benefits could be increased to show they really do care. If they could attract their own black ops MDE/Smuggler/BH army nothing could stand in their way! Jedis would be mad, but come on, their not suppose to be here anyway. Didn't The Emperor and Darth Vader eradicate them all? Jedis should go back to not being seen, only talked about in hushed conversations. They could drop the ridiculous jedi grind and put it back into fashion with the other professions, give them the power they actually should have, and let everyone else blow their stinking socks off! In all reality should any combatant be able to take down a jedi face to face with regular weapons? (A BH should use their sneakiness andprowess to catch the jedi offguard.) Well that is an argument for other forums. Sorry for the rant. lol
In all reality should any combatant be able to take down a jedi face to face with regular weapons? (A BH should use their sneakiness andprowess to catch the jedi offguard.) Well that is an argument for other forums. Sorry for the rant. lol Also you could have entertainers with 2-3 effects droids going at once. Scouts using 2-3 trapping droids or one harvest and one trapper. Barkers would improve in sales since you could have your own droid out plus a barker or 2 in other cities. Of course Med. Mod. droids would have their heal % increase capped at a certain level so they wouldn't be exploited. Would these really be exploits or loopholes?
Another thing to consider is these loopholes wouldn't be exploited much due to having to have an elite novice crafting profession to call at least 2 droids at once. Some people would benefit, but most wouldn't give up their CL80 for this benefit. That is except for people that love to blow stuff up. That I believe would be the most used feature other than pure crafters.
I believe this would cut down on some of the all in one droids too. We would have to stock plenty of noncombat droids too. Since adding armor only can up the CL rating it should really be based on having a combat mod or not. Surely there is code that recognizes whether there is a attack option or not.
These are just suggestions and ideas. I'm one that always looks to what kind of reactions some actions may cause and these keep coming to mind when I hear "call multiple droids".
If they classify a Det. Mod. as a Combat mod it would rule out the "Big Boomers" and keep the current balance to combat that we have now. (If you can call it that)
Still though, wouldn't it be cool if MDEs suddenly RULED pvp? We would be loved and feared all at the same time!
Briar
Thu Oct 13, 2005 4:03 pm
#2
I don't really see why a combat character would go MDE just to be able to use three bomb droids at once. Three droids are pretty noticable to the target, and they are most definitely not worth CL 54 to anyone.
Other than that. I agree that MDEs should be able to use more than one droid... maybe other crafting professions, maybe everyone. With the current state of droids, it doesn't even matter all that much. We need to focus on making droids useful before we try to ask for more than one droid out at a time...
Other than that. I agree that MDEs should be able to use more than one droid... maybe other crafting professions, maybe everyone. With the current state of droids, it doesn't even matter all that much. We need to focus on making droids useful before we try to ask for more than one droid out at a time...
CohibaMonCal
Fri Oct 14, 2005 5:26 am
#3
An easy way to impliment this would be to do it like Creature Handlers - up to 30 levels out maximum over three (or more?) droids. The coding must be in there somewhere to do that and as every DE knows to their cost droids are tied into pets. (Publish 21 anybody!/) so it should not be that hard to impliment.
You may say that you can get three combat capable doids out but they would be so low level, with no armor that there would be little point except maybe to fend off a few mobs while the CL1 DE legged it from their harvesters!!!
Jenden
Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:07 am
#4
CohibaMonCal wrote:An easy way to impliment this would be to do it like Creature Handlers - up to 30 levels out maximum over three (or more?) droids. The coding must be in there somewhere to do that and as every DE knows to their cost droids are tied into pets. (Publish 21 anybody!/) so it should not be that hard to impliment.
You may say that you can get three combat capable doids out but they would be so low level, with no armor that there would be little point except maybe to fend off a few mobs while the CL1 DE legged it from their harvesters!!!
The problem is actually with 1 combat droid and 2 full auto-repair droids. That combination (or a similar one) has always been my big worry with multiple droids at once.
CohibaMonCal
Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:31 am
#5
Jenden wrote:
CohibaMonCal wrote:An easy way to impliment this would be to do it like Creature Handlers - up to 30 levels out maximum over three (or more?) droids. The coding must be in there somewhere to do that and as every DE knows to their cost droids are tied into pets. (Publish 21 anybody!/) so it should not be that hard to impliment.
You may say that you can get three combat capable doids out but they would be so low level, with no armor that there would be little point except maybe to fend off a few mobs while the CL1 DE legged it from their harvesters!!!
The problem is actually with 1 combat droid and 2 full auto-repair droids. That combination (or a similar one) has always been my big worry with multiple droids at once.
If the level was capped at CL30 though one player would not be able to have a combat droid AND two auto repair droids out. Well maybe a level 25 combat droid and two CL1 autorepair droids...
If they were really worried about this (and is a CL25 droid, even with auto repair back up much use agains anything but CL's of a similar level) then make auto repair modules add Combat level.
Jenden
Fri Oct 14, 2005 10:12 am
#6
CohibaMonCal wrote:
Jenden wrote:
CohibaMonCal wrote:An easy way to impliment this would be to do it like Creature Handlers - up to 30 levels out maximum over three (or more?) droids. The coding must be in there somewhere to do that and as every DE knows to their cost droids are tied into pets. (Publish 21 anybody!/) so it should not be that hard to impliment.
You may say that you can get three combat capable doids out but they would be so low level, with no armor that there would be little point except maybe to fend off a few mobs while the CL1 DE legged it from their harvesters!!!
The problem is actually with 1 combat droid and 2 full auto-repair droids. That combination (or a similar one) has always been my big worry with multiple droids at once.
If the level was capped at CL30 though one player would not be able to have a combat droid AND two auto repair droids out. Well maybe a level 25 combat droid and two CL1 autorepair droids... If they were really worried about this (and is a CL25 droid, even with auto repair back up much use agains anything but CL's of a similar level) then make auto repair modules add Combat level.
The trick with auto-repair modules is that as soon as a droid goes down one of the other auto-repairs brings it right back up. With 3 droids timed well they can sit there keeping a MOB busy for quite a while.
Zenoee
Fri Oct 14, 2005 3:40 pm
#7
If we could get multiple droids I think they would have to go on combat mod installation. That is if they were afraid of the balancing issue. Having a CL30 droid with no combat capabilities wouldn't unbalance anything. It wouldn't make combatants out of crafters.
I for one put at least 1 level 4 armor mod in EVERY droid I sell, simply so it doesn't have 0 health and look bad to the customer. All astromechs, crafters, entertainers, & storage droids. I know lots of crafters don't use barkers anymore because of vendor search on the bazaar, but if they could have 2 droids out, I think it would really boost our barker sales. Not being able to have 2 CL30 combat droids would keep it balanced as it is. This would be a great way to give all crafters a little something extra AND help us out. The third NonCombat Droid for MDEs could fall under what Straker was talking about. I agree that an Armorsmith should be able to wear armor, really any armor they can craft, but have the specs scaled way down. Weaponsmiths should be able to use any weapon they craft, with the specs scaled way down to CDEF level or no CL levelcert.weapons. MDEs would have the third droid but no more combat than before. This way combatants couldn't complain that they wasted X amount of skill points to use the Big Guns, Uber Armor, andgive high damagebut crafters get it for no skill points. We would get to use them, but not the high levels they have when they use them. Loot weapons and armor, of course, would stay how it currently is, with the cert. requirements.
I hadn't thought of the repair mods that Jenden brought up. That could be another loophole. In reality though, couldn't you have that now,onlynot one person's droids but 3 people with 3 CL30 droids (1Combat & rest in Auto Repair)? The droids together could be healing each other. The players could stand back and as the mob took out the first droid the other 2 would be fighting and bringing the first droid back to life. They would all be doing the same damage so the mob would only switch targets when one droid went down, so it would cycle between them all. It could be a loopholethough. I wonder how high of a CL mob 1 CL30 combat droid could take out if it had 2 maxed out Auto Repair Adv. R3s and a MDE with plenty of Repair Kit Ds backing it up? That would be interesting to know.
The Big Boomer would be a loophole. PVP *would* be affected by people with the MDE/Smuggler or MDE/BH. Jedi *would* be affected. I guessed at the CL54, but whatever it is, in PVP you could take a few hits from a CL80 player, maybe even a jedi. (Remember, not only around CL54 but also with BH or Smuggler cert. armor) You would only have to take it for a few seconds as the droids did the countdown. In BH missions you would only have to time it so you got in one shot before they went off. After that... could *anybody* take that kind of blast? Wouldn't it be around 6k damage?Not to mention what the player was doing too? Sure most wouldn't want to give up their CL80, but lots of people have been playing this game long enough to try new stuff. This would definitely be something to try. A good PVPer may take out 1 droid, IF they knew what was coming. Maybe even 2 so it may not be 'that' big of a loophole. However, timed just right by another good PVPer and a good quality Repair Kit, you might keep whichever droid was taking damage alive long enough to Splode! Grouped, it would mean a CL30 droid could take damage like a CL54(give or take) player could.
Eeehhhhh... it's all just speculation though, not like it will ever happen. Wished it would, but probably won't. Just something to think about while we deal with the current situation of our lowly crafting professions!
Lowly but lovely!
And cool too!
PS... Jenden, think you can talk them into upping the droid datapad limit since the other limits are being upped too?
Straker_Atrella
Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:18 am
#8
Plus if you only put low armor and no combat modules in, you could have 3 det droids out at once.
I have alwyas said that each crafting profession at Master (and master only) should get some type of profession specific bonus. An AS could wear basic armor for example. For DE's, they could call 2 droids, it doesn't matter if they are both combat.
Nobody would go DE just for the extra droids, but it would be a ncie perk. Part of this would involve giving decent perks to the other crafters as well.
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