Droid Engineer Archive

(This was something I wrote in reply to another post (the one about Protocol droids using weapons) but I figured it could probably do with its own thread, the more I thought about it the more I realised that this was something that felt 'wrong' about SWG compared to the old SW RPG)

Its true that the Empire have outlawed assasing droids (its also true that this hasnt stopped people using them, from crime lords to high ranking Imperial officials) and its true that 'stock' droids programing makes them unable to harm a beings life (Droid murder being a class 1 infraction and manslaughter a class 2 IIRC)

So where does that leave the DE and combat-capable droids?

Well _technically_ no droid should be able to kill a person, in PvP this isnt a problem since the player can be left incapped by the droid and the deathblow delivered by the player, however PvE (in terms of humanoid MOBs) this raises a slight problem in that there is no incap.

Having said that, a specific combat droids programing will not have such a limitation, the problem then becomes that _technically_ any such droid would be illegal in the Empire and such a droid should be impounded and the owner arrested on sight

This (rather nicely) does open up a market for concealed weapons within 'stock' droid chassis and in order for a droid to use thisits programing needs to be altered (hacked is probably a better word) to remove the safeguards to

I suppose what I'm driving at is that dedicated combat droids arent very 'starwarsy' in the context of the time period (they were during Episodes 1&2 obviously) but hacked and modified stock droids with concealed blaster are IMO very starwarsy for the time period (and DE's get to lots of tinkering and modifications to boot)

While the implimentation of the above wouldnt rule out the addition of the Trade Federation battle droid chassis (because it could be made to do other tasks) it would prevent the droidika from being a mainstream droid because they would need significant modification in order for them to _not_ be a dedicated combat droid (and thus acceptable by the Empire). Hover this does allow humanoid droids (such as the 3PO, LE and the aformentioned Trade Federation Battle droid) to be equipped with a weapon given the appropriate modification to their programing (and somewhere to hide the weapon when the law is around) because they can just hold the weapon in their hands (rather than requiring chassis modification that other droids would need), the tradeoff however is that the 're-programing' of such a droid (with the possible exception of the Trade Federation battle droid) is more difficult than another droid because their brain/programing is less complex

Notice that above I said that a Droidika wouldnt be maintstream, not that they wouldnt be in the game. The difficulty here is requiring the majoritory of themto be 'non-combat' from the word go (which kind of implies that DEs dont make them initially only modify them) and then some way to covertly modify them back to combat use, as well as some kind of NPC reaction system to openly flaunted combat droids. There could also be some kind of quest like the RIS armour quest where a DE could get the schematic to a full on Droidika but this would definately need to provoke a reaction from the authoritories when detected (because its just and all-out illegal droid)

<i>(This was something I wrote in reply to another post (the one about Protocol droids using weapons) but I figured it could probably do with its own thread, the more I thought about it the more I realised that this was something that felt 'wrong' about SWG compared to the old SW RPG)

Its true that the Empire have outlawed assasing droids (its also true that this hasnt stopped people using them, from crime lords to high ranking Imperial officials) and its true that 'stock' droids programing makes them unable to harm a beings life (Droid murder being a class 1 infraction and manslaughter a class 2 IIRC)

So where does that leave the DE and combat-capable droids?

Well _technically_ no droid should be able to kill a person, in PvP this isnt a problem since the player can be left incapped by the droid and the deathblow delivered by the player, however PvE (in terms of humanoid MOBs) this raises a slight problem in that there is no incap.

Having said that, a specific combat droids programing will not have such a limitation, the problem then becomes that _technically_ any such droid would be illegal in the Empire and such a droid should be impounded and the owner arrested on sight

This (rather nicely) does open up a market for concealed weapons within 'stock' droid chassis and in order for a droid to use thisits programing needs to be altered (hacked is probably a better word) to remove the safeguards to

I suppose what I'm driving at is that dedicated combat droids arent very 'starwarsy' in the context of the time period (they were during Episodes 1&2 obviously) but hacked and modified stock droids with concealed blaster are IMO very starwarsy for the time period (and DE's get to lots of tinkering and modifications to boot)

While the implimentation of the above wouldnt rule out the addition of the Trade Federation battle droid chassis (because it could be made to do other tasks) it would prevent the droidika from being a mainstream droid because they would need significant modification in order for them to _not_ be a dedicated combat droid (and thus acceptable by the Empire). Hover this does allow humanoid droids (such as the 3PO, LE and the aformentioned Trade Federation Battle droid) to be equipped with a weapon given the appropriate modification to their programing (and somewhere to hide the weapon when the law is around) because they can just hold the weapon in their hands (rather than requiring chassis modification that other droids would need), the tradeoff however is that the 're-programing' of such a droid (with the possible exception of the Trade Federation battle droid) is more difficult than another droid because their brain/programing is less complex

Notice that above I said that a Droidika wouldnt be maintstream, not that they wouldnt be in the game. The difficulty here is requiring the majoritory of themto be 'non-combat' from the word go (which kind of implies that DEs dont make them initially only modify them) and then some way to covertly modify them back to combat use, as well as some kind of NPC reaction system to openly flaunted combat droids. There could also be some kind of quest like the RIS armour quest where a DE could get the schematic to a full on Droidika but this would definately need to provoke a reaction from the authoritories when detected (because its just and all-out illegal droid)</i>

It's a game stop looking into so much detail about made up things. I remember hearing the game isn't going to be like the movies. In terms of story line etc events etc. I mean really what would be the point of making droids if none of them could attack/kill mobs? All we would have is resources harvestors that's IT... very boring

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KKCS wrote:

(It's a game stop looking into so much detail about made up things. I remember hearing the game isn't going to be like the movies. In terms of story line etc events etc. I mean really what would be the point of making droids if none of them could attack/kill mobs? All we would have is resources harvestors that's IT... very boring

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Exactly, it really makes for a REALLY boring profession if we can't make any interesting droids. Making food crafting droids just gets old after a while. I want to see some of my droids in action by other people, and not just by the new people that the probot is only helpful for.

don't you just love Tuesday mornings...

But as a thought, protocol droids are not that different than LEs or surgicals. They are all shaped the same way, have the same joints, and behave very similarly. I mention this because the protocol combat animations could easily cover the animations for surgicals and LEs as well, hense giving them the chance to carry weapons instead (or react in combat, as they are just as likely to see it).

Furthermore, I think that if this theory holds true, then it is a sign that we'll be seeing a humanoid combat droid in the near future.

im a rebel, i don't follow empire rules =).

Hmm....so what you are saying, is that, even though Rebels are not really concerned with Imperial Law we shouldnt be able to construct Droidekas because we would be breaking imperial law. Hmm....something about that just doesnt seem right. If it comes right down to it then...whoever brings out a "combat" droid should get a TEF for imperials. That should solve the problem for both sides.

Not sure if that was directed at me but just in case it was I'll answer

What I'm saying is that, regardless of if you can make Droidika or not (which is a different issue) since lethal droids are illegal for the general populace (security droids, which tend to be non-lethal and shoot for stun require permits etc) anyone parading around with a lethal droid should _technically_ be subject to attack by law enforcement NPCs (not just Imperials, since Imperial law transends local law) or at least the droid attacked by those NPCs and that current combat droids (DZ70 & Probot) restricted to combat against creatures (not any being NPC or PC) without modification to their Programming to remove the safeguard (enter DE experimentation - - call it jury rigging or modification instead)

This facilitates the addition of concealed weaponsto non-combat droids (as well as the use of weapons by humanoid droids) whilst staying inside the continuity

This would also allow for combat droid chassis (e.g. Droidika) to be modified for non-combat use (and hence legal) as the background is full of examples of droids reprogrammed for uses totally different from their original design (again DE experimentation)