Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: A Proposal for the Droid Invasion from and Non-Droid Engineer.
Proposal for the Upcoming Droid Invasion:
1) Droids should be certification based (like weapons) not Creature level based (like pets)
2) Certifications for combat droids should be given to the Elite and Hybrid Combat professions with the higher level droid certifications in the Master Skill box.
a) Not knowing how many different droids and the levels of those droids there is no way to give an accurate proposal on how to have these certifications. My suggestion would be to have the certifications be in the skill tree which requires Combat XP to attain so the levels are more difficult for dabblers to get.
b) I also think there should be class type and class specific droids.
1) Ranged Combat Support Droids - For the Elite Ranged combat classes.
2) Meele Combat Support Droids - For the Elite Meele combat classes.
3) Hybrid Combat Support Droids - Specific Droids for Bounty Hunters, Combat Medics, Smugglers, ect.......
Still with the Highest level Droid certifications in the Master Box of the profession. These can be developed over time.
3) Droids should cost alot in resources and time for the Droid Engineers to make (like high Quality Weapons and Armor) not just throwing a few hunks of metal into a Crafting station and out pops a Droid (like vehicles). They should have to make all the key components seperatly with high quality resources to make the best droids (Like armor and weapons).
This in turn will make the best Droids expensive and hard to obtain. Limiting the numbers along with having to aquire the proper certifications to use them.
4) Droids should cost to maintain and repair. Like vehicles they should degrade with use and need repairing by Droid Engineers or maybe in garage type locations in cities (since a Droid Engineer might not be readily available). This will also help keep the amount of Droids and thier use down. Plus create another much needed money sink in the economy.
Like I said with out knowing the specifics of the amount and types of Droids we are talking about I think this would be great for the game and still maintain balance for the professions that will be using these Combat Droids.
Hopefully like Thunderheart said in the near future we will see more types of droids for support of the other professions, like Surveying droids (that crafters can send out to survey a planet for you and bring back a WP for the highest consentration on the planet of the resource you are looking for), Medical Droids (that can actually heal you or even Buff you would be awesome),
Creating a seperate Droid Handler class in my opinion is not a good idea. It will be just like the early Creature Handler Days (before it was balanced). Everyone and thier Brother will rush to get these new toys while leaving thier old professions behind and instead of everyone running arround with Rancors, everyone will be running arround with these Uber Droids. It is just a profession waiting to be NERFED. IMHO.
Combat Droids should be support for the Combat classes already in the game, not a class all to itself. Also MHO. So please rethink how this is going to be developed. Like I said with out knowing all the specifics it is hard to give an accurate or detailed proposal. But I think this is a solid basis to work from.
I would also like to see how others feel about this idea. I have read some of the comments made in the other threads on the Droid Invasion and do not see alot of people who are happy with the ideas on the table at the moment.
I know it is hard to balance what is right for the game as a whole with the opinions of 1000's of people on these boards. But if you look back on some of the things that have happened over the last 6 months when there have been alot of people saying no this is not a good idea, and it gets put in game anyway. 9 times out of 10 the Dev's wind up having to go back and fix exactly what the community said was going to be a problem in the first place. I am hoping that this will not continue to repeat itself whit this Droid Invasion. Even if it take longer for it to get it in game it would be better that then dealing with the problems for weeks or months it is going to cause.
Warplex wrote:
you realize that droids require about 5 components per droid (on average), and many require advanced components in factory crates.
huh? how is this related
anyway, good ideas keep em coming
Warplex wrote:
you realize that droids require about 5 components per droid (on average), and many require advanced components in factory crates.
No. I do not know anything about Droid Engineer or really about crafting in general. I have great respect for crafters though. I know alot of Armorsmiths and Weaponsmiths and I know the steps they have to take to make good Armor and Weaponswouldbe a a pain in the butt and not worth it to me but they love it. To each his (or her) own.
The only thing I was saying is that Droid Engineers should be on the same level as Armorsmiths and Weaponsmiths if not higher. They are making Armored Weapons. So it should be an art form like Armor and weaponcrafting is.
The comment about throwing a few hunks of metal into a crafting station was a poke at making vehicles not droids. I think that the vehicle crafting should have been just as detailed as well. Making the Engine, Transmission, Chassis, Frame, ect...... then assembling those components to make the finished product.
Mad props to all crafters. I don't know how that is fun to you but I am glad it is because with out you the game wouldn't be near as good and fun with out you.
Just FYI - what it takes to make an advanced probot, with say an L6 med mod, L6 armor, and a Droid Repair Module:
- Advanced Chasis
- Droid Brain
- Manipulator arm package set
- Advanced Droid Motive
- Control Unit (Master Artisan Part)
- Droid Sensor Package
- Micro sensor suite (MA Part)
- Energy converter (MA part)
- GP Mod (MA part)
- Control unit (MA part)
- Droid Brain
- L6 Armor
- Composite Armor Segment (Armorsmith part)
- L6 Medical
- 3 EMM modules (MA part)
- GP Module (MA part)
- Droid Repair Module
- Droid brain
As you can see, even without the medical and repair modules, this is a lot of sub parts. Add in the fact that most people want this sort of extra module in their droids, we are already talking about quite a few parts.
Sketh wrote:
Just FYI - what it takes to make an advanced probot, with say an L6 med mod, L6 armor, and a Droid Repair Module:
- Advanced Chasis
- Droid Brain
- Manipulator arm package set
- Advanced Droid Motive
- Control Unit (Master Artisan Part)
- Droid Sensor Package
- Micro sensor suite (MA Part)
- Energy converter (MA part)
- GP Mod (MA part)
- Control unit (MA part)
- Droid Brain
- L6 Armor
- Composite Armor Segment (Armorsmith part)
- L6 Medical
- 3 EMM modules (MA part)
- GP Module (MA part)
- Droid Repair Module
- Droid brain
As you can see, even without the medical and repair modules, this is a lot of sub parts. Add in the fact that most people want this sort of extra module in their droids, we are already talking about quite a few parts.
Thanks. I did not know it is that complex. Thats awesome. that is the way I thought vehicles should have been.
But even with all it's intricate parts they are not seen anywhere near as valuble as Armor or weapons. Combat droids and hopefully other types of droids will help in this area.
But if it is limited to one specific profession (Droid Handler) then I really do not think it will do much of anything to change things. Except maybe in the short term.
Armorsmiths can sell Any type of Armor to anyone (except Wookies and certain parts to other species).
Weaponsmiths can sell any type of weapon to anyone (as long as they have a cert to use it).
In this new senerio Droid Engineers will be able to sell 99% of thier Droids to one New profession. So how is this helping the Droid Engineer profession?
There will be a short term boom in droid demand and then will taper off back into hardly any as the bandwagon jumpers find something new to jump on.
Atleast with having certs for the droids in all Elite and Hybrid Combat professions for Combat droids there is a broader consumer base for the Droid Engineers to cater to.