Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: If I were Dev for a day...
...or month (because it would take that long to code these changes), I would tune the game a bit. If you're going to add to this list, keep the posts constructive. Post things that are programmatically doable, that fit within the game framework, and that are well explained (but not TOO much detail). I've tried to rank these by how programmatically they would be to implement. I've postulated theat Droidekkas will be added at some time in the future.
#0) Fix the annoying easy things. Change Item Storage Module 2 to read correctly. Have Path points save when droid goes into datapad, and be wiped when flying to a different planet. Have a confirm box on transfer or dissmiss. Have an option to set a droids name, especially for conversation droids. Only allow general socket modules to fit in general socket module slots. Let multiple crafting modules work in the same droid. Do not let medical healing modules stack their bonuses.
#1) Reduce each DE skill level XP requirement by 1/3. Get rid of DE UXP entirely. UXP seems too tricky to programaticallyimplement, and the grind just feels waaaaytooooo loooong.
#2) Power droids should be able to hold 500+/-250(depending on effectiveness) units of power. They should generate 1 unit of power every10+/-3 seconds. This power should only be used to power another droid or be able to add power to a building/installation. Droid power should be measured with it's Mind bar.
#3) A surgical droid should automatically heal every friendly person or pet within 10m of it. It should heal at the rate of 1 Health or Action point every4+/-2 seconds. It should start healing with the lowest stat first.
#4) A repair droid should automatically heal BOTH THE HAM and WOUNDS of every droid (and installation if possible)within 10m of it. It should heal at the rate of 1 point every 4+/-2 seconds.
#5) A protocol droid should have helped learn languages. Too late. Now, it should give you a 5% bonus on all positive faction points you receive. It should also give you a 5% bonus on all apprenticeship points you receive.
#6) A binary load lifter should have large item storage space, as shown later.
#7)DE's should automatically get a cert fora basic combat droidwhen they reachNovice DE. You should also get a basic combat droid (Probot) cert at any Marksman Expert skill, and an advanced combat droid (Droideka) Cert at any Novice Advanced Combatprofession (Like Novice Pistoleer or Novice Bounty Hunter).
#8) Droids should not automatically die when their HAM reaches 0. Thishas made them very hard to sell. They should only "die" when their wounds (not their HAM bar)drops to below 0. There should be a much more gradual level of disintegration, which would have components destroyed as well. All wounds or components should be repairable by a DE with a repair tool or repair droid.
#9) Everyone should be able to have 1 droid called out and 3 in their datapad. A Novice DE should be able to have 5 in their datapad. DE's should gain the ability to call out more and have more in tehir datapad based on level. A Master DE should be able to have 3 droids out and 10 in their datapad.
#10) Nerf Data storage modules to allow the same number as Item storage. Allow Ievel5 data modules to hold 1 waypoint. Allow Level2 modules to hold 2 waypoints/missions.
#11) Have different max limits for different droid sizes.
Small Droids (MSE + DZ70):Light Armor 40%, 20 Data, 2 waypoints, 5 items
Medium Droids (R5, R4, R2, Tredwell, Surgical, Repair, Protocol): Medium Armor 30%, 40 Data, 3 waypoints, 10 items
Large Droids (R3, Power,Probot): Medium Armor 40%, 50 Data, 4 waypoints, 15 items
Huge Droid (Load Lifter, Droideka): Heavy Armor 20%, 60 Data, 5 waypoints, 50 items
#12) Have component level damage to make repairs useful, and add an edge to combat. This would validate experimentation. Combat logic would work something like:
For every hit taken, the droid has achance of damaging a subcomponent (25% - 1 point for every point of droid overall quality). Each subcomponent's strength is measured bythe Itemdurability level it had when created. Modules count as subcomponents.
Every time a droid takes damage (so, after armor has been factored in), apply this formula:
if (random_num> .75+(droid_quality/4)) then {
//a component is hit
component = pick_random_component()
if (random_num_2 < component_quality) then {component_fails(component)}
} else {
//normal body damage
HAM reduced by damage
Wounds applied twice as frequently as normal to make up for no bleed shots
}
When asensor or motive system fails, the droid can only be stored
When an arm fails, the droid can not perform any functions but can still move
When a crafting component/med component fails, that component stops working
When a item/data storage component fails, the things inside are destroyed
When a personality chip is destroyed, it becomes a chip of one rank lower
When a brain is destroyed, all paths within are deleted
#13) Add a /droidshout command that programs your droid to repeat a phrase whenever it gets within 10m of a player, up to once every 30 seconds. /droidshout Looking for Droidekas? Send yak a /tell!
Keep the posts constructive!
I don't agree with Droid certification.
I feel that Creature Handler pets should be the class specific pets, but more powerful, and the droids, the anyone can use pets, but not quite as powerful. I don't think you should have to go into specific skills to be able to use it.
And I don't quite understand the "multiple crafting stations should work, but no stacking med modules"... doesn't that kind of amount to the same type of thing?
As for droid engineers making pets better than the CH 'pet' level creatures and weaker than the CH 'uber' level creatures that are usable by everyone, I completely agree.
Eactly what I meant.
DE warbots should not be as strong as CH uber-pets, as DE's can do a ton of things CHs can't (med bots, craftingbots). Having Certifications makes sure that it still takes a while for a noob to advance.
How do people feel about any of the other ideas? Destruction of components? Reduced chance of droid death?
I really like the idea of components breaking and requiring repair. Something else I'd like to see is the ability to add modules after the droid has been constructred. Once you add a module, you can't remove it though. That way, you don't have the hot-swappable thing that the devs said they won't do, but it allows a DE to build and sell base droids and modules separately. Then, any DE can install the module into the droid.
This, IMO, would really open up our options as DEs. As it stands right now, trying to sell droids on a vendor is very expensive. For example, I would need to sell different models with all the various componenets (i.e. an R5 unit with the various modules, a MSE with modules, an advanced R5 with various modules, etc). Instead, I could just put up the base droid of the various types along with each component. The customer can buy the type of droid he/she wants, but the exact modules he/she wants, then either email me to install them or find any other DE to install them (and I'd even suggest that the DE get a bit of extra XP for installing the components).
#0) Fix the annoying easy things. Change Item Storage Module 2 to read correctly. Have Path points save when droid goes into datapad, and be wiped when flying to a different planet. Have a confirm box on transfer or dissmiss. Have an option to set a droids name, especially for conversation droids. Only allow general socket modules to fit in general socket module slots. Let multiple crafting modules work in the same droid. Do not let medical healing modules stack their bonuses.
Drop the path points thing and you are on to something. Integrate path points into the data module so the droid can store points and patrol them based on what is in the datapad.
#1) Reduce each DE skill level XP requirement by 1/3. Get rid of DE UXP entirely. UXP seems too tricky to programaticallyimplement, and the grind just feels waaaaytooooo loooong.
Nah. There are plenty of Master DE's now.The pathis far too easy. Most casual (1-2 hour a day)full time DE's are Masters now.
#3) A surgical droid should automatically heal every friendly person or pet within 10m of it. It should heal at the rate of 1 Health or Action point every4+/-2 seconds. It should start healing with the lowest stat first.
A surgical droid should have a command to heal everyone in the radius. It should not do this by default. It should require resources to maintain this heal that only someone in an advanced medical profession could provide. Rate is based on quality of medical resources and droid.
#4) A repair droid should automatically heal BOTH THE HAM and WOUNDS of every droid (and installation if possible)within 10m of it. It should heal at the rate of 1 point every 4+/-2 seconds.
Have the repair droid have a command to heal all in area. Have it require resources that only a droid engineer can provide. Rate is based on quality of resources and droid.
#5) A protocol droid should have helped learn languages. Too late. Now, it should give you a 5% bonus on all positive faction points you receive. It should also give you a 5% bonus on all apprenticeship points you receive.
I rather liked someone elses idea of a small merchant or a required intermediate for using heavy harvesters.
#6) A binary load lifter should have large item storage space, as shown later.
Load lifters have a lot of potential, nor eof it realized in the game. More so they should be required for the construction of large houses/guildhalls/player cities.
#7)DE's should automatically get a cert fora basic combat droidwhen they reachNovice DE. You should also get a basic combat droid (Probot) cert at any Marksman Expert skill, and an advanced combat droid (Droideka) Cert at any Novice Advanced Combatprofession (Like Novice Pistoleer or Novice Bounty Hunter).
I maintain that a droid has an AI and does not require a cert. It manages all its functions without interaction. All players of any class should be able to maintian one droid, without any cert. If the players are interested in controling a droid army akin to a creature handler, perhaps restrictor bolts as modules to passify the droids AI into a 'soldier' mentality and combat tatics modules.. or something along those lines. If The devs want to avoid a new player having a droid army, just evaluate spent skill points. It an arbitrary desicion with no logical backing, anyways.
#8) Droids should not automatically die when their HAM reaches 0. Thishas made them very hard to sell. They should only "die" when their wounds (not their HAM bar)drops to below 0. There should be a much more gradual level of disintegration, which would have components destroyed as well. All wounds or components should be repairable by a DE with a repair tool or repair droid.
This has been addressed by the dev team and is in the works.
#9) Everyone should be able to have 1 droid called out and 3 in their datapad. A Novice DE should be able to have 5 in their datapad. DE's should gain the ability to call out more and have more in tehir datapad based on level. A Master DE should be able to have 3 droids out and 10 in their datapad.
DE's are not a combat profession and should have no greater ability to control the droids they create. Their understanding of the droids give them the ability to make and repair their creations. They program them with a will to maintain themselves and support their masters.
Limitations to droids controlled is an arbitrary decision by the devs. If there is a scale of # of droids controlled, apply it through skill points used.
#10) Nerf Data storage modules to allow the same number as Item storage. Allow Ievel5 data modules to hold 1 waypoint. Allow Level2 modules to hold 2 waypoints/missions.
See my suggestions about patrol points as well. This is a good idea.
#11) Have different max limits for different droid sizes.
Small Droids (MSE + DZ70):Light Armor 40%, 20 Data, 2 waypoints, 5 items
Medium Droids (R5, R4, R2, Tredwell, Surgical, Repair, Protocol): Medium Armor 30%, 40 Data, 3 waypoints, 10 items
Large Droids (R3, Power,Probot): Medium Armor 40%, 50 Data, 4 waypoints, 15 items
Huge Droid (Load Lifter, Droideka): Heavy Armor 20%, 60 Data, 5 waypoints, 50 items
Limitations to certain scematics is an excellent idea.
Combat damage sounds complicated...
Droid speak is a valid idea. Limit how often it can be used to avoid spam. Onceevery 5minutes is fine.
Thats all I really wanted to comment on. Good ideas.
Hey if you even posted 1 thing in the day/month you were a DEV you would pass up the ammount of feedback we have gotten from the DE DEV or DEV's.
I am so sick of this lack of feedback, its been almost 2 months since we have had profession correspondents and we have gotten just about no responses, fixes or anything.
It's sad that i have had over 10 people quit the game that i knew since beta because of lack of feedback/content/bug fixes. And the list is going to keep getting longer because every day is just sit there and think well what am i suppost to do today. As soon as someone gets that thought in there head when playing, especially having to pay to play, then they are most likely going to quit and fast, unless they have someone to talk them out of it or they find something interesting to keep them busy til something else is fixed.
"I maintain that a droid has an AI and does not require a cert. It manages all its functions without interaction. All players of any class should be able to maintian one droid, without any cert. If the players are interested in controling a droid army akin to a creature handler, perhaps restrictor bolts as modules to passify the droids AI into a 'soldier' mentality and combat tatics modules.. or something along those lines. If The devs want to avoid a new player having a droid army, just evaluate spent skill points. It an arbitrary desicion with no logical backing, anyways."
^ Ding ding ding, tell him what he's won Johnny!
That is so on point, anyone should be able to use a droid. Afterall, we don't need certifications to control a computer, do we? And a droid is pretty much that, an advanced AI system that can be programmed, controlled. Anyone should be able to have a combat droid, but because anyone can have it, it should not be as powerful as a creature handler pet. And how will noobs be prevented from getting them? Well, they take up a lot of resources to make, so they cost a lot of moeny to buy. Sure, money is easy to get, but you still gotta work for it.
"DE's are not a combat profession and should have no greater ability to control the droids they create. Their understanding of the droids give them the ability to make and repair their creations. They program them with a will to maintain themselves and support their masters.
Limitations to droids controlled is an arbitrary decision by the devs. If there is a scale of # of droids controlled, apply it through skill points used."
I disagree with what I at least interpret from your post. I think DE's should get higher droid storage, because well, quite frankly, I think we should be able to at least have 1 model of each type of droid that we can make. Quite frankly, when a customer wants a medical droid from me, I like to be able to show them all the models of droids that you can make. Right now, I can do that, because I can store all the different types of droids that I make anyways (MSE, Treadwell, R5, R4, DZ70), but when I start making more droids, I can't store them to show the customers what they look like. And I think that DE's at least should be able to have 2 droids out. But 2 droids tops. We don't need an armada of droids running around, but I think to have 2 out would be good, and enough storage to at least hold 1 of each model droid that we can craft.
Ahh, yeah. I knew I was forgetting one. Fix customization (but it looks liek they're about to). 
Maybe make it a requirement to have a BLL within 15m of every heavy building when placed?Great ideas!
I disagree with what I at least interpret from your post. I think DE's should get higher droid storage, because well, quite frankly, I think we should be able to at least have 1 model of each type of droid that we can make. Quite frankly, when a customer wants a medical droid from me, I like to be able to show them all the models of droids that you can make. Right now, I can do that, because I can store all the different types of droids that I make anyways (MSE, Treadwell, R5, R4, DZ70), but when I start making more droids, I can't store them to show the customers what they look like. And I think that DE's at least should be able to have 2 droids out. But 2 droids tops. We don't need an armada of droids running around, but I think to have 2 out would be good, and enough storage to at least hold 1 of each model droid that we can craft.
We are on the same page, here. The number of droids in the datapad should be high enogh for DE's to have one of each 'floor model'. Im sure that this5 droids limit is some space decision, due to the 10 or so items that a droid canpotentially have in their modules.
As for droids out?2 Is the magic number.We could then heal and power our own droids usingrepair/power droids.
-X-