Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: First Look Interplanetary Survey Droid Information
TheRealTK421 wrote:
I'll be trying to post a Focus thread later tonight that has the 'skinny' I've collected so far on this.
Yes, there's some rares needed for it (and I don't yet have them on TC).
There may also be a bug with crafting this but I haven't been able to make it happen personally (due to not having all the resources yet).
/bow
Respectfully,
I would like to proudly announce that i have been able to craft this survey droid - and have gotten as far as to launch the sucker!
/cheer!
Ok - here are all the juicy details that a ton of people have been asking for - mind you that even after all the trickery that i went through to get it as far as i did - it still did not work right in the end.
First - we do get an error upon crafting - but Imap was kind enough to let me in on a tidbit that if you use the /nextCraftingStage, /createPrototype commands,you can still get a finished product out of it. Which i didn and it was succcessful (Thank you Imap!!)
The problem is that when you do craft the droid - its unusable. you double click it and use the "Use" option in your radial menu and it just sits there. I was a tad bit mad at the whole thing - so i went and placed it in my house. I went to examine it and found that the use option was on the droid! I was curious so i used it - and wham, the planet list was there!
It allowed me to choose any planet (including naboo, the planet i was standing on). Once i selected a planet - it then gave me the choices to chooseA TOOLto survey with: mineral, gas, chemical, and wind i believe were my options. Evidently - it takes a survey tool with it on its adventure to the new planet, and those were the tools i had in my inventory at the time (more were in the backpack - but were not selectable). The survey tool you gave it to use will not be returned to you. (so get extras)
Upon selecting one of them to survey - it disapeared.
Now - these are full droids - not modules and are one time use (one crafting will produce one survey droid - its not like the Bounty Hunter droids that come in stacks of 5 and 10)
about 20-30 minutes later (it was a very long time) - i recieved an e-mail from the droid - describing where it went and what it was surveying.
BUT here is the clincher - the e-mail was blank other then mentioning that it came from the survey droid. The body was one line and there were no waypoint attached to it.
So the big questions are still not answered - but speculation can be a bit more precice now and discussion can have something to stand on - which it hasnt had up till now that i have seen... lol
Message Edited by Morturr on 04-15-2004 08:25 AM
Morturr wrote:
Now - these are full droids - not modules and are one time use (one crafting will produce one survey droid - its not like the Bounty Hunter droids that come in stacks of 5 and 10)
Ack - this is what I was afraid of... Using my spreadsheet it calculates the selling price to be4.5k each if my normal margins apply (and my stuff sells OK at the prices I charge)... TBH I can't see ppl wanting to spend that on a one use droid.
Thats a basic multiplyer as well - theres also an argument to charge even more due to the Vertex Gemstone (rare) and the EMM's/EGP's. 
Morturr wrote:
Once i selected a planet - it then gave me the choices to chooseA TOOLto survey with: mineral, gas, chemical, and wind i believe were my options. Evidently - it takes a survey tool with it on its adventure to the new planet, and those were the tools i had in my inventory at the time (more were in the backpack - but were not selectable). I have not confirmed that it took my tool physically and not returned it - i will get back to you when i do find out specifics on that. The fact that you had to use the tool is an afterthought while viewing my screenshots.
Chaz_uk wrote:
Ack - this is what I was afraid of... Using my spreadsheet it calculates the selling price to be4.5k each if my normal margins apply (and my stuff sells OK at the prices I charge)... TBH I can't see ppl wanting to spend that on a one use droid.
Thats a basic multiplyer as well - theres also an argument to charge even more due to the Vertex Gemstone (rare) and the EMM's/EGP's.
what kind of spreadsheet are you using? This is only 150 units of resources (plus the minimal resources needed for the electronis), even at 10 to 1 that's only 1500, and I usually charge 3 to 1, maybe more for the rare ones. I'll probably charge 500-1000 credits apiece for these
Message Edited by JodoKai on 04-15-2004 10:31 AM
The Survey droid has some known issues on TC and is already on the list to get some work. No ETA on any fixes so far but I know this probably has high priority due to how anticipated it is by many DEs and players.
I'll get you more info as I can....
Thanks a ton for the post, Morturr. I'll make sure to let the Devs know about the workaround you used. Maybe it will help them to move fixes forward. /shrug
/bow
Respectfully,
considering crafting is bugged, the fact it didnt stack will hopefully change...
otherwise this could be a bad thing
Im not too sure im keen on it losing survey tools either., but they have been trying to boost the artisan market
Brawlmaster wrote:
darkmane wrote:
TK: Could you suggest to the Devs that they make a surveying tool a subcomponent rather than other things? This way we could at crafting time decide what it would survey for.
Speaking as a crafter, I would MUCH rather be able to specify at launch time what kind of thing to survey for. I don't want to have to buy several crates of different kinds of droids.
Like several other modules, this one isn't shaping up to be as promising as it was before.
Just like I don't see many people buying crates of exploding droids (even MSE's), I don't really see people buying crate upon crate of these droids, especially at the prices we'd have to charge.
When I first saw this list of droids, I saw several possibilities for really nice loaded R3 units to be made for scouts, entertainers, merchants, etc. - but with the exception of the entertainer modules everything else seems to cater to either the extreme low-end (scout/trap droids) or to no one at all. Even as a DE who won't be paying for these droids, waiting 20-30 minutes for return of information is ridiculous - I'd rather just hop a ship and check it out myself.
AO
AudioOrgana wrote:
Brawlmaster wrote:
darkmane wrote:
TK: Could you suggest to the Devs that they make a surveying tool a subcomponent rather than other things? This way we could at crafting time decide what it would survey for.
Speaking as a crafter, I would MUCH rather be able to specify at launch time what kind of thing to survey for. I don't want to have to buy several crates of different kinds of droids.
Like several other modules, this one isn't shaping up to be as promising as it was before.
Just like I don't see many people buying crates of exploding droids (even MSE's), I don't really see people buying crate upon crate of these droids, especially at the prices we'd have to charge.
When I first saw this list of droids, I saw several possibilities for really nice loaded R3 units to be made for scouts, entertainers, merchants, etc. - but with the exception of the entertainer modules everything else seems to cater to either the extreme low-end (scout/trap droids) or to no one at all. Even as a DE who won't be paying for these droids, waiting 20-30 minutes for return of information is ridiculous - I'd rather just hop a ship and check it out myself.
AO
Not to mention that these are starting to look fairly expensive. 150 units of resources, plus 3 GP modules and a memory module. Then it takes one of your survey tools when you use it, so you have to buy (or craft) a new one.
I realize that I usually have a glass-is-half-full approach around here, but this particular glass is starting to look a little closer to 1/4 full...
I'm still waiting for more reports from TC before I make a judgement call though. Plus there's still plenty of time for tweakin' before it goes live.
Naufragus wrote:
if all it does is tell you what resources are avaible on X planet that its really isnt that fantatstic...
As AO said, for 700 credits you could hop on a shuttle and just find out...
I also think that the survey tool should be used IN THE CRAFTING PROCESS....so essentially we consumers would just buy a chem droid or flora droid...
if the droids dont help me find CONCENTRATIONS then i dont know why i would need one. what i am looking for in a suvery dorid is one i can use on the planet i amm currently on. I already know the resources from opening the tool....i just want to release the droid, choose resource X and have locate the highest concentartion within a say 5-6K radiuos
why would i spend 100s or even 1000s on a droid that basically doesnt give any nore info than simply opening the survey tool
at the very least it needs to tell you the resources stats
From a cost perspective, the droid would still be cheaper than a round-trip ticket to an adventure planet... or multiple layovers (like from Talus to Lok). In those cases it might be worth it, but only time will tell.
Still, I hope they can adjust the schematics on these to make them a little less expensive. High price + low feature set = no sales.
AudioOrgana wrote:
Like several other modules, this one isn't shaping up to be as promising as it was before.
Just like I don't see many people buying crates of exploding droids (even MSE's), I don't really see people buying crate upon crate of these droids, especially at the prices we'd have to charge.
When I first saw this list of droids, I saw several possibilities for really nice loaded R3 units to be made for scouts, entertainers, merchants, etc. - but with the exception of the entertainer modules everything else seems to cater to either the extreme low-end (scout/trap droids) or to no one at all. Even as a DE who won't be paying for these droids, waiting 20-30 minutes for return of information is ridiculous - I'd rather just hop a ship and check it out myself.
AO
I currently agree. I hope they get some good testing on TC and get beefed up just a bit before launch. I am looking forward to this bunch of DE love, and hopefully it will be enough for me to come back to the profession.
But I am a Master Musician now, and I am here to tell you that if I only buy one of the entertainer's droids for pure novelty (use it a couple of times and never call it again), that isn't going to cut it. If I am scouting for hide and the scouting droid doesn't increase my yield, that isn't going to cut it. If it costs me more money to send a droid to Talus than it does to go there myself, and I don't get better information from the droid in an appropriate amount of time, that isn't going to cut it.
I love the ideas. I love the modules. It remains to be seen if these new droidsare really going to be essential members of the galaxy. I hope very much that I can come out of retirement when publish 8 goes live.