Droid Engineer Archive

Howdy,

I've been loosely following the debate over whether droid engineers should either be a crafting, combat, or hybrid class. Throughout most of the debates, there has been one question that has never been explored (and frankly, I'm not sure it's been asked):

"Why should DEs, sitting in their workshops and labs, be able to build a combat droid?"

Inherently, DEs know nothing about combat. Granted, many, if not most DEs, have learned some combat skills, but that will probably not be a requirement to build combat droids. So, back to the original question: Howis a typicalDroid Engineer able to translate knowledgeTHEY DO NOT HAVE into instructions to a droids' programming?

I'll admit their have been exceptions, and by and large, they have made some sense:

Armor: We borrow some expertise from armorsmiths by using their composite armor segments in our droids (don't get me going on stacking level 3 and 4 modules :smileyhappy

Power Droids: We borrow expertise from architects by using the power doohickeys they build.

Medical Ability: This is a complete puzzlement to me . . . No matter how many times I've re-configured my Erector set, I've never been able to produce a single aspirin tablet, nor any other thing with a recuperative effect. Perhaps, if I could borrow somebody's medical expertise . . .

Item & Data Storage: I haven't justified a reason to give either of these much thought . . . (yeah, yeah, I know item storage isnon-decay -- but they still are not hot sellers for me even though I promote it)

So now we're back to the original question: How are DEs able to make combat droids? At first glance, given the precedents above, it would seem that a simple answer would be "borrow expertise from weaponsmiths." But everything mentioned above is a static function -- either a droid is capable of it, or it is not.Certainly a DE can bolt a weaponsmith-made component (for example, a blaster barrel) onto a droid. But"combat" is not nearly as "black and white". Without experience and knowledge of how to operate that component (which, by definition, a DE is not required to have) it's impossible for a DE to successfully (or at least efficiently) integrate it into the droids programming. The droid is just as likely to shoot itself in the motivator as hit an enemy target! But how can we distill combat expertise into something tangible we can install into a mechanical droid? Tough one . . .

So what's the solution? I would propose that the construction and programming of droids be separate concepts. Notice I said "concepts" and not "professions". Let DEs build combat-CAPABLE droids. But let INDIVIDUAL players (notice I said "individuals" and not "classes") who are interested in combat, train/program INDIVIDUAL droids -- i.e. a droid has to be "levelled up" . . . most likely by being grouped and fighting with the droid. DEs would have a market for high quality trainable droids (assuming quality ever works for droids . . . hey devs! pretend you work at Ford and "Quality is Job 1"), ANY player (DE or non-DE) can program a droid up to their playstyle/tastes, and a market would be created for 3rd party trained droids -- thereby potentially benefiting all of the 3 groups!

Just some ideas. Maybe not perfect, but at least it's not rehashing the "crafter vs. combat" question . . .

Voco Ackopogo, MDE on Sunrunner

We read a lot

I see the answer to this - we are given draft schematics as we progress through the DE skills , these schematics will have been designed so that the droid components perform thier function. A small leap in imagination could see the draft schematics being constructed by teams of DE working with masters from various professions , ie a team of MDE working with a master doctor to produce draft schematics for medical modules and I could see a team of MDE working with a group of combat masters to produce schematics for combat droids.

Over time thedesignswere improved to produce better schematics, with input from people who use them, so we can build better components and droids with better function at the cost of more or more specific resources.

I like the idea. It makes sense, it solves the balance issue, and it would be much more interesting.

um.. its a game

the rules are complete arbitrary

which is why it really doesnt matter what changes the devs eventually make

The nice thing about this arbitrary game is you can surrender arbitrary skills for other arbitrary skills, so if DE's go combat, crafters can become some other profession.

There is nothing based in reality

• I dont know about you but I carry about a 3 million units of resources in my backpack.


• People with swords run up to people with guns, and they dont die.


• I cant shoot someone unless a little symbol hovers over their head


• I store 3 living creatures, a swoop bike, and 5 droids in something the size of a palm pilot.

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Bumbles wrote:

"Why should DEs, sitting in their workshops and labs, be able to build a combat droid?"

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It's probably related to the reason why real-world engineers are able to build tanks, fighter planes, and battleships.

Well, it's not exactly rocket science. I guess programming a combat droid could be summed up like this:

Shoot at anything that attacks you.

Shoot at whatever you're commanded to.

in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game by Wizards of the Coast (first edition), it was indicated that one could purchase and install "knowledge modules" for their droids' programming that would essentially "teach" a droid a skill, whether or not the Engineer himself had it. (The Engineer could also teach a droid a skill manually.) Droid Engineers obviously have access to these modules and can be assumed to be using them in the construction of combat droids in SWG.

Hehe, I bet you there are plenty of designers down at FMC Defense who have never been part of a Mechanized or Motorized Infantry squad. Think maybe there were some guys at Boeing who worked on both civilian and military aircraft who were neither commercial or military pilots? I know a fellah (old) who helped design the Trident Missile and he was never a Submariner let alone a weapons officer.

I suppose theoretically, Droid Engineers are pretty smart. Smarter than the original poster to be sure. Droids have sensors. Upgrade and modify that sensor array to be a targeting system. Tie it into a blaster instead of a manipulator arm. That wasn't so hard to conceive, was it? I guess a lot of people are smarter than the original poster.

Very true. Just because someone canbuild car , doesn't mean they can drive them worth a flip.

Just because it's raining doesn't mean you know enough to come in out of the rain, or more importantly to stop looking up with your mouth open.

Combat tactics/information and such can be downloaded from many sources and loaded into a droids brain.