Droid Engineer Archive

Thank-you for the positive feed back.

I agree, certifications is not the way to go. At least not the versions I have seen. I would like to see players that are not-combat machines being able to better handle droids, but not limited to one profession.

I have been watching several threads spinning there way around, mostly negative about how much DE got flamed by the publish 7. Personally, I do not agree with that. I am more interested in seeing droids being more useful and lower level DE actually has something they can make that will sell. Take this as constructive ideas. Unfortunately, I have a hunch that most of this will be challanging to code.

• Droid power ups: My thought is there would be two basic types of power-ups with a number of variations in each type. One type would modify the droid itself and act like buffs, food, and spice have on players and creatures. The other type would modify the player’s non-combat skills. Bonuses to experimentation, crafting, healing, and scouting come to mind. In any case, they would be things that a droid would logically be able to assist with. For profession specific power-ups, components would be needed from that profession.


• Temporary Function: Similar to Droid power ups, but instead of altering existing statistics, these give the droid temporary functions. What came to mind includes things like Shields, Flame Thrower, Grenade Launcher, Flash Bang (causes stats effects on enemy), and Stim-dispenser. Unlike Power-ups, a Droid Engineer wound is needed to install them. Additionally, the droid would need different hard-points to handle the diffrent types of equipment (put in at build time). The most powerful items would need to be useful enough that high-level players would consider taking a droid along.


• Droids wear out: With the exception of heavily used/abused combat droids, droids currently are a one-time purchase. There needs to be methods to cause droids to wear out. I would hate to see this tied to a timer or a call count. I made reference to several types of temporary modifiers that are applied to droids. Use, or rather over-use of such devices burn the droid out (sort of like filling ones stomach up). Even with careful use, eventually, the droid must wear out.


• Droid use skill modifiers: I have seen several proposals to add skill modifiers to the DE profession. I do not like any I have seen and would rather not see any kind of specialized droid handler. I would rather see the modifiers scattered about all the non-combat classes (more or less evenly). The skill modifiers should generally be small, and organized is such a manner that it would take a pure non-combat character (none or few combat skills) to get the most out of their droids. Even then, it would not be possible to get even half of the bonuses. [Example, Master Doctor/Master Weapon Smith who can barely use a CDEF blaster may be able to use a big nasty destroyer droid. Meanwhile, the Master Bounty Hunter gets, at best, an advanced probe droid.]

So, are any of these ideas worth looking into? Are any of them actually practical to put into code?

As a Computer Programmer myself, I know how hard it is to make the program do what you want and satisfy everyone who want the impossible done yesterday. Encouraging good ideas and practical solutions are the best way to improve the game and profession.

---

IceTigger wrote:

I have been watching several threads spinning there way around, mostly negative about how much DE got flamed by the publish 7. Personally, I do not agree with that. I am more interested in seeing droids being more useful and lower level DE actually has something they can make that will sell. Take this as constructive ideas. Unfortunately, I have a hunch that most of this will be challanging to code.

• Droid power ups: My thought is there would be two basic types of power-ups with a number of variations in each type. One type would modify the droid itself and act like buffs, food, and spice have on players and creatures. The other type would modify the player’s non-combat skills. Bonuses to experimentation, crafting, healing, and scouting come to mind. In any case, they would be things that a droid would logically be able to assist with. For profession specific power-ups, components would be needed from that profession.
  
  
  I'm pretty sure the Devs are wanting to get away from 'power' pets (buffs, etc.) for pets. Yes BE creatures buffing/specials aside. The point is...they will likely balk at this unless we can convince them it's needed. I'm not hearing from them that this sort of thing is really likely.
  
  


• Temporary Function: Similar to Droid power ups, but instead of altering existing statistics, these give the droid temporary functions. What came to mind includes things like Shields, Flame Thrower, Grenade Launcher, Flash Bang (causes stats effects on enemy), and Stim-dispenser. Unlike Power-ups, a Droid Engineer wound is needed to install them. Additionally, the droid would need different hard-points to handle the diffrent types of equipment (put in at build time). The most powerful items would need to be useful enough that high-level players would consider taking a droid along.
  
  
  Nope...."free checkers".
  
  


• Droids wear out: With the exception of heavily used/abused combat droids, droids currently are a one-time purchase. There needs to be methods to cause droids to wear out. I would hate to see this tied to a timer or a call count. I made reference to several types of temporary modifiers that are applied to droids. Use, or rather over-use of such devices burn the droid out (sort of like filling ones stomach up). Even with careful use, eventually, the droid must wear out.
  
  
  Now, this...I'm all about.
  
  Droid decay and creating recurring markets is a big concern for me. I see it everytime I see a Surgical droid doing its thing and it's at 100% HAM...all the time. Every time. Droid decay rates most definitely need some work.
  
  


• Droid use skill modifiers: I have seen several proposals to add skill modifiers to the DE profession. I do not like any I have seen and would rather not see any kind of specialized droid handler. I would rather see the modifiers scattered about all the non-combat classes (more or less evenly). The skill modifiers should generally be small, and organized is such a manner that it would take a pure non-combat character (none or few combat skills) to get the most out of their droids. Even then, it would not be possible to get even half of the bonuses. [Example, Master Doctor/Master Weapon Smith who can barely use a CDEF blaster may be able to use a big nasty destroyer droid. Meanwhile, the Master Bounty Hunter gets, at best, an advanced probe droid.]
  
  
  This sounds like certs, which have been summarily voted down by the Devs.
  

So, are any of these ideas worth looking into? Are any of them actually practical to put into code?


I'd say that droid decay is the best option to get looked at...right now, it's just non-existent (and will remain that way via the advent of repair kits, etc.).

As a Computer Programmer myself, I know how hard it is to make the program do what you want and satisfy everyone who want the impossible done yesterday. Encouraging good ideas and practical solutions are the best way to improve the game and profession.

---