Droid Engineer Archive

I read Daker-Naritus' "DE's Unite" compromise, and I think it's great, and almost there at a true compromise. I wanted to take in one step further. Call me an optimistic, but I think a compromise can be reached between the crafting DE side and combat DE side.

And if this idea was already brought up, please credit yourself.

1.)

Whoops, silly keys, let me try this again...

Here's the idea:

- All DE's are able to call 2 droids (any type of droid that's callable).

- Non-DE's are able to call 1 droid.

I think Daker-Naritus' idea specifically addressed callable combat droids and not necessarily non-combat droids. But in addition to this idea, a combat certification system would be put in place.

- Lowest-level for Basic Novice Professions

- Highest level combat droids for Elite Master Professions.

This second part has been brought up several times. There can be any number of combat levels between basic novice and elite master, that doesn't matter. The point is that there would be a deliniation between different levels of droid power that all can use.

Benefits for DE's who want to stay crafters:

- The DE professionremains a crafting profession with no inherent combat capabilities.

- All combat droids are available to everyone, meaning they are sellable.

- There is no risk of people joining DE just to get combat droids (which could eventually lead to turning DE into another CH profession), as everyone can get them, and the power of your combat droid will be dependent on the profession level you've mastered.

- If you dont' want to use combat droids, there is no reason you have to. But you can definately utilize those 2 callable slots in a very DE-like manner. For example, have one power droid out, and one repair droid out simultaneously, or just the simple ability to powerup or repair your own droids.

Benefits for those DE's who want some type of unique droid combat capability:

- All DE's will be at least implicitly certified for combat droids up to the Elite Novice level.

- All Master DE's will be certified for the highest level combat droids, since they have of course attained the elite master level.

- DE's do in fact get a very nice implicit 'bonus' or 'perk', if you will, when it comes to combat droids. No matter how powerful or weak combat droids are, DE's will always have double that power, as made possible by the DE's ability to call 2 droids at once.

Benefits for non-DE's:

- Everyone will be able to own a combat droid, and the level of your combat droid you may own is based on the profession level you have attained.

- The DE's ability to call 2 droids at once is a specific ability relating to the profession, and it does not violate the artisan skill trees' structure or intent, nor give DE's an explicit profession 'bonus' that other professions do not have. The ability to call 2 droids would be in-line with creature handlers calling multiple pets.

I think this is a good compromise. While it may not be exactly what everyone wanted, I think its as good as we will every be able to agree on. I think I've said before that we really do need to agree on this stuff and present a united front when proposing ideas to the devs. Any time we are fighting amongst ourselves what we wants tends to get garbled and the devs will end up with something no one wants.

Jenden Morn - Master Droid Engineer - Mos Espa, Tarquinas

Owner, Operator, and Founder of DarkStar Inc.

I am in favor of anything that (1) gives us new combat droids, and (2) allows us to sell every droid we have (no DE-only droids).

Whatever compromise works is fine, as long as that is accomplished.

If you want to see the original thread, look here:

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=droid_engineer&message.id=34500

Don't bother reading past the first page or so.... Some of the DE-only droid crowd doesn't like me and there's a lot of nitpicky flaming on irrelevant matters going on.

Oh another thought...I don't think any cert. for advanced combat droids should be placed above the novice elite profession level, as I am not convinced a whole lot of players actually master elite professions. Sure we all have, and other players we know have, but I think we are in the upper level of playtime for players, and I want to be conservative with any factor that could have an adverse effect on our market. If certs were implemented, I would propose the following:

All players: One "basic" (but PLEASE better than the probot) combat droid

Novice Elite: EITHER basic or advanced combat droid

Novice DE: One basic droid AND one advanced droid

Master DE: 2 Advanced Droids

Give us 3 at Master and I'm golden.

Then we can ALL concentrate on pushing for some decent level combat droids... say CL20.

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Quote:

Give us 3 at Master and I'm golden.

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Considering that devs just nerfed Master CHs to one to two pets total, I think we would be stretching asking for this.

Maybe... but no harm in dreamin'. It's not like they're Rancors...

Actually I take that back Grimjakk...we should ask for 30 combat droids out at a time.

You see...devs have been taking extreme views with all the initial changes they are making. (ex: 20% item decay upon death; all players limited to one pet, excepts CHs get 2, etc.)

I am convinced that devs are not so stupid as to actually believe we are going to swallow these changes, but are instead taking extreme views as negotiation strategies to end up near the level they think is reasonable.

Why shouldn't we do the same? If we ask for 30 Droids as powerful as Rancors out at a time, maybe we will end up getting 2 decently powered droids.

i am 100% in favor of this compromise as it does include new combat droids that can be sellable to anyone (no De only droids)

Taking Daker's point of view into account, I propose:

All characters have 50 droid slots, ten active, with up to three of them combat-certified

All Droid engineers gain 50 additional droid slots, and may have 20 active, with up to four of them combat-certified

Master Droid engineers gain 25 further droid slots, may have 30 active, up to five combat certified, and get to use modified homing spider droids as vehicles.

Medical modules should range from 80% to 300% effectiveness when installed in surgical droids, and surgical droids should heal everyone around them at a rate of 25 points per second.

Crafting Modules should allow for the user to craft new, improved items that cannot be made at normal stationary crafting stations.

Droids should make us able to fly.

There, I've staked out a nice starting point for negotiations.

That's priceless, Rho!

But we need more than that, what about these:

Harvester droids that have a base rate of 10 and can be experimented up to 18, and which deliver the harvested resources to your house when they fill up or the resource disappears.

Repair droids that can repair all 3 types of damage to any droid at a rate of 25 points per second.

Factory droids that can use any type of schematic.

Delivery droids that can be handed a waypoint and item(s) and they will travel to the waypoint and drop the item. Plus the ability to "lock" them so that a specified person must come up and remove the item rather than having them simply drop the item on the ground.

Mmm... that'll do for now...