Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Utility or Combat?
Page 1 of 2
DavidHarper
Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:41 am
#1
Would you prefer to see utility or combat droids?
I peronally prefer the idea of utility droids, droids which genrally help out all non-combat professions. This is what I saw when I saw Episodes 4-6 which is the time line we are in, I do not even want to see the droids we see in Episode 1-2 (Which I don't really consider Star Wars), they are gonne for a reason, something made them obsolete, yes Drodika's were uber Jedi had to run from them, however something made them useless, (maybe we will see it in episode 3?) so that Storm Troopers are a better option otherwise why would they choose strom stoopers over droids, something must be severely wrong with them not to be used after all in theory there are easier to produce and maintain and should be cheaperthan a clone army (which requies years to grow feed and train them, whilst a droid is made from resources in a few hours, doesn't need feeding and doesn't require training).
So Combat Droids in Genral are obsolete in this time period so I think we as a profession should drop the idea of combat droids (Except for the probe droid which should be the ONLY combat droid and it should remain as week as it is), let the Bio-Engineers be the profession that aids the combat trees, let us be the profession that aids the non-combat trees.
We need to be able to make droids for all non-combat professions be something which in genral boosts there own skills, something which they do not require, but that if they want to make the best then they need a droid. I think this is what the comunity should unite behind, not behind getting combat droids but in getting utility droids.
Pallida
Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:44 am
#2
My response has to be obvious... from my earlier posts...
Utility
sssssssssssssSSS(:-<
duncje
Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:47 am
#3
We did unite behind utility droids. When DC was "voted off the island", the outcry was for added utility.
However, this game is combat-centric. The economy is driven by combat. Everything that is in high demand is needed/wanted by combatants (weapons, armor, food), or needed to supply those things to combatants (harvesters). In order for DE's to have a continuous market, we'll need to fit into one of these categories. We'll either have to provide combat-centric droids or something needed to produce combat items.
Redondo
Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:50 am
#4
you know at this point I dont even care. Utility or combat? I would just like to see some new droids or new droid functions reagrdless of what they are. Sure the combat modules are new and they make droids a little better to have around for fighting, but they are still doing the same thing...low level combat support, aside from a few added graphics for combat. Utility is probably going to be the easiest to implement from a balance perspective, but DEs have been shouting for more utility and more droids since last summer with no luck. I would just like this profession to be more fun and for droids to be more fun to make and own.
Prin
DavidHarper
Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:50 am
#5
Yes and that is where we can come in, if Weapon Smiths wan't to make the best weapons they need a droid to help them, if an armour smith want to make the best armour they need a droid, if a chef want to make the best food they ned a droid ect. Therefore there deman is also our demand.
Redondo
Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:01 am
#6
and it has been stated before but the future of combat droids seems to be focused solely on the role of the droid as a combatant. Other crafting professions merely provide the tools for effective combat i.e. food, spices, SEAs,weapons, and armor. I think the best place for combat droids is not some CL35 droid running around tanking rancors, but being a combat utlity droid. Droids could offer bonuses in combat just y having them out like increases to group attacks where a droid is essentially managing communication for the group, or scanning the area. Maybe droids could increase creature harvests or creature knowledge, or just inflict state effects upon creatures. You dont see any combat droids in Episodes IV-VI but why else would you take a shiny, clunky protocol droid and an R2 droid on a secret commando mission to Endor to wipe out an Imperial shield generator, if it wasnt to help you with your mission.
Prin
Kniol
Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:34 am
#7
<<In order for DE's to have a continuous market, we'll need to fit into one of these categories. We'll either have to provide combat-centric droids or something needed to produce combat items.>>
EXACTLY!
So, since we already have the 110% Medical-rating Droid modules, how about 110%-experimentation-bonus-rating Armor-crafting, Weapons-crafting, Food-crafting, Clothing-crafting, Surveying-enhancing, Scout- and Ranger-find-a-boogie-enhancing, Droid modules? Wouldn't they sell? You bet your sweet bippy they would, and all the rest of (at least those listed above, more ideas can be thought of) the professions would quit griping about the 10% increase Doctors get in buffing and wound/injury healing that they don't get!
Want to make it taste better to the Devs? Add a 10% bonus to ANYMaster of ANY Elite COMBAT Profession! Commandos, Riflemen, Pistoleers, Carbineers (might want to give them 20% - lol), etc, etc, etc. Even Creature Handlers!MCH's could call out a level 77 pet! Call out your 10% added-bonus-of-your-choice-Droid and whup some serious butt! And it would NOT be unbalancing because EVERYONE could do it!
Okay, so that would never fly, just trying to sweeten the pill with a little honey, 'cuz the Devs aren't going to look at it unless it helps the combat classes anyway.
/sigh
Kollos
Wed Apr 07, 2004 10:47 am
#8
Utility. Personal Combat Droids are illegal at this point in the timeline.
But that doesn't mean that the "utility" added by droids cannot be combat related. To wit:
How about a Weapon Repair Droid that improves the performance of a WUK? Same for an Armor Repair Droid?
How about a Droid that can be used to provide a temporary boost to a weapon (or armor) by fine-tuning the circuitry. The Droid consumes a battery and the weapon/armor getsthe equivalent of apowerup. It could even be a random effect, sort of like slicing. (It would need to stack with powerups and slicing, though, so as not to tread on toes.)
However, it's not necessary for everything to be combat related. We could have a very good market providing non-combat related droids if those droids were either charged or decayed in some way. Our problem isn't that we have too few products (though that's a contributing factor), our problem is that our products are all permanent. The Bounty Hunter droids we make are the exception, but they have a rather limited audience.
We need more disposable products that people actually want. That's why you see so many suggestions for survey droids and harvester droids and factory droids. Those are things that people would find useful and would buy, so if they were disposable in some way we would have a returning market.
Kyrien
Wed Apr 07, 2004 11:41 am
#9
I have but one question.....
I keep hearing the excuse that combat droids are illegal in this time period. Aren't sliced items also illegal?
Kyrien
Master Artisan
Architect (3/4/4/1)
DE (0/0/0/3)
Starsider - Tatooine - In and Around Anchorhead
Pallida
Wed Apr 07, 2004 11:48 am
#10
Kyrien wrote:
I have but one question.....
I keep hearing the excuse that combat droids are illegal in this time period. Aren't sliced items also illegal?
Kyrien
Master Artisan
Architect (3/4/4/1)
DE (0/0/0/3)
Starsider - Tatooine - In and Around Anchorhead
Yes.. and IF the developers have done their jobs right, being found to posess "sliced items" subjects theowner with stiff fines and, supposedly, to more stern measures.
sssssssssssssssSSS(:-<
Squygxicus
Wed Apr 07, 2004 3:23 pm
#11
Id like to see both. But really Id like to see a reason to build something else besides an R3 or a LE or a Probot. Ive never built a Treadwall, dont even know what they look like!
Theres just not much diversity! Everyone either has a R3 super crafting, item storage, data storage droid, or they have one of the three combat droids.
Id like to see every class be able to make use of a droid. I cant think of too many products made by the rest of the crafting classes that people dont need. Artisans make vehicles, architects build houses tents and stuff, tailors make clothes, chefs make food, etc.
I suppose theres going to be some people out there that dont need a vehicle or a house, or clothes or weapons or food or armour. But its pretty universal, most of everyone has those things. I dont see droids following too many people around in cities. Id love it!
Oh well.
Kollos
Wed Apr 07, 2004 3:33 pm
#12
Kyrien wrote:
I have but one question.....
I keep hearing the excuse that combat droids are illegal in this time period. Aren't sliced items also illegal?
It's a lot easier to hide an ounce of spice in your pocket to use once in a while than it is to hide a full-size Battle Droid. Furthermore, you can't tell a sliced blaster apart from a regular blaster unless you take possession of it and examine it closely.
It's illegal to walk down the streets of Seattle carrying 2 oz of weed in your pocket. It's also illegal to walk down the streets of Seattle carrying an AK-47. Guess which one happens all the time anyway?
So there's more to the "illegal" argument than just the laws behind it. Possessing a personal combat droid illegally at this point in the Star Wars time line just isn't feasible. I'm sure that they do exist, but they're just not common (or even uncommon). Putting them into the game as a craftable (and sellable) item makes them common, and that would be in violation of the time line.
AudioOrgana
Wed Apr 07, 2004 5:29 pm
#13
Kollos wrote:
Putting them into the game as a craftable (and sellable) item makes them common, and that would be in violation of the time line.
Kind of like cloning? 
While I agree that you are right, it terms of the game continuity isn't a good enough excuse. There are nearly endless things in SWG that go against canon, but the need/want to have them in the game outweighs it for most people.
That said, back to the original question, our plea of "utility droids" was again one of the great misunderstandings that have lead to our current state as a profession. When we said utility, we were talking about survey, smuggling, and real storage droids among dozens of other needs we saw in the game we wanted to fill; they dev team took "we want utility droids" to mean they should scramble to find new utility that didn't impact the game as it stands.
The result of this was smoke blowing modules for entertainers, and exploding MSEs (what other model would you waste?). The merchant module could be useful, and the covert detector disabler might someday mean something when the GCW actually begins.
That wasn't the utility we had in mind.
Just like when we said "No droid handler" we didn't know that that meant no combat droids - we foolishly thought it just meant no new profession since we had yet to be told certifications weren't possible.
Kollos' ideas of combat-assist modules is great as well - but I have a feeling that falls under the "no new checkers" clause. I have suggested some simmilar ideas before, like slicing modules that increase your MINIMUM slice, not your maxium, or droids that give the player some sort of passive defensive modifiers - but again, that seems beyond the Dev's ideas of the scope of the DE profession.
AO
Page 1 of 2