Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: REQUIRED READING: Centralized Droid Issues (28/08/03 12:00am PST)
NEW PATCH - NEED UPDATED INFORMATION ON ALL ISSUES
This list is updatedas needed (daily doesn't work anymore since changes aren't as often anymore)and is meant to supplement the work done by the current correspondant and provide an idea of where this profession currently stands. Please read it over and provide any information you have regarding any of these issues, or any new issues you may have discovered.
I am a Master Droid Engineer on Bloodfin (Lime Akob). I also participated in the beta as a DE and bring a lot of knowledge of the profession from those days. However, I am one person and need your help to make sure that we've got all the real bugs nailed down, so we don't have DEVs chasing issues that don't exist due to confusion on our part.
Thanks to our correspondant for all the work done so far. Try not to makethe correspondants' lives difficult bybadgeringthemfor answers that they may not have. They're still only players like the rest of us. Players who have volunteered to organize and prioritize this information and present it to the DEVs. I'm sure any discussions between the correspondant and the DEVs will be shared with us regardless of how insignificant it may be.
We now have a voice, and the DEVs are listening to that voice. Hopefully I'll be able to start removing items from this list instead of just adding new ones.
Many, many, many thanks and respect to all those who have contributed. My personal thanks to Tyim for starting this thread during beta and for starting it up again now that we're live. Also, thanks to the devs who have worked like fiends only to be ranted at and badgered. Special thanks to any dev that cares to respond to this post.
1.Recent updates
2.Bugs still in evidence
3.Uncertainties
4.Wishlist
1. Recent updates
A.Updated 2I.
B.Added module stacking uncertainty.
C.Removed storage module stacking bug and replaced it with uncertainty from 1B.
D.Added extra information to 2O.
E.Added extra information to 2P.
F.Added extra information to 3G.
G.New XP bug found and needs confirmation. Look at the end of uncertainties.
H.Added extra information to 4V.
2. Bugs still in evidence
A.Droids are not giving any UXP
B.Droid names use the standard name filter.This may beby design, butwe're calling it a bug because droids should use a modified name filter that allows for numbers in the name. Yes, Artoo-Deetoo works fine, but I've seen NPC droids wandering around with REAL droid names. So we should be allowed to do the same.
C. Data modules are functional (don't allow waypoints or missions). The exploitable bug here is that you can store pet controls in them. This allows for an infinite number of pets to be stored since you can store droids with storage modules in droids with storage modules.
D.Information in the datapad no longer lists the commands programmed for the droid (new droids only). Give them back!
E.Droids with no attack capabilities none the less have attack speeds and damage base modifiers in the datapad.
F.Experimentation on droid parts has no noticeable effect on final droid (experimentation seems to alter the part quality, but no end effect is observed). Resources also fall into this area since resource properties influence the experimental property values. There is no point to experiment either on droid components or the final product. The droids seem to all function about the same.
G. The advanced droidchassisschematics allow for colour. However, the final droid loses this colour. This is an improvement, but the bug remains. Droids themselves are stilluncolourable (they tell us they removed this from thepatch since it was not complete).
H. Droids often stop following without reason. This is a generic pet problem as it happens to all pets, not just droids.Pets seem toget stuck on invisible zone boundries.Walking up to about 10-20m from thepet and re-issuing a 'follow' command fixes it.
I.Storage Module 2s coming out as Data Module 2s during the assembly stage. What you seem to get at the end is a Data Module 2. This is only a NAME problem. The module is said to function as it should - Storage Module 2.
J. Droids dragged from the datapad to the secure trade window are invisible. Secure trade itself DOES work, but until we can see the droid in the trade window, this is a bug. If it does not exist for bazaars and vendors as well, then this should also be implemented for them as well. Secure trade is important when you're selling something like a droid.
K. Droid repair kits are fubar. With the droid out in the world, or in your datapad, you always seem to get the error message 'You don't have anything in need of repair (make sure your weapons are unequiped)'... Yes, this was a DROID repair kit. Kind of makes the"Pets don't heal when you store them" update really hard on us when we can't repair our droids.
L.Multiple crafting stations in a single droid breaks the modules in the droid. Only one of the modules seems to work when this happens.
M.Droid deeds shouldn't be tossed into the misc area of the bazaar. They're deed versions of entities. Give droids a proper home so that people can actually find them with ease.
N.Cluster modules not only fit into cluster module sockets, they fit into service module sockets.This allows cluster modules to fit into cluster modules ad infinitum. Thishas the added effect thatcluster module slots are nowpointless and allows any number of modules to be placed in any droid. Clusters should only fit in cluster sockets. Otherwise you're further exploiting the idea that the droid frame used is irrelevant.
O.Skills for the Droid Engineer don't reach +100 at Master. Droid Assembly and Droid Experimentation only go as high as +55. Droid Customization (currently useless) goes to +64. Other engineering professions get skill adds like assembly/customization/experimentation at novice. Droid Engineers get squat.
P.Repairmodules do not functionat all when placed in an LE Repair droid or Power droid.
Q.Medical modulesaffect the effectiveness of stimpacks. Reports say that a stimpack is more effective when a medical module-equipped droid is nowhere to be seen.
3. Uncertainties
A.Is your droid supposed to travel with you when you take a shuttle? It doesn’t, it stays behind. Sometimes it even goes red and attacks the poor people at the starport where you left it.
B.Patrol point list is not saved between store and call, is this by design?
C. Some droids, when given a repair module, gain a 'repair other droid' option in the program menu. Some, when out, add a 'repair' option in the radial menu of OTHER droids. I can only assume that both are possible. 'Converse' droids do not have a programmable 'repair' command, but usually allow the repair option to appear in nearby droids (I've never seen this myself). Seems a little inconsistent. Also, the power droids and repair droids with a repair module do not grant the 'repair' option in other droids.
D. Power droids (possibly also LE repair droidsand Surgical droids... mixed reports on this) are the onlydroid with a non-modular function. Repair droids have had their repair systems removed and changed into a module. R droids have had their crafting functions removed and changed into modules. Power droids remain as an inherent function. Can we get some consistency here? Which droids have inherent abilities, and can we get some kind of visual information on this? Descriptive text in the schematics would be nice.
E. Some of the advanced droids are using 'Converse' instead of 'Program' for programming. Nobody seems to know how to name these droids.
F.Protocol droids and Binary Load Lifters seem rather useless.Protocol droidsdon't help with languages, since everyone who cares about languages already knows all the languages. BLLs don't lift any loads.Neither of these droids have room for any modules. So, from what I'm hearing, they're just a nice droid to look at. Anyone find a good use for either of these?
G.Can friends of the droid use the droid's modules? Or just the owner? (Note that you can use crafting modules by being near ANY droid with one, regardless of your relationship with the owner)
H.The only difference betweenmedical module 1 and medical module 6 from what I read is the boost it gives to medial skills. Some people believe that it should also restrict which medic skills you should be able to use.(I've moved this back to uncertainties since'something' supposed to be 'fixed' in medical modules... but I don't know what it is)
I.Item storage modules do not seem to be working with some converse type droids. The option to use item storage is not available in the radial menu. I have one report that they work with the basic LE Repair droid, and several stating that they do not work with Surgical droids. Anyone care to test all the converse droids (both regular and adv models) and give feedback as to which ones work and which do not?
J.Many of the 'level' based service modules stack. However, there arecaps in place which make stacking kind of pointless with thehigher level modules. Also,by stacking lower modules, you can achieve the same effect as a higher level module, reducing the point of using a higher level module. This is further enchanced by the cluster module bug. Also, when crafting the droid, the stacking results show values which do not take the cap into consideration. So a droid while being crafted can show a storage value of 15, but the final storage when the droid is tamed is capped at 10.
K.People are starting to report that the R2 Advanced Chasis doesn't give crafting xp, despite having resources.Anyone want to confirm?
4.Wishlist
A.Advanced droid engineers should be able to call more then one pet at a time. I think this was the original intent as otherwise the formation commands would be rather useless.
B.Give us information on droid power levels in the examine window and/or in the datapad. Also,since droid batteries repair mind,how about using mind as the droid's power level indicator? The action pool would also work.
C.Examining droid should give thesame data as in the datapad (for the owner).
D.We really want certain droids to only be able to take certain types of modules. There have been a number of really good posts on this topic, and due to space constraints, I'll leave it at that.
E.Take another look atthe “only able to callpets in city or camp” thing. I understand the logic and personally have no problems with it. However, many disagree with it and I think it would work better if it was that you can only call a droid when not in combat, or acertain distance from a battlefield.
F.Consider droids that can survey and report back on a particular resource. Perhaps even a high-end versionwith the ability to go toother planetsto determine which resources are available.
G. Consider droids that can help maintain installations. Senda droid out to pay mantenance. Send a droid out to collect resources. Send a droid out to deliver power. There are many ways to implement this as a viable system.
H. Consider droids that can act as standalone vendors in cities, and/or droids that can act as Barkers. Perhaps even let droids deliver goods to a customer in another city or on another planet.
I. Droids to remember if they were stored or called over a logout. Running around in the middle of nowhere and logging out causes your droid to hide back in the datapad. This means having to go back to town or putting down a camp in order to recall your droid. This is undesireable.
J. A lot of Droid Engineers are calling for some form of permanent decay OTHER than perma death when incapped.BAD DEVS! The current decay rate does not support this (and perma death on incap is NOT the solution). So it would need to be overhauled to better match weapon and armor decay rates.
K. There have been several complaints regarding the 5 droid in the datapad limit. While there are some compelling arguments AGAINST this wishlist item, it would be nice to at least have this limit reviewed.
L. Here's another comon wishlist item. Droidekais. Probably won't get them, but a lot of people are asking for them.
M. Create aslicing module. This module would allow smugglers to get a boost to their slicing ability. We're not interested in putting anyone out of a job here. R2 could slice terminals in the movies, why not our droids?
N.Allow us to drop batteries into the droid's inventoryand have itrecharge itself as needed until the batteries run out.
O.Create an entertainment module akin to the existing medical module to allow entertainers to work ouside of camps, cantinas and hotels. This module would be also level 1-6 with each level giving a little extra boost to the entertainer's skill.
P.Saw a request for a training droid as seen in the movies that 'harasses' its target, pulling aggro. Thisidea is intended togive a little variety to the Novice DE's life. Could also be used as a consumable for training the combat classes.
Q.Let usname our droids through the datapad controller. Droids shouldn't need to be 'taught' a name like pets do. The name is programmed into the droid separate from the other commands.
R.Add the creator to the droid view information, not just theowner. When you look at a pistol, you seewho made it. When you look at a droiddeed, you see who made it. When you look at a droid, you SHOULD see who made it.
S.Allow droids to be re-deeded forease of transfer. Since we can only have 5 droids in the datapad, it makes it really tough forDE's to take old droids astrade-ins for upgrades (like a car). We either have to immediately re-sell the droid or delete it. Would make more sense to re-deed the droid so that itcould be sold to another customer as a 'used droid'.
T.We're tired of losing our droids due to accidental 'release' or 'transfer' commands. Give us a confirmation request to help reduce owner stupidity (I can say that because I've done it).
U.Droid "macros" came up last post. Let us create macro-like droid programs to have a droid execute a series of commands. Not sure how this would be implemented, but it is an idea.
V.Here are some ideas that people have for Protocol Droids. Allow them to have a custom converse menu, programmed by the owner so that the droid can act like a walking FAQ. Turn them into magic 8 balls. Language translator (for non-pc languages?)
W.Either un-nerf probots to be more like the combat pets that non-CHs can get (until combat droids are implemented), or give us more combat droids.
-X-
Very good. I didn't see anything you missed.
Something I was playing with last night...with an R2
If you put the foodchem craft directly in a module socket, it rarely works. If you put that in a cluster module, and then put that in a cluster socket it seems to work fine.
And armor, since Duralloy finally showed up on Lowca!
1armor 3 mod =Light 40%
2armor 3 mods = Medium 25%
1 armor 4 mod = Medium 15%
2 armor 4 mods = Medium 40%
Not sure, but have been told the armor is capped at Medium 40%. Why would armor need to be lvl'd past expert construction...except for crafting single armor module standard probots? Can anyone verify this...I haven't gotten to Master Construction yet. Tonight though, I promise!
As a budding DE, I cannot express in words the work y'all (those who pathed this path beofre I) do towards keeping this together and live, in a readable and informative layout.
/bow2
-Stinky, Master Artisan/DE - Wanderhome
<SoL> Sect of Laereth
YES! I would buy one of these instantly. If I could get a protocol driod that I could program to say things while it patrolled, that would be good. I could use it to advertise my location, like if I want to play in the hotel or the theater instead of the cantina all the time. Or, if I could get my droid to dance, that would be excellent as well. Anything to add to my ability to entertain and amuse.
I also really like the idea of a driod as a mobile vendor.
Those are some very good ideas. Here are some of my own:
Allow us to create missions (called contracts) for other players.
* C-3PO says, "My master is in need of Fiberplast. I will pay you 5 credits for each unit you bring to me."
* C-3PO says, "Oh, thank the maker! Here are your credits!"
* Binary load lifter takes the resources.
* C-3PO says, "My master is in need of Electronic Modules. I will pay you XXX credits for each unit you bring to me."
* C-3PO says, "Oh, thank the maker! Here are your credits!"
* Binary load lifter takes the items.
-Raystonn
Mystari wrote:
There has also been talk about an elite elite profession Combat Droid Engineer that could make all these combat droids and have the certs for them as well.
In my opinion the combat DE profession is a good idea. Let them make the droids and have certs to use most if not all of them. Then give certs to advanced combat professions for certain types of them.
I cannot stress enough how much I hate this idea. As a master droid engineer, I am reliant on Master Artisan pieces. So, I have master DE and master artisan; this is a lot of skill points. Also, in order to sell my droids without having to take massive losses on profits, I need to be a merchant. Advertising 3 for me is a must have and now with the currently impending changes to vendor maintenance, I need even more points in Merchant. This leaves me with very very little points with which to distribute. So, beyond being a DE, there are very very little options for me.
If I'm lucky, I'll be able to get adecent amount of boxesin Carbineer, but never enough to be a force. At one point I wanted to do some music skills also, but those dreams were dashed with the amount of points that being a decently self suffienct DE requires.
So, now in order to compete with other DE's, with the inclusion of a DE elite-elite, I would have to give up pretty much all of my combat abilities. I don't know about you, but a great thing about SWG is the variety you can have in your play style even with the necessity to master the crafting professions. Being a DE with no other prospects of doing anything different would be a drag. Combat droids are part of what we were promised with this profession. They should be part of the base class not some additional grind that would suck the variety out of someone's gameplay. Do you really want to grind out another 10000 advanced droid frames and be hogtied to droid making?
An elite-elite profession shouldn't be a band aid for a broken and poorly planned profession.
Sorry for the rant, I just don't believe we need another grind and loss of skill points. We need a fully functional and useful profession. I hope the devs look at the droid list above, because I'd kill to be able to make 1/10 of them.
On Wish list Item L and Item W are out of date.
I will merge them into one wishlist item and try to expand it somewhat in the next version. Thanks for pointing them out.