Droid Engineer Archive

First off, I play alot, but I dont consider myself a power gamer.

When I started SWG I had a few friends playing already and they mentioned the need for a DE in the group, I started into this having no clue what I was getting into. I've had a fair amount of luck with what follows, I've been able to work my way up the ladder fairly quickly while at the same time creating enough money to run all hvy harvesters and have a nice midsized house.

I quickly learned I hated grinding, as I'm sure we all do, I started looking for other options to the "grind" something that might make me a bit of money and keep me interested in the class (until the fix us).

I started contacting Master DE's on my server. I POLITELY asked for a few minutes of their time and explained that I was looking to buy parts for droids. In many cases I was turned down, but one lone MDEwho was living very far out of town and starving to death because of it, decided to work with me on parts. I took his modules and clusters and started to make some very nice R5 droids. I checked the market and sold them at a ratethat didn't undercut the MDE's. In fact in many cases they were more costly. I set up a nice shop (more on that below) and openedmy doors to the public. Low and Behold,I waa able to buy parts, upgrade my machines, and keep myself alive. I quickly became the MDE's best source of income.

Now many of you MDE's are saying "I'dnever do that, it would flood the market with low end droids". Perhaps this is true, but by creating a network with an MDE I increased both my sales and the sales of the MDE. I refered all higher end droid to him, as most people dont want the "look" of an R5 or R4 unit. Between the 2 of us we've built a nice base of buyers, andwe continue to work together. I plan on making parts for a novice when I make master, as I am a firm believer in "pass it on".

The shop expanded to resource sales and I started taking some Merchant levels to increase my vendors. We now have 6 vendors and a list of about 50 regular clients to the "mall".

As far as Merchant advice I have the following:

1) Fill our vendors, and KEEP them stocked. No one likes a running out to a vendor to find it empty. Keep a good selection on the vendor, and stock items like 4 use batteries, both in singles, and crates of 10 and 25.

2) Spent time in the shop, "meet and greet" your clients. They are more likely to return if they can remember the (insert race here) that sold them X item.

3) Stand behind your work. As simple as this sound sometimes you need to lose money to gain it. Every person that leaves the shop happy will tell his friends.

4) Decorate the shop. If you aren't home this will help people remember the shop. My store has at times become a meeting place for crafters because of this. People sit around and chit chat, and I'm fine with this. Think of it as the "local general store" idea.

I hope some of the above helps you, please feel free to add anything.

Arturum

This is the same path that I took, and I recommend it to Novice DEs. I did it differenly in the sense that, while I hated the grind, I hated being a Novice DE even worst.

I went all the way up in blue prints and then followed with Construction and Production. I was taken in by a handful of MDEs and up-and-coming Novice DEs who were SUPER awesome (turned down by twice as many, but whatever). Paazin, Fu'bar, Au-ru and -Slash- (before he gave up MDE!) were all a big help. Thanks, guys. Theysold me armor, parts and clusters. In one case, I got some lvl4 armor mods in exchange for my next grinding session's worth of Advanced Frame Units; the perfect deal!

I sold my droids through word of mouth. Not with those nagging /shouts and/yells, but with targeted advertising and with my first gonk droid. I'd search for medics, docs and combat medics with ctrl+p.Then I'd send individual tells to them offering my medical droids and backing off right awayif they weren't interested.I always treated my customers well. Still strive too. I hardly advertise any more and I log in and find 5+ emails almost everyday. I NEVER undersell, in fact I charge high prices since I am a casual gamer with big RL commitments; it's just not worth if it the price is really low. But people keep coming back and sending their friends. I am always patient to walk people though all the droid issues, even if they don't go thru with the sale. ("Thanks for your inquiry! Add me to your friend list for future reference. Type /addfriend sodan")

However, I ran ALL my lots on harvestors (Steel and Fiberplast) and energy harvs up until MDE. I upgraded to some mediums and a solar which i stilll have. Personals are still easier to place sometimes in mountains or highly camped areas. For a while I would log in, feed the meters, collect the resources, run a bunch of artisan delivery missions to make cash, and then grind in the cantina while chatting it up with my friends (*after*I discovered macros, anyway -- ugh!). I wouldah made MDE faster if not for a move/change of jobs in RL.

Now I am happy to have apprentices and *always* train for free. I know what its like to be the only DE on the planet that's logged on! I'm passing the love by selling parts to Novice DEs.

I have a cool small tat house 400 meters from Anchorhead. Its my little Droid Menagerie and it really has that Droid Geek Workshop look. I'll post the coords when I log on again. It's a geek chic crib. Instead of plants, I have drill bits from large harvesters ("Ancient Droid Engines") and other parts laying around. I have an extrametalchair in the back for my customers who insist on waiting while I make their custom droids!

Good luck to you Novice DEs. Send me a tell if your on Intrepid Server! My the force be with you.

It all depends on your amount of patience. I've got a rather large supply of it so I had no problem not grinding. I started out by selling my MSEs by advertising (well spaced, entertaining adds, usually similar to late night TV commercials). I was lucky enough to start out when medic modules didn't have rating, I went through the phase with mission holding data modules, and after about a month I had BP 1. After that first step it was all down hill. I had kept track of all my customers (well, most of them) and sent a polite email letting them know that I had acquired an new skill and gave them a list of what I could make now. I didn't really sell any more droids per day (8 or 9 per day was what I was getting with MSE's) I was selling more expensive (and higher xp payout) droids. I kept driving for blueprints 3 to get probots and R2's, then started working for weapon/droid station (for myself), and food/chem crafting(module most people wanted me to get). After this I just worked my way up construction and production (can't remember which skills in what order) and finally refinement. Somewhere along the way I began selling high level modules (or clusters) to other novice DE's, and that helped boost my profits and xp. I also made droid chassis for protocol droids and load lifters for a master DE who didn't need the xp and didn't want to make them himself (thanks to jarath there). This again helped a lot with cash and xp.

I think the main thing for my success was being helpful and friendly to my customers as well as keeping track of them all, and sending out updates with new information whenever I had it.

Jenden Morn- Master Droid Engineer - Mos Espa, Tarquinas

Owner, Operator, and Founder of DarkStar Inc.

What about those burgeoning DE's who want to grind as fast as possible?

What is the best item from an xp/resource point of view? Ive noticed there's normally one or two items people tend to grind in each crafting skills, what is it for DE's?

Most people grind MSE up Blueprints to Advanced Chassis, and use that to master.

Advance Chassis only use 2 resources - steel and fiberplast, and alot of it- and give pretty good XP.

I took all of Blueprints so I could make all the chassis for display.

Then depending what you want to do, I alternated back and forth upProduction and Construction to pick up crafting, repair, med and armor modules.