Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: 2 Possible Ideas
Page 1 of 1
CristineA
Sun Jun 27, 2004 1:32 pm
#1
1. Someone brought up an idea while we were dancing in Theed cantina, in that droids should be able to hold batteries in a special compartment so you don't have to rechargethem every 30mins, ie Docs & Entertainers, and I went further with it saying maybe they could hold like at max 4 crates of batteries, that's enough for 200hrs worth before having to refill the droid.
2. Another way could be to have it so that new droids could last 200hrs on a single battery charge, then after thatthe droid couldNOT berecharged, but the customer would then have to purchase a new droid, thuskeeping DE's still in the game and ppl buying droids, and possibly helping DE's make some more $$ this way.
Anyway just a few thoughts being thrown around, any thoughts to this?
TheRealTK421
Sun Jun 27, 2004 2:04 pm
#2
/bow
CristineA wrote:
1. Someone brought up an idea while we were dancing in Theed cantina, in that droids should be able to hold batteries in a special compartment so you don't have to rechargethem every 30mins, ie Docs & Entertainers, and I went further with it saying maybe they could hold like at max 4 crates of batteries, that's enough for 200hrs worth before having to refill the droid.
I think something like this is most appropriate to bring in if/when battery use is actually tied to the Vitality/Wound decay of the droid. We do have the Stimpack module which pretty much mimics what this would do, so it shouldn't be too hard to code, I'd think. The only thing I get concerned about it not having enough reason to make/sell the Power Droids. Those would have to fit into the mix somehow in terms of power.
2. Another way could be to have it so that new droids could last 200hrs on a single battery charge, then after thatthe droid couldNOT berecharged, but the customer would then have to purchase a new droid, thuskeeping DE's still in the game and ppl buying droids, and possibly helping DE's make some more $$ this way.
I just don't see that happening. Droid Batteries are supposed to be a commodity item from what I can tell. I think the former idea holds more promise. I do think that another option that's different from the current Droid Batteries is a good idea.
Droid power issues, at their base, are a pretty hot topic here right now, so there's a lot of ideas floating about. I've not seen the quintessential 'solution' rise up yet. If any of you thinkyou do, make sure to get me the link, etc.
Respectfully,
Gavvot
Mon Jun 28, 2004 8:34 am
#3
Maybe the solution is something in between.
Making super batteries, that last much longer than the regular one.
Of course, the need of resource should correspond to the increase of battery longevity.
And maybe, if well balanced, then each time you use one of these super battery, the droid loose 1 in vitality.
As long as Artisan can build those super batteries, I don't really see any kind of problem. And the current batteries still there and work just like they do now.
Of course, there is a balance to be found.
Loosing 1 vitality on the droid for a 10 hour charge, is not really acceptable.
For 200 hours neither.
Now for the power droid, well, it could recharge maybe like 50% of what a super battery would do, but without the vitality lost. And maybe each 5 recharge he does, he loose 1 in vitality.
Now to be well balanced, maybe the use of power should be adjusted for some modules, like it is now for entertainer or barker.
Making super batteries, that last much longer than the regular one.
Of course, the need of resource should correspond to the increase of battery longevity.
And maybe, if well balanced, then each time you use one of these super battery, the droid loose 1 in vitality.
As long as Artisan can build those super batteries, I don't really see any kind of problem. And the current batteries still there and work just like they do now.
Of course, there is a balance to be found.
Loosing 1 vitality on the droid for a 10 hour charge, is not really acceptable.
For 200 hours neither.
Now for the power droid, well, it could recharge maybe like 50% of what a super battery would do, but without the vitality lost. And maybe each 5 recharge he does, he loose 1 in vitality.
Now to be well balanced, maybe the use of power should be adjusted for some modules, like it is now for entertainer or barker.
TheRealTK421
Mon Jun 28, 2004 9:55 am
#4
Gavvot wrote:
Maybe the solution is something in between.
Making super batteries, that last much longer than the regular one.
Of course, the need of resource should correspond to the increase of battery longevity.
And maybe, if well balanced, then each time you use one of these super battery, the droid loose 1 in vitality.
As long as Artisan can build those super batteries, I don't really see any kind of problem. And the current batteries still there and work just like they do now.
Of course, there is a balance to be found.
Loosing 1 vitality on the droid for a 10 hour charge, is not really acceptable.
For 200 hours neither.
Now for the power droid, well, it could recharge maybe like 50% of what a super battery would do, but without the vitality lost. And maybe each 5 recharge he does, he loose 1 in vitality.
Now to be well balanced, maybe the use of power should be adjusted for some modules, like it is now for entertainer or barker.
I think this type of 'super-battery' might be perfect as a limited-use, quested DE schematic perhaps?
We've been saying that we'd love to see such things for us and this might be a very good first item to add.
I'll have to think about what might be workable but this holds promise (I think).
/bow
Respectfully,
We've been saying that we'd love to see such things for us and this might be a very good first item to add.
I'll have to think about what might be workable but this holds promise (I think).
/bow
Respectfully,
Gavvot
Tue Jun 29, 2004 2:00 am
#5
I dunno.
If the idea is to add decay via the super batteries, Making them limited use quest schematics doesn't sound right.
On second tough, loosing 1 vitality for 10 hour power sound quite ok.
That mean the customer will have to buy a new droid after 1000 hours of use or 500 hours for entertainer and merchant.
This seem pretty good balance. The droid will last a few months but won't last for ever. And will drop faster if he's used very often.
If the idea is to add decay via the super batteries, Making them limited use quest schematics doesn't sound right.
On second tough, loosing 1 vitality for 10 hour power sound quite ok.
That mean the customer will have to buy a new droid after 1000 hours of use or 500 hours for entertainer and merchant.
This seem pretty good balance. The droid will last a few months but won't last for ever. And will drop faster if he's used very often.
JansosHosphe
Tue Jun 29, 2004 11:44 pm
#6
Somehow, I doubt this will ever be done.
Let's just imagine what would happen if you got your wish... ...oO( In the cantina, an AFK dancer hasbeen there for two days straight, effects droid faithfully chugging along beside. Outside, a fleet of barker droids have been spewing the same messages for three days now, sending people toempty vendors.They're empty because the merchants who set the things uphave not checked them in three days. They're too busy doing the newest quest, or something. Meanwhile, lag is increasing because everyone is just leaving their droids sitting around all the time until finally the server crashes because of the severe lag. SOE goes out of business as everyone cancells their account. This sudden drop in usage causes the internet to crash. People bereft of their internet addiction leave their homes and begin to riot, which in turn causes several countries to attempt a pre-emptive strike, launching all their firepower. The sun explodes, and turns into a black hole, which eventually consumes the whole galaxy...) Ok, I know... this is a worst case scenario, and probably won't happen... but what if it did? Are you willing to risk it just so you won't have to put a battery in your droid every hour or so?
You see, the reason batteries don't last all that long now is because the DEVs don't want people to be able to have a droid that needs no attention for an extended amount of time.Such an abilitywould promote AFK-ing. AFK-ing is bad. Evil, even. They want you to be forced to pay attention to your droid once every hour or so if you want it to continue to function. If they didn't want this, there would be no batteries. Droids would just continue to function indefinitely, with no further input from you. Short-lived batteries are a good thing.
Rogue1970
Wed Jun 30, 2004 12:13 am
#7
Personally I prefer the power core idea proposal, but I can see an Advanced Battery being useful - in the DE tree rather than Artisan where our batteries lie now.
One issue: Droids only use battery power when YOU are in the same zone as them. I frequently drop my barjker off in Coronet and shuttle home while it sends customers to me. It rarely uses more than 10% power before I log 4-8 hours later. This sorta of makes Adv Batteries pointless to a lot of people - why pay for something you barely need?
Another Issue: Can we profit from these? Or would we be shooting ourselves in the foot? I sort of like the fact my customers come back every few weeks for batteries, they often buy another droid when they do. This would cut into repeat biz a lot.
Gavvot
Wed Jun 30, 2004 12:23 am
#8
Not really.
I sell battery per crates.
1 crate of battery = 100 charges, so about 100 hours of power.
Dunno on your server, but on mine almost noody buy batteries per unit, it doesn't last long enough to worth it.
If super-batteries last 10 hours, and are made in crate of 10 repeat business is exactly the same.
They should stay in the artisan part because otherwise it'll be a nerf to artisan.
The only added feature are less recharge for the customer in exchange of a decay, that will increase repeat business.
That's pretty much a win-win situation.
I sell battery per crates.
1 crate of battery = 100 charges, so about 100 hours of power.
Dunno on your server, but on mine almost noody buy batteries per unit, it doesn't last long enough to worth it.
If super-batteries last 10 hours, and are made in crate of 10 repeat business is exactly the same.
They should stay in the artisan part because otherwise it'll be a nerf to artisan.
The only added feature are less recharge for the customer in exchange of a decay, that will increase repeat business.
That's pretty much a win-win situation.
Gavvot
Wed Jun 30, 2004 1:16 am
#9
Hum,
On the worst case scenario :
1 - all droids will disapear at server reboot.
2 - we're talking about 5 hours for entertainer droid and 10 hour for barker.
Will it promote afk?
No.
People that go AFK don't use entertainer or barker droid.
They dance/play music afk without a droid and AFK spam.
Remember, the droid is not required for anything, it isjust a nice additional toy.
The battery use to prevent AFKing is a non-sence.
It is in fact, for the barker droid the complete opposite.
One of the reason barker are rarely used is because of the short life of the batteries.
And people prefer AFK-spamming than use a barker droid.
So, make the batteries last longer will in fact reduce AFK AND Spamming.
I don't see how short life battery is a good thing in any way.
Oh, and for the lag : 95% of the lag is due to graphics, you can spam all you want, the effect on lag is ridiculous.
And the big majority of that graphic lag is due to building in NPC cities. Player Character and droid impact on lagis ridiculous too.
On the worst case scenario :
1 - all droids will disapear at server reboot.
2 - we're talking about 5 hours for entertainer droid and 10 hour for barker.
Will it promote afk?
No.
People that go AFK don't use entertainer or barker droid.
They dance/play music afk without a droid and AFK spam.
Remember, the droid is not required for anything, it isjust a nice additional toy.
The battery use to prevent AFKing is a non-sence.
It is in fact, for the barker droid the complete opposite.
One of the reason barker are rarely used is because of the short life of the batteries.
And people prefer AFK-spamming than use a barker droid.
So, make the batteries last longer will in fact reduce AFK AND Spamming.
I don't see how short life battery is a good thing in any way.
Oh, and for the lag : 95% of the lag is due to graphics, you can spam all you want, the effect on lag is ridiculous.
And the big majority of that graphic lag is due to building in NPC cities. Player Character and droid impact on lagis ridiculous too.
Drashk
Wed Jun 30, 2004 2:04 am
#10
The Super Batteries, or Droid Power Generators as I suggested in another thread, would help extend the usefulness of a droid beyond the 30-60 minute existence that they have now. If linked with Vitality loss, recharging of a droid could become the droid turn over that many in the community have asked for. The following is a snipet from another thread, where theSuper Battery subject popped up.
A possible compromise to the power core/ battery issue could be a DroidPower Generator. The DPG would be a DE crafted item, using a Power Core or other assorted items, that would charge a droid for a longer period of time then a Droid Battery. The DPG would have two experimentation fields - 1 for charge life and 1 for number of charges. What I had in mind was a max charge life of 1000% and a max usage of 100. One draw back to using a DPG on a droid is that it takes 1 Vitality point loss for each time the DPG is used on it.
A suggested use to make the Power Droid more useful, would for it to have the same function as the DPG, but without the Vitality point loss.
After thinking a little more on the DPGs I think that the charge should be experimental from 5 to 10 hours and have a max usage of10 to 100charges, based on the usage of an Architect made Power Core. Needing a Power Core in the schematic would help to gate the production of the DPGs for higher end sales, while leaving Artisan Battery sales mostly untouched. The Batteries could be used in a Module that auto-recharges a droid, much like the Auto-repair module, but based on batteries added to the droid.
Another factor that could be used to keep a balance between Artisan made Batteries and DE made Droid Power Generators could be that the DPG eats 1 Vitality point per usage, even if the DPG only charged the droid for 5 hours, where as it would take 10 battery charges to do the same 1 point of Vitality loss. The trade off here would be extended battery life verus extended droid life. The target group that would use the DPGs would consist of crafters and combat types, which is the audience that most DE are looking to attract.
Rogue1970
Fri Jul 02, 2004 12:36 am
#11
Gavvot wrote:
Hum,
On the worst case scenario :
1 - all droids will disapear at server reboot.
2 - we're talking about 5 hours for entertainer droid and 10 hour for barker.
Will it promote afk?
No.
People that go AFK don't use entertainer or barker droid.
They dance/play music afk without a droid and AFK spam.
Remember, the droid is not required for anything, it isjust a nice additional toy.
The battery use to prevent AFKing is a non-sence.
It is in fact, for the barker droid the complete opposite.
One of the reason barker are rarely used is because of the short life of the batteries.
And people prefer AFK-spamming than use a barker droid.
So, make the batteries last longer will in fact reduce AFK AND Spamming.
I don't see how short life battery is a good thing in any way.
Oh, and for the lag : 95% of the lag is due to graphics, you can spam all you want, the effect on lag is ridiculous.
And the big majority of that graphic lag is due to building in NPC cities. Player Character and droid impact on lagis ridiculous too.
Do you even use barker droids? Sounds like you don't.
I do - every time I deploy it, I shuttle home and go afk in a corner somewhere and let my unlimited battery powered droid bark the day away.... The droid uses ZERO power patrolling around barking while I am in another zone.
Making batteries last longer will do nothing for the AFK spam issue...
Gavvot
Fri Jul 02, 2004 1:43 am
#12
Actually, I do use it.
But don't have encountered the infinite power feature yet.
I have the auto-store feature alot, but not the infinite power one.
Anyway, that is a bug and should be fixed, and once fixed, my point will be valid.
But don't have encountered the infinite power feature yet.
I have the auto-store feature alot, but not the infinite power one.
Anyway, that is a bug and should be fixed, and once fixed, my point will be valid.
Page 1 of 1