Droid Engineer Archive

Many of you have read <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=droid_engineer&message.id=37192" target="_blank">'Having a problem with your Droid?' 'No. No problem...Why?'</a]> and I thank those that have commented on it so far. There have been a few community members that have voiced concerns regarding one of the proposals thatwasincluded in the thread in regards to module level limits on each droid.Here is the proposal in question..

1) Currently, as many of us know, an MSE droid can hold most of the best modules that our profession can create. I don't know if this was supposed to be how the DEVs originally intended it to happen, or if this was a major oversight on their part, when the DE profession was designed. In either case, the level of a module in a droid should be limited by the droid type in question. This should be applied to all leveled droid modules, including armor modules The following is a chart, of what I believe to be a fair and justified change, that I hope could be easily implemented.

Droid Engineer Level Module Level
Novice DE 1 - 2
Blueprints I 1 - 3
Blueprints II 1 - 4
Blueprints III 1 - 5
Blueprints IV 1 - 6
Master DE 1 - 6

I have three sperate questions that are presented 'as is', regardless of information read in the above mentioned proposal. All three questions are being presented as if the issue with cluster modules has already been fixed. (You can no longer stack cluster modules or place them in droids that do not specificly state their usage IE an MSE)

1)Should there be a need to place a module level limit, such as outlined above?

2) Should there be a restrictionapplied as to what modeuls can be installed in each droid?
(Example = Advanced MSE - Limited to Medical, Data storage, and/or Item Storage.
Advanced Treadwell - Limited to Data storage, Item Storage, Repair, or Crafting station.)

3) If you answered yes to both 1) and 2), should there be a module level restriction and a restriction on what modules can be installed per droid?

Before the above mentioned proposal is changed,I wanted to get more feed back from the community to see if what 'everyone' felt about the topic. Please give a yes or no answer, if applicable, and then list a brief reason for your answer. Thank you.

ARGH...well the link to the thread didn't work like it was intended to, do here is the cut and paste version of the link....

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=droid_engineer&message.id=37192

Well you know my answer, but I'll list it here for you anyway.

1) No, I do not think it is necessary to restrict module level based on chassis type based purely upon the level of the module and chassis. (Note that I feel this way because your stated assumption is that the cluster module bug has been fixed.)

2) I am somewhat ambivalent about this, but I think it would be nice if droids had different functions in some way, and this is the most logical way to do it (to me). So yes, I think that some modules should only work in some droids in order to give each droid chassis a more distinct flavor.

3) No, I do not think both is necessary. (And yes, I'm aware that I'm not required to answer this question. :smileywink

To answer my own questions...

1) Yes, there should be some type of restriction per droid in order to create droids withvaryingabilities. There have been a number of MDEs that I have read about that undercut the Novice DE market by offering such droids as an Advanced MSE with a level 6 Medical Module and crafting station for the same price as the same droid configuration, but with a lower level medical module.

2) Yes, I feel that allowing any module to be installed in any droid hurts droid market. A droid such as the MSE should be restricted from offering a module such as a crafting station, since it allows for a situatiion to arise such as listed in question 1).

3) No. (Surprised anyone?) I feel that if each droid had modules that were restricted, there would be a feel that specific droids had more of a purpose. Take the Treadwell for instance. Not many, besides DEs, own a WED. A large number of Novice DE don't offerone of the best looking droids, in my opinion,since they can place anything they can craft in a MSE. Removing the repair module and crafting station from an MSE gives the Treadwell more value, since it can offer either module. If a module restriction were implimented, there would be no need for a module level limit.

(For those that are curious as to why I listed both in the proposal - I wanted to see how others felt about what was written. I honestly think that some kind of restriction is needed, but wanted to find out what others felt on each subject. At the moment, I'm on the virge of removing the proposed level restriction, but just want to see more feed back from the community before doing so.)

1. No, I think that ifa DE wants to place a level 6 module in a low level droid, go for it, its his business, he can run it the way he wants (and assuming number 2 is implemented it isn't that big of an issue).

2. Yes, It would give a nice feel of purpose for each droid, and would help customers make their decisions. Most of them don't know what kind of chassis they want, just what they want it to do. With this in place I could just say "I can do that for this, this, or this".

Jenden Morn - Master Droid Engineer - Mos Espa, Tarquinas

Owner, Operator, and Founder of DarkStar Inc.

1) No. I think the level of the module let's us create better droids.If you can only make a level 3 med module, you can use it to create a droid with certain characteristics. But if you can make a level 6 med module, you can create a better droid for your customers.

One reason to gain skills, and to master DE - to build better droids but of the same type.

2) Yes, I wish droids had specific functions so you would purchase a certain droid because of its utility. As long as the divisions make sense. Astro mechs could be the crafting stations, LE and WED repair, surgical droids aid medics, combat droids fight, MSE are only item/data storage, protocol and BLL are uselss

Or something like that. Maybe 1 or 2 functions available to each droid type so there are chioces available. But other functionality needs to be added so alldroids have a special purpose. Like raising the possible item limit on BLL so they could haul alot of junk.

Looks have alot to do with the coolness factor in the game, but utility and looks would be better for sales.

1) No

2) No, except for specialized modules perhaps. I can see a Surgury Module that aides in wound healing (for example) that only Surgical Droids could accept.

As explained in my response to the original thread, the proposed limits would gut the market for lower-on-the-blueprints-branch droids because everyone wants the best. And it would also take away the lower-end of the market. I sell R5s to people for 15k, but I charge 25k for my R2s often with the same functions. That versioning strategy allows DEs to capture the lower and high end markets.

I like the proposed changes for roleplaying purposes (makes sense that an MSE can't do as much as R2), but with "DE" ryhming with "gimpy" so readily, I'm hesistant to add more limits before we get more goodies.

Shoot, yeah.

I would hope that these changes aren't made untill the profession is fixed.

Don't kill us and then try to resucitate us later

1) Nah. With the cluster exploit fixed (as stated as one of your preconditions) there's no need to do this, IMHO. Honestly, it's not like people are ASKING me for MSE droids. There's plenty of cash out there, and people happily buy my pre-built surgical model medical droids every day. I don't see a need to even offer the lower-level droids, really, and that's with the current possibility of using clusters to put in all the functions. What one must remember is that droids are purchased in large part for looks.

2) Maybe... In that I think that there should be more specific kinds of module slots, and the functions of the various droids could therefore be gated in this way. If one needed to use a droid with a proper 'crafting station module socket' in order to insert a crafting station, this could be achieved without resorting to more artificial methods.

1) Yes, otherwise do away with the levels completely. People just don't want a low Lvl module. In fact, probably the only reason why they are still useful is because they can be combined to make higher Lvl modules. I would prefer a more "organic" solution than based on skill boxes though(by chassis is better). My reason for this relates to point numbers two and three.....

2) Yes, yes, and yes. I can't stress thie enough. I've always disliked the idea that any droid can do everything. There should limits to what a certain droid can do. Otherwise the chassis is nothing more than just for looks. Why would an LE-repair droid have a medical module? Why would a surgical droid have a droid repair kit? These are inconsistencies that should be done away with.

3) Now this is the big one. The combination of restrictions on level and on chassis is what can give true differences to droids. So an LE-Repair Droid can have a droid repair kit because that is what it does. It can also carry data, but to a lesser degree, since it is a deviation from it standard functionality. An MSE droid carry data, but storage would be limited due to it's size. We can end up with a complex system of interactions that makes creating droids more interesting.

There's been another proposal for using modules where each modules costs a certain amount of points and each chassis has a certain "points limit". This would also be a very nice solution for this situation since again puttin modules in becomes and art or gettig what you want without going over the limit. But you still need restrictions, otherwise the chassis with the most points will become the only seller.

No.

How many people have you seen with POS cars and $2500 stereo systems in them?

(grin)

Is there a limit on the types of peripherals you can plug into your USB hub on your PC? There may be a limit on the software running at one time, but thats a processor/droid brain issue as opposed to the chassis.

So far, I count 7 resonses in the correct form. Sorry progman63& Baroun, but I can't count your responcessince they are ambiguous.

1) 5 No 2 Yes

2) 4 Yes 1 No 2 Maybe

3) 1 No 1 Maybe

Please, keep the resoponses coming

too many seperate variables within the 2 questions.. in short

1) no

2) medical for surgical... repair for repair.. anything else goes I assume

Gveedo