CUEmu - Thread Posts

DaggoWofle

Fri Feb 13, 2004 5:27 pm

Ok i have read the boards and seen very persuasive arguements on many different topics that seem to get people going , most notably the whole combat droid things , some people like the fact of new skins and others dont , but the one agruement that seems pretty constant is just to sum it up: So we are getting new Combat droids , but all of them will be level 10 or less , making them just as usefull or less usefull than the current level 10 combat droids (Probot).

I have found a simple solution that might just please everyone... ok yes all the droids are gonna be about the same power as our current level 10 combat droid is......but that doesnt mean that the new ones will be useless or the same in comparison , If they havent already done this i can only hope they will at least take it into consideration. Have each or the new combat droids have a special ability , similar to a pets special attack... mabye one type can be commanded to do a blind attack while another can do a health bleed , or another can have heavier armor but do less damage.. The possibilites could be endless , make one can have a knockdown attack that it would have a 5% of firing everytime it shot. Weither they can just be issued to do it or it would be random and a small chance of happening could be up the devs or exactly how they would allow the droids to do it need to be figured out cause you dont want it to be useless and almost never go off in a fight since the best time for any status special is in the begining of a fight (well most the time) , but on the other hand you dont want people spaming them , Personally i think an Issued command would be best , but mabye only allow it to do it once every minute or something like that.

This system of having each droid able to do one or 2 special attacks makes the droids not only usefull in each of there own way , but allows people to get the droid that best complements them...mabye a BH want something that can do an eye shot too cause its like him and its a good RP thing , or mabye he would want something that could do an action bleed since he could, Mabye a riflemen would want one that could snipe , or one that could do a bleed shoot, it would all come down to the person , making their droid much more of a personal choice than a generic hunk of metal thats the same things as every other droid just in a different wrapper.

BoberFett

Fri Feb 13, 2004 6:16 pm

#2

I agree completely. The other thing that I'd like is choosing the damage type instead of always energy.

Message Edited by BoberFett on 02-13-2004 07:16 PM

Leadhead101

Fri Feb 13, 2004 8:12 pm

#3

While I think that would help and I very much like the idea, the problem with a level 10 pet is that their ham/defense is too low. The probot haveing an 820 ham equals a meatlump buffoon. I realize that its armor is way better and all, but its usefulness begins to run out after you nail a couple of boxes on the skill tree in your elite profession. I am only a 2/3/1/2 fencer and can hold my own at fort tusken, but my probot would die with one shot from a tusken warlord or captain, and mabee three shots from a raider or sniper! You see in places like that, it provides no benefit because it wont even have the time to utilize a special attack that helps you out.

This is why the cert system is so crucial to the problem so that the more powerfull players can utilize a droid that can stay in the fight for at least 10 minutes or so, but the noobs wouldnt have access to such a powerfull droid to slaughter durnis! But the devs refuse to even try to make the system work because it would unbalance the game which I think is ludicrous! You dont have to give the master elite people level 30 pet certs, but even like a level 15 pet would be a HUUUGGGEE difference in usefulness but would never be the sole factor in the reason you won the fight!

"Nothing would be what it is, Because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise -what it is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"

BoberFett

Fri Feb 13, 2004 10:08 pm

#4

Do you really think there's much difference between a CL10 and CL15 pet?

As you said, the armor does make a significant difference. A probot with medium armor and 40% resists can take quite a bit of punishment. Will it help you solo high end content? I should hope not. That's what the devs mean when they say they don't want to unbalance combat. You're not supposed to solo Fort Tusken.

Buffs, pets, powerups, etc. should give you a slight improvement, that when used together can make you quite a bit more powerful. Instead what we seem to have is any single item making players lots more powerful, and when used together they make players invulnerable. It's everywhere you look and that's why they're doing a complete overhaul of the combat system.

There's a reason the devs took armored CL15 pets away from nonCHs. They're not about to give them right back in the form of droids. I think an 800 HAM medium armored droid with your choice of damage type and specials would be sufficient for most people.

Glantor

Fri Feb 13, 2004 11:21 pm

#5

Personally, I would like to get droids which allow us to pass them WEAPONS, just like Battle droids. These droids would have certain skillssuch as being able to handle all carbines or Vibro Knucklers, depending on what we ourselves are proficient in. We can then buy or make weapons for them based on our choosing. The weapons will behave exactly like the ones we are carrying. (requiring frequent repairs, being limited to what we can get our hands on etc).

For example, we build a combat droid which can possibly use all carbines. Thiscan be implemented by giving a droid a Carbine Combat module.We can then pass them a CDEF carbine or an Elite carbine, depending on whether we can use such weapons ourselves (droid skills linked with owner skills). They can have the possibility of using special attacks with these weapons of course, but the special attacks will cause them to lose HAM as well (HAM costs)

Continuous use of the weapon by the droid will result in the weapon breaking down and requiring repair. Not repairing the weapon will result in the droid losing the weapon (and perhaps using it's fists or head to head butt the creatures)

In this manner, droids will only be as powerful as their owners, since the droid's abilities are linked to the owner (if the owner can only use DH17, the droid will only be able to use DH17). This prevents newbs from being overly powerful since they can only use CDEF, yet progressively scales up the usefulness of droids as the owner progresses. The limitation of weapons will also create new orders once the owner decides to pursue another weapon specialisation. (gosh, my carbine droid will be useless now that I wanna be a Pistoleer, I'd better get a new Pistol Droid). Their HAM and armour should also be limited to current Probot levels (CL10), which I think mimics their owner's HAM quite well.

In my opinion, this will not violate any continuity issues as well. A droid can be taught how to do things since they are smart machines and all, so a droid being able to use the same weapon as the owner is not beyond logic. The droid may have a Carbine module and is able to hold all carbines, but unless the owner teaches it how to use carbines properly, it will not be able to aim and shoot with it.

Once we drop a skill, the droid will not be able to follow our style of using the weapon, thus it loses the ability to shoot well with the weapon too (a little harder to swallow this reasoning, but I guess it's worth a shot)

I also think the droid should be able to take personality chips which allows it to say cool stuff. Something along the lines of (owner) "Droid, shoot the Rancor!" (droid) "Roger Roger"

What do you guys think?

Glantor Soulbearer (In Game Name)
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Leadhead101

Sat Feb 14, 2004 10:00 pm

#6

BoberFett wrote:

Do you really think there's much difference between a CL10 and CL15 pet?

As you said, the armor does make a significant difference. A probot with medium armor and 40% resists can take quite a bit of punishment. Will it help you solo high end content? I should hope not. That's what the devs mean when they say they don't want to unbalance combat. You're not supposed to solo Fort Tusken.

Buffs, pets, powerups, etc. should give you a slight improvement, that when used together can make you quite a bit more powerful. Instead what we seem to have is any single item making players lots more powerful, and when used together they make players invulnerable. It's everywhere you look and that's why they're doing a complete overhaul of the combat system.

There's a reason the devs took armored CL15 pets away from nonCHs. They're not about to give them right back in the form of droids. I think an 800 HAM medium armored droid with your choice of damage type and specials would be sufficient for most people.

I think a level 15 pet would make a difference in it's ability to stay in combat for a duration of time. I never said we need one to solo places like fort tusken, I said we need one that can survive for at least 10 minutes or so which the current probot cannot, but a level 15 creature or somewhere around this level would. Let me ask you something, when your probot is down for the count by one well placed tusken captian shot, how in the hell do you call that balance!? Fort Tusken is like middle of the road as far as difficulty is concerned. There are tons more places That make Fort Tusken a cake walk and a level 10 pet cant even last30 seconds there. Is that balance? Nope, not even in combination with other stuff like buffs and powerups!

Yes the reason the devs took level 15 from nonCH players was because noobs could solo stuff that they werent supposed to. Once again the devs chose the easy route and just nerfed it back to level 10! They did this because they are like anti cert system for pets or something.

I have said it before and I will say it again, I have seen the nerf bomb dropped in most every online game I have played. It is a disease that every one of those game suffer and people leave the game in droves, it is only until then that the makers realize that they have to redesign in order to solve the problem. After that, the game does alot better and people play the same game for years afterward cause it is FUN!

"Nothing would be what it is, Because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise -what it is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"

BillyBobthe50th

Sun Feb 15, 2004 12:32 am

#7

Another way to stop newbs from getting high power combat droids is to only put droids that have to hold weapons to fight below lvl10, Like a battle droid,

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BoberFett

Sun Feb 15, 2004 10:49 am

#8

You say you aren't soloing Fort Tusken? Then I don't see the problem. It's not you and your probot. It's you and your 5 friends and their probots. If one of the probot gets destroyed, well that's what happens in battle. But then you've still for 5 others soaking up damage for you and adding to the total DPS.

Droids are not supposed to be your equal. They're a supplement.

Leadhead101

Sun Feb 15, 2004 10:15 pm

#9

BoberFett wrote:

You say you aren't soloing Fort Tusken? Then I don't see the problem. It's not you and your probot. It's you and your 5 friends and their probots. If one of the probot gets destroyed, well that's what happens in battle. But then you've still for 5 others soaking up damage for you and adding to the total DPS.

Droids are not supposed to be your equal. They're a supplement.

Do you see this scenario anywhere in the game? Nope again! Logical theorizeing works nice in a vaccuum, but is totally impotent in the face of insane reality!

I threw the Fort Tusken thing up there as an example of how the "perfectly balanced probot" would fare in an enviorment like that. This enviorment is not even one of the harshest by a near miss! Thusly, five probots would share the same fate as one! I am sure you have been there and see the truth to what I am saying so stop bsing me with a bunch of banter. I am not asking for the droid to do uber damage or even more damage, I am saying it needs more ham! That's it! It is not balanced period! The fact that the probot does so little damage means that if it had more ham, it would be able to survive long enough to be able to use the special attacks indicated in the thread topic, but still not be the decisive factor in its ownerwinning the battle or battles.

"Nothing would be what it is, Because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise -what it is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"

Leadhead101

Sun Feb 15, 2004 10:17 pm

#10

BillyBobthe50th wrote:
Another way to stop newbs from getting high power combat droids is to only put droids that have to hold weapons to fight below lvl10, Like a battle droid,

I think that is a good idea also.

"Nothing would be what it is, Because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise -what it is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"

Gribnitz

Sun Feb 15, 2004 10:44 pm

#11

BoberFett wrote:

Buffs, pets, powerups, etc. should give you a slight improvement, that when used together can make you quite a bit more powerful. Instead what we seem to have is any single item making players lots more powerful, and when used together they make players invulnerable. It's everywhere you look and that's why they're doing a complete overhaul of the combat system.

This is exactly a lot of DE's point. If they are revamping the combat code anyway, why don't they take Droids into account while they are doing it? Make the creatures a bit ( or a lot ) tougher and allow people to have and use droids in a star wars game. If they want the look and feel of a star warsy environment, they really need to get droids into the mix somehow.

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BoberFett

Mon Feb 16, 2004 12:43 am

#12

Gribnitz wrote:

BoberFett wrote:

Buffs, pets, powerups, etc. should give you a slight improvement, that when used together can make you quite a bit more powerful. Instead what we seem to have is any single item making players lots more powerful, and when used together they make players invulnerable. It's everywhere you look and that's why they're doing a complete overhaul of the combat system.

This is exactly a lot of DE's point. If they are revamping the combat code anyway, why don't they take Droids into account while they are doing it? Make the creatures a bit ( or a lot ) tougher and allow people to have and use droids in a star wars game. If they want the look and feel of a star warsy environment, they really need to get droids into the mix somehow.

Hey, I'd be all for this. But for some reason, I just don't trust the designers to take things in the right direction. Wonder why...

Ashlish

Mon Feb 16, 2004 12:52 am

#13

Glantor, I gotta say, that's a pretty good idea. I don't know if its new, or if anyone has thought of it before, but it's pretty original.

Whether it violates the BS "checkers" idea of balance or not, I don't know. But it is pretty cool.

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Droid Engineer Archive

Thread: Possible solution to make combat droids unique