Droid Engineer Archive

Sorry if I duplicate anyone elses ideas, trying to bring it all together in one post.

1- DE must bea crafter only profession. Reason is simple, market. If to use the best combat droids you must invest in DE tree heavily, why not devote the extra points tobuilding them also if they are in same tree? IE, there is no market for Comabt Droids except from people who don't feel like collecting resources. Besides, most DE's I know, including me, aren't "Field" characters.

2- DE should have additional droid use ability.

3- Droids shouldn't be as powerful as Creatures. A Droideka is powerful, but I wouldn't bet on it against a Kimogila or a Rancor.

Here's an Idea. Droid Commander/Handler makes the most sense to me. Sucks to have to invest in a new profession so long after launch, but, oh well. But, seperate Droids into Combat and Utility Droids. Similiar to Vicsious and Non-Viscious creatures in CH.

My suggestion.

1- DE gets some additional droid options like commanding more then 1 droid, but they MUST be non-aggressive types. A DE could have a Power Droid and an R2 out at the same time. But no IG-88 Assassin Droid.

2- DC gains the ability to use the Combat models and more then 1 at a time, with a limit on level and amount similiar to the CH pet limits.

3- Droid Combat level (deciding what level of DC can use it) is based on the weapon and armor combination installed in the droid. ie, a Probot with a Flamer in it would be a higher level then a Probot with a CDEF pistol. Just like a Droideka with different weapon/shield/armor combo has different level.

This uses (in a modified form) the CH pet code for easy implementation. DE's get more then one droid at a time, but ONLY non-comabt models as part of their tree. DE's have a better market because people will want many different combinations of Chassis/Weapon/Armor/Shield to accomidate their DC level at the moment. DC's can command many different Droids at ALL levels. Simliar to BE pets, crap Rancor is easier to control then a good one, a crap Droideka is easier to control then an uber one.

DC should be a new Basic prefession, like Marksman or Artisan (No prerequisite skill). Skill point cost depends on the effectiveness of the Droids they release. Half the power of Pets, half the point cost in the CH tree. As powerful as Pets, just as many Skill points as CH. For balance. This could be easily (I assume) implemented in Droid Crafting by simply adding 2 or 3 module slots in Droid creation. A Weapon, a Shield, and an Armor Slot. This could also be a cooperative effort between Droid Engineer, Weaponsmith, Armorsmith. Each module of the appropriate type has a Combat Rating determined at creation. A Flamer Module adds a large amount, a CDEF Module adds a small amount multiplied by a base for each model. A probot might have a base of 1, an IG-88 might be a 5 or 10. Simply add the total from Weapon, Armor, and Shield Modules multiplied by the Base for the Model = Combat Rating. Combat Rating is used to determine if a given DC at a given level can control that Droid. Just as Creature Level is used for CH.

Best of all, variety! A TKA might want to spend a few points in DC to get a Droid. But since he plans to do most of the damage in Melee, he might want his droid to take full advantage of his control points by having a droid with Maximum Weapon Damage. A Rifleman might not care about the damage his droid does, just that it has tons of hit points and/or shields to tank for him. A medic or Doc might want a more rounded Droid to serve both roles as his/her protector. Whereas, a Master DC would want the best of everything, and he deserves it for investing in the full tree.

The DC Tree

Novice- A low Combat/Control Level similiar to Novice CH

Branch 1 - Droid Control

This branch gives more points to Control. As you advance, each step gives more droid control points so you can control more powerful droids.

Branch 2 - Unit Management

This Branch gives the ability to control MORE droids at once. If droids are weak over all, you might add one droid per step of branch, or if droids are powerfull, the whole branch might only add +1 droid, Master adding the third, like CH. Ideally this branch could be filled with different Formation options or State options. States options could be simliar to Guard command, but more discriminate. Like Guard Another, or only attack creatures, or NPCs. Not likely, but I like it. This branch could also contain a range command. Different weapons are effective at different ranges, so, the droid could be told to stay at different ranges. A droid with a rifle could be told to stay at 50m, while a droid with a flamer could be told to close to 10m, etc. In theory Droids could even have melee weapons! But I seriously doubt it.

Branch 3 - Special Attacks

This Branch adds commands simliar to CH Enrage Pets. So they do more damage or fight longer. Droid "Buffs" in a sense. In a perfect world Droids could be told to do Special Attacks based on Weapon, Area attacks or DOT's appropriate to the weapon they have intalled. This would be very complicated to implement, but would be absolutely AMAZING! Imagine a Master DC telling his IG-88 to use those Flamer DOT's, WOW!

Branch 4 - Droid Maintenance

This branch increases skill with Droid Repair Kits. These kits, new ones or modified Droid Repair Kits that already exist, allow the DC to heal wounds AND DAMAGE to his droids. This would work simliar to Stimpacks from Medic/Doc or Pet Stimpacks from BE. DE's should make these, and have several levels. For example there could be a Droid Repair Kit - A, B, C, D, E. Each one more powerful then the last, and requiring a higher level in the Droid Maintenance Branch, simliar to First Aid in Medic grants ability to use better and better Stims and Wound packs. Speed od use could also increase with each slot filled.

Alternatively, a simple number to multiply the base healing ability of a single type of Droid Repair kit would work too, but not be as much fun. So in this scheme there is only one type of Droid Repair Kit, but higher level DC's are better at using them.

Overall, this collection brings better droid variety, more player choice, a massive market for DE's, and is relatively simple to implement using modified systems that already exist. Thoughts, comments?

"When Sony and Lucas set out, we said, How can we do this and not make another EQ? We didn't want it to be all about Luke, or combat, or lock our players into a class. So we created a system that would allow players to switch professions during the game, and there would be a lot of gameplay around making that change. If you want to go from architect to scout we've created a system to make that happen."
Julio Torres