Droid Engineer Archive

Looks like everyone and their dog has voiced an opinion, so I might as well too. We almost all agree that SWG needs some type of warrior droid that can be a tank. The Probot is not it; it is an information-gathering device that has defense capabilities. It was never intended to be a tank. It gathered information, send the information back to the source, then destroyed itself when the mission was complete.

That leaves us with four War Droid types, which are:

1.Destroyer Droids (Droidekas)
2.Battle Droids
3.Superbattle Droids
4.IG-88 Assassin Droids (only 5 exist)

We are not going to include any EU droids like the Dark Trooper series.

For the sake of brevity, I will try to make this post as short as possible. Several assumptions are going to have to be made, but like with all things, nothing is forged in Duranium and subject to revision. Obviously, there are holes in this proposal that you can throw a Bantha through, but it is a thought that is pointed in the correct direction, IMHO.

War Droid Assumptions:
1.These are the most complicated droids to be made. Therefore, the failure rate will be and should be higher.
2.We cannot and should not be able to make all the items incorporated into the design (unless the crafter is skilled in Armorsmith and Weaponry).
3.Resources should be no more difficult to retrieve than what is already incorporated into the game.
4.War Droids can only be crafted by MDEs
5.If the MDE can make the weapons, fine. If not, they will have to be purchased from a Weaponsmith.
6.Weapons and Armor quality, power, speed will depend on how much you want to spend or the ability to craft these items.
7.If and when the Level 6 Armor is fixed, you’ll have to go to an Armorsmith for level 6 plate, but currently DEs can craft Level 4.
8.Each of the War Droids takes a tremendous amount of energy to operate. Therefore, these droids will use batteries at a greater rate then any other type of droid. [e.g., the Droideka will go through 6 batteries, 4 batteries for weapons and 2 for the shield generators, per some length of time (maybe every10-20 minutes of usage).]

Advanced Droideka Chassis will need:
(1) Advanced Droid Frame Unit
(1) Advanced Droid Brain
(1) Manipulator Arm Package
(2) Advanced Droid Motive Systems
(1) Droid Sensor Package
(1) Micro Sensor Suite

Advanced Droideka Deed will need:
(1) Advanced Droideka Chassis
(2) Armor slots (No service module slots)
(1) Advanced Droid Brain
(1) Storage Unit, not to exceed level 4 (for battery crates)
(4) Weapon Slots (weapons not to exceed pistol size)
(1) Shield Generator slot
(100) Units of Chemical
(200) Units of Chemical

The Droideka can use any four pistols you can place in the open slots, but weapon placement is permanent andcan't be changed or altered once the droid is complete (this goes for all War droids). The same thing goes for the Shield Generator as it does for the weapons. If you want to incorporate a shield generator you’ll need to have them crafted by an Armorsmith.

Advanced Battle Droid Chassis will need:
(1) Advanced Droid Frame Unit
(1) Advanced Droid Brain
(1) Manipulator Arm Package
(1) Advanced Droid Motive System
(1) Droid Sensor Package
(1) Micro Sensor Suite

Advanced Battle Droid Deed will need:
(1) Advanced Battle Droid Chassis
(3) Armor slots (No service module slots)
(1) Droid Brain

(1) Personality Chip
(1) Storage Unit not to exceed level 2 (for battery crates)
(1) Weapon Slot (Can be any weapon)
(100) Units of Chemical
(200) Units of Chemical

The Battle Droid can use any pistol or rifle you can place in the open slot.

Advanced Superbattle Droid Chassis will need:
(1) Advanced Droid Frame Unit
(1) Advanced Droid Brain
(1) Manipulator Arm Package
(1) Advanced Droid Motive Systems
(1) Droid Sensor Package
(1) Micro Sensor Suite

Advanced Superbattle Droid Deed will need:
(1) Advanced Superbattle Droid Chassis
(4) Armor slots (No service module slots)
(1) Advanced Droid Brain

(1) Personality Chip
(1) Storage Unit not to exceed level 2 (for battery crates)
(2) Weapon Slots (weapons not to exceed pistol size)
(100) Units of Chemical
(200) Units of Chemical

The Superbattle Droid can use any two pistols you can place in the open slots.

Advanced IG-88 Chassis will need:
(1) Advanced Droid Frame Unit
(1) Advanced Droid Brain
(1) Manipulator Arm Package
(1) Advanced Droid Motive Systems
(1) Droid Sensor Package
(1) Micro Sensor Suite

Advanced IG-88 Deed will need:
(1) Advanced IG-88 Chassis
(2) Armor slots (No service module slots)
(1) Advanced Droid Brain

(1) Personality Chip
(1) Storage Unit not to exceed level 2 (for battery crates)
(1) Weapon Slot (Can be any weapon)
(100) Units of Chemical
(200) Units of Chemical

The IG-88 Droid can use any two pistols you can place in the open slots.

Each droid type will have their own usage number. The Droideka can only be used by advanced players, Superbattle Droids and IG-88s by moderately advanced players, and the Battle Droid can be used by any player except newbies. The shield generator will up the resistance of each category of the Droideka to the high 90% area, Super Battle Droids will have an 80% resistance, and the Battle Droid and IG-88 will have 70% resistance. These resistance figures will be true as long as the droid batteries are functioning at 100%.

All damage will be permanent until the droid is repaired by an MDE, a Repair Droid, or at a city facility (as are speeder bikes, but at 100 credits per point of damage instead of 4 as it is for the bikes). Weapons can be ether repaired by a city facility or a Weaponsmith. Shield Generators can be repaired at a city facility or an Armorsmith.

Droid weapon accuracy will be directly related to the overall quality of the droid brains. Whereas, the speed and damage a weapon has will depend on the quality of the weapon. Shield Generator quality will depend on Armorsmiths and their abilities.

Players can have only one War Droid deed active at a time, but may have another droid deed active if it is a non-combatant style. MDEs can have two War Droids active at a time plus one other non-combatant droid. This will allow MDEs to skill in another area besides combat so that those long harvester runs are safer or to be more valuable in hunting parties. MDEs can call forth a droid without being at a camp, city, or home, whereas other players are under the same restrictions that are currently in place.

As a final thought, DEs should not require anything a Master Artisan can make for droid construction. This will require some of the needed droid parts to be DE made only and remove them from theArtisan tree. However, to become a novice DE and to earn the MDE badge, a player must have the MA badge on file. Then, when the DE earns the MDE badge, any of the Artisan skills can be given up for the points to be used elsewhere.

Goss

No, no, no, no, no, no!

Why must we focus on "tanking". I hate the whole idea of pet tanking. It already drives me nuts that NPCs need to have 10x our possible HAM, but I realize that it's a game mechanic that has to be in place because of the lack of realistic AI. But then to use that mechanic to our advantage because of peoples love ofbossing things around and useitto stand in the way and take all damage for us just drives me nuts.

I don't want droid tanks. We have tanks. They're called creatures. I've been a master creature handler. I dropped CH completely, I was tired of it. I don't want droids to be the same thing.

How about thinking outside the box. Droids can be the opposite of pets. Low HAM but high damage output, and of varying types. While pets are limited to kinetic damage of random pool, droids could use any weapon with any damage type and be programmed to attack any pool.

Why must everyone fixate on the "tank"?

Priss Asagiri
Master Droid Engineer / Novice Musician
Flurry / Kaadara

A look can be Decieving,
A touch can be Lethal.

Taking a well-deserved vacation from his successful Droid Engineering business, Master Rho can be found puttering around the galaxy.