Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: The Master DE Blues
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TribbleMaster
Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:23 am
#1
Hi Everyone -
So, I've made Master DE - yay!
Now I wonder, what's my reason for continuing to play DE? Oh, I know, because I love crafting droids, right? Well, yes, but that's a pretty weak reason to keep logging in and paying subscription fees.
So, with the recent conversations about enhancements to DEs, it seems like this is a perfect opportunity to add some content for Master DEs.
Before playing galaxies, I spent some time playing NetDevil's JumpGate. In JumpGate, when the Devs had a new feature to release they ran a faction mission in which all the players in a particular faction would work on some mammoth mission to unlock whatever new feature the Devs had. So for weeks, these missions would run and people would be working hard to unlock that new feature.
The idea occured to me that SWG should follow that example in introducing DE enhancements and start profession missions. These missions would required the DE community in a particular galaxy to work together to unlock the new feature.
Here's a mission idea -- Reverse Engineer the Droideka.
What's the process?
DEs salvage components from Droideka's killed on Lok. The DE has to do the salvaging so they'd have to be in the hunting party. One the part is salvage, a DE attempt to reverse engineer it using something like a crafting station and experience points. Failures are common in this process, so unlocking the schematics could take quite a while.
Once the schematic for a part is discovered, we find out that a special material or sub-component is needed to manufacture it - so we need to smelt existing ores to create the alloys required for a component, or we need to run some other missions to find the schematics to the sub-components. Of course, creating the alloy is an iterative process that requires the DE examine the structure of the alloy they are creating, trying smelting materials in different quantities until a match is created.
A note to the whole idea of creating an alloy - maybe we can use some existing "close enough" materials but increase critical failures and decrease the effectiveness of the final product and maybe even have the droid spontaneously self-destruct. Imagine the fun dealing with customers when you've produce a prototype droideka that broke down midst of a PvP conflict. Might not sound like fun, but I think it would be - running a DE business shouldn't necessarily always be smooth.
By the way, perhaps replicating the alloy is multi-engineer process to operate the machinery so 3 or more DEs need to work together to attempt the process, which fails frequently, so it might take many sessions for the DEs to get it right.
Once's that's done, we have final assembly. Assuming that goes well, and maybe it doesn't, perhaps the newly created Droideka's aren't quite upto snuff in some way. For example, maybe the don't roll correctly and tend to fall over, so they require and adjustment to their gyroscopes, or something like that to keep them balanced.
Obviously this would be a process taking weeks or months of concentrated efforts for the DE community of a particular galaxy in order to perfect the droideka.
Just some ideas on ways to introduce new features in a content-rich way..
By the way, yes, I know, this is a huge development effort, but I think it'd be worth it in the end.
Comments appreciated.
TM
So, I've made Master DE - yay!
Now I wonder, what's my reason for continuing to play DE? Oh, I know, because I love crafting droids, right? Well, yes, but that's a pretty weak reason to keep logging in and paying subscription fees.
So, with the recent conversations about enhancements to DEs, it seems like this is a perfect opportunity to add some content for Master DEs.
Before playing galaxies, I spent some time playing NetDevil's JumpGate. In JumpGate, when the Devs had a new feature to release they ran a faction mission in which all the players in a particular faction would work on some mammoth mission to unlock whatever new feature the Devs had. So for weeks, these missions would run and people would be working hard to unlock that new feature.
The idea occured to me that SWG should follow that example in introducing DE enhancements and start profession missions. These missions would required the DE community in a particular galaxy to work together to unlock the new feature.
Here's a mission idea -- Reverse Engineer the Droideka.
What's the process?
DEs salvage components from Droideka's killed on Lok. The DE has to do the salvaging so they'd have to be in the hunting party. One the part is salvage, a DE attempt to reverse engineer it using something like a crafting station and experience points. Failures are common in this process, so unlocking the schematics could take quite a while.
Once the schematic for a part is discovered, we find out that a special material or sub-component is needed to manufacture it - so we need to smelt existing ores to create the alloys required for a component, or we need to run some other missions to find the schematics to the sub-components. Of course, creating the alloy is an iterative process that requires the DE examine the structure of the alloy they are creating, trying smelting materials in different quantities until a match is created.
A note to the whole idea of creating an alloy - maybe we can use some existing "close enough" materials but increase critical failures and decrease the effectiveness of the final product and maybe even have the droid spontaneously self-destruct. Imagine the fun dealing with customers when you've produce a prototype droideka that broke down midst of a PvP conflict. Might not sound like fun, but I think it would be - running a DE business shouldn't necessarily always be smooth.
By the way, perhaps replicating the alloy is multi-engineer process to operate the machinery so 3 or more DEs need to work together to attempt the process, which fails frequently, so it might take many sessions for the DEs to get it right.
Once's that's done, we have final assembly. Assuming that goes well, and maybe it doesn't, perhaps the newly created Droideka's aren't quite upto snuff in some way. For example, maybe the don't roll correctly and tend to fall over, so they require and adjustment to their gyroscopes, or something like that to keep them balanced.
Obviously this would be a process taking weeks or months of concentrated efforts for the DE community of a particular galaxy in order to perfect the droideka.
Just some ideas on ways to introduce new features in a content-rich way..
By the way, yes, I know, this is a huge development effort, but I think it'd be worth it in the end.
Comments appreciated.
TM
IsaacPalinander
Mon Nov 03, 2003 9:45 am
#3
This does sound very interesting. My problem with these sorts of things is that they are very draconian and medeival. SWG is set in a technologically adanced universe. The schematic for the droideka is out there. Nym, isolated on a remote world with limited access to civilization, has apparently managed to produce these things in sufficient numbers for them to appear as random NPC Nym spawns.
Quests and such are fine ideas for fantasy based RPGs like EQ or AC, but this is Star Wars where there is access to advanced technologies and data storage. Records are kept. A medeival hunt for a droideka schematic could be fun but it doesn't make much sense.
Quests and such are fine ideas for fantasy based RPGs like EQ or AC, but this is Star Wars where there is access to advanced technologies and data storage. Records are kept. A medeival hunt for a droideka schematic could be fun but it doesn't make much sense.
TribbleMaster
Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:02 am
#5
I didn't realize that Lok's Droideka's were property of Nym. Maybe I'm not familiar enough with the EU to know that.
My assumption was that these "relics" are running loose on Lok and could be reverse engineered. Anyway the idea of reverse engineering them is more appealing than hiring a squad of goons to go in and take the schematics by force from Nym's resident DE. And, although I agree that we are supposed to be in a technologically advanced society (just look at everyone in bone armor as a sign of this), maybe the plans were destroyed or sealed by the Empire and we are forced to reverse engineer them.
There's probably an infinite number of RP scenarios that an idea of like this could use to make it all workable.
Personally, I'll be a bit disappointed if I log in one evening to find that I have access to all these cool modules and/or chassis (combat or otherwise) and SOE didn't take the opportunity to develop some content around their discovery.
TM
My assumption was that these "relics" are running loose on Lok and could be reverse engineered. Anyway the idea of reverse engineering them is more appealing than hiring a squad of goons to go in and take the schematics by force from Nym's resident DE. And, although I agree that we are supposed to be in a technologically advanced society (just look at everyone in bone armor as a sign of this), maybe the plans were destroyed or sealed by the Empire and we are forced to reverse engineer them.
There's probably an infinite number of RP scenarios that an idea of like this could use to make it all workable.
Personally, I'll be a bit disappointed if I log in one evening to find that I have access to all these cool modules and/or chassis (combat or otherwise) and SOE didn't take the opportunity to develop some content around their discovery.
TM
IsaacPalinander wrote:
This does sound very interesting. My problem with these sorts of things is that they are very draconian and medeival. SWG is set in a technologically adanced universe. The schematic for the droideka is out there. Nym, isolated on a remote world with limited access to civilization, has apparently managed to produce these things in sufficient numbers for them to appear as random NPC Nym spawns.
Quests and such are fine ideas for fantasy based RPGs like EQ or AC, but this is Star Wars where there is access to advanced technologies and data storage. Records are kept. A medeival hunt for a droideka schematic could be fun but it doesn't make much sense.
IsaacPalinander
Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:41 am
#6
There are 2 types of Lokian droideka. There are the red conning "free-range" droideka that roll around and are just generally mean (they can also be found in a cave on Lok as a static spawn), and there there are the ones that con-yellow and spawn with Nym's people bearing the title "Nym's Droideka."
IsaacPalinander
Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:42 am
#7
There's also a red-conning droideka and an IG-88 in the Warren.
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