Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Ideas I had...
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Ivanov
Mon Nov 03, 2003 8:23 am
#1
Hello everyone, I know that a lot of us out there have read over (some) of the messages on this bord, and a lot of us have a lot of opinions. A great deal of us, it seems, have gathered a few ideas up and posted them. Well, I know what I'm about to post isn't terribly original, but I just wanted to have my words be able to be seen, though if anyone will read them is entirely different....
Droids and Thoughts:
a) Many of us believe that there should be new Droids added to the profession. I agree in part, BUT what I'd =rather= see is that the Droids we have get improved. I don't mean stats, I mean function. Personally, the idea of modules is good, but how it was applied really stinks. I'd love to see the devs scrap the module idea, and think about this:
Each model of Droid was made to serve a function, or fulfill some duty. Imperial PROBE Droids (probots) were made for reconnaissance (the blaster on it was for defensive purposes, and to cut through trees and such so it could explore), the Treadwell is a Maintenance Droid. What I'd like to see is have each Droid have a FUNCTION, which only it can do (with the exception to combat, there can [and probably should] be more than one combat Droid). With that in mind, if they want to add modules than some Droids either shouldn't be able to take them, or have modules that only improve their stats....
Example:
A Surgical Droid without a module will allow healing around it (like the medical module does at current) You throw in a medical module, and suddenly the surgical Droid will heal our wounds over time (like a camp or medical center, but slower). Throw in a higher level one, and the speed increases.
A Power Droid should be able to power things....perhapse its a very slow energy generator. It will produce power enough to recharge your -- or other peoples -- Droids. Throw in a power module, and it can actually make energy (like wind/solar power units), though very very slowly. Add in a better module, and that rate increases. Being a utility Droid, I believe it could be added to an existing power generator to increase the output, or if we want to have it automatically shuttle power between your power generator (Since, it being a power Droid could easily have the capacitance for it) and something requiring it -- like every hour, take X many power units to [insert power requiring object here].
Tredwells should be able to help maintain structures and buildings and such, I'm not suggesting eliminate the need to pay maintenance costs, but possibly reduce them? A tredwell could easily cycle around your items (in its patrol), and by virtue of being near (and possibly stopping at for 10 minuets) a machinery piece, or home, the maintain costs are reduced by like, 5%?
Repair Droids should, obviously, repair things. A possible application of this is for those of us who do not pay our upkeep regularly on homes and machinery should have to seek out either an architect to build us a new one, or a DE to repair what's broken to 0 damage (than pay maintenance to have it work again). Also, the repair Droid would have applications towards repairing other Droids as well.
*Note: The reason I am focusing on utility Droids at the moment is because, like it or not, we're a crafters class.
NewDroids:
A few new Droids could be added, but once again they should have a function.....
Combat Droids (new and old):
*This is also assuming that Certs will be taken into effect, so I will put in suggested cert levels.
Seeker: lowest level combat Droid - should be able to be used by anyone in a basic profession. Doesn't have a lot of oomph, but is a good distraction and should be available cheaply (50 bucks?). [Farmboy Luke had at least one to help him w/ his earliest Jedi training aboard the Falcon]
Probot: Make this a utility drone, I hate how its been made into a combat class!
Trade Fed Infantry Droid [Replacement for Probot]: A middle class combat Droid. Make this guy available for anyone middle-ways up a combat class (Brawler, marksman), andany elite profession. They should be lightly armored, have a fairly decent HAM and resistance's, but their weapons aren't all /that/ great. They make for better distractions that can run around.
Adv Army Droids (From clone wars): Heavy combat chassis, has good weapons good armor but poor poor speed. They're tanks, with cannons and lots of stuff. [Alternatively, we can easily make this Droidika.] Available to any elite combat class, and DE's [once again, if you can make it you should be able to use it- since they are machines]
Non-Combat Droids [existing]:
No certs would be needed for any of these, because they're not weapons
Mouse Droid: Data Storage. What one can do is put data into the mouse Droid (As long as its not creature data) and it will, on command, recall it. If this data is a waypoint (and I suggest being able to put 1 mission inside) It will head there (A good time to use the /follow command). [Remember the Stormtroopers in the death star? The lead one was looking down and following it.] They could possibly also be used to lead your power/maintaince Droids around to and from their appointed rounds?
Protocol Droids: Other than translation that currently has no purpose, I'd suggest being able to have these guys be able to be parked outside of a building [but not inside of a city, that would get ridiculous] and act as a greeter. Also, they would have extensive use in Player Made City parts, such as travel stations (shuttleport, etc)
Binary Load Lifters: Should be able to pickup and move building structures w/o having to spend a lot of money to pay up the maintenance so far up. This could also lead to moving around houses and other structures (once cities are built, this can allow for better city construction... "Okay we can now afford a city park, we need to move those three buildings back a few plots to make room")
Probe Droids:SHOULD be used for possibly surveying. One suggestion I heard a while back is set them up a surveying module. Each module is set for a type of thing (nothing as broad asmineral, probably something like Steel). When you use the probe Droid you should be able to pull down a radial menu and choose from its list of resources (in this example, you'll get a choice of steels, and than select one). It should be able to go out and survey for you. Once there, it should transmit back to you a resource waypoint and just ... wait. Perhaps higher level surveying modules could have it start digging for you too (though, it would be slower than a mineral extractor, and its hopper should be very small, like no more than 100 units, much much slower). But still, this saves some legwork (and danger). If its attacked, it can attempt to defend its self (and transmit to you, that its under attack)
The others are simpler ... power Droids make power for structures and Droids, repair Droids repair, medical Droids medicate, and tredwells maintain...
The R-units I'm not going to touch for now, because they =are= modular and should be able to be made with more creativity (though when the expansion comes out, they should be a necessity for hyper-speed travel, and navi-computers).
New Utility Droids:
One thought that I had heard earlier was that of class specific Droids; an artisan Droid for artisans and such. I like this idea, and some applications come to mind... Like the BH Droids, I could see a specific kind of Droid for each group...Those listed here are for use by those in the basic professions, elite would be more difficult to make, due to so many classes. These Droids should be inexpensive, and require little power and low maintenance (mostly cause they shouldn't have to see their local DE every 45 mind ... business needs a boost, not to be kicked into Hyperspace). They should be accessible to anyone who has the novice skill...
Artisan Droids could have built in crafting stations, and perhaps be able to hold resources "here Droid, I don't want to carry these 10 different kinds of hides and bones that I only have 8 of at the moment...you carry them" or something like that.
Brawler's Droids could contain something to either act as a decoy, or possibly have a limited healing capacity, or maybe a weapon repair tool? This one was never seen in movies, so its hard to describe a direct function.
Entertainer: A nifty little speaker that floats around for musicians, or a little light-show thing that will add some cool effects for dancers? -- it should be able to tell when its owner does a flourish, and has 8 of its own flourishes to be activated in tandem.The fact it can be added to a group means it will be another entertainer, making those entertainers on planets like Rori not always be forced to be a solo act (of course, having PC's fill the slots in the entertainer party is -always- better) This one was never seen in movies, so its hard to describe a direct function.
Marksman: A weapon repair Droid would be nice here. Also, it could be used as a 'spotter' (when deployed, adds to the aim bonus?)- this would help increase accuracy and fill out the party a little more. Do note, that this is not made to have combat functions, other than help the people around it.... This Spotter/Repair function /could/ be made into a module that only Marksmen can use in the combat Droids?
Medic: Low-level medical Droids, something to hold stimpacks in (or administer occasionally). Perhaps a little thing to help take the edge off the Fatigue that incurs? Even the surgical Droid had an assistant, perhaps the other assistant Droid?
Scout: A Droid that can allow a scout to get Skin & Bones from a kill would be great (or skin and meat, or meat and bones...). Another possible function is it will increase the lifespan of a tent, or allow the creator to set down a tent, leave it for a while, and come back within the hour to have it still be there. I think this second function is better, but not to all scouts.
OtherideasStuff
Of course, there are many things that I feel I want to say about this profession so I'll stick to what I think are the key issues...
1) Bug Fixes. Other than making Droids unique and useful, I'd say making them work in the first place is important.
2) Droid Control. Having one Droid out at a time is perfectly fine for most people, I think that at level 4 Engineer you can get 2 out ... and DE's more, with the stipulation that only 1 of them at a time can be a Combat Droid. For those of us who can use more than 1,I think there should be an item (Restraining Bolt) that should be placed on a Droid if you intend to have more than one out. When you place it on, it gives a Droid some of designation (A, B, C or 1, 2, 3, or something along those lines.) That way, if you have Droids programmed with the same command word, you can differentiate between them.... A Attack. BRepair A. C recharge A and B. The main reason I say this is also to have it further separate us from creature handlers.
~~ Alternatively, if the creator knows a droid will be used with others, a Restraining Bolt might be able to be built into the droid, using a module slot.
Well....thats about it -- for now. Thanks for listening to my ranting and ramblings. I hope that someone out there reads this.
Droids and Thoughts:
a) Many of us believe that there should be new Droids added to the profession. I agree in part, BUT what I'd =rather= see is that the Droids we have get improved. I don't mean stats, I mean function. Personally, the idea of modules is good, but how it was applied really stinks. I'd love to see the devs scrap the module idea, and think about this:
Each model of Droid was made to serve a function, or fulfill some duty. Imperial PROBE Droids (probots) were made for reconnaissance (the blaster on it was for defensive purposes, and to cut through trees and such so it could explore), the Treadwell is a Maintenance Droid. What I'd like to see is have each Droid have a FUNCTION, which only it can do (with the exception to combat, there can [and probably should] be more than one combat Droid). With that in mind, if they want to add modules than some Droids either shouldn't be able to take them, or have modules that only improve their stats....
Example:
A Surgical Droid without a module will allow healing around it (like the medical module does at current) You throw in a medical module, and suddenly the surgical Droid will heal our wounds over time (like a camp or medical center, but slower). Throw in a higher level one, and the speed increases.
A Power Droid should be able to power things....perhapse its a very slow energy generator. It will produce power enough to recharge your -- or other peoples -- Droids. Throw in a power module, and it can actually make energy (like wind/solar power units), though very very slowly. Add in a better module, and that rate increases. Being a utility Droid, I believe it could be added to an existing power generator to increase the output, or if we want to have it automatically shuttle power between your power generator (Since, it being a power Droid could easily have the capacitance for it) and something requiring it -- like every hour, take X many power units to [insert power requiring object here].
Tredwells should be able to help maintain structures and buildings and such, I'm not suggesting eliminate the need to pay maintenance costs, but possibly reduce them? A tredwell could easily cycle around your items (in its patrol), and by virtue of being near (and possibly stopping at for 10 minuets) a machinery piece, or home, the maintain costs are reduced by like, 5%?
Repair Droids should, obviously, repair things. A possible application of this is for those of us who do not pay our upkeep regularly on homes and machinery should have to seek out either an architect to build us a new one, or a DE to repair what's broken to 0 damage (than pay maintenance to have it work again). Also, the repair Droid would have applications towards repairing other Droids as well.
*Note: The reason I am focusing on utility Droids at the moment is because, like it or not, we're a crafters class.
NewDroids:
A few new Droids could be added, but once again they should have a function.....
Combat Droids (new and old):
*This is also assuming that Certs will be taken into effect, so I will put in suggested cert levels.
Seeker: lowest level combat Droid - should be able to be used by anyone in a basic profession. Doesn't have a lot of oomph, but is a good distraction and should be available cheaply (50 bucks?). [Farmboy Luke had at least one to help him w/ his earliest Jedi training aboard the Falcon]
Probot: Make this a utility drone, I hate how its been made into a combat class!
Trade Fed Infantry Droid [Replacement for Probot]: A middle class combat Droid. Make this guy available for anyone middle-ways up a combat class (Brawler, marksman), andany elite profession. They should be lightly armored, have a fairly decent HAM and resistance's, but their weapons aren't all /that/ great. They make for better distractions that can run around.
Adv Army Droids (From clone wars): Heavy combat chassis, has good weapons good armor but poor poor speed. They're tanks, with cannons and lots of stuff. [Alternatively, we can easily make this Droidika.] Available to any elite combat class, and DE's [once again, if you can make it you should be able to use it- since they are machines]
Non-Combat Droids [existing]:
No certs would be needed for any of these, because they're not weapons
Mouse Droid: Data Storage. What one can do is put data into the mouse Droid (As long as its not creature data) and it will, on command, recall it. If this data is a waypoint (and I suggest being able to put 1 mission inside) It will head there (A good time to use the /follow command). [Remember the Stormtroopers in the death star? The lead one was looking down and following it.] They could possibly also be used to lead your power/maintaince Droids around to and from their appointed rounds?
Protocol Droids: Other than translation that currently has no purpose, I'd suggest being able to have these guys be able to be parked outside of a building [but not inside of a city, that would get ridiculous] and act as a greeter. Also, they would have extensive use in Player Made City parts, such as travel stations (shuttleport, etc)
Binary Load Lifters: Should be able to pickup and move building structures w/o having to spend a lot of money to pay up the maintenance so far up. This could also lead to moving around houses and other structures (once cities are built, this can allow for better city construction... "Okay we can now afford a city park, we need to move those three buildings back a few plots to make room")
Probe Droids:SHOULD be used for possibly surveying. One suggestion I heard a while back is set them up a surveying module. Each module is set for a type of thing (nothing as broad asmineral, probably something like Steel). When you use the probe Droid you should be able to pull down a radial menu and choose from its list of resources (in this example, you'll get a choice of steels, and than select one). It should be able to go out and survey for you. Once there, it should transmit back to you a resource waypoint and just ... wait. Perhaps higher level surveying modules could have it start digging for you too (though, it would be slower than a mineral extractor, and its hopper should be very small, like no more than 100 units, much much slower). But still, this saves some legwork (and danger). If its attacked, it can attempt to defend its self (and transmit to you, that its under attack)
The others are simpler ... power Droids make power for structures and Droids, repair Droids repair, medical Droids medicate, and tredwells maintain...
The R-units I'm not going to touch for now, because they =are= modular and should be able to be made with more creativity (though when the expansion comes out, they should be a necessity for hyper-speed travel, and navi-computers).
New Utility Droids:
One thought that I had heard earlier was that of class specific Droids; an artisan Droid for artisans and such. I like this idea, and some applications come to mind... Like the BH Droids, I could see a specific kind of Droid for each group...Those listed here are for use by those in the basic professions, elite would be more difficult to make, due to so many classes. These Droids should be inexpensive, and require little power and low maintenance (mostly cause they shouldn't have to see their local DE every 45 mind ... business needs a boost, not to be kicked into Hyperspace). They should be accessible to anyone who has the novice skill...
Artisan Droids could have built in crafting stations, and perhaps be able to hold resources "here Droid, I don't want to carry these 10 different kinds of hides and bones that I only have 8 of at the moment...you carry them" or something like that.
Brawler's Droids could contain something to either act as a decoy, or possibly have a limited healing capacity, or maybe a weapon repair tool? This one was never seen in movies, so its hard to describe a direct function.
Entertainer: A nifty little speaker that floats around for musicians, or a little light-show thing that will add some cool effects for dancers? -- it should be able to tell when its owner does a flourish, and has 8 of its own flourishes to be activated in tandem.The fact it can be added to a group means it will be another entertainer, making those entertainers on planets like Rori not always be forced to be a solo act (of course, having PC's fill the slots in the entertainer party is -always- better) This one was never seen in movies, so its hard to describe a direct function.
Marksman: A weapon repair Droid would be nice here. Also, it could be used as a 'spotter' (when deployed, adds to the aim bonus?)- this would help increase accuracy and fill out the party a little more. Do note, that this is not made to have combat functions, other than help the people around it.... This Spotter/Repair function /could/ be made into a module that only Marksmen can use in the combat Droids?
Medic: Low-level medical Droids, something to hold stimpacks in (or administer occasionally). Perhaps a little thing to help take the edge off the Fatigue that incurs? Even the surgical Droid had an assistant, perhaps the other assistant Droid?
Scout: A Droid that can allow a scout to get Skin & Bones from a kill would be great (or skin and meat, or meat and bones...). Another possible function is it will increase the lifespan of a tent, or allow the creator to set down a tent, leave it for a while, and come back within the hour to have it still be there. I think this second function is better, but not to all scouts.
OtherideasStuff
Of course, there are many things that I feel I want to say about this profession so I'll stick to what I think are the key issues...
1) Bug Fixes. Other than making Droids unique and useful, I'd say making them work in the first place is important.
2) Droid Control. Having one Droid out at a time is perfectly fine for most people, I think that at level 4 Engineer you can get 2 out ... and DE's more, with the stipulation that only 1 of them at a time can be a Combat Droid. For those of us who can use more than 1,I think there should be an item (Restraining Bolt) that should be placed on a Droid if you intend to have more than one out. When you place it on, it gives a Droid some of designation (A, B, C or 1, 2, 3, or something along those lines.) That way, if you have Droids programmed with the same command word, you can differentiate between them.... A Attack. BRepair A. C recharge A and B. The main reason I say this is also to have it further separate us from creature handlers.
~~ Alternatively, if the creator knows a droid will be used with others, a Restraining Bolt might be able to be built into the droid, using a module slot.
Well....thats about it -- for now. Thanks for listening to my ranting and ramblings. I hope that someone out there reads this.
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