Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Five Droids I Would Like to See From a non-DE
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T1nman33
Sat Nov 01, 2003 12:29 pm
#1
Let me preface this by saying, one, I'm not a DE and have no desire to be. I also refuse to jump on the CH bandwagon. I just don't think everybody and their mother running around with a pack of Grauls named Fluffy and Muffin is Star-warsy and I won't play along.
I think that droids are very Star-Warsy. TH, in response to some of the threads, I started thinking about what droids in the actual movies could be seen doing, and how that could translate into the game. Some things, like translator droids, didn't seem all that useful without major changes. And Combat Droids is something that everybody has already brought up.
But I was able to come up with these five ideas. An important caveat: at first glance, you might say, "these ideas are taking roles away from real flesh-and-blood players." I respond, by limiting the usefulness of what a droid can do, you eliminate that problem. Nobody is complaining that mobs drop weapons as loot, because even a novice Weaponsmith can make better. By the same token, even a novice player should be able to outperform what a droid can do.
Okay, here we go:
1. Scout droid. There are plenty of dungeons and interesting POIs that I would like to explore, but I'm just not powerful enough to do so. I would like a mouse droid that I could send into the Tusken Village or the volcano cave on Lok just to scope things out--see what mobs are there, where loot might be, etc. This droid couldn't engage in combat, although it could certainly have to roll occasionally to see if it had been detected by any mobs present, who could then destroy it. Of course, the stealth level and range of the droid could be controlled by the DE who built it. It would be great if you could take over the perspective of the droid and move around just as if the droid were now the player.
2. Radar droid. This one is a gimme--TH, you alluded to one of the best uses of droids in the actual movies from your thread title, "There are several creatures approaching from the Southwest." Remember that it was R2 who detected those Banthas. I would like a droid that could scan in all directions searching for particular mobs, hostile mobs, large concentrations of creatures, POIs, etc. This would be similar to equipping the droid with a Ranger's tracking skill. You could tell your droid, "Scan and find a Krayt dragon within a range of 500m" or something like that, or "Scan and tell me what direction has the highest concentration of life forms."
3. Decoy droid. Equip an R2 unit with a hologram projector. Then, take cover. Project a hologram of yourself somewhere else. Attack a mob. The mob attacks the hologram first, buying you extra time of being covered before you are attacked. Virtua Tank. A subset of this idea is to have a "Gronk" droid go charging at some mobs, literally tanking for you. The droid could do little or no damage, take a walloping, and give you the chance to stand back and shoot.
4. Field Surgeon droid. Have a medical droid that is capable of equipping no higher than Stim-As, and that cannot heal wounds. The droid could be targetted and disabled by mobs, but while functioning, it could follow you around and heal you in battle. This takes care of the huge number of combat people who only have Novice Medic so they can heal themselves in battle; the droid takes care of that for you. But because it isn't even as effective as a Novice Medic, having a Medic along on a combat mission is still desirable.
5. Slicing droid. Again, taken right from R2-D2 hacking the Death Star computer in Ep. 4. Equip a droid with a module that allows you to hack mission terminals for better control over missions, better mission payouts, etc. The droid couldn't slice locked containers, armor or weapons, thereby saving Smugglers from being made obsolete. But if your droid could increase your credits from a mission by 25%, that's a good deal.
There ya go. If droids could do things like this--things that supplement, but don't replace, the abilities of flesh-and-blood players--I'd be calling my friendly neighborhood DE in a second to order my own droid. As it stands, though, droids just aren't that useful, and certainly not as useful as pets.
I think that droids are very Star-Warsy. TH, in response to some of the threads, I started thinking about what droids in the actual movies could be seen doing, and how that could translate into the game. Some things, like translator droids, didn't seem all that useful without major changes. And Combat Droids is something that everybody has already brought up.
But I was able to come up with these five ideas. An important caveat: at first glance, you might say, "these ideas are taking roles away from real flesh-and-blood players." I respond, by limiting the usefulness of what a droid can do, you eliminate that problem. Nobody is complaining that mobs drop weapons as loot, because even a novice Weaponsmith can make better. By the same token, even a novice player should be able to outperform what a droid can do.
Okay, here we go:
1. Scout droid. There are plenty of dungeons and interesting POIs that I would like to explore, but I'm just not powerful enough to do so. I would like a mouse droid that I could send into the Tusken Village or the volcano cave on Lok just to scope things out--see what mobs are there, where loot might be, etc. This droid couldn't engage in combat, although it could certainly have to roll occasionally to see if it had been detected by any mobs present, who could then destroy it. Of course, the stealth level and range of the droid could be controlled by the DE who built it. It would be great if you could take over the perspective of the droid and move around just as if the droid were now the player.
2. Radar droid. This one is a gimme--TH, you alluded to one of the best uses of droids in the actual movies from your thread title, "There are several creatures approaching from the Southwest." Remember that it was R2 who detected those Banthas. I would like a droid that could scan in all directions searching for particular mobs, hostile mobs, large concentrations of creatures, POIs, etc. This would be similar to equipping the droid with a Ranger's tracking skill. You could tell your droid, "Scan and find a Krayt dragon within a range of 500m" or something like that, or "Scan and tell me what direction has the highest concentration of life forms."
3. Decoy droid. Equip an R2 unit with a hologram projector. Then, take cover. Project a hologram of yourself somewhere else. Attack a mob. The mob attacks the hologram first, buying you extra time of being covered before you are attacked. Virtua Tank. A subset of this idea is to have a "Gronk" droid go charging at some mobs, literally tanking for you. The droid could do little or no damage, take a walloping, and give you the chance to stand back and shoot.
4. Field Surgeon droid. Have a medical droid that is capable of equipping no higher than Stim-As, and that cannot heal wounds. The droid could be targetted and disabled by mobs, but while functioning, it could follow you around and heal you in battle. This takes care of the huge number of combat people who only have Novice Medic so they can heal themselves in battle; the droid takes care of that for you. But because it isn't even as effective as a Novice Medic, having a Medic along on a combat mission is still desirable.
5. Slicing droid. Again, taken right from R2-D2 hacking the Death Star computer in Ep. 4. Equip a droid with a module that allows you to hack mission terminals for better control over missions, better mission payouts, etc. The droid couldn't slice locked containers, armor or weapons, thereby saving Smugglers from being made obsolete. But if your droid could increase your credits from a mission by 25%, that's a good deal.
There ya go. If droids could do things like this--things that supplement, but don't replace, the abilities of flesh-and-blood players--I'd be calling my friendly neighborhood DE in a second to order my own droid. As it stands, though, droids just aren't that useful, and certainly not as useful as pets.
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