Droid Engineer Archive

As we’ve seen, DEs don’t want to be CHs. I doubt many dream of running around with three giant combat mechs behind them, squashing all in their path (that’s what AT-STs are for). My best friend who’s a DE has said since before beta that what he wanted to was to design and build droids that he could then take into battle with him, like a droideka, or some sort of floating, laser-wielding bot that flits around avoiding fire, while pecking away at the enemy.

When I play SW:KoToR, I don't need any special skills to tell my combat/protocol droid to "attack that guy". No skills I acquire make the droid better at fighting. He learns from experience, getting XP like the other party members. And that fiction is thousands of years before SWG takes place. Why are we stuck with such lame-ass droids now? The advantage droids have over organic pets is that they do exactly what they are told, without translation, quarrel or attitude.

However, some droids will require maintenance that a non-DE can’t give it. This is why non-DE can only command low-level bots that aren’t as highly advanced. After a tough fight the DE needs to adjust something, or recalibrate a sensor. A probot is like a toaster oven, a droideka is like a Xerox machine. But the DE built the darn thing, so he certainly can maintain it. Ever known a computer geek who can build a PC but can’t clean the mouse and adjust the monitor’s scan rate?

Balance is always an issue. TH said in another place that if everyone got good droids, they’d have to make all the combat harder and those without droids would have a hard time of it. I have two objections:

First, did the introduction of pets that non-CH can control require them to make all combat harder? Are they saying that anyone without a level 10 pet is currently having more difficulty?

Second, having help in combat reduces your XP gain. As a TKA, I have two choices when soloing for combat XP. If I go it alone, I am more limited in what I can kill. I can take down a rogue faamba or a couple bolles for a few thousand XP each. Or I can whip out my lvl 10 pet and let him help. I’ll kill the mobs faster that way, but I get less XP each time. I’m a bit safer, since he can take some of the damage (not most, but some), but again, less XP for me each kill.

This is the trade-off you always make when using a pet. How are good droids for everyone any different? If I had a lvl 15 pet (like I used to pre-nerf), I would get even less XP each time, because he’s doing even more damage. And yet since I’m still outdamaging him, I take most of the punishment, so downtime is still fairly high between maybe.

Anyway, being an MDE takes a lot of skill points (with MA and maybe some merchant) and doesn’t leave many points for mastering an advanced combat class also. You don’t need to turn the MDE into a “combat profession” just to give it certs in all the droids it can make.

Finally, a point on CHs. Is CH a “combat profession” or a “crafting profession”? They certainly like to fight, and they train their pets to kill. But they also catch baby critters, train them, and sell them. They train them to be killers and mounts. No other “combat class” has anything to produce or sell. Obviously they are a hybrid class. Some combat, some “crafting”. The DE can be the same way, with more emphasis on crafting than CH, but certainly with the ability to use droids to make up for their lack of skill at advanced combat professions.

So if you’ve gotten through all of this, here’s my suggestion: Implement a cert system for combat droids that uses two level caps:

1) DE can use any droid they can make, except that the more powerful ones will function at reduced efficiency until the DE gets high enough to fully utilize it. There should be master-only combat droids.

2) With any advanced combat profession, give a cert at a 3rd level skill box that allows them to use droids up to level 15. This won’t reduce the usefulness of pets because non-CH that are that high don’t use pets anyway, right? If your pet cons blue to you, you need to give it away to a newb. But a droid doesn’t take nearly as much skill to command as an animal, you just need some basic tactical training to utilize them effectively.

3) NO combat droids higher than level 40. There is leeway here obviously as I’m not completely knowledgeable of how things play out at higher pet levels. But no droid should be as tough as a Rancor. I’d say the best combat droid should max out at 2/3 the level of the best pet.

4) DE can never command more than 2 droids at once. This is mostly a balance thing, but I think any DE could live with that. Ideas/suggestions?