Droid Engineer Archive

Back in them pre-Pub 7 days the devs threatened us all with the dreaded "DH" profession. The cries rang out loud and clear in this forum "NO, WE DON'T WANT TO BE METAL BE'S FOR METAL CH'S" and I was with you 100%, but after thinking, I think we missed out on something possibly REALLY COOL here. Yeah what the devs wanted to do would have made you metal equivalents of BE/CH BUT what if instead of just making a few new droid chassis that were for combat specifically, they made a bunch of new droid chassis, some that were more combat related, but some that were just larger versions of utility droids. Droids that could have more than 6 modules in them. Maybe a few new "DH" only utility modules, or DH grade versions of existing modules. Maybe instead of capping at 110 for medical functionality, DH's could get more advanced medical modules that gave them say 150, or more advanced harvesting modules that could harvest extra (or perhaps multiple, albiet at a lower rate) resources, stim modules in DH droids could take higher level stims or get a bonus to the healing amount. Maybe keep stacking modules the same but give advanced versions of non-stacking modules. The DH grade modules could go in any chassis but would only be accessable by someone with the appropriate DH skills (this type of system is already in the game with ent/scout/medic/merchant modules), or they will only function at non-DH level if you don't have the right skills. DH grade droids would be alloted a higher number of module slots, starting at a few more for low level DH droids to a LOT more at high level ones. 5, 6, 7, maybe 8 combat clusters in the master level droid. Comperable HAM and armor to a CL70 pet, with comperable damage fully loaded with combat modules (maybe also have specials modules that could cause the droid to do status changes like pets at the cost of damage, maybe these modules would take up more than 1 module slot). But you can put other things in it like auto heal modules (again at the cost of combat rating) harvest modules, etc... Maybe make stronger "self repair" modules that would repair just the droid it was it, but at a higher rate. DH would be cool even if they stuck us with the current limit of 5 droids just let us use higher level/more complex droids because it would give us a lot more flexibility with what we had.

Anyway, I think a DH profession could end up really good if it had the proper support structure (i.e. not just adding combat droids), I know I'd have a hard time deciding what to drop to take it

Yweav
Masta Pike / Swordsman 1444 / Masta Medic / Almost TK

Yweav
Masta Pike / Swordsman 1444 / Masta Medic / Almost TK

I don't mean to shoot you down on this but we already tried to get to a DE/DH type hybrid profession.

The issue is that trying to shove both into one profession means that we'd up having an elite crafting profession and an elite combat profession by only spending the skill points for one or the other.


Having it both ways just isn't gonna go (again, despite the fact that so many people were behind this exact idea).




/bow

Respectfully,

Ok, here's the deal DE = hardware, DH = software. Yes the vasy majority of the population can use a PC, but how many people have the expertise to use a high end mainframe? And just because somebody can design and build the circutry required for said mainfraim doesn't mean that they know how to write and use the software for the high end machine they just made. Droids aren't toasters, they're complex machines, takes knowledge to build, and takes a different set of knowledge to opperate. What's wrong with having a few "high end" droids that "average" people can't use to the max capacity.

Here is a solution I posted back in January. The only downside someone noted was that it basically gives Uber combat people a more Uber droid to fight with. I feel that with the % of not obeying commands, they will only have lower level droids they can rely upon 100% of the time.

Here is an answer I came up with that works off of measures already in the system so programming should be simple (not as simple as cut/paste the CH profession but it is different and avoids any new professions or Droid Certs).

Have all droids have something called a Reaction Percentage (R%) which is the chance that a droid will react to a command its owner gives it. All utility droids automatically have an R% of 100%. This is for all combat droids:

The total R% is made up by four factors:
-Skill Points (SP) - these are the numbers of skill points that a character has spent on his or her character.
-Personal Consideration Value (PCV) - this is the number that the system uses to determine the /con rating based upon your personal abilities. Although this would change with what you had equipped, you will note later that as this is a combat droid and you would be going into combat, you would want to be equipped with all of your best gear before entering combat/calling your droid. I put it in % since I do not know what the top 'cap' of a PCV can be but there has to be a maximum somewhere.
-Droid Level (DL) - This is similiar to the CL of pets and, I am assuming, is capped at 110. If not, numbers can be adjusted accordingly.
-Command Successes (CS) - This is the number of commands that have succeeded upon your droid. For every 10 commands that succeed, you get an additional +1% to your droid following your orders, up to a maximum equal to the Droids DL percentage.

Therefore, the R%=SP+PCV+DL+CS

SP R%
0-125 5%
126-175 10%
176-213 15%
214-238 20%
239-250 25%

PCV R%
1%-50% 5%
51%-70% 10%
71%-85% 15%
86%-95% 20%
96%-100% 25%

DLR%
1-55 50%
56-76 40%
77-93 30%
94-104 20%
105-110 10%

So, a character who has spent 200 of his skill points, has a Personal Combat Value in 80% range and wants to use a level 100 droid would have a R% of 55%. This could max out with Command Successes to 75% (double the DL Response percentage).

A few notes:
-The higher the DL, the quicker it uses up batteries
-Only a DE can repair the black wounds of a Droid. However, the Droid does 'decay' over time like a weapon.
-Certain skills (that make sense) would add additional bonuses - Such as Tactics (I don't have a list available to me or I would cite each skill I think is relevent)
- +1% for each box in DE completed (Okey, this one is personal but eh, might as well ask for it.)
-Experimentation can increase the the R% of the Droid.
-Certain 'personality chips' will increase the R% of a Droid but reduce the effectiveness of the droid as well (Ala C3PO with a blaster).
-If a droid is ever transferred or given to another character, that Droid's CS is reset to 0
-The R% is determined each time the droid is called forth (to stop someone from Min/Maxing the droid control)
-A character's base R% should be displayed in their character sheet so that they can refer to it when thinking about purchasing a droid. If possible (but can be left to the knowledge of the DE) the droid's deed should display the R% as well.
-The maximum a Droid's CS can increase is 1% per 6 hours (to stop any AFK droid training)
-No faction Combat Droids. Combat Droids are outlawed during this timeframe (The probe droid in ANH wasn't a massive combat machine, just had very low auto defense). Any faction NPC (Rebel commander, Imp Soldier or an AT-ST) or any "Law official" type NPC (Fed-Dub, CorSec) will attack a combat droid on site. This will limit simply walking around with them and/or using them in conjunction with other faction pets and keep the "Uber leet" to a minimum.
-The higher the DL, the more rare the resources. If you want to make a killer bot, it is going to be hard to find the resources and likewise be expensive to buy after crafting.
-DE's will be responsible for the DL of the droid crafted, dependant upon such things as attack modules, defensive modules, overall HAM and droid frame style. It would be best if the DL value of the item crafted could be displayed during crafting and experimentation - that way the DE can tailor his results to fit the order.
-If the Droid fails an 'attack' order, it will still cause the target of the attack to turn upon the droid owner and attack. This is to stop low level characters from simply 'tanking' their way to the top.

I am sure that such a system can be exploited in a way that I haven't noticed. I see the above system having the following bonuses:

-Anyone can have a combat droid. However, the more powerful the droid, the harder it will be for you to control. Low Level characters and those not interested in combat will not be able to control the massive tanks. The High Level, "Uber" fighters will have a better chance at controlling them but they will not be able to use them with any other 'faction' pets and even the DL 110's will more than likely fail their reaction check from time to time. Also, people won't wander around towns with tanks due to the TEF from "law officials". Perhaps you could pop a droid in a remote sector of town but you could be in for a doozy of a fight.

-Is not a duplication of the CH. We don't need a new tree to get all the functionality of the droids. Sure, it is the most easy way out. Having developed games, I don't see how the above could not be implemented with the existing structure of the code. If crafting stations, storage units and other areas that make droids the 'swiss army knives' would cause this coding to be harder, simply remove the ability to put these units into a combat droid. They are meant to fight, not to craft hats.

-It adds a new challenging area to combat as well as giving randomness to the types of droids made. Do you pop your subservient pets or the tempermental droid? Do you want to give your Droidika a less powerful weapon so that it will obey you more often? All sorts of combinations will be crafted and tried out. Eventually, people will create the 'perfect mix' but that will be for only certain levels, with certain abilities and so on. What works great for Timmy may not be the best fit for Alex. And once Timmy decides to go to Master TKA, he might want to turn his Assassin T-40 in for a Droidika Mk 3.

FRUGA HAS LEFT THE GALAXY - Good luck all, I'm done with this game - Account Closed 9/10/2004
with a two month visit again from 6/05-7/05

Upon launch of JTL - An Empire Deserted (no one on planet) Coming in 2005! "Star Wars Galaxies: The Jedi Empire"