Smuggler Archive
Thread: Put your bomb droid tips here for the FAQ
Page 1 of 3
Zoastra
Wed Sep 08, 2004 8:53 am
#1
Good day to you, fellow smugglers!
I had a new smuggler ask me some questions about the exploding mse's the other day and it had been so long since I tried one I couldn't answer properly. I checked the FAQ today and noticed we don't have anything in there about these little novelties. I culled the forum a little, but probably got incomplete information depending on if folks used 'bomb droid' or 'exploding mse' or such.
Anyway, here's what I've found to get things started. This information is from quite a few patches ago, so please update with corrections or any more current information you might have on anything to do with your favorite macro, the damage you typically see...any tidbit that would be good for the FAQ.
Statements regarding bomb droids (please confirm or debunk any that you can)
1) they can be called from deeds while in combat - default follow command in this case is 'chase'
2) mse's are the most common with a rating of 38 or so (40 max). R3 droids are more powerful but much more expensive. A variety of other droids can be used but might have limited explosive power or be cost prohibitive - nice idea regarding a silver ticket droid was posted and sounded pretty fun
3) they do not damage a lair
4) They might bypass 'defense stacking' checks
5) 75% PvP damage reduction does apply; reported damage in PvP after reduction seems to be 250-650 and will depend highly on the quality of the droid and the target's armor.
6) they can be called while you are Feigning Death but can't be detonated until you stand up (good for clearing off that aggro'ed critter that is waiting for you to get up)
7) you do not get any exp for critters killed by the droid
8) they do blast damage but do not harm turrets
9) last but not least, you detonate them by issuing a /detonateDroid command while the droid is targeted.
Typical setup and macros:
1)call droid out by clicking the deed in inventory
2)aquire a target
3)launch macro:
/tellpet group;
/pause (2-4 seconds here);
/tellpet chase;
4)Target the droid (usually from the group listing)
5)macro or alias /detonate
If you have more refined macros, please post them here. Also, if the ability to put vehicles and such in the hotbar has any benefit for this, please post your experiences here.
Thanks!
KJFett
Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:14 am
#2
Looks like you covered all the bases.
My guild MDE told me that do to something about 2 19power mods in a mouse that the max is 38, not 40. I don't know all the details, I have to rely on him for the whys and hows, I just know it blows up big.
Seeing how no one i have seen get hit by these has come out untouched, I think the issue of it skipping past defense mods is right on.
And the droids are all preprogramed for the commands....I see alot of smugglers and BHs that pull out a droid and train it before use. Don't bother! Use the default commands (chase and group being the 2 important ones) Grouping makes it easy to select them to type /det to set them off.
Which leads to 2 more added bits of info:
1) you can set them off by selecting them, and typing /det
2) you can give that command from as far away as 90m...yes the targets hit will aggro you from that far so be ready if it doesnt kill them all. This is why you want to group with them, clicking onthat little droid from 90m away is REALLY hard to do.
dorsai78664
Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:49 am
#3
Good info in your post.
You can give your droids all the same name to inclue a /target <droid> in the marco for detonation or you can get the exact spelling you need from an "untrained" droid by calling, targeting, and typing %NT in spatial. Then use whatever replaced the %NT in your macro. That will make sure no matter what the crafter named the item, you have the correct spelling.
My macro includes a /target <droid>; and /ui action cycleTargetOutward; to aquire a target after setting the droid to detonate. Let's say you named your droid 'X', I would modify my detonate macro as follows:
/target (X);
/detonate;
/ui action cycleTargetOutward;
You can use the little %NT trick and change your macro whenever you open a new crate (assuming you buy them by the crate).
Thanks for taking this up! 
One of the Four Horsemen of the Smuggler Apocalypse! 
JWing
Wed Sep 08, 2004 11:03 am
#5
This is great info....
I'd love to see a nice macro for using these.
Questions though... :
1. Does the droid have to be out following me b4 I use the macro?
2. Use an alias to detonate... man I have no clue on how to use the /alias command.
Any and all help would be great
dorsai78664
Wed Sep 08, 2004 3:59 pm
#6
Tellpet should work everytime but it does not. It is a great command when it works well but I seem to go through spells where neither my droids or mounts seem to obey /tellpet commands. This is an issue for everyone that should be investigated.
I completely agree with you on having to target the droid. It is very counter productive and if you arefighting agroup, it can really play havoc on your targeting.
Detonate does not enter the combat queue but does have a countdown timer. It would nice if you could "set the fuse" on the droid to everything from "now" to 10 seconds.
To my knowledge, you cannot generate a droid from a deed on a toolbar. I don't believe generate droid is the default.
dorsai78664
Wed Sep 08, 2004 4:10 pm
#7
JWing wrote:
This is great info....
I'd love to see a nice macro for using these.
Questions though... :
1. Does the droid have to be out following me b4 I use the macro?
2. Use an alias to detonate... man I have no clue on how to use the /alias command.
Any and all help would be great
Yes, the droid must be called before you set it to chase and detonate.
An alias is pretty simple actually. To create an alias, use the synatax:
/alias
Using Last Ditch as an example, if I wanted to Last Ditch using /ld; I would:
/alias ld /lastDitch;
I can now use /ld in macros or the command line and get the same effect as /lastDitch;. If you want to alias a macro...
Let's say you have a macro to keep you connected to SWG while you are afk and you have named this macro StayOnLineWhileIGetABeer. Normally, you would use the following command line if the macro was not hotkeyed:
/macro stayOnLineWhileIGetABeer;
Let's shorten the whole thing and make a short alias that types it all:
/alias beer /macro StayOnLineWihileIGetABeer; <-- like other commands, separated by semis.
Now, if I want to stay online I just type /beer and I'm set. To remove an alias, use the /unalias command. All of your aliases are saved to the default alias.txt file. This file can easily be edited to remove or include additional aliases. Everytime you load the game, no aliases are loaded so to load your default file you would use:
/load alias.txt.
If you have multiple accounts and wish to have different alias files for them (one for your crafter, one for the smuggler, etc.), you can simply load them at the command line. A new alias is saved to the alias file that is loaded. If none is loaded, it is saved to the default. You can simply /load crafting.txt or /load pvp.txt etc. to get them loaded.
I know this was a rather long explanation but I find aliases very useful and I think many miss this rather cool feature of the game.
JimmyRay
Wed Sep 08, 2004 4:39 pm
#8
IndySWG wrote:
Some questions I have as I hadn't really used these:
- I have never gotten /tellpet to work. Should this actually work?
- Since a player can only have 1 droid called at a time ... why should we have to target it? Perhaps this is something we can ask to be fixed ... would seem to be a simple tweak. I would just rather not untarget the thing I'm shooting at. (I mean if I /detonateDroid ... and can only have 1 droid called at a time ... obviously I mean the one that is called)
- Can you generate from a deed that's in the toolbar? (if not, can we ask for this?
)
- Does the detonate command enter the combat queue or will the countdown start right away?
1--Yep tellpet works, I use this one alot (when I can find bomb-bots 
)
)2--SOE logic is an oxymoron, and somewhat of a moronic ox
3--Not sure, haven't tried that in a while. It depends on what the deed's default command is on the radial menu (#1 option)
4--starts right away, since it is technically a pet. Practice a couple of times to get the timing of the actual explosion to co-incide with your opening shot.
Personal tips: Lets face it, we don't have much content as a profession, not do we have much in the way of combat skills. I prefer to use my droids as suicide bombers (myself along with them).
Ex: I am a Rebel, living on Talus. When our neighboring town deployed Reb bases, the Imperials would use the Imp outpost on Talus as a rally point. I would clone in our Reb town overt, shuttle into the outpost, call my MSE boom bot & pick some nice juciy Imperial doc's Buffer droid. As soon as red fills my Radar I start shooting PanicShot & Fanshot with a Mod'd Rep Blaster & my droid explodes taking buff bots with it. When I die, shuttle back from my city's cloner. Rinse repeat.
Iawo
Wed Sep 08, 2004 11:23 pm
#9
Hmm, didn't know you could call them from the deed when feigned. Does this work when you have them in your datapad as well? I do know you can't pull deeds from the crate while feigned, tried that one the other day. Maybe I'll just have to pull a couple deeds out of the crate and leave them in my backpack for future use.
I do know one thing: I was sitting in Kor Vella Starport the other day playing with bomb droids (I'm a Reb) and an Imp Padawan ported in at the starport. He took one look at me and my little red droid and disappeared faster than I could target him.I take it jedi are paranoid when it comes to little red droids...
Could we get some other suggested uses for them? Can't use them indoors, can't pull them while in combat. If I could just find one legit use for them on something I couldn't just kill faster with TKM skills then I'd probably start using them more often.
IndySWG
Thu Sep 09, 2004 12:19 am
#10
Some questions I have as I hadn't really used these:
- I have never gotten /tellpet to work. Should this actually work?
- Since a player can only have 1 droid called at a time ... why should we have to target it? Perhaps this is something we can ask to be fixed ... would seem to be a simple tweak. I would just rather not untarget the thing I'm shooting at. (I mean if I /detonateDroid ... and can only have 1 droid called at a time ... obviously I mean the one that is called)
- Can you generate from a deed that's in the toolbar? (if not, can we ask for this? )
- Does the detonate command enter the combat queue or will the countdown start right away?
Eulbobo
Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:08 am
#11
a good trick to let you "trap" a place...
1 - Call your droid
2 - Group it with you !
3 - select a target where your droid will be almost invisible
4 - Make your droid chase the target (a lair, another droid, a NPC on strike )
5 - prepare a button that launches the /detonate command
When you need it to explode..... Just select in by selecting it in the group panel and press your detonate button
Good pointS :
-you are sure you always target the good droid ! Yours ! (and not the nearby medic's one )
-you can target it anywhere
1 - Call your droid
2 - Group it with you !
3 - select a target where your droid will be almost invisible
4 - Make your droid chase the target (a lair, another droid, a NPC on strike
)5 - prepare a button that launches the /detonate command
When you need it to explode..... Just select in by selecting it in the group panel and press your detonate button
Good pointS :
-you are sure you always target the good droid ! Yours ! (and not the nearby medic's one
)-you can target it anywhere
Zoastra
Thu Sep 09, 2004 6:45 am
#12
Awesome responses! I'll start formatting these in 'FAQ style' so they can easily be cut and pasted.
One question I didn't think to ask off the bat....Do we get the ability to detonate the droids with novice smuggler or is it part of the DF tree?
Sage
Thu Sep 09, 2004 7:39 am
#13
A related question- do folks regularly use these? I've been a Master Smuggler for a while, and I've not used them as of yet. I've only seen them on a vendor once, for that matter- they don't seem to be too popular on Eclipse (don't think I've seen them used once). Any feedback on whether they're worthwhile?
Page 1 of 3