Everything a Scout Needs to Know about Harvest & Trap Droids
As a Master Droid Engineer, I get a lot of in-game questions about droid use & functions. While I am always happy to help people learn about how droids can help them and how they can put their droids to best use, I find the same questions pop up over and over. Droids are one of the unique aspects of SWG that give the game its Star-Warsy feel. However, of all aspects of the game, it’s probably the least understood. The droid learning curve is a steep one, and is rarely tackled by players just entering the game. I decided one day to check the stickies at the top of this forum to see if there was a guide that I could direct new players in the Scout profession that would help them out, without the clutter of droid information unrelated to the profession. While there is a brief discussion about harvest droids, there isn’t a unified post that clearly lays out what Scout Droids are all about. This post is intended to give you Scouts (both brand new and seasoned veterans) a detailed description of how droids can help you advance in your professions & help earn you credits.
DROID BASICS:
First, you should know a few details about droids in general:
Each player is allowed to hold 5 droids in his/her datapad. This includes your starter droid, so if you find he’s worn out his usefulness, you may want to delete him if you find you need more droid help down the road.
The function of a droid is based upon what modules are installed in it. Modules are very similar to ship components. Each droid chassis has a set number of modules that can go in the droid. In general, the more advanced the droid, the more modules it can hold. The Advanced R3 has the highest module capacity with space for 6 functional modules.
Whenever a droid is out (called), it uses up battery power. This ONLY affects the function of modules that actually need power to work. Even with 0% battery power, a droid can still be called & stored, and it will still follow you around. Both of the modules discussed below require the droid to have 10% or more battery power to be used.
THE CREATURE HARVEST MODULE:
The creature harvest module is, by far, one of the most significant pieces of helpful hardware that a Scout can have at his/her disposal. Having played a scout character in the past, I can tell you from personal experience that my career as a Scout did not begin until I got my first creature harvest droid. In fact, that experience is what convinced me to eventually become a droid engineer (DE). Creature harvest droids save time and improve your resource gathering ability.
A droid that has at least 1 creature harvest module (CHM) installed has the ability to harvest meat, hide, or bone from a creature that the Scout (or a person in the Scout’s group) has killed. This ability benefits you, the Scout, in a number of ways:
1) The droid can harvest resources while you continue fighting. This is especially handy when you’re fighting large groups of creatures that take a while to kill. No longer will a corpse disappear before you have the chance to harvest it.
2) Depending on the harvest rating on the droid (see below), you can get a bonus on the amount of resource that is harvested. The benefit of this should be immediately obvious.
3) The droid can be told to harvest corpses that are at a distance (max. 64m) so that you don’t have to run all over the battlefield to get your resources.
Note that any resources that the droid harvests will be counted for the Scout in determining scouting xp.
THE SCOUT TRAP MODULE:
This is a lesser-known (and lesser-used) module that can assist a Scout in gaining trapping experience. A droid with a Scout Trap Projectile Module (STPM) installed can be used to store Scout & Ranger traps and will fire them at a target on command. There are a couple of benefits to using this module:
1) The droid stores the traps that it fires, which effectively increases your inventory size.
2) Creatures that are hit by a trap from a droid will often attack the droid. This can be handy in that the droid acts as a “tank” for you, distracting creatures while you polish them off. However, this can also be an annoying side effect. If the droid has no combat rating, it will typically run away at high speed, requiring you to chase it down along with whatever critter is attacking it. If your droid gets killed, it must be stored and recalled later. Droids also take a long time to heal on their own.
3) You can effectively trap creatures without taking up space in the combat queue. You can blast (or swing) away at creatures while your droid traps them at your command. [Thanks JascoSmlee for pointing this one out.]
Note that the Scout still receives full trapping xp for successful trapping by the droid.
Also note that the droid can only store and fire traps that the Scout has the skills to use himself/herself.
Both the CHM & STPM have ratings that are stackable. The more modules installed in the droid, the higher the net harvesting or trapping rating.
The harvest rating on the CHM determines how much resource will be gathered by your droid. The maximum rating that a CHM can have is 20. Therefore, the highest overall rating that any droid can have is 120 (an Adv. R3 with 6 perfect CHMs). Prior to the release of JtL, it was basically impossible to have a 120 rated droid since hardcaps on resource qualities limited a DE’s ability to make perfect CHMs. However, since the expansion’s release, making the perfect CHM is now theoretically possible with new resources that do not have stat caps. Essentially, any droid that has a harvest rating of 100 or above should be considered fairly solid. The highest that I have seen personally is 114.
The amount of resource that is harvested by your droid is determined by the DIFFERENCE between the droid’s harvest rating and your own (which can be checked in the Skills Window using Ctrl+S). As long as the droid has a higher rating, it will give you a harvest bonus. The greater the difference, the greater the bonus. If the droid has a lower rating, it will harvest less resource than you could if you were doing it yourself. This also means that as you advance in your harvesting skills, the droid will harvest fewer bonus resources.
The rating on the STPM is thought to work in a similar fashion, but it is not entirely clear exactly how the rating affects its use. My own testing has indicated that the higher the trapping rating on the droid, the greater the chance of successfully trapping, but this evidence is not well tested. I have had droids that had much higher trapping ratings than me that at times seemed to trap significantly better than me, and at other times significantly worse. As the determination of success is a dice roll, I’ve neither had the time nor the inclination to test it out statistically. However, in general it is considered best to look for a trapping droid with a higher trapping rating than your own.
HOW TO USE YOUR DROID:
Upon calling a harvest droid for the first time, you should notice that it has a menu in its radial entitled “Harvest Options.” The “Program Target Harvest” submenu allows you to select a verbal command that will tell your droid to harvest whatever you have targeted. Selecting it will cause a “?” to appear above your droid. This is your droid asking you what command you would like to use. I personally just use “h,” but you can make it just about anything you want. If the command is stored successfully a “!” will appear above the droid.
The “Set Target Harvest” submenu lets you pick what you want the droid to harvest (meat, hide, bone, or something random).
When you kill something, simply say the verbal command in “Spatial Chat.” The droid will respond with a “!” indicating that it got the message, and it will automatically approach the corpse and harvest. Note that you must be targeting the corpse when you give the command. If your droid has a storage compartment (a module that can be installed in the droid instead of a CHM), anything that it harvests will be put into that compartment, which you can access via the “Droid Options” menu in the droid’s radial. Otherwise, all harvested materials will be put directly into your inventory.
Important note: If you tell the droid to harvest a corpse for a resource that the corpse does not possess (e.g. bones from an insect), the corpse becomes completely unharvestable by you and everyone else in your group.
Upon calling a trap droid for the first time, you should notice that it has a “Trap Options” menu in its radial. The “Program Launch” submenu allows you to select a verbal command that will tell your droid to harvest whatever you have targeted. Selecting it will cause a “?” to appear above your droid. This is your droid asking you what command you would like to use. I personally just use “t,” but you can make it just about anything you want. If the command is stored successfully a “!” will appear above the droid.
To load the droid simply call up a trap’s radial in your inventory where you will find a “Load Trap in Droid” command. The droid has a limited capacity and can only hold one type of trap at a time. Once a trap has been put into a droid, it cannot be recovered. Traps must be used, or they can be deleted via the “Clear Ammunition Processor” subcommand in the droid’s radial.
OTHER USEFUL FUNCTIONS:
If you find it annoying that your trapping droid runs away, you can ask a DE to give you a droid that has combat capability. R-series droids (max. 6 module capacity) and LE Repair droids (max. 3 module capacity) can have a combat module installed in them in place of an STPM. While this lowers the trapping rating of the droid, it will stand its ground when attacked and even fight back. These droids can also have armor modules installed that increase their resistances to damage. Probot (max. 5 module capacity) and DZ70 Fugitive Tracker (max. 2 module capacity) droids both come with inherent combat capability. They do not need a combat module and will stand their ground when attacked. However, without a combat module they only do 1 pt. of damage per attack.
** A sidenote about droid armor: Currently the display rating for droid resists is bugged. The maximum resistance that any droid can have is 20%. However, the droid will display 40% resists after the first time it is called. This is a display error. **
If your trapping droid comes under attack a lot, you may want to invest in droid stims to help keep it alive (or at least significantly reduce healing time). Since combat droids aren't tremendously popular, you might not find these on many DEs' vendors. You may have to ask around for them.
You may also want to ask your local DE about item storage in your droids. Droids can be given a slot that holds up to 10 items (this is a maximum for all droids regardless of their storage ratings), effectively increasing your inventory space. Moreover, items in the droid’s storage compartment do not decay when you die. This is very handy if you use alternate sets of armor for different situations. Giving a droid this ability takes up at least 1 module slot in the droid however.
Droids can also be equipped with crafting stations that allow you the benefit of a private crafting station anywhere you can call the droid. This can be handy if you’re out in the field & you need to craft high quality traps, camps, etc. Again, a module slot must be taken for any of the 5 different types of stations you might want.
BUYING A DROID:
For experienced veterans, buying a high quality harvest or trap droid should not be a problem. Most Master DE’s charge somewhere in the high 5-figure to low 6-figure range for top quality harvesting droids. Many DEs do not bother to stock trap droids on their vendors, but will make them for you upon request. A novice Scout might look at the cost and think “why so much?!” Most DEs know that a high level combatant with at least Novice Scout, harvesting meat that he/she sells for at least 50 cpu., can easily pay for a high quality harvesting droid in a very short time.
So what do you do if you’re poor, still grinding through the Scouting profession, and would like the help of a harvesting or trapping droid? My suggestion would be to find a non-Master DE or a Master DE that likes handcrafting droids. Do a search in Theed or Coronet, check the DE profession board for DEs on your server, or post a request on your server’s trade forum.
Harvesting and trap droids can be made with less than optimum materials in chassis that don’t offer the full 6 slots. To a non-Master Scout these can still be very useful since the droid’s rating will still be higher. Most reputable DEs will be able to make these droids for you at a fraction the cost of their top-of-the-line models. Once you’ve had a chance to develop your skills & make some money from harvesting, you’ll be able to go back to your friendly DE & get a better droid.
Hopefully this post will help those of you in the scouting profession to level up a little faster, make more money, and enjoy your SWG experience a little more. If not, then at least I have a place to send the all the Novice Scouts that ask me “what’s a droid good for?” I still welcome any questions you might have about droids here on the forums or in-game (send the tells or emails to bloodfin.omab).
Greetings and thankyou for taking the time to write up this excellent post! I do have a few things I would like to add though.
I am a Master Ranger and have been using a scout droid for quite some time. From my experience the droid will harvest or trap anything that is within 64m.
My droid has a Harvest bonus of just +76 (it also has a trap module too which holds 23 traps) and it still harvests more than me even though I have a bonus of +100. I have tried using a higher rated droid (+108) and for me this harvested no more than the +76. There has been much discussion on how droid harvest ratings work and we still have no definive answer
One other benefit of a trapping droid is that the droids trap throw does not take a turn in your combat queue unlike throwing traps by hand. The main drawback for me with trapping droids is the fact that they can only hold one type of trap. So I usually fill mine up with p-darts and use him to slow things down.
Message Edited by JascoSmlee on 11-15-200410:57 AM
Shorter - Harvest droid, yes if rifle, waste of money if anything else. Get a fighting droid if you are not rifle, either a tank or fighter and you make out better.
Trap droids - yeah ok, but they don't fight too well.
Droids are wonderful, I have many. Beat the snot out of bio pets, hands down. Harvesting droids are just a pain, trap droids are not much better. I use a probot and an R5 tank and kick butt and don't bother taking names. Several times I have been incapped and the droid dropped the bad guy, or kept them occupied long enough for me to get back on my feet. Not to mention that a good fighter when grouped with you can actually raise you mission levels if you are not a combat master yet.
Lots of good info. But buy fighters/tanks, they will pay for themselves.
I've edited my original post based on your feedback (the 30m was just a typo).
As for the harvesting rating, I think this might have to do with your profession mastery. In tinkering with harvest droids as a grinding scout, I definitely noticed that a lower rating cost me resources, albeit a very negligible amount (although it has been a few months since I last tested this, so perhaps this got quietly changed in a recent publish). It would appear that Master Rangers get at least a small bonus to their harvest regardless of the droid's rating. I have had MRs who have asked me for better rated droids, so I will assume that higher rating still means more resources, regardless of your level. However, at what point a Scout/Ranger no longer suffers a harvesting penalty due to a negative difference between their rating and a droid's is beyond me. Perhaps this only happens to Scouts. Others may have additional feedback.
BRISC RUBAL w FIGHT CLUB SCOUT CORRESPONDENT EMERITUS Teras Kasi Artist w Scout w Squad Leader w Rebel Ace Pilot w Master Propagandist THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS POST DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINIONS OF FIGHT CLUB, ITS LEADERSHIP, SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT OR LUCASARTS. IF THESE HAD BEEN ACTUAL VIEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE READ THEM.
so will a ranger with a good harvesting droid harvest more than a scout with the same droid?
Yes. As the player's harvesting ability rises, the base amount of resource he/she is able to harvest increases. What will dimish is the % increase in resource that will be added to that base as the Scout advances. So a Novice Scout that is able to harvest a corpse for 10 units of meat might get an additional 2-3 units with a 100 rated droid (25-30% boost). A Master Ranger will harvest considerably more base resource (say 40 units), but only recieve a 5% bonus with the same droid (again, 2-3 units). I have yet to see the exact formula used by the game to calculate the bonus.
Harvest droids work off the owner's ability. A 100% percent droid gets what I get. A 110 droid gets what I get, and 10% more, so rumor says. The amount is figured after veghash is figured in.
I get 100 units from Tortur, without Veghash. With I get 110 or so. A 100% droid should be getting that same 110 if I am using veghash. A 90% droid would only get 90% of what I would get (ergo, a waste of a droid). A 110 droid should get about 115 (rough numbers, I hate math). If not, then something is wrong.
Check some threads in the Ranger forum. Others tested the droids and these numbers are in the ball park.
A novice scout will not ever harvest more than a Master Ranger just by using a droid.
JB the droids harvest rating is NOT a straight %. +100 harvest bonus != 100% bonus. I believe the max bonus available for a droid is 20% over your own harvest bonus (Novice Scout using a +120 droid) however this % bonus decreases the higher your own bonus. As I understand it a Master Ranger can use a droid as low as +70 (I think this is the cut off point) and still get some increase to thier harvest (possibly this is also the highest rated a MR needs to use too). So lower level Scouts gain the most benefit from a droid with a higher bonus.
I know for a FACT that my +76 droid harvests more than me (Master Ranger) and my +108 droid did not harvest any more FOR ME than my +76 does, so I sold my higher rated droid and kept the +76 one. I bought the +108 specifically to test this out.
this may be a dumb question, but if you drop your novice scout, can your harvest droid still harvest? I need to know this because im 3 points away from master swordsman and I have mastered 2 other professions, and i would still like to be able to harvest hide, for one of my other master.
Vithiril
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My R3 unit does just fine... I have two actually, with harvesting, 10 item storage, and trapping modules. Storage modules are a godesnt, as my EG-6 and my probots all three have storage as well. All my droids are self repairing as well, except the EG-6, the only thing I use him for is to charge up other ppls droids and to charge my own when I have a friend to hold the one I want to charge. Now, my two R3 units have a combat rating of aorund 250-300 I think, I dont have the game open so I cant check right now, but with the auto-repair module, if they start taking damage, they last alot longer when aggro'd because of shooting a trap. Usually, by that time, I am able to free up my fists of fury and pound whatever critter is attacking it so I can then tell it to harvest and move on about ym business.. I lvoe my droids, I love my pets.. I love being a scout.. hehehehe
T_Mas
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I have a +117 harvestine droid and Hunting IV. The droid currently harvests a little more than I do using +33 veghash. If I drop down to Novice scout with no hunting what would my droids harvesting ability be?
This question has probably been answered in this thread but after reading it I'm soooo confused.. lol lol
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DaveG
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snoman321 wrote:
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A DROID:
The amount of resource that is harvested by your droid is determined by the DIFFERENCE between the droid’s harvest rating and your own (which can be checked in the Skills Window using Ctrl+S). As long as the droid has a higher rating, it will give you a harvest bonus. The greater the difference, the greater the bonus. If the droid has a lower rating, it will harvest less resource than you could if you were doing it yourself. This also means that as you advance in your harvesting skills, the droid will harvest fewer bonus resources.
Just thought I should throw the following observation in since it goes against the quoted statement.
As a Master Ranger with +100 skill, and using a +96 harvesting droid (hence a -4 difference) I still harvested more with it than I did by hand.
I've read the following on the droid engnieer boards:
If harvesting bonus is equal to 50, then droid harvests same as you.
If harvesting bonus is less than 50, then droid harvests less than you.
If harvestong bonus is more than 50, then droid harvests more than you.
Freelance hunter and pilot - Available for hire. Sheriff of Mos Aga'me, 1KM West of Mos Eisely, Tatooine, Farstar. IGN: DaveG
::: Master Ranger ::: Master Rifleman ::: Freelance Pilot ::: Novice Medic :::
As an Ex-Master Ranger and a current Master Droid Engineer, I can say this post is dead on. I'd like to add...
Either make a hotkey macro or have a short command for both the "Follow" and "Stay" commands for your trapping droid. Follow will bring the droid back to you (use /yell in the command for maximum command range) and Stay will cause it to stand its ground, at least for a bit.
An R3 with a combat module and 5 trapping modules is the same as a Probot with 5 trapping modules, and probots are easier to make and therefor cheaper.
*shamless plug alert* Most DE's live for hand-crafting custom orders, so feel free to contact us for your droid needs
______________________________________________________________________ V3 Industries Located on Tergill's S side on beautiful Naboo @ 5515, -4080 Specializing in Starship consumables, Artisan goods, Engines, Reactors and Boosters and Custom Droids...Hundreds of Texture and Paint kits now available Creature Tissues and loads of loot! See my auction including a +5 Structure Exp and KSE Firespray Disks and more! Vaylis Arturin- Master Shipwright, DE, Artisan
The one-star ninja in question is named Ackew. I disagreed with him on cross-server lot trades and ticked him off so bad he went back and started one starring every post I ever made (but stopped when I called him on it, now he just does the new ones). He can deny it all he wants, but it didn't start until he started being insulting.
Its what happens when 10 year olds don't get their way.
______________________________________________________________________ V3 Industries Located on Tergill's S side on beautiful Naboo @ 5515, -4080 Specializing in Starship consumables, Artisan goods, Engines, Reactors and Boosters and Custom Droids...Hundreds of Texture and Paint kits now available Creature Tissues and loads of loot! See my auction including a +5 Structure Exp and KSE Firespray Disks and more! Vaylis Arturin- Master Shipwright, DE, Artisan
The one-star ninja in question is named Ackew. I disagreed with him on cross-server lot trades and ticked him off so bad he went back and started one starring every post I ever made (but stopped when I called him on it, now he just does the new ones). He can deny it all he wants, but it didn't start until he started being insulting.
Its what happens when 10 year olds don't get their way.
No problem. The joys of superpowered stars. You're at 5 now.
B
BRISC RUBAL w FIGHT CLUB SCOUT CORRESPONDENT EMERITUS Teras Kasi Artist w Scout w Squad Leader w Rebel Ace Pilot w Master Propagandist THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS POST DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINIONS OF FIGHT CLUB, ITS LEADERSHIP, SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT OR LUCASARTS. IF THESE HAD BEEN ACTUAL VIEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE READ THEM.
