Calous's Grinding Master Droid Guide

Section 1 - The crafting macro

/ui action toolbarSlotXX;
/selectDraftSchematic XXX;
/pause X;
/nextCraftingStage;
/nextCraftingStage;
/createPrototype Practice noitem;
/createPrototype Practice noitem;
/pause X;
/macro ( Macro Name)

/ui action toolbarSlotXX; This command calls upon what ever is in the designated toolbar slot. The first row on the tool bar is number 00 to 11. The second row of the tool bar is numbered 12 to 23. You will want to replace XX with the corresponding position on the tool bar. For example if you placed the crafting tool into the top left tool bar slot your first line would read /ui action toolbarSlot00;

/selectDraftSchematic XXX; This command calls upon what ever schematic that you wish to craft. In order to chose the schematic, you must open your datapad and find the tab for draft schematics. Start in the top left corner and begin counting from left to right starting with the number 00. You will need to skip all schematics that have a complexity of 21 or higher when making your count. Since you are crafting droids, the W/D/G tool allows you to craft any item, as long has it has a complexity of 20 or lower without the use of a crafting station. Each time that you gain a new level, you will need to recount the draft schematic and enter the new schematic number into the marco

/pause X; This command sets the amount of time that you need to manually insert the resources to be used in the schematic. The easiest way to enter the resources into the schematic is to double click them. You will want to set the timer according to how many resources are needed. I suggest a /pause 3; for everyone 2 resources. I personally use /pause 2; , but I have some mad double clicking skills.

/nextCraftingStage; This command advances the crafting process to the next step. Make sure that you include this command twice or you will lose the resources without gaining any experience.

/createPrototype Practice noitem; This command completes the crafting process. This command also needs to be entered twice for the marco to function correctly. The Practice noitem addition to the command will create the product in practice mode, which gives a slight crafting experience bonus. If you remove Practice noitem from both commands in the macro the item will be placed in your inventory, but you will not recieve the bonus experience.

/pause X; This command places a pause between the end of the crafting session and the next command. Typically, the above listed macro will follow after this command, with the /ui action toolbarSlotXX; altered to advance to the next crafting tool.

/macro ( Macro Name); This allows your macro to loop continuously. Put name of the macro after /macro XXXX .

Section 2 - What to grind

As you first gain Novice Droid Engineer, you have a very limited number of items that can be used in the grind. There are a number of paths that can be used to grind DE, but all agree that the MSE grind in the beginning is the only way to gain XP. 1 MSE takes 53 metal and 15 chemical and will net 147 XP in practice mode and 140 XP with a crafted product. At 147 XP each, it will take 327 MSE to make it to your first tier 1 box, or 17331 metal and 4905 chemcial. More than likely, there will be 7 crit fails per 100 items crafted so plan on needing approximatly 19500 metal and 5500 chemcial to make it to the first box. You will want to train Intermediate Droid Blueprints, inorder to find the next fastest way to progress.

At Intermediate Droid Blueprints, you can either keep on crafting MSE or you can switch to Manipulator Arm Package Sets. The Manipulator Arm Package Sets require 65 metal, 18 ferrous metal, 60 extrusive ore, and 15 chemical. They net 331 XP while in practice mode and 316 XP while producing an item in your inventory. If you chose the Manipulator Arm Package Sets route, it will take 203 successful builds to make it to Advanced Droid Blueprints or approximately 14300 metal, 3960 ferrous metal, 13200 extrusive ore, and 3300 chemical. If you chose to stick with the MSE grind it will take you 458 successful crafting sessions and approximately 26500 metal and 7500 chemcial to advance to the next level. You will want to train Expert Droid Blueprints, in order to find the next fastest way to progress.

At Expert Droid Blueprints, you will want to switch over to Advanced Droid Frame Units which will give you 462 XP in practice mode or 440 XP while crafting an item for your inventory. Each Advanced Droid Frame Unit requires 150 steel and 70 Fiberplast. If you grind out the rest of the profession using Advanced Droid Frame Units you will need to successfully craft 2411 more items or approximately 400k Steel and 186k Fiberplast.

There is one other route that can be followed, but will require a few days of factroy time, parts from a Master Artisan, and specialized resources, but offers 4200 XP per build. I am refering to Bianry Load Lifter ADV Chassis. Due to the resource intensive nature and need for factory run parts, I will only make reference here. You can find out the requirements for it here at SWGCRAFT.COM if you want to find out more information.

Section 3 - Grind Questions

This is a tried and tested grinding process, but some people have difficulties with the grind and other questions. The following is a list of helpful suggestions and anwsers to some of those qustions.

1) How long will it take me?

If you set up 10 consecutive macros, using 10 different tools, you should be able to produce at least 7-8 items per minute. If you have all of the resources gathered before hand, it will take you as little as 8 hours of straight grinding, or as much as 48 hours of grinding and breaks, depending on how dedicated you are to your path.

2) Why is the wrong schematic coming up?

You must make sure that you do not re-order the schematics in any way, by changing the view in the Draft Schematic section in the datapad. Also make sure that you are skiping any schematic that has a Compexity of 21 or greater. Finally, make sure that you are not standing next to a crafting station while trying to use the marco, or while testing to see if you are using the right schematic numbers. If you are standing near a private, public, or droid crafting station your crafting tool will have more schematics available and will throw off the count.

3) Are you sure this is the best way?

Yes, but if you don't think so please try and find another so that I can post it here for everyone else to see.

4) Should I sell any droids while grinding?

This is a personal choice, just try to keep in mind that there are other Droid Engineers on your server that might use their droid sales to keep their harversters and other game aspects going. If you need help with pricing, take a look on your forum or around this forum for DE from your server. You can also ask around and introduce yourself to a DE or two on your server as well. Competitive pricing is good for the economy, but undercutting the market tends to make tempers flare.