Basic Droid Function and Use by Drashk

'Why should I own a droid?' once was a typical question that anyone would ask of a droid builder. As the game has progressed, more and more people have realized how important the use of a droid really is.

Droids have an arm in everything from combat to structure maintenance, harvesting to crafting, and storage to space flight. You can find a droid out on the battlefield or in the cantina assisting their owner with many different tasks.

If you are looking around to acquire a droid, you will need to search around on the market. Droid Deeds are listed on the market under the Deed > Droid Deed category. You will more then likely need to perform a Vendor Location search, to find many of the high end droids. If this is the first time you are looking to buy a droid, I highly recommend that you contact one of the Engineers on your server, ask around in the Engineer forums, or send a message to the Engineer Senator. Experienced Engineers should be able to answer any and all questions that you have, as well as make a few recommendations on installation options, depending on your needs.

In this guide, I will go over the basics, including droid commands and how to program a droid.

• What droid types are available?
• I have my droid deed. Now what?
• How do I program a droid?
• What are the commands?
• How do I name a droid?
• Why isn't my droid responding correctly?

What droid types are available?

There are currently 16 different droid styles that can be crafted by an Engineer. They fall into 3 categories and are listed below - Combat, Utility, and Non-Combat.

• Combat Droids (Up to CL60)
• Battle Droid
• Droideka

• Utility Droids (Up to CL30)
• DZ70
• LE Repair Droid
• MK3 Mining Droid
• Probot
• R2 Unit
• R3 Unit
• R4 Unit
• R5 Unit

• Non-Combat Droids (Up to CL30)
• Binary Load Lifter
• MSE
• Power Droid
• Protocol Droid
• Surgical Droid
• Treadwell

Combat Droids can only be equipped with combat modules and armor modules. Their only purpose is combat.

Utility Droids can have any combination of modules installed including a Combat module.

Non-Combat Droids can have any modules installed, with the exception of a Combat module.

Please see this guide for more information about droid modules.

I have my droid deed. Now what?

Once you have your droid deed, you will need to turn the deed into a usable droid. To do this, right click on the droid deed and chose the option 3) Ready Droid Unit. This will call the droid and add a Droid Control Device to your datapad. I suggest that you find the newly added DCD in your datapad and drag the icon to an empty slot on your toolbar. This will allow you to call and store the droid directly from the toolbar, without having to open the datapad and selecting the option from there.

Next, you should open up the radial menu of the droid, to see what options you have listed. Using the ~ key, while you have the droid targeted will bring up a couple of options including -  Examine, Droid Options, and Program. Other menu options will be available, depending on what is installed in the droid.

The Examine option will show you how much battery power the droid has left. You can also see this information in the datapad listing.

The Droid Options menu option has Store and Recharge by default. Other items will be listed here, depending on what you have installed in your droid.

The Program menu option will bring up a Teach Pet Command window, which we will go over in more detail in Part 2.

How do I program a droid?

Programming a droid can be accomplished by anyone and is pretty easy to set up, if you follow these steps.

The first thing you will need to do is call your droid out. Make sure that the droid has enough battery power. As long as the droid isn't at 0%, it will be able to learn a new command. Next, target the droid and use the ~ key to bring up the radial menu, and select the Program menu option. A Command window will open up, listing all of the commands that you can program to your droid.

Next, you will need to select a command that you want to program. Chose the command and select Train. This will generate an orange "?" flytext over the droid. This means that the droid is ready to accept a command. The next thing that you say in spatial that is, under 30 characters long, will be the designated command for that action. You can use numbers, spaces, and symbols.

Once an acceptable command is issued, the droid will respond with a white "!" flytext. This means that the next time you say the command, the droid will respond.

For Example - You choose to program the Store command. The Droid displays an orange "?" over its head. You say "Go home already!" The droid responds with a white "!". Anytime you say "Go home already!" the droid will respond by storing itself back in your datapad. 

What are the commands?

The following list shows the standard commands that all droids come with -

• Store (Stores your droid)
• Group (Forms a group with your droid. Your droid cannot be in combat when trying to group)
• Clear Patrol Points (Clears all Patrol Points that have been set)
• Get Patrol Points (Sets your current position as a patrol point. * )
• Patrol (The droid will move to any Patrol Points that have been set, while called)
• Get in wedge formation (See below ** )
• Get in column formation (See below ** )
• Befriend (See below ** )
• Stay (The droid will stay in the spot it currently is located)     
• Follow Target (The droid will follow what ever you have targeted)
• Follow Me (The droid will follow you)

* Note about Get Patrol Point - This command allows a droid to store up to 10 patrol points. Patrol points can be up to 50 meters apart. Once a droid is stored, the patrol points are erased and must be reassigned when the droid is called again.

** This command does not serve a function currently, due to changes in pet/droid behavior.

The following commands are limited to Combat Droids -

• Guard (The droid will guard who ever is targeted. If no one is targeted, or an enemy is targeted, the droid will guard its owner.)
• Attack (The droid will attack what you have targeted.)

The Power Droid has one additional command -

Recharge Other Droid (The Power Droid will recharge the droid that is selected *** )

*** This feature is currently not functioning correctly .  

How do I name a droid?

In order to name your droid, first open the droid's radial menu and choose the command that you wish to program. You will need to program four different commands, each time using the same name, spelled the exact same way.

A droid name can only consist of characters that are usable in character name generation. (ie. A through Z - ' ) At this time, numbers and other characters can not be included in the name of your droid. Spaces are also unavailable. Key words such as Jedi, Rebel, and Medic aren't allowed by the name filter, along with a list of other words that cannot be used during character generation.

A name can be 28 letters in length, with a one letter long command. If done correctly, on the fourth command the droid will respond with (DroidsNameHere) ? in both Spatial and above its head.

For Example - You decide to name your Droideka Tri-Barrel. You decide to use the Store, Get in wedge formation , Get in column formation , and Befriend commands, since those four commands aren't used that often. You can reprogram them later, when needed.

Following the steps listed in Part 2, you use the following commands

Tri-Barrel Store
Tri-Barrel Wedge
Tri-Barrel Column
Tri-Barrel Friends

On that fourth command, your Droideka should have been renamed to (Tri-Barrel). If not, then something is wrong... 

Why isn't my droid responding correctly?

Q. Why isn't my droid learning its name?

A. This could be for a couple of reasons. It could be that you are trying to use characters that will not make it through the name filter such as numbers or part of the name is being filtered due to inappropriate language or reserved words such as Jedi, Luke, Chewbacca. Also make sure that you are spelling the name exactly the same all four times. Make sure that the droid is also powered. A droid with *Low Power* will not respond to commands.

Q. Why won't my droid respond to a command?

A. Make sure that you are giving the command exactly as you did when it was programmed. Remember that capitalization makes a difference. Also make sure that the droid is charged. A *Low Power* droid will normally not respond to any commands.

Q. Okay. It's not either of those issues. What else can it be?

A. Try storing the droid and calling it out again. On a couple of occasions, the droid will simply stop responding. Storing the droid and calling it again should resolve this issue.