[suggestions] by zenfur

[Lasica]

Hey, was going to post a forum post, but you specified that you prefer github for idea suggestions. Awesome mod by the way!

Droids are at the moment quite expensive for just doing jobs which colonists can do as well. To make them more awesome I suggest a few things:

Let's make them better than colonists in their specialised jobs/aspects. Probably these general upgrades could be unlocked with research.

• add for them 20% speed bonus
• add reduced influence of rough terrain/items on the ground by let's say 30%
  Also there's a potential for more neat tweaks such as:
• expand battery/faster charging with research
• unlock flying engine for bots: while flying they have 50% less battery, move 70% faster, ignore bad terrain, generate lots of heat, have lesser hp (less armor). Perhaps instead making new crafting station/bots series the button to toggle them between flying/rolling could be added.
• allow crafting batteries for them and allow drones swap their battery packs for recharged ones: it would save a lot of downtime, but be quite expensive as it requires more infrastructure for them. To balance it if you wish to add it you could slow down charging rate a bit.
• add OVERCHARGE! stance which could be toggable for individual bots which causes them to work (shoot) 50% faster, move 30% faster but consume battery 100% faster and possibly damage a little over time.
• add unlockable with research small "personal shield" effect for all non fighting drones
• add unlockable with research built-in fire extinguisher for them to fight better with fire. There is a mod which adds one, you could use it's mechanics. I can provide link

For individual bots to give them more character:

• hauling bot - is not slowed while hauling things, he ignores terrain/item by further 30%, possibly carries double normal capacity
• cleaning bot - is slower by 30% (80% of normal human), but in return he cleans things instantly when he steps on a dirty tile.
• for crafting/jobs bots general updates I suggested I think are enough

Also here are a few ideas that you could implement for fighting drones:

• add defender drone which is 50% slower, carries short range briefly stunning gun, provides full cover for colonists standing behind him, has twice hp at every part, has shield with radius 2 to block incoming projectiles such as in that mod which adds shields
• add bersker melee bot - has 3 times higher personal shield, and is cappable of carrying 2 melee weapons or if it's difficult to implement: attacks twice as fast.

Some ideas are possibly difficult to implement. Let me know which ones, I'll probably think of some workarounds :)