Ship droid interface is a type of ship component. It will allow the addition of a flight computer or astromech droid to your ship. In order to execute droid commands (or "droid routines") while flying your ship, you need a droid or a flight computer on your ship. Droid Interfaces can be crafted by Shipwrights. They can also be found as loot.
The "command speed" statistic on the interface is what will determine how fast you can execute a new droid command after having executed one. The lower the number, the faster the interface.
Stats and Meanings[]
- Level:
Important only to know if you are certified to use this component. Shipwright craft Mark I though Mark V components, which correspond to odd levels (Mark V is level 9, for example). Re-Engineering level is another ball of wax...sorta.
- Armor:
Self explanatory and not of much importance. Damage that has made it past your shields and your armor plates will then be distributed to your component armor (which is not very much), and beyond that it will disable component.
- Hitpoints:
When the DI gets repaired or damaged, a loss of HP occurs. This isn't true for Deep Space, and using escapepod can skirt damage alltogether. But again, space decay happens slowly and this is a cheap piece, not some uber loot that is 1 in a million (I'm leaving out pre-nerf DI just because if you're reading this, you probably will never see one).
- Reactor Drain:
But pretty low in most cases to begin with. This isn't going to be the component that sucks at your reactor. A shipwright that knows what they're doing will be able to make mk1-iv DI's with drains under 700 easy.
- Mass:
Correlated to level. Of course, mass is always an issue on a small ship.
- Droid Communication Speed:
- The lower, the better. Forumla is Droid Speed X Droid Command Level. So a 10speed DI running a level 4 routine will be ready for another routine in 40secs. Basically there is one command that really needs to have a fast refresh time, and that's cap to shield shunt. So if you're running CTSS frequently a fast (but heavy) DI is needed. If you don't run that program, then you might as well go for the lighest (and slowest) DI around. (As far as i can tell. This is partially incorrect. I have a DI with a speed of 8 and for a weapon overload 4 it takes 40 seconds to run another command but a weapon cap overload 4 it takes 24 seconds. I believe its based more on the serious overloads weapon,and reactor. They take 5*the droid speed. With the not so serious ones like a shield shunt its .75 or 1 * the speed. But the weapon cap over 4 is more like 3 * the droid speed.)
Buying Tips[]
Early in the pilot grind, there is little reason to employ a fast DI. In fact, a looted DI will work just fine. If you haven't looted one, Ship Component: Droid Interface: Mark I on the bazaar search will yield cheap, light DI's. Quality becomes an issue when you reach your higher level missions and face enemies that refuse to go down except under severe punishment and who can deal out the damage themselves. In this case you want to be able to run cap to shield shunt with some frequency.
The sweet spot in crafted DI speed/mass ratios is the Mark 3 DI. Good numbers to look for; < 2.8k mass, < 17.5 speed. reactor drain should be under 700 for all DI's, regardless of level. A premium piece of work would look like 2.65k mass, 17.1 speed, but the price difference between good and uber probably will not justify it (this sorta depends on the level of competition on your server). All of your grind ships can fit the mark 3 size DI in easy and this speed is fast enough for use cap to shield shunt frequently. If your droid speed is any faster, then the limiting factor on your ctsshunt is probably going to be your capacitor, not your DI (uber RE'd level 6, 8 caps excluded).
Once you fly heavier ships, say in the >120k mass range, you may opt for a slightly faster DI. Mark IV DI's should come in at under 7k mass and <14.5 speed. After that, the Mark V DI comes in around 17k mass, <11.5 speed, with exceptional pieces going down to 11.1 and 11.0 the limits of crafting. Mark V DI's are also rec'd for POB ships, although level 10 di's can RE down to 9'ish speed.
As mentioned, looted DI's don't compete with well crafted DI's (this is probably the only area where this is true). If the SW's on your sever enjoy charging 100's of thousands for a simple DI, you can certainly get by with a level 6-7 looted di, which is going to put you in the 17-19 speed range iirc. The one place where re'd di's > crafted is in pob's, where you can fit in a lvl 10 re'd di and get speeds down to the 9's.
^generally true, but not always. I looted a few DI's that stomped ANYTHING a crafter could ever dream of makeing. All of them were Level 1 DI's at <500 mass with speeds <13 the best was a 450 mass, 10.1 speed DI. The 4 of them (yes 4 under those stats) were all found durring the grind to ace pilot by someone who made ace probably 30 times-18 on one character, so it's extreemly rare to find them, but looted parts can completly stomp crafted ones in ALL categorys. The best gear comes from reverse engineering looted parts. The exception to this is in the POB ships where mass is illrevelant, so the crafter can make super heavy shields that looted ones can't compete with. For any fighter though (where mass does count) looted can come up with better than you can craft. Crafted parts are always heavier than decent looted parts, and usually generally better than most good looted parts. It takes the supreemly rare looted part to beat a crafted part, but then you can reverse engineer the looted part and some up with insainely powerfull parts.
Droid Interface Names[]
(credit to KaelynRei)
Level 1
Armek Military Grade Droid Interface Mark I
Incom Droid Interface Mark I
Koensayr Simple Droid Interface
Kuat Systems Engineering Mark I Droid Manager
MandalMotors Military Grade Droid Interface Mark I
Mon Calamari DK-1 Droid Interface
Novaldex Droid Interface Mark I
Republic Sienar Systems Mark I Imperial Droid Interface
Sienar Fleet Systems Mark I Imperial Droid Interface
Level 2
Cygnus DI-6 Droid Interface
Incom Deluxe Mark I Droid Interface
Incom Droid Interface Mark II
Koensayr Standard Droid Interface
Kuat Drive Yards Mark I 'Governor' Droid Interface
Kuat Systems Engineering Improved Mark I Droid Manager
Mon Calamari Special Edition DK-1 Droid Interface
Novaldex Droid Interface Mark II
Novaldex Special Droid Interface Mark I
Qualdex Droid Interface Mark I
Republic Sienar Systems Enhanced Mark I Imperial Droid Interface
Sienar Fleet Systems Enhanced Mark I Imperial Droid Interface
Sienar Systems Droid Interface Mark I
Level 3
Armek Military Grade Droid Interface Mark II
FreiTek Inc. Droid Commander Mark I
Haor Chall Old-Tech Droid Interface
Kuat Systems Engineering Mark II Droid Manager
MandalMotors Military Grade Droid Interface Mark II
Republic Sienar Systems Imperial-2 Droid Interface
Sienar Design Systems 'Imperial 1' Droid Interface
SoroSuub RAD-MK1 Droid Interface
SubPro JRD-33 Droid Interface
Level 4
FreiTek Inc. Modified Droid Commander Mark I
Haor Chall Vintage-Tech Interface
Incom Droid Interface Mark III
Incom Fast Droid Interface Mark II
Kuat Systems Engineering Custom Manager Class Mark II Capacitor
Mon Calamari 'D-22' Droid Interface
Qualdex Droid Interface Mark II
Republic Sienar Systems Deluxe Imperial-2 Interface
Sienar Design Systems Special 'Imperial 1' Interface
Sienar Systems Droid Interface Mark II
SoroSuub 'W-19' Droid Interface
SoroSuub Enhanced RAD-MK1 Droid Interface
SubPro Improved JRD-33 Droid Interface
Level 5
Gallofree Level 1 Droid Interface
Hoersch-Kessel Mark I Droid Interface
Kuat Drive Yards 'Governor' Droid Interface Mark II
Mon Calamari DK-2 Droid Interface
Novaldex Droid Interface Mark III
Rendili 'Imperator I' Droid Interface
Sienar Design Systems 'Imperial 2' Droid Interface
Sienar Fleet Systems 'Imperial 2' Droid Interface
SoroSuub RAD-MK2 Droid Interface
Level 6
Cygnus DI-8 Droid Interface
FreiTek Inc. Droid Commander Mark II
Hoersch-Kessel Mark II Droid Interface
Incom Droid Interface Mark III
Kuat Systems Engineering Mark III Droid Manager
Mon Calamari Custom DK-2 Droid Interface
Qualdex Droid Interface Mark III
Sienar Design Systems Enhanced 'Imperial 2' Droid Interface
Sienar Fleet Systems Military Grade Droid Interface
Sienar Systems Droid Interface Mark III
SoroSuub Modified RAD-MK2 Droid Interface
Level 7
Hoersch-Kessel Mark III Droid Interface
Incom Droid Interface Mark IV
Kuat Systems Engineering Enhanced Manager Mark III
Mon Calamari DK-3 Droid Interface
Novaldex Droid Interface Mark IV
Qualdex Modified Droid Interface Mark III
Rendili 'Imperator II' Droid Interface
Sienar Design Systems 'Imperial 3' Droid Interface
Sienar Fleet Systems 'Imperial 3' Droid Interface
SoroSuub RAD-MK3 Droid Interface
Level 8
FreiTek Inc. Droid Commander Mark III
Hoersch-Kessel Mark IV Droid Interface
Incom Enhanced Droid Interface Mk4
Kuat Systems Engineering Advanced Manager Droid Interface
Mon Calamari DK-4 Droid Interface
Novaldex Custom Droid Interface Mark 4
Novaldex Low-Latency Droid Interface
Qualdex Droid Interface Mark IV
Sienar Design Systems 'Imperial 4' Droid Interface
SoroSuub Echelon 1 Droid Interface
Level 9
Cygnus 'DP-44' Elite Droid Interface
Hoersch-Kessel Advanced Droid Interface
Incom Advanced Droid Interface
Kuat System Engineering 'Elite Manager 1' Droid Interface
Mon Calamari Advanced Droid Interface
Novaldex Advanced Droid Interface
Qualdex Enhanced Droid Interface Mark 5
Rendili Elite 'Imperator' Droid Interface
Sienar Design Systems 'Imperial 5' Droid Interface
Sienar Fleet Systems 'Imperial Finest' Droid Interface
Sienar Fleet Systems Droid Interface Mark V
Sienar Systems Droid Interface Mark IV
SoroSuub Echelon 2 Droid Interface
Level 10
FreiTek Elite Droid Interface
Hoersch-Kessel Elite Droid Interface
Incom Elite Droid Interface
Kuat Systems Engineering 'Elite Manager 2' Droid Interface
Mon Calamari Elite Droid Interface
Novaldex Elite Droid Interface
Qualdex Elite Droid Interface
Sienar Design Systems Elite Droid Interface
Sienar Design Systems Unknown Prototype Droid Interface
Sienar Fleet Systems Elite Droid Interface
SoroSuub Elite Droid Interface