I have been taking frequent shuttles to Batuu since they became available at the end of May and I always seemed to be missing something as I wandered the Black Spire Outpost. It wasn't until recently I realized what I was missing... a droid companion. Last weekend, the better half and I headed to the Droid Depot to build our own astromech droid before the Black Spire Outpost becomes infested with lesser passholders on their first shuttles to Batuu.
Like most of the businesses at the Black Spire Outpost, the Droid Depot as no signage off-worlders can read, but if you come upon a group of droids ( https://bit.ly/2lXpjrd ) the building with the light blue stripe around it and the white droid marks the one of the entrances to the Droid Depot.
There are actually two entrances to the Droid Depot, the one I described will take you to a retail area ( https://bit.ly/2ltubUJ ) which offers many droid themed items including a good amount of housewares and to the left of the droids is an entrance leading into the assembly area. For you high rollers there is a life size R Unit ( https://bit.ly/2k2V6GG ) for sale at the "economical" price of twenty-five thousand credits. I don't even want to know how many times I would have to be Hondo Ohnaka's space mule to raise enough credits to be able to afford this unit. I think I might have better luck rescuing a princess from a Death Star or winning a hand of high stakes sabacc.
Rohlinism: When it comes to being lucky or good... I would prefer large amounts of cold hard cash!
Since the better half and I didn't have sufficient credits for the life size R Unit, we had to settle for the miniature (and more wallet friendly) version which is the specialty of the Droid Depot. Walking into the assembly area of the depot, there are droid parts on an overhead conveyor ( https://bit.ly/2jXw7Ev ) and you need to make your way to the registers first ( https://bit.ly/2lYAzne ) because the purveyors of these droids expect credits up front. In addition to the droids themselves, this side of the depot sells personality chips, accessory panels, decals, tool, jet and blaster attachments ( https://bit.ly/2lQGMRY ), serving trays and carrying bags. You can even make yourself into a bit of a astromech droid with a pair of ears ( https://bit.ly/2lTNNl2 ) which are only sold at the depot.
Each assembled droid will run you 109 credits and you can keep your passholder credentials in your wallet since the Droid Depot offers no discounts to off-worlders. Once you have paid for your droid, a worker will walk you to a conveyor belt ( https://bit.ly/2kgVSQB ) full of parts and you will selector the color and type of parts you need to complete your droid. You can either build an R Unit or BB Unit and a worker will confirm you have all your parts before escorting you to an assembly station ( https://bit.ly/2ki6uyD ) where you will build your droid.
At your station there is a blue print ( https://bit.ly/2lCIOF6 ) for building each droid. In my opinion, the BB droids are more complicated to build ( https://bit.ly/2kqlJp7 ) and my wife needed assistance from a worker (and myself) on a few occasions to finish the construction of her droid. Between each station, there are some communal parts you will need to complete your droid and an electric screwdriver to make sure you droid doesn't have any loose screws. Once you have assembled your droid, a worker will verify its construction and activate it:
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After your droid has been activated, a worker will place your droid in a cardboard carrier and now you and your new companion are ready to explore the Black Spire Outpost together. There is an information desk in front of the assembly area if you have general questions with a BB and R Unit ( https://bit.ly/2lBgNhc ) chatting with each other in the background. One question we had is where the power down switches were on the droids because both of them were acting like they had a few loose wires (claustrophobic?) in their carriers.
Giving commands to your droid is a bit tricky since the BB Units tend to lose their heads (the magnet could be stronger) if they accelerate too fast or stop too suddenly and the R Units legs need to be at the same angle or the droid will make turns to one side (or not move at all). The BB Units are more adapt to plowing through rough terrain while the R Units work better on flat surfaces.
I think the biggest compliment I can pay the Droid Depot is the better half actually had fun building her droid. I will probably be back in the future since there are still some accessories I want to buy to Batuu Bling up my R Unit! read more