How do I get droids?

[CaptainChaos]

Ok, I didn't want to ruin the surprises of the game, but it's like 2300 in my game and I have crazy tech everywhere but no droids. Is there something special I need to do? A policy, edict or something else? Thanks!

[Elitewrecker PT]

Just need the basic robot tech

[CaptainChaos]

I have that, so how do I build droids then?

[Elitewrecker PT]

I meant the pre-requisite to get the droid tech, is to have the robot tech. You sure you don't have the droid tech already? You don't specifically build droids or robots, once you have the tech then all your mechanical pops are of that tier.

[RawCode]

if you have AI banned you won't get droid tech.

[CaptainChaos]

Under Policies, AI is set to servitude so it says I can use them for anything except ruler jobs. Robot workers are allowed.

I definitely have robots.

It's 2300 or so, so I have upgraded my capital to a system wide capital. My robots are not filling clerk or specialist jobs so I do not believe they are droids. Right? Only droids can do that?

Is DROID a specific tech? I never had it show up on the tree. I double checked I don't see it anywhere. Where does it go usually as a tech?

Thanks everyone!

[Elitewrecker PT]

That's correct.
It's an engineering tech, same as basic robot, or synth tech.
You checked your completed engineering techs?

[CaptainChaos]

yes. double checked everything. Anyway, if they were droids, wouldn't they take clerk jobs? That's the problem. I have a ton of open clerk and technician jobs I can't fill right now.

[CaptainChaos]

Is there a point when droids show up? do I need to research other stuff to get them to show up on the list? I spent the early game researching lost of voidcraft.

[CrUsHeR]

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Engineering_research

[Elitewrecker PT]

It only has two pre-requisites, which you have both.

[Lady Crimson (RIP)]

yeah, engineering is very important so it's easy to get side tracked in non-droid techs, but a very vital one to pick up when you can.

[CaptainChaos]

Edit: FINALLY got it.

So, please let me see if I understand. Stellaris doesn't have a tech tree in the classic 4x sense, but shuffles the deck. HOWEVER, it seems, that certain techs have a higher chance coming up, *IF* you research CERTAIN other techs or at least trees? Is that it?

So for instance, I focused on Voidtech a lot to build starbases and fleets (and mind you, I wasn't really looking at "voidtech" I just was like, OOOW, SB bonus!) and that's what my choices largely were: SBs and ships. Now, I focused on industry to build up mineral production and alloys and such, and whammo after a few categories droids "mysteriously" appears after ALL THIS TIME.

Is that it? Or was it just random the whole time?

Thanks everyone. Kind of you all to help.

[CaptainChaos]

The irony is that it's not that expensive. 6000 research points is hardly anything to me at this stage. lol.

[Elitewrecker PT]

Not quite.
The chances of techs appearing can be altered by specific stuff, most notably scientist specializations.
Having specific other techs doesn't usually increase OTHER techs chances of showing up though.
For example, mega-engineering is a quite rare tech too, but its chances can be massively increased if you have a ruined megastructure in your territory.

In this case it's more likely the fact that engineering has a lot of bloat, so if you don't have many research alternatives (the number of tech cards that show up to research) it can take a while to get what you want.

[CaptainChaos]

thanks! I will avoid spoiling the mystery. I just wanted to have a general idea. I'm thrilled there are so many variables you wouldn't even think of but are logical (like having lots of upgraded starbases naturally leads to people looking to improve them more or finding ancient tech opens up new similar discoveries). I'll leave the exact nature of it to the ini files or whatever :) These were fantastic explanations really appreciate it.