AI on Ships
- Thread starter GCU Grey Area
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One scheme for AI onboard a starship is not the big central ship's brain, but distributed small AI modules at workstations and substations. Each unit is programmed for that assigned job. They can either keep watch or assist the crewman.Depending on the rules the station AIs could give bonuses to tasks.
Now you could still have central ship brain AI. Its job would be administration and tactical assist for the senior officer.
Now you could still have central ship brain AI. Its job would be administration and tactical assist for the senior officer.
One of our players wants to be an "infoghost" type of PC, but I'm so so wary of the game destroying potential. I've attempted a few rules and guidelines but am waiting to see if they're even worth posting. One of the things I'm going to do is have pesky plasma worms and other "harmless" eidolonic life infesting their craft's avionics every time they emerge from Witch, er "Jump Space" 
They'd cause problems only for that particular PC between jumps. I got the idea from the games Plasma Worm and Strange Adventures In Infinite Space. I'm not sure if that's their original idea or if they got that trope from other sources.
They'd cause problems only for that particular PC between jumps. I got the idea from the games Plasma Worm and Strange Adventures In Infinite Space. I'm not sure if that's their original idea or if they got that trope from other sources.I suspect the player is painting himself into a corner.mattman said:
Depending on your campaign's type and style, his character will have ra-
ther few opportunities to take part in the party's adventures, especially
the ones outside of the ship.
According to the core rules, artificial intelligences are illegal on all planets
with law levels above law level 0, and as an artificial intelligence he needs
at least a TL 12 computer to leave the ship (risking to be deleted if disco-
vered ...), which is illegal on all planets with a law level of 5 or more.
So, unless you decide to be a very generous referee, this "infoghost" cha-
racter does not even require exotic creatures to balance him, the core ru-
les alone make him a real pain to play - most of the time all he can do is
counting electrons while the other characters have all the fun.
I see what you mean. We hashed out a little system in order to see if it works in practice.
He always inhabits a housing of some kind and has some large resource requirements. This would limit him to a starship computer, a starport "main system" or some other large thing. It's obviously inevitable that he would have a customized mobile shell constructed. He has a Footprint characteristic (2d6) which describes how noticed he might be while inhabiting a housing and how many resources he consumes to support his life. "Shift supervisor! My console is getting slow again. We need to call the tech priests." All potential housings are connected by "datapipes" of varying size and security. If he wishes to relocate, he must travel through these to reach the other housing. He might use the nice large fiber optic umbilical connecting their starship to the port but it's closely monitored. He could choose to use the smaller, flakier external laser communicator to enter the "cramped" maintenance computers in the hangar however. Or opt to use flocks of pigeons carrying his packets on USB thumb drives to somewhere A satellite channel would be a very small pipe indeed if he doesn't wish to be noticed. If they boost the power to the signal however, it becomes larger for more usefulness.
Now if a pipe is too small or risky, he could still spawn "control programs" on a distant device with which to grip and use it to some extent. This takes time and an Interface characteristic. It's still raw, sounds great in narrative but I have yet to use it practically as a game mechanic so crap on it all you want
He always inhabits a housing of some kind and has some large resource requirements. This would limit him to a starship computer, a starport "main system" or some other large thing. It's obviously inevitable that he would have a customized mobile shell constructed. He has a Footprint characteristic (2d6) which describes how noticed he might be while inhabiting a housing and how many resources he consumes to support his life. "Shift supervisor! My console is getting slow again. We need to call the tech priests." All potential housings are connected by "datapipes" of varying size and security. If he wishes to relocate, he must travel through these to reach the other housing. He might use the nice large fiber optic umbilical connecting their starship to the port but it's closely monitored. He could choose to use the smaller, flakier external laser communicator to enter the "cramped" maintenance computers in the hangar however. Or opt to use flocks of pigeons carrying his packets on USB thumb drives to somewhere
A satellite channel would be a very small pipe indeed if he doesn't wish to be noticed. If they boost the power to the signal however, it becomes larger for more usefulness.Now if a pipe is too small or risky, he could still spawn "control programs" on a distant device with which to grip and use it to some extent. This takes time and an Interface characteristic. It's still raw, sounds great in narrative but I have yet to use it practically as a game mechanic so crap on it all you want
mattman said:He could choose to use the smaller, flakier external laser communicator to enter the "cramped" maintenance computers in the hangar however. Or opt to use flocks of pigeons carrying his packets on USB thumb drives to somewhere
You have to understand, an AI program has to be put in a situation where it can execute. Pipes carrying only "data", voice, text, etc., wouldn't allow him to "transmit" and go nowhere where it could "execute"...
The "infoghost" can go nowhere except into the data system of the Im-mattman said:
perial starport on all low tech planets, and the Imperial starport will ha-
ve the best technologically possible protection against any kind of virus
- to try to infiltrate the Imperial starport data systems would almost cer-
tainly be a rather stupid way to commit suicide.
On true high tech planets the "infoghost" would face the same problem,
but now on the scale of the entire planet. There will be highly advanced
protections against artificial intelligences and any other kind of virus, and
to be detected will almost certainly lead to the "infoghosts" destruction.
However, I doubt that the "infoghost" would ever get far enough to have
the choice whether to infiltrate any planetary system or not.
As mentioned, artificial intelligences are highly illegal, and therefore the
customs officers at Imperial starports will search for them with the neces-
sary technology to find them and eliminate them.
So the moment the ship's computer is connected to the starport data net
is not the moment that allows the "infoghost" to go where he wants, it is
the moment when the Imperial anti-AI countermeasures will begin to scan
the ship's computer and to hunt him down.
P.S.: I really do not want to be a killjoy for your player's ideas, just to
point out where you as the referee could put the obstacles to prevent his
idea from becoming a game balance problem.
DFW said:
Sorry couldn't respond earlier...
Anyway...
My concept would still allow function/layout configuring. The AI is a module that is plugged into the station. I prefer wired for the security and signal reliability.
This is a design scheme from an ongoing campaign I run with others.
Cyphr said:
But what happens when that AI is the result of a downloaded personality you know like out of ghost in the shell so its literally the above quote but "reversed" so your ship's AI believes it is a leggy blonde femme fatale, an asian pilot or an older priest for example.
I believe Gene Roddenbury's Andromeda touched this with 2 examples of AI's being fixated on their respective captains!
