No Robots or Drones?

[TrippyHippy]

One of the notable omissions in the reorganisation of the Equipment chapter is the section on Robots and Drones.

Not only do I miss them, but I'd actually like to see more integrated attempts to make Robots playable as PCs.

Possible, anyone?

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I think this core book has reached its page limit. More likely a Traveller Companion core item.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Well, could that be confirmed? That Robots and Drones will be in the Companion? They are quite important inclusions in my games.

 

[-Daniel-]

I think this core book has reached its page limit. More likely a Traveller Companion core item.

With all the stuff being posted as "going into the Traveller Companion" I wonder if it has already exceeded it's page limit. LOL

Seems Robots and Drones would also make sense to be in the Central Supply Catalogue if you think of then as "equipment".

Just a thought.

No matter what, I do expect to see them still in the game as robots and drones just go hand in hand with SciFi.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

As long as the book does not have sectors or campaigns in it, it should have room for Traveller clutter and optional rules galore.

 

[MongooseMatt]

I am planning to have a smattering of robots in Core, but want to get them resolved (likely with the Vehicle Handbook) first.

 

[-Daniel-]

I am planning to have a smattering of robots in Core, but want to get them resolved (likely with the Vehicle Handbook) first.

I just got lost. Why put Robots in the Vehicle Handbook? If you had said the Central Supply Catalogue I would have understood because Robots and Droids could be called "equipment", but why in the vehicle book?

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I think once vehicles are situated and copacetic with the core rules, then robots can be calibrated with everything Traveller-wise. Some robots will be vehicles (drones).

 

[MongooseMatt]

I think once vehicles are situated and copacetic with the core rules, then robots can be calibrated with everything Traveller-wise. Some robots will be vehicles (drones).

At the moment, I am leaning towards handling robots in two ways. Big robots will be drones and follow the Vehicle rules (with a robot brain instead of crew). Smaller robots _may_ be handled in a similar way to animals, but that needs thought and has already had some push back from internal playtesting!

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

I think once vehicles are situated and copacetic with the core rules, then robots can be calibrated with everything Traveller-wise. Some robots will be vehicles (drones).

At the moment, I am leaning towards handling robots in two ways. Big robots will be drones and follow the Vehicle rules (with a robot brain instead of crew). Smaller robots _may_ be handled in a similar way to animals, but that needs thought and has already had some push back from internal playtesting!

Just a random thought, but how about looking at Judge Dredd for robot rules?

 

[Golan2072]

I think once vehicles are situated and copacetic with the core rules, then robots can be calibrated with everything Traveller-wise. Some robots will be vehicles (drones).

At the moment, I am leaning towards handling robots in two ways. Big robots will be drones and follow the Vehicle rules (with a robot brain instead of crew). Smaller robots _may_ be handled in a similar way to animals, but that needs thought and has already had some push back from internal playtesting!

I support this. Just replace the animal behaviors/ecological niches with bot types - i.e. security, warbot, servebot, repair/workbot, cargo bot, exploration drone, protocol droid... each will give the appropriate skills and components/bits. Size, hits etc would work just like animals.

More advanced human-sized robots, though, might be great to handle as characters - they should get a UPP and skills, in addition to notable components.

 

[Reynard]

I definitely applaud a careful reexamination of the robot rules and construction. Robots are a part of Traveller and need to work well with the system.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

At the moment, I am leaning towards handling robots in two ways. Big robots will be drones and follow the Vehicle rules (with a robot brain instead of crew). Smaller robots _may_ be handled in a similar way to animals, but that needs thought and has already had some push back from internal playtesting!

My dad designed propulsion systems for drones. They were all huge and looked like vehicles to me. One of them stays in the air for 48 hours and lands on its own. Anyway, as long as there will be character generation for robots in one of the books, I'm happy.

 

[-Daniel-]

My dad designed propulsion systems for drones. They were all huge and looked like vehicles to me. One of them stays in the air for 48 hours and lands on its own.

I think we should use care using drone to only mean vehicle sized UFVs. Some will be very much below vehicle sized. See below...

Recon Drone in use today...

Another in use today...

So while I understand the desire to be able to make a Predator style drone, I still think, in my opinion, they need more than vehicle treatment.

 

[Golan2072]

You can buy today small and relatively cheap remote-control drones you can control from your comm-equivalent, they could be quite useful in-game IMHO for recon purposes...

For example:

http://www.amazon.com/Parrot-AR-Drone-2-0-Edition-Quadricopter/dp/B00IO97G2Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1403728451&sr=8-2&keywords=ar+drone+gps

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Technically, those are vehicles also. Light vehicles, depending on how much AI they're carrying maybe. Otherwise, they're just RC hobby/perv/camera planes. A better example of light robot drones would be those used in Minority Report (that scanned eyes). And huge examples are the ones in the Matrix and Terminator and DUNE movies. Star Wars has plenty of sizes for drones.

Or... RC drones are just TL7, maybe higher TL if a better camera is installed. But someone is still controlling the thing, and they can knocked out of the sky easy (or just stepped on or run over). Then the higher TL drones will have AI controlling them, and shielding, and weapons. If a flying Drone is just a weapon, that's pretty much a cruise missile or smart bomb. Do we want to go there with Drones?

Or... Drones can't have AI. That's what Robots are for. And do we want Robots doing what Drones currently do?

Decide on a setting first for what Robots and Drones will be/do in the 57th century.

 

[-Daniel-]

Decide on a setting first for what Robots and Drones will be/do in the 57th century.

All I know for sure is I do not want Traveller to force all drones into a 2015 Earth paradigm. Drones with some level of robotic function just seems expected by then and their sizes would/could vary from insect size to space craft sizes in my opinion. Do we use the "frame and mind" split to create them? One robot the size of a 50 ton cutter designed to care for the large fish herds on some water word might have less processing power than the small military recon drone the size of a small bird.

Maybe I am misunderstanding the intent, but the comment I am thinking of was they will be covered in the "vehicle book". And that feels like an odd place to do it to me. :|

Side note, I also can see that robots and androids could be treated different from vehicle sized drones, so the little recon "drone" might really be a robot from the mechanics point of view. I am more curious that anything at this point. :mrgreen:

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

"Vehicle" sounds too grounded to me. But NASA uses the word for all their stuff. I hope Traveller drones don't end up just looking like descriptions/pricing seen on Amazon. Then there is the theme for this stuff. A transhuman setting will use drones differently than a Star Trek setting will (unless there are Borg). And a 5050's Rocketship-Z setting will use its drones differently.

And don't forget the nano-bots! Our new overlords who make tweaks to our genetic uplifting.

 

[Infojunky]

At the moment, I am leaning towards handling robots in two ways. Big robots will be drones and follow the Vehicle rules (with a robot brain instead of crew). Smaller robots _may_ be handled in a similar way to animals, but that needs thought and has already had some push back from internal playtesting!

Gee, Matt I had the same Idea.

 

[Tenacious-Techhunter]

It seems to me the key issues are being able to:

Make PC & NPC Robot Characters, and NPC sized Drones for telepresence
Make Equipment sized Robots & Drones
Make Vehicle sized Robots & Drones
Make Satellite & Spaceship sized Robots & Drones

It seems to me a better approach would be to just make a system for attaching a "Robot AI" system to something, than to try and come up with just one or even two systems that satisfies all these diverse needs. In fact, it may just be better to revise the Agent software rules, whose purpose has always been fairly nebulous, to fit this purpose; "Robot AI" fits as a reasonable extension of this.

Further, there isn't really any need to take any one piece of equipment and attach it to a robot platform. If the robot doesn't integrate at least a few different pieces equipment before putting it on a robot platform, just leave it to the item customization rules.