Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
So noted. I’m not familiar with that era, but I’ll make some to add to the crew list.
Robot Crew Oversight
- Thread starter Terry Mixon
- Start date
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Considering that AI wiped out most of Charted Space, perhaps the Imperium should have left that one alone...
Edit - My question would be is that a change Mongoose wanted to the setting or is this just some writers once again not following the setting or the rules of said setting?
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
Robots have been all over the setting, just they are not obvious. If you look at the art in classic era books you see robots doing jobs. Then there was the first major supplement to the game presented via JTAS - Marc's three issue three part Robots article.
They were then used in Adventure:2 Research Station Gamma - janitor robots, security robots, and an animal care robot
Note, if you ever want to spice up A:1 have the powered down ship still have robots on board, and allow the ship AI to control the marine battledress...
They were then used in Adventure:2 Research Station Gamma - janitor robots, security robots, and an animal care robot
Note, if you ever want to spice up A:1 have the powered down ship still have robots on board, and allow the ship AI to control the marine battledress...
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Robots all over the setting, yes, but autonomous killbots in the Third Imperium? If that is the case, then why have the published materials made such a big deal of the Third Imperium being anti-"autonomous killbots"Robots have been all over the setting, just they are not obvious. If you look at the art in classic era books you see robots doing jobs. Then there was the first major supplement to the game presented via JTAS - Marc's three issue three part Robots article.
They were then used in Adventure:2 Research Station Gamma - janitor robots, security robots, and an animal care robot
Note, if you ever want to spice up A:1 have the powered down ship still have robots on board, and allow the ship AI to control the marine battledress...
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
I started to look at these and ran into a hiccup almost immediately. Admin TL11 ran short on bandwidth.
Am I somehow misunderstanding what you said?
Ha ha, no definitely not a warbot sir, these are pre-owned non-lethal security droids. Carbon scoring? Well I suppose someone could have replaced the stun carbine with an Intelligent Stagger Laser Rifle with under-barrel RAM grenade launcher and smart tracker, equipped them with cloth armour and cloth trench coats and fielded them as stormtroopers but that is pure conjecture...
J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
I think you bought a different Bandwidth Upgrade than I did; I think I bought four additional Bandwidth, so that I would have 3 to spare for lifting INT from 7 to 9. I will need to re-check my math once I get home; it is entirely possible that I screwed up somewhere -- either in the design, or in my post.
[Edit:] Yeah the TL-11 bots should have the 10kCr +3 Bandwidth upgrade. I have corrected my post; thanks for the catch! I hope I haven't screwed up anything else. [/Edit]
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Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
You said:
"Skill/(2+1) with 5kCr of Bandwidth & 72kCr of Intellect upgrades at TL-11;"
I only bought the 5K of extra bandwidth called for, so I think you might have messed up something.
In the end, it's easier to make the robot than do the math.
Got a job too tedious for your overpaid sophont employees?
Sick of overpriced technology filled with bloatware or are you just a hard working stiff on a budget?
Then WE have the droid for you. The Basic Utility Droid or BUD will be your best bud.
Sure, he's a little slower the some of the competition but you know what they said about the tortoise. We made him of durable polymers rather than expensive alloys to keep the price and shipping costs down. So he isn't built for combat, but then neither are you. A little under 5 feet tall makes storing him a cinch.
His brain may be basic, but all the Basic Brain options are available including Basic(X)* and that means a low, low price. What really counts is that he is nimble and for your manual tasks that is more important than smarts because let's be honest smart employees often just means smart ass.
All this for a MRRP of KCr10 per unit* (Discounts available for Bulk Purchases)
Why buy one over-priced model when you can get a trio of BUDs, save money on crew costs - a BUD can pay for itself in single Month**
These ARE the droids you are looking for!!!!!
* A single Standard Brain Package can be ordered for factory installation for a small surcharge. Alternatively the Brain will be left blank for the user to install their own Standard Brain Package.
** Comparison based on Ship's Pilot Model at MRRP CR10100. Equivalent sophont Pilot grade 2 salary Cr9000 per month, + Cr1500 minimum life support cost + opportunity costs from cargo space allocated to accommodation.
BUD - Basic Utility Droid (TL13)
Size 4, Hits 6 (Reduced), Attack DM-1, Armour 3 (Reduced),
Walker, Move 3 (reduced), Endurance 135 Hrs.
Size 3 Manipulators, STR 5 (-1)
Increased DEX 9 (+1)
Basic Brain (TL10) INT 4
Free Slots 0 (Reduced).
Cost Cr10000
So what is the value in such a low spec system?
Basic Profession need not be limited to Labourer, Cleaner or Servant and could be extended to any blue collar or service profession.
Basic Security with +1 from Dex boosts the weapon skill to decent levels.
Basic Service is entirely adequate for ship board service on small traders.
Basic(X) allows any INT based skill at level 0 which is apprentice level and adequate for routine tasks. However BUD shines if the chosen skill is DEX based as it is boosted to level 2 (more than minimum professional standard). This includes Vehicle skills, Various Weapon Skills as well as ship skills like Pilot and Gunner and most of these skills only cost Cr100 at level 1.
Cheap battle droids can be improved with conventionally worn armour, but normal service droids need not be subject to serious abuse (and even armour 3 is better than an unarmoured human).
Bulk discounts could bring the price down further.
Used models can be really cheap and actually more capable (if a little quirky). I tend to use the same roll on the D6 for the price decrease and the number of quirks.
In the last game we had one that was half price but it had with 4 quirks (Input Errors, Communications Defect, Upgraded Bandwidth, Upgraded Intellect). This was a Service Droid (Steward 0, Mechanic 0) that had been badly reprogrammed from a Security Droid (giving it Weapon 2 and Tactics 0) such that it occasionally confused its orders.
"BUD-E the passenger in stateroom one is disturbing the others with his trombone playing, can you deal with him..."
"Is someone shooting? ...Noooooo!".
A clumsy external brain upgrade had been added increasing the Int to 5 and adding Gunner 1.
BUD-E also only communicated in Vargr which probably explained the origin of its "unconventional" configuration.
Sick of overpriced technology filled with bloatware or are you just a hard working stiff on a budget?
Then WE have the droid for you. The Basic Utility Droid or BUD will be your best bud.
Sure, he's a little slower the some of the competition but you know what they said about the tortoise. We made him of durable polymers rather than expensive alloys to keep the price and shipping costs down. So he isn't built for combat, but then neither are you. A little under 5 feet tall makes storing him a cinch.
His brain may be basic, but all the Basic Brain options are available including Basic(X)* and that means a low, low price. What really counts is that he is nimble and for your manual tasks that is more important than smarts because let's be honest smart employees often just means smart ass.
All this for a MRRP of KCr10 per unit* (Discounts available for Bulk Purchases)
Why buy one over-priced model when you can get a trio of BUDs, save money on crew costs - a BUD can pay for itself in single Month**
These ARE the droids you are looking for!!!!!
* A single Standard Brain Package can be ordered for factory installation for a small surcharge. Alternatively the Brain will be left blank for the user to install their own Standard Brain Package.
** Comparison based on Ship's Pilot Model at MRRP CR10100. Equivalent sophont Pilot grade 2 salary Cr9000 per month, + Cr1500 minimum life support cost + opportunity costs from cargo space allocated to accommodation.
BUD - Basic Utility Droid (TL13)
Size 4, Hits 6 (Reduced), Attack DM-1, Armour 3 (Reduced),
Walker, Move 3 (reduced), Endurance 135 Hrs.
Size 3 Manipulators, STR 5 (-1)
Increased DEX 9 (+1)
Basic Brain (TL10) INT 4
Free Slots 0 (Reduced).
Cost Cr10000
So what is the value in such a low spec system?
Basic Profession need not be limited to Labourer, Cleaner or Servant and could be extended to any blue collar or service profession.
Basic Security with +1 from Dex boosts the weapon skill to decent levels.
Basic Service is entirely adequate for ship board service on small traders.
Basic(X) allows any INT based skill at level 0 which is apprentice level and adequate for routine tasks. However BUD shines if the chosen skill is DEX based as it is boosted to level 2 (more than minimum professional standard). This includes Vehicle skills, Various Weapon Skills as well as ship skills like Pilot and Gunner and most of these skills only cost Cr100 at level 1.
Cheap battle droids can be improved with conventionally worn armour, but normal service droids need not be subject to serious abuse (and even armour 3 is better than an unarmoured human).
Bulk discounts could bring the price down further.
Used models can be really cheap and actually more capable (if a little quirky). I tend to use the same roll on the D6 for the price decrease and the number of quirks.
In the last game we had one that was half price but it had with 4 quirks (Input Errors, Communications Defect, Upgraded Bandwidth, Upgraded Intellect). This was a Service Droid (Steward 0, Mechanic 0) that had been badly reprogrammed from a Security Droid (giving it Weapon 2 and Tactics 0) such that it occasionally confused its orders.
"BUD-E the passenger in stateroom one is disturbing the others with his trombone playing, can you deal with him..."
"Is someone shooting? ...Noooooo!".
A clumsy external brain upgrade had been added increasing the Int to 5 and adding Gunner 1.
BUD-E also only communicated in Vargr which probably explained the origin of its "unconventional" configuration.
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Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Very nice!
We have very different design aims here
If you could just change the brain in the Cr5000 Labour Droid design to a Brain(X) you would get a dirt cheap semi-skilled labour force but then even DEX based packages would be running at skill 0. For routine tasks even that might be enough if they took their time. For secondary skills or operating fully supervised they would be better than nothing. I still can't quite bring myself to allow it though as the Labour Droid is so deeply discounted it feels like cheating. I can't bring myself to expunge it (it's there, how can it not exist) but I must limit it to Profession(Labour) for my own sanity.
One way to get closer would be if Basic Brains got cheaper as TL increased beyond TL10, I am not sure why the retrotech rule was not just left alone for Robot Brains. A Cr500 basic brain at TL13 doesn't seem so game breaking and might get you close.
If you went wheeler configuration or dog sized I am sure you could go even lower... Roller-Robo-Chimp... must resist....
Or I suppose we don't need to have any locomotion at all. A dedicated crew member can just be bolted into place at the crew station...
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J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
So if a 'Robot Slot' is the same as a 'Battle Dress Slot', that means that any sized Robot Brain could be fitted to Battle Dress by just using one slot? All Battle Dress seems to have more than 12 slots (and some have 30+ slots), so a single slot is a small price to pay. Even if the Referee required an Avatar Controller and Avatar Receiver, there is still lots of space left to put options into.
Great for getting you back from the pub when you lost all coordination.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
As we've been led to believe that we will see some robotically controlled battle dress in the Singularity campaign, yes.
J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
I just noticed this:
So a advanced computer/1-equivalent brain would have room for 1 Skill/0 package. But a Computer/2 equivalent would get room for two Skill/0 packages for EACH of its points of bandwidth, so 2 x 2 = 4 Skill/0 packages.
That has a big effect with high capacity / high INT brains.
So a advanced computer/1-equivalent brain would have room for 1 Skill/0 package. But a Computer/2 equivalent would get room for two Skill/0 packages for EACH of its points of bandwidth, so 2 x 2 = 4 Skill/0 packages.
That has a big effect with high capacity / high INT brains.
ishldgetoutmore
Banded Mongoose
In the MegaTraveller writeups of Battle Dress, they definitely mention that the suits can "walk" the wearer in the event they become unconscious; in modern MGT terms, that definitely implies a Robot Brain. In MegaTraveller Journal #1, there was this bit:
Since this was MT, there's a separate battlecomputer, and the automation in the suit is subsumed into "electronics suites". Nowadays, I'd definitely tie that to the GPS, so the wearer can "take a nap" while the suit brings them to a designated rendezvous site...MTJ #1 'Dressed to Kill - A Travellers' Cache Battle Dress Special' by Tom Peters said:
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