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> Proposed Cyberware, Help balancing?
silentmaster101
post Apr 26 2007, 05:56 PM
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I would like to incorperate this into my games, and i think it would help get those street sammies out of tight spots, but i would like some help in balancing it. i am not sure if the essence cost is too low or not.

Capacitor: The capacitor is a battery that when used, doubles the rating of Muscle replacement, Wired reflexes, Reaction enhancers and makes cyberlimbs operate at 150% of their strength, reaction and agility. Uses one charge per full combat round, each battery holds 10 charges, Extended capacity batteries hold 20. Additional batteries add \ charges to total stored amount, but do not increase power. When plugged into a power source it recharges 1 charge every 10 seconds. Uses a free action to turn on/off and will automatically turn off after 3 rounds. The capacitor can only operate for 3 rounds before needing to turn off for 2 rounds due to stress caused on the cyber systems. Must cool for 2 rounds after every use. Capacitors are very expensive due to the costs of upgrading existing cyberware to work at increased levels.


Cyberware essence Capacity Availability Cost
Capacitor .05 [1] 4R 10000
Extended Capacitor .08 [2] 4R 20000
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DireRadiant
post Apr 26 2007, 06:01 PM
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Wow!
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bibliophile20
post Apr 26 2007, 06:08 PM
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Aside from making a note as to how many systems one capacitor can charge at once, I don't see any problems.

By "how many systems" I mean, will having one capacitor installed be enough to charge all of the cyberware present in the body? Or will each system need its own capacitor? Or will one capacitor suffice, but each individual system uses one charge per round, drawing from the common pool of charges in the capacitor?
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silentmaster101
post Apr 26 2007, 06:11 PM
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i was thinking that drawing one charge per cyber system per round is fair, but thats mostly the part i was looking for input on.
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odinson
post Apr 26 2007, 07:03 PM
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How about making them roll to see if the cyberlimbs get damaged in anyway from the extra stress. You could give the capacitor a rating of 1-4, and make the character roll for each piece of cyberware affected capacitor rating + a bonus based on the grade of cyberware. Say 1 for regular, 2 for alpha, 3 for beta, and 4 for delta. The character needs to get a number of hits equal to the number of rounds the capacitor was active or his cyberware becomes burnt out. Reduce all ratings by 1. So for the cyberlimb all attributes, except armour would be reduced by 1, the wired reflexes would provide 1 less IP and 1 less reaction, ect. If the character critical glitched on his roll you could reduce all numbers by 2. Also the capacitor wouldn't work on the damaged cyberware.
The player would then need to have his cyber tuned up at a cost of say 10% cyber cost.

Your cool off of 2 rounds after every use would prevent players from activating it for round and then using it again in the next.
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Moon-Hawk
post Apr 26 2007, 07:22 PM
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The thought of Wired Reflexes running at rating 6 scares me. What happens then? I guess there's a hard limit of 4 passes, so really this adds 1 to rating 1 (doubling it), adds 1 to rating 2 (1+2x2=5 but max of 4), and doesn't effect rating 3 at all.
So are you planning to allow them to break the 4 pass limit, or does this just not work with WR3? Maybe you should express it as adding +1 to the rating of WR1 and WR2, since unless you remove the 4 pass cap that's really all it's doing.
Similarly, are the other boosts still capped by the standard caps, or are those caps removed for temporary boosts?
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the_dunner
post Apr 26 2007, 07:30 PM
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Before you implement this, try keeping track of how many times in a game session, and for how many rounds each time, the cyberware that can be boosted is actually active.

My guess is that in a typical game session you'll find that wired reflexes or muscle replacement might only be used once or twice. Further, most fights in SR4 don't take very long. So, the 3 combat round limit is actually longer than might even be needed to have the gear boosted (effectively) 100% of the time.

If that's the case, then this gear is basically just a gimme. It means that anybody that really wanted their cyberware at Rating 2 would just by at Rating 1 and grab the caapacitor. It means that anybody that wanted the best of the best would buy their gear at Max rating and always enjoy the effects of having it at (2 * Max Rating).

That's going to have some pretty substantial effects on the economics of both character creation and the rest of the game world.
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Rotbart van Dain...
post Apr 26 2007, 07:43 PM
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Somehow, with those hard caps in SR4, I don't really see the reason for this...
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bibliophile20
post Apr 26 2007, 07:49 PM
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dunner has a point. hmmm...

Increase the essence cost and have it good for only... 100 charges or so (200 for the extended). After that point (ten total recharges) each time it is used roll a Remaining Charges (Number of recharges past 10) test, with the grade of the capacitor acting as positive modifier. If they fail the test, the capacitor simply does not work that time. If they glitch on the test, it fried itself and needs to be replaced. And if they critically glitch... it explodes.
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Whipstitch
post Apr 26 2007, 08:04 PM
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I like that you're attempting to give a worthwhile boost to some 'ware that is somewhat underwhelming, but I think it'd be best to remove wired reflexes from the list of stuff it boosts, since they're already fine as is. Ideally, I think this ware makes the most sense as a a fairly inexpensive cyberlimb upgrade that gives a one or two point boost to all physical attributes in the limb (even temporarily exceeding the w/o torso threshold) for a round or two a couple of times every 24 hours or so (that makes for much easier bookkeeping, if nothing else). With a torso, you could double the boost it gives at the risk of stun damage if you so choose. It'd pretty powerful, give limbs a needed boost, and wouldn't be so out of line compared to what things like an adrenal booster and some bioware can do.
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deek
post Apr 26 2007, 08:06 PM
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I'd think about upping the availability and cost...by a lot.

And I agree with previous posters, combat happens really quick in SR4. I'd almost think that the boost should only last a pass at a time, then cool down one or two. The way that it is setup right now, you basically are giving them the extra power for all combat for very little cost...

I'd also make the recharge take a lot longer. Minimum 10-15 minutes per recharge.
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Wasabi
post Apr 26 2007, 09:17 PM
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It should be less effective than the "Power Boost" adept power. Adepts already get the shaft in most areas.
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JonathanC
post Apr 26 2007, 10:40 PM
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QUOTE (Wasabi)
It should be less effective than the "Power Boost" adept power. Adepts already get the shaft in most areas.

How, exactly? They have infinite upgrade potential, their enhancements are undetectable, and they can defend themselves against spirits. They also have the potential for *much* higher combat skills by taking maximum ranks *and* the skill enhancement power. That hardly seems like "the shaft" to me.
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knasser
post Apr 26 2007, 10:56 PM
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Have characters with a capacitor fitted explode when they receive more than six boxes of damage in one go. Make it approximately double grenade power.
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mfb
post Apr 26 2007, 11:21 PM
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i personally wouldn't allow any 'ware to exceed the maximum purchasable rating. if that kind of performance only required more power to achieve, street sams would simply carry batteries.

i'd like to point out that as written, this is a hell of a lot better than attribute boost.
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Shrike30
post Apr 27 2007, 12:02 AM
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Yeah, and all it requires is getting a bunch of cyberwear implanted. :wobble:

I've been pretty thoroughly underwhelmed by the effects of most of the attribute boosting cyberware (bioware is another story, obviously). Giving it some sort of temporary boost would make it somewhat worthwhile to use.

You might consider modelling side effects somewhat like drain... boosting to a certain point (rating = rating x 1.5) it does stun damage to the user, boosting beyond that (rating = rating x 2.0) it does physical damage. Sprinting down a hallway at 50 miles an hour has got to be hard on the joints...
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ronin3338
post Apr 27 2007, 12:31 AM
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I would think that a critical glitch wouldn't explode per se...

I'd have it discharge, perhaps creating a small EMP type effect that shorts out all the 'ware in the character for a short period of time.
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silentmaster101
post Apr 27 2007, 02:26 AM
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well i was thinking it would only affect the reaction modifier in WR not the IP, i guess i forgot about that part. but no, it would not exceed the cap rules anyway. maybe drop it down to a 2 round limit and a 2 boxes of stun damage given out after it is deactivated. but this is good, i was looking for a way to temporarily boost stats, but keep it balanced.
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Garrowolf
post Apr 27 2007, 02:45 AM
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I agree that it shouldn't effect WR. I do like the idea though. I would agree that it should only be a few rounds and not 10 rounds.

It actually gives me an idea for a way of doing cyberware a bit differently then standard. I was thinking about having cyberware have a minimum and maximum rating instead of just a single rating. The minimum rating would apply all the time. It would probably be close to human levels. Then each level could take a charge. You could go to very high levels with this but it wouldn't be imbalanced since the borg would have limited "Overpower" charge. This could allow it to be very strong and powerful but not for long periods of time. The difference between grades of cyberware could be their efficiency. Higher grades could require less charge per bonus or something like that.

This would also show a bigger difference between cyberware and bioware.
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Demon_Bob
post Apr 27 2007, 10:58 PM
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Kinda like the idea of it being simular to a cyberware version of the Adrenal Pump.

It would add its rating to the Strength, Agility, Reaction, Signal stats of the affected cyberware. It would work for its (rating * 1d6 turns)/(amount of cyberware affected).

Afterwards the affected cyberware would work at 1/2 power, until it was shutdown for 5 minutes for each turn it was active. With a 10 minute recharge time from an external power source.

Cost = 10K per rating sounds good. Essence = Rating *.5. Capacity = [3].

Not really sure how exactly Capacity works. Reason: Obvious Full cyberarm has a capacity of 15; Cybereyes rating 3, 12; Submachine Gun takes up 10. So does taht mean I can put a submachine gun in my eye? NO!
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