A rework for Nanohives., New, improved, and more sensical. Options

[Karaden]

Something that has been bugging me for a while is how the Nanohive works, or more specifically its cost, particularly in essence.

So what I've done is come up with a rework of the Nanohive that makes more sense based on my personal views and some stuff that I've seen others discussing on the boards. Please note that the costs for the Nanohive is going to be a bit confusing/extensive, but I think it makes it a good deal better.

The spoiler part is what would appear in the book if it was being redone.

[ Spoiler ]

The Nanohive is cutting edge technology that allows for the safe storage and replenishment of nanites in the user's body, allowing recovery from accidental loss or destruction of part of a nanite colony, in addition to the simple troubles encountered with the body's own immune system.

The Nanohive comes as two parts. The first is the adjustment of the user's liver, kidney, spleen, and other organs to make them more receptive of nanite colonies and less likely to filter them out. This reduces the decay time of -all- nanites in the user's system to one rating every two weeks. The second is the hive itself, which acts as a sort of 'garage' for the nanite colonies, both a safe place for them to remain when deactivated, and a small manufacturing facility to replace lost nanites.

A Nanohive can support one nanite colony of the user's choice per rating. Each colony supported this way is unaffected by normal decay, though they can still be lost through blood loss. The Nanohive will however work to replace the lost nanites at a rate of one rating per week. A Nanohive can also be used to reprogram any hard nanites that it supports, as per the rules of reprogramming nanites.

Note that the Nanohive is not capable of increasing the rating of any nanites it houses beyond what they where bought with, this would require advanced programing to make them work together properly in larger numbers.

Also note that even if a nanite colony is reduced to a rating of 0 while being supported by a Nanohive will still be able to regenerate as the Nanohive keeps a small number of the nanites in reserve for just such an instance.

The installation of the Nanohive is a two part process, first the person's organs must be augmented, this is a one time process that costs 5,000 nuyen and takes up .5 essence. Once this is done it need never be done again regardless of how many Nanohives a person may want.

The second part is the hive itself, this takes up either .1 essence per rating, or a flat 2 capacity in any cyberlimb, as well as 10k per rating in either case. However, the hive needs to be able to connect to the user's 'meat' and so only one may be installed in each hand/foot/leg/arm unless an extra 1 capacity and 500 nuyen is paid to create the required connections from 'meat' to hive.

The Nanohive requires a refill of supplies every six months at a cost of 500 nuyen per nanite colony supported. If a hive has a higher rating then it has colonies then the time may be expanded, but if so then the full cost of 500 times the rating must be paid.

Now for a few explenations, I made the .5 essence a one time payment because of the flavor text in the original that seemed to indicate that it was ment as such. I also allowed this to increase the time of decay of all nanites, since this seemed to make a lot of sense given that the point of the organ modifications was to decrease overall wear on nanites period, not just the ones being cared for. I also dropped the essence cost of each rating because the .25/rating seemed very high compared to a flat 2 capacity for a cyberlimb. For .25 essence and 5,000 nuyen it was easy to get an obvious cyberfoot (which no one would ever see through shoes.) and be able to fit two Nanohives of any rating you wanted, thus being able to get 4 essence worth of cyberware at .25 essence and an extra 5,000 nuyen. This is also what prompted me to increase the capacity cost for any Nanohives beyond the first, that and a comment by some people mentioning that the hive is odd in the cyberlimb since it requires direct access to the meat and blood through which nanties move.

So, feel free to share your comments and ideas on what I have come up with. Hopefully this makes Nanohives a bit more practical without getting random cyberlimbs purely to get Nanohives without massive essence drain.

[WeaverMount]

.5 essence 5000 :nuyen: implant has far to much of it's cost in essence. Go look at the price tags on other .5 essence mods. Also you leave in the most objectionable mechanic that allows for 2 rating 2 nanohives in said obvious cyber-foot. All though I'm not sure who would spend the money and essence for 4 nano-colonies besides some one who intends to spend years in pockets of apocalypticly polluted zones.

[Karaden]

[WeaverMount]

I may well have missed your intent but
I read

[Karaden]

True, you could easily get two cyberfeet and stick a nanohive in both of them, but at least your getting closer to the essence cost of doing it the normal way. I suppose part of the reason this is so hard to work out is that this is one of the few (if only) things that has a variable rating (and variable essence in that rating) that can also go into a cyberlimb.

I'd personally be compleatly ok with taking out the use of it in cyberlimbs at all, but I figured I'd at least keep that option around since it was in the main book. The other option is a variable capacity based on the rating, but I don't think other things do that.

[WeaverMount]

Stats enhancements and hydrolics have a capacity based on rating so I think you would be safe doing that if you want to. Also remember that that nanites they have write so far mostly medical/health related or only work in downtime. Making them cost a lot would mean your players would never get them. That is ok though, not all tech is for runners

[Rotbart van Dain...]

Uhm, the nanite filtration implant in SR3 was only .3 Essence.

[Karaden]

Ok, done a bit of tweeking, here is the new entry..

[ Spoiler ]

The Nanohive is cutting edge technology that allows for the safe storage and replenishment of nanites in the user's body, allowing recovery from accidental loss or destruction of part of a nanite colony, in addition to the simple troubles encountered with the body's own immune system.

The Nanohive comes as two parts. The first is the adjustment of the user's liver, kidney, spleen, and other organs to make them more receptive of nanite colonies and less likely to filter them out. This reduces the decay time of -all- nanites in the user's system to one rating every two weeks. The second is the hive itself, which acts as a sort of 'garage' for the nanite colonies, both a safe place for them to remain when deactivated, and a small manufacturing facility to replace lost nanites.

A Nanohive can support one nanite colony of the user's choice per rating. Each colony supported this way is unaffected by normal decay, though they can still be lost through blood loss. The Nanohive will however work to replace the lost nanites at a rate of one rating per week. A Nanohive can also be used to reprogram any hard nanites that it supports, as per the rules of reprogramming nanites.

Note that the Nanohive is not capable of increasing the rating of any nanites it houses beyond what they where bought with, this would require advanced programing to make them work together properly in larger numbers.

Also note that even if a nanite colony is reduced to a rating of 0 while being supported by a Nanohive will still be able to regenerate as the Nanohive keeps a small number of the nanites in reserve for just such an instance.

The installation of the Nanohive is a two part process, first the person's organs must be augmented, this is a one time process that costs 5,000 :nuyen: and takes up .5 essence. Once this is done it need never be done again regardless of how many Nanohives a person may want.

The second part is the hive itself, this takes up either .1 essence or 1 capacity per rating. However, the hive needs to be able to connect to the user's 'meat' and so only one may be installed in each cyberlimb. The hive costs 5,000 :nuyen: for the first rating, and 10,000 :nuyen: for each rating beyond that, to a maximum of six total rating.

The Nanohive requires a refill of supplies every six months at a cost of 500 :nuyen: per nanite colony supported. If a hive has a higher rating then it has colonies then the time may be expanded, but if so then the full cost of 500 times the rating must be paid.

I realise that some people may still dislike the 5,000 :nuyen: to .5 essence for the basic part, but that is what the book has it as, being something that is fairly cheap but makes some serious adjustments to the body. I mean by the book rules a rating two nanohive would cost you 20,000 :nuyen: and a full essence. Also keep in mind that the hive is utterly useless without some nanites to put in it, so you can consider those and the hive to be one thing, having a cost of .5 essence, 5,000 :nuyen: -and- the cost of the nanites, which makes the ratio of money to essence much more within the norm.

[Fortune]

I just use the Hive pretty much as written, but rule that even if implanted in a cyberlimb, the kidney modifications still mean that the hive will cost the base amount of Essence (0.5).

[Karaden]

But my problem with that is that it is -way- more effective to get the hive installed in a cyberlimb if you rule it that way. As I said earlier, you could get a cyberfoot for .25 essence and 5k :nuyen: and then put 2 rating 6 hives in there for another .5 essence -or- you can get it the natural way, and 2 rating 6 hives would cost you 3.5 essence. I hardly think 5k :nuyen: is anything at all compared to saving yourself 2.75 essence.

My rework is mostly geared towards evening out that discrepancy right there. I can't imagine anyone at all that wouldn't get the foot or hand or something over having to pay that huge amount of essence.

[Fortune]

It's way more effective to get anything implanted in a cyberlimb. That is one of the primary advantages of a cyberlimb.

[Karaden]

Maybe, but that seems like too large of a difference. I'll look at some of the other stuff that can do both and check, but I'm sure it is nothing close to a 2.75 essence difference, or as the book would have it a 3.75 difference.