Where Are The Lifestyle Costs For AIs? Options

[tsuyoshikentsu]

They're different than a metahuman's. right?

[Stahlseele]

does an AI NEED a lifestyle? O.o
couldn't the AI just hack a toaster and live in there? o.O

[hermit]

AIs need lifestyles, yes. It's called a 'home node'. It's where their core programming rests. Blow up the home node and the AI is dead (otherwise, it cannot be killed). It's detailed on p. 90 of RC. In a nutshell, the home node needs to be at least of the AIs rating, and the rating defines the lifestyle costs, between rating 1 (squatter, 0) and rating 7+ (luxury, 100.000). For all I know, AIs may not spoof their lifestyle.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

They need to maintain their homes.

Of course, I'm going off the idea that you don't need 10k a month to maintain a certified credstick...

[hermit]

AIs need serious computing power, not dedicated devices for cash transfer. They need proper nodes, possibly nexi.

Edit: However ... can an AI find it's home in an internal commlink of a character? I have this innovatiive character idea - a genetically and cybernetically optimised war cyborg wearing green-ish heavy military armour and having an AI called Cortana in his Datajack ...

[tsuyoshikentsu]

AIs need serious computing power, not dedicated devices for cash transfer. They need proper nodes, possibly nexi.

Edit: However ... can an AI find it's home in an internal commlink of a character? I have this innovatiive character idea - a genetically and cybernetically optimised war cyborg wearing green-ish heavy military armour and having an AI called Cortana in his Datajack ...

Wrong-o! "Every metasapient has its own home node. This home could be a nexus, or a commlink, or a vending machine, or even a drone." I'm pretty sure a certified credstick has more power than a vending machine.

But hey, on the upside, your Ghost in the Shell idea works.

[hermit]

Yes, but it's home node has to ub3rl33t. Hence:

Being the home of an AI puts a strain on the node’s resources, both hardware and software. A node must be kept in top condition, with the latest upgrades and technology, in order for it to
continue to serve without breaking down. This cost is analogous to metahuman lifestyle costs, and an AI must arrange payment of this upkeep or risk losing its home.

Also: Fuck yeah. Master Chief will be hacker surpreme!

[Aaron]

Also: Fuck yeah. Master Chief will be hacker surpreme!

"My name ... is O'Malley!"

[Matsci]

Yes, but it's home node has to ub3rl33t. Hence:



Also: Fuck yeah. Master Chief will be hacker surpreme!

Just for the hell of it, I dug out the list of augmentations that Master Chief has.

1. Carbide ceramic ossification: Advanced material: special metal and ceramic layers, grafting onto skeletal structure to make bones virtually unbreakable. Recommended coverage not to exceed 3 percent total bone mass because of significant white blood cell necrosis. Specific risk for pre- and near-post pubescent adolescents: skeletal growth spurts may cause irreparable bone pulverization.

2. Muscular enhancement injections: Protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactate recovery time. Risk: 5 percent of test subjects experience a fatal cardiac volume increase.

3. Catalytic thyroid implant: Platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues. Risk: rare instances of elephantiasis. Suppressed sexual drive.

4. Occipital capillary reversal: Submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of subject’s retina. Produces a marked visual perception increase. Risk: retinal rejection and detachment. Permanent blindness.

5. Superconducting fabrication of neural dendrites: Alteration of bioelectrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. Three hundred percent increase in subject’s reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity. Risk: significant instances of Parkinson’s disease and Fletcher’s syndrome.

So, Bone Lacing, Muscle Augmentation, Suprathyroid Gland, Some Eye augmentation, and Synaptic Boosters.

[Moon-Hawk]

Just for the hell of it, I dug out the list of augmentations that Master Chief has.


So, Bone Lacing, Muscle Augmentation, Suprathyroid Gland, Some Eye augmentation, and Synaptic Boosters.

Don't forget a fair amount of genetic optimization, right out of the gate.

[Muspellsheimr]

evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity

Cerebral Boosters. I would also throw in Muscle Toner.

[Zaranthan]

Also: Fuck yeah. Master Chief will be hacker supreme!

Cortana is pretty much the definition of black box hacking. You plug her into a system and she annihilates everything in her way. Rampant AIs are fun like that.

[CanRay]

The new PC in my group just got "AI In Residence" as a disadvantage to his Apartment.

So I chose a Metalhead E-Ghost that lived in the Apartment before, and is happy that he no longer has eardrums to rupture!

[Aaron]

Nice!

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Yes, but it's home node has to ub3rl33t. Hence:

Yes, but a credstick is uberleet. It's Device 6. How do you need to pay 10k a month for it?

[hobgoblin]

The new PC in my group just got "AI In Residence" as a disadvantage to his Apartment.

So I chose a Metalhead E-Ghost that lived in the Apartment before, and is happy that he no longer has eardrums to rupture!

whiskey tango foxtrot?! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/silly.gif)

i had to look that up, and i missed the apartment bit. lifestyles with qualities, love it! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/vegm.gif)

as for ai lifestyles, i found that a ok ai could live inside a comlink bolted to the inside of a otomo drone using the default 400 points (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[CanRay]

whiskey tango foxtrot?! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/silly.gif)

i had to look that up, and i missed the apartment bit. lifestyles with qualities, love it! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/vegm.gif)

Yep. SINless, so he had to take some disadvantages to live in the quality he wanted. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

That was the first one read, and he jumped on it.

[hyzmarca]

They need to maintain their homes.

Of course, I'm going off the idea that you don't need 10k a month to maintain a certified credstick...

Actually, they do, which probably would make a Rating 6 AI's presence on credstick incredibly obvious. Since AIs don't have any functional limbs they'd have to call out for tech support. That's probably around 50 nuyen per hour for housecalls plus parts which should be sufficiently rare because credsticks are not generally used for very long. Lets say 3K for parts and 8K for labor. That's only 160 man hours per month keeping the credstick running, 128 man hours with 16 hour work days and standard 150% overtime. That's about 8 days of work per month. Not bad, but still sort of obvious.

[Aaron]

Yeah, I imagine it's kinda hard to maintain a home in a credstick when the housing keeps melting because the hardware is doing things it was never designed to do. This isn't even mentioning what's happening to the actual hardware.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Look at it this way, then.

Assume a 30-day month. Let's also assume that a credstick melts after one week (7 days) of continuous AI usage.

The AI melts a credstick after a week. Oh nos! But he has a drone (one of his own, or just hacks one) go buy an empty certified credstick, and migrates to his new home. It's a ten-hit test with a period of a day, so let's assume three days. That's ten days of the month used, so that happens three times a month.

This costs the AI a grand total of... 75NY.

[krakjen]

Cortana is pretty much the definition of black box hacking. You plug her into a system and she annihilates everything in her way. Rampant AIs are fun like that.

I personally prefer GlaDOS.
Batshit crazy AI always did it for me.

Even better is she promises some cake...

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Even better is she promises some cake...

THE CAKE IS A LIE.

[CanRay]

I personally prefer GlaDOS.
Batshit crazy AI always did it for me.

If my group ever screws up enough that they have to leave Seattle for a bit, I'm sending them to Winnipeg to perform a DataSteal on a small research firm named "Aperture Science". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/vegm.gif)

[CanRay]

Well, you gotta know the AI is just going to use the Uber-Hacking abilities to Spoof the Lifestyle anyhow.

"Honey! You got some 'splainin' to do! 9000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) in charges from a Online Porn Palance!!!"

[Aaron]

The AI melts a credstick after a week. Oh nos! But he has a drone (one of his own, or just hacks one) go buy an empty certified credstick, and migrates to his new home. It's a ten-hit test with a period of a day, so let's assume three days. That's ten days of the month used, so that happens three times a month.

A clever idea.

If it was my character, though, I'd probably just pony up the cash, since I'd rather not risk getting a string of bad rolls and having my Rating decreased. That and while running a drone out of a credstick might work, running a drone that is my home node is better.