Cyernetics with vehicles, Merging the two Options

[Chrysalis]

Greets,

Is there a way in which a vehicle can take augmentations?

-Chrysalis

[Matsci]

Greets,

Is there a way in which a vehicle can take augmentations?

-Chrysalis

Vehicular Modification, Arsenal.

What cyberware do you want to put in a vehicle, anyway?

[Chrysalis]

I want to see if I can take an Evo Orderly and modify it.

What's the page number for cybernetic modifications?

-Chrysalis

[Jaid]

mechanical arms can (at the GM's option) receive cyberware, per the entry for mechanical arms iirc. it's not much of a stretch to apply that to legs for vehicles that have them (though in both cases, you would definitely need to houserule some capacity in there).

also, the cyborg modification includes the installation of a skillwire equivalent into a vehicle. it does not, strictly speaking, say anything about only working for cyborgs, but your GM may feel there is something different between a metahuman brain and a metahuman brain on drugs that makes the cyborg skillwires possible. (certainly, it seems like a sufficiently handy feature that it would logically be available separate from the cyborg adaptation, which could be argued to imply that it won't work on non-cyborgs, notwithstanding there isn't really any logical reason why it wouldn't).

[Neraph]

I've found a reasonable capacity is 1/2 of the synthetic correlating limb.

[Tarantula]

Logically, shouldn't it have at least the same, if not more capacity? You don't have to worry about making it look like a real arm or any of that stuff.

[Jaid]

Logically, shouldn't it have at least the same, if not more capacity? You don't have to worry about making it look like a real arm or any of that stuff.

that really depends =P

if it's an arm on your superblimp, then it should have a lot more capacity than a normal cyberlimb, even a bulky one =P likewise if you put an arm on a citymaster or something. if you're putting an arm on a kanmushi drone to be able to manipulate wires and stuff... well, it should probably have just a teensy bit less capacity (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Mordinvan]

But what kind of and how many cybernetics could you add to an Otomu?
If you have it being run by an A.I. do you have more space cause you don't have a CCU inside it?

[hyzmarca]

that really depends =P

if it's an arm on your superblimp, then it should have a lot more capacity than a normal cyberlimb, even a bulky one =P likewise if you put an arm on a citymaster or something. if you're putting an arm on a kanmushi drone to be able to manipulate wires and stuff... well, it should probably have just a teensy bit less capacity (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

It also depends on whether or not the size of the items being installed scales with the seize of the limbs that they are implanted in. There is nothing wrong with installing very tiny spurs in a microdrone's arms so that you can fight wars against insects. And if you're going to put a spur in an aircraft carrier's arm, you might as well use a big one.

[streetangelj]

I'm with Mordinvan, since I'm trying to do the same thing to an Otomo and wondering If I can cyber up its limbs or skull? I an however leaving the CCU (sans brain) inside for storyline reasons.

[Sir_Psycho]

Well theoretically you could either add cyber-limbs and a cyber-torso to an Otomo body and modify them to have high attributes (Say 6 in all physical), and then they can add that attribute to Pilot tests or even Skillwires like Athletics or Gymnastics. That would be a pretty cool cyborg.

[streetangelj]

That sounds like a good theory, but I think it wouldn't work because of the 'ware and mechanicals that are already in the drone for the torso. You can probably modify the arms like cyberlimbs just as if they were mechanical arm mods but would that require paying the cost of those mods? What about the possibility of adding a cyberskull or eyes or ears?

[Spike]

The question is problematic in that the initial formulation is flowing from a flawed premise. Simply put: Cybernetics are devices (machines) that interface with biological (flesh). No machine, no matter how manlike can thus have Cybernetics, nor should the rules for cybernetics, at any level, be considered appropriate for a machine, no matter how manlike.

The idea of replacing an existing mechanical skull with a cybernetic mechanical skull for some advantage is both a result of the flawed premise and the worst sort of idiot-savant munchkinning. A mechanical skull is the same wether it is robotic (drone) or cybernetic in origin.

A more reasonable question might be how to go about utilizing common cybernetic style modifications such as expanding the abilities of the onboard eyes (in the case of anthroform drones that use eyes) to include common components such as thermographic or image magnification, how to use smartlinks or to add 'spur's.

Of course, each component must be treated differently. Smartlink, for example, should be an assumed feature (with or without bonuses) in drone weaponry, or in another manner of speaking redundant or incompatable with extant machine controls and precision. The only 'feature' of smartlinking properly available to a machine would be the ability to fire non-dedicated weapons (anthro's picking up discarded firearms?) that are smartlinked, though again, the bonus should be considered assumed to the machine firing system in place.

Spurs and other weapons are simpler and could be considered to cost the same in terms of money (no surgery costs, though a lesser mechanic's fee could apply) and with no loss of essence, just as you would any minor vehicular modification with much fewer concerns about internal spaces... as the limb could be bulked up with much less effort to accomadate.

Cyberlimb modification is a bit more variable, as every GM might look at it differently. I do not believe the OTOMO or other antro drones are rated with metahuman traits but vehicular ones, and regardless I would assume that as pure machines their limbs are rated as strongly as the underlying mechanics and structure allow. Attaching a bigger, meaner motive system on a limb by limb basis is at once not so simple and yet utterly simple. In cases like the Otomo its easy enough to suggest that its as big and mean as it is feasable to make it (thus no option to upgrade), while a anthroform drone designed as a butler (C3PO... if you want to take your shadowrun that way) might have a lot more options as long as you don't mind working the hard way to get a cheap(??) version of the Otomo in the end. Regardless, I don't feel the cybernetics rules are at all compatable with what you would be attempting in any case.

The fact that this does keep coming up makes me think of the Babbage quote where he wonders about the members of parliment that believe his computing machine can give correct answers if the wrong questions are put in.