What new Cyber/Bio do you want? Options

[Grinder]

The discussion about the power of mundanes (in comparison to adepts) and the last thread about the new adept powers of SOTA:2064 brought me to the question, which new pieces of cyber- and bioware we want?

I would like to see some piece of 'ware that grants protection against magic (and is only usuable for non-awakenend characters). Haven't made much thougts about it anyway...

Allowing some sort of USB-cyberware: an arm or leg where you can add and remove gadgets nearly on the fly. M&M covers it a little bit, with the ECU, but it's not the way i want it.

Make it easier to remove and upgrade cyberware. M&M really sucks there. Someone mentioned the idea of nanotech that allows cyberware to be removed easily, without the risk of losing essence (not gaining back the essence you spend).

Just waiting for more ideas, so let your minds work! :)

[JaronK]

I'd like cyber arms with extra ECU so I can fit lots of goodies inside them. Go-go gadget! A bioware thermovision would make sense, but would sort of remove a major advantage of adepts and certain races, namely natrual theromvision. I'd think a bioware thingy that lets you control your external heat somewhat, similar to armour thermal dampening, would also be fun.

JaronK

[Xirces]

Yeah, more mix'n'match, more modularity, more flexibility...

I'm not that bothered about new /stuff/ per se - there's certainly no particular items that spring to mind, but I'd like to see easier surgery, improved healing, improved cyber repair - all of which can be done through nano-tech.

Reductions in cost for cyber across the board and lower the multipliers and availability for alpha and beta ware. Nothing too drastic...

[Fortune]

A total reworking of implanted Communications gear would be nice.

[Xirces]

yeah, that too. :)

Actually a reworking of all comms gear (implanted or otherwise) would be a good first step.

[Cray74]

[Garland]

A combination of street-level stuff and non-combat cyber.

An example of street cyber might be eyes that have ONLY low light or thermo or something. Very cheap, essence friendly. Sure, nobody who can afford real cybereyes will want them, but they make a nice option for the really poor, like gangers and such.

Someone mentioned cyber allowing control over hair color. I'm really surprised this doesn't already exist. I think Shadowtech had a full-page color add for fiber-optic hair. Why the heck don't we already have this? A bio version might be nice, too.

A while back someone described an "obvious cybereyes" option that would allow the eyes to hold more "free" essence worth of 'ware. I really like that idea.

I've also been thinking about all this "mundanes got it tough" talk going around. Maybe something along the lines of "Neural Integrity Reinforcement," (to use M&M's reasoning about why Essence is lost. Personally I'd call it "Pattern Integrity Reinforcement") sort of like an IMS for non-cyberzombies.

It has a certain Essence cost, but allows the installation of a slightly higher amount of Essence for free. Say, it costs 1.1 Essence, but allows 1.5 Essence to be implanted for free. This way, the Awakened that take it still suck down losing 2 points of magic but for kind of minimal gain. You can only get one, of course.

Just thoughts.

Oh, and better cyberlimbs, too.

[hahnsoo]

Just throwing out ideas from my gaming group at random (I don't necessarily support or hate any one of them):

Something that adds dice, like Reflex Recorders and Synthacardium, that doesn't necessarily stack with Adept abilities.

Bioware pheremones that allow someone to work with animals better.

We have a variant cyberskull in our games that allows the facial sculpting and hair adjustment allowed by adept powers (this was long before SOTA: 2064 was published).

Upgraded chipjack systems, or possibly even personality construct engrams (What ever happened to the tech in Dreamchipper?).

The ability to download the consciousness of someone's brain and neural net into a box (like the Dixie construct in "Neuromancer", or the current incarnation of Rache Bartmoss in Cyberpunk).

Tech that eventually leads to the biological data storage, maybe a bio/cyber "gatekeeper" which allows direct encoding of data onto the brain (similar to what Deus has done to create The Network).

More options as far as Rigger interfacing... maybe a VCR that only allows you to use CCSS, or only allows you to control a single type of vehicle/drone.

More options as far as simsense rigs... more detailed information on simsense rigs (VCRs and datajacks allow limited simsense, the Smartgun Link has a limited simsense rig).

"External" cyberware... cyberware that is basically induction datajack pads on a limb and a machine rig is built over the limb as an extension... leading to a sort of power armor, I guess.

[mfb]

i want to see different types of cyberlimbs. industrial limbs with higher strength/quickness, more room for gear, but difficult or impossible to conceal; low-end prosthetic limbs with lower strength/quickness and little or no room for gear; etcetera.

[Jrayjoker]

How about body sculpting nanites. Changing the look of your body by rearranging fat deposits under the skin. Go from pot belly to breasts in 5 minutes...

[algcs]

I want to see brand name cyberware with different stats for different models.

I want to see alpha class ware being pushed as what is standard along with a price cut to relfect at how common it has become.

[Garland]

[Eyeless Blond]

More uses for fingertip induction pads. Honestly I don't know why those things aren't used more often as an alternative for datajack ports.

A rewrite of the cyberlimb rules would bee good too. Right now it's prohitively expensive to use cyberlimbs as limbs that are actually stronger than normal human limbs, which seems really stupid to me.

That neural integrity enhancement idea seems interesting. Something that allows mundanes to add more cyber more easily than Awakened would definately be a big plus.

[Tanka]

On Cyberlimbs: I liked the old SR2 ruling that the limb installed was equal to your regular arm in stats (until you tweaked it for cash). Combine that with the ECU rules and they get a little bit better. However, they do need to rework the rules entirely. It's just too mucky to really play around with on a consistent basis.

[mfb]

there's a problem with the concepts behind the SR2 rules, though: why would the average cyberlimb come with servos powerful enough to rip the cyberlimb right out of the socket? if i'm Str 1, and i remove the safety features that limit my cyberlimb so that it's also Str 1, that cyberlimb ought to ramp up to Str 9, right? at which point, i'm gonna try to open a stuck cabinet one day and rip my own arm off.

i think cyberlimbs ought to have set Str and Qui values, but it ought to be very cheap and easy to upgrade those values (5k/point, rather than 20k/point). this would solve most of the problems, and still make sense.

[Tanka]

The way we viewed it (any time we walked into a chop shop or somesuch) was seeing a machine that ran tests on your own physical strength and quickness, then suggested the proper arm for you to use. The proper arm being, of course, the one that has the same stats as you do (without modification, save for cyber mods like muscle replacement).

No removed "safety mechanisms" or anything. All stock.

[Arethusa]

There's a bigger problem, and it's one many of you have overlooked: the more accessible cyberware gets, the more fucked mundanes get. Before any new cyberware gets introduced, this would be something the designers should finally get around to acknowledging and fixing. Of course, they're more interested in turning adepts (and, to a somewhat lesser degree, all awakened) into universe breaking gods, so it might be a while.

[mfb]

okay, that's actually pretty close to what i'm talking about. with your rules, the character has to get their arm modified/replaced whenever they raise their natural Str or Qui, right? same thing as what i'm saying then, basically, except that i'd make the char pay for the extra Str and Qui when they buy the arm. but, like i said, i'd make the Str and Qui much cheaper.

edit: arrrgh! please explain to my why no-cyber mundanes should be able to keep up with cyberware or magic? if they could, there'd be no point in getting cyber or magic, and everybody'd just play mundanes! not to mention the fact that, as it stands, you're better off not getting cyberlimbs if you want high Str and Qui.

[Tanka]

[Arethusa]

[Tanka]

Looks like she's saying "Adepts can initiate to get better. Mundanes just take 'ware. And when they're out of Essence, they can't take anything else."

[Eyeless Blond]

[Eyeless Blond]

[Tanka]

Maybe not power, but usefullness outside of storing crap.

[Cynic project]

MM radar vision.
Reworking of just about all the head and comware,as well as smartgun links.