Robots
Work in Progress
Robots
From the Czech word robota meaning forced-labor or drudgery.
Why Robots?
Robots are right up there with rocketships and rayguns as a touchstone of science fiction.
What is a Robot?
Hyperlite robots are purpose-built laborer machines. They are mechanical dogsbodies and roustabouts.
Robots aren't smart, but they will try their best to follow the commands given them.
Robots are loyal and will accept commands from their administrator only.
Robots can execute complex, detailed tasks, but must be programmed for it.
Robots have memory which hold skills and instructions.
Robots have processors to execute memories.
Robots have peripherals which define how they interact with and move about the environment.
Robots have batteries that must be recharged.
Robots always do what they are told.
How do I use this in a game?
Robots are henchman/tool/assistants. All the cool kids have one. Your cool kids will want one.
Let's build a robot. Everyone wants a corpsman/medic, am I right? Let's build MediBot, a life-saving robot that can live in your starship or vehicle.
- Write a sentence or two defining the highest functions of the robot. Think of it as a mission and purpose statement.
The MediBot is a mobile, robotic Medic: 1 certified unit that carries a full nurse's trauma kit.
- Allocate resources: memory, processor, peripherals, battery, and storage. Details below.
Memory.
Each rank of skill requires 1 memory, and each stored instruction set requires 1 memory.
MediBot has 1 memory which is its Medic: 1 rank.
Processor.
Processor is a robot's thinking ability. The higher the processor, the better it will be at executing its memories. Use processor + appropriate memory for tests of self and competition for a robot specific to the robot's functions.
MediBot is an advanced unit, and has Processor: 9. Advanced means expensive.
Peripherals.
Peripherals represent a robot's physical capabilities, but they're abstracted to a single score. This represents the robot's ability to interact with the environment. Think 5 senses, but robot senses. Use peripherals for tests of self and competition for anything outside the robot's core functions.
MediBot is highly mobile and equipped with numerous tools, but its small size works against it. Peripherals: 6.
Battery.
This tells you how many turns of use you get from your robot in a scene. Each time you use your robot, mark off a battery unit. Forgoing the robot's move (standing-by) costs no battery. Robots may be recharged between scenes.
MediBot is an emergency response unit, designed to treat only a few casualties at a time. Battery: 5.
Storage.
Robots may carry gear, equipment, and weapons for their owner/admins. They are very good at this, and may hold small items equal to their peripherals score.
Robots need their own toolkits to perform technical work. These have to be refreshed from time to time. To fight, robots will need weapons and those will need ammunition or power packs.
Robots are limited to 1/2 their peripherals score in carrying capacity. MediBot's Peripherals: 6 would allow it a total capacity of 3 kilos, or about 7 pounds at 1g -- a little less than a gallon of water.
MediBot comes equipped with a Nurse's Trauma Kit. The kit is good for five uses and then must be refreshed, or MediBot suffers a -5 on all Medic rolls (the same penalty a player character would suffer without a toolkit).
Price.
MediBot Bill of Materials (BOM). This is what it would cost to build a MediBot if a player character purchased the materials and assembled it. The time to build one (or anything) is a factor of the cost of the item, the skill ranks of the characters assembling it, and the availability of shop or lab space to work on the project. Building gadgets is covered in Gadgets.
You've likely noticed the standard MediBot in Medical gear is an even 200k SECs. Consider it the discount for an off-the-shelf model.
| Component | Spec | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | Medic: 1 | 20,000 |
| Processor | 9 | 90,000 |
| Peripherals | 6 | 60,000 |
| Battery | 5 | 8,000 |
| Storage | Nurse’s Trauma Kit | 500 |
| Sub-Total | 178,500 | |
| Chassis, Cables & Connectors | 20% of BOM | 35,700 |
| Out-The-Door Cost | 214,200 SEC |
Pricing data follows.
Memory.
Limit 5 ranks. Price is per skill.
| Rank | Price |
|---|---|
| 1 | 20,000 |
| 2 | 30,000 |
| 3 | 50,000 |
| 4 | 80,000 |
| 5 | 130,000 |
Processor & Peripheral.
Total limit: 25. Price: 10,000 per point.
Battery.
Limit 8.
| Battery | Price |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1,000 |
| 2 | 2,000 |
| 3 | 3,000 |
| 4 | 5,000 |
| 5 | 8,000 |
| 6 | 13,000 |
| 7 | 21,000 |
| 8 | 34,000 |
Equipment & Inventory. See Gear & Equipment. Toolkits and ammunition must be refreshed with use.
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