malek77

Regarding power for cyberware - could the human body do the 'potato clock' thing? Stick an anode and cathode in someplace and draw power?

That is one HELLUVA battery! How much 'work' do you think a human arm does in a five year period? A battery that can take on that kind of long term power draw would be holding thousands of kilowatts. Heaven help you if you get a short...

*fzzt*

How about - artificial muscle that uses blood and nervous commands the way real muscle does, but also has some backup or 'turbocharging' to make it more powerful?

I have often puzzled over how muscle works...I think its to do with oppositely charged calcium ions in either end of the fibre/cell being drawn together...and I'm not sure how the blood fits into the equation, because I don't believe the muscles really work by being 'inflated under pressure'...

...JoeQ?

This sounds like something you'd know more about than anyone has a right too...

Hmm - I'd disagree with that. Necessity is the mother of invention, not war - though war does increase 'necessity'!

I'd say war doesn't encourage creativity so much as optimization. Air craft weren't exactly newly developed for WWI, but there was like 300 years of aircraft development compressed into the next 40 years. Look at what we came from and got too - wood and wire, to full metal skins on jet craft with designs we still use today.

The other point I'd make, is that Commercial forces (the whole greedy/consumerist/military-industrial-entertainment complex) is doing just fine pushing ahead computer technology without serious military application.

(iirc) the new F-22 uses 286's for its processing...hardly bleeding edge computing technology.

So what's driving chip manufacturers? Nerds with cash who want to play UT2003 at 1024X768 and 150fps.

Technofetishist, actually.

I like 'Versionist'...How about 'Homogenist'? The implication of insulting lesser technology being that you think everything should be as advanced as yourself, and thus homogenized?

Alpha Complex? Or if we were getting really insulting and low brow with nicknames rather than pseudo-greek, MCP. Master Controller Program...opposite to the 'Homogenist' idea, the thought that you must be in charge of all else, and will tolerate no equality or superiority?

DragoonCav :

J-Pop!!

Who? What?

(I've heard some samples by Ayumi Hamasaki and am wondering if our local CD store could survive being given an order for them - given the trouble they had with Aussie artists...)

Chrysalis :

What version?

I'm...working sorta. Supposed to be making an online portfolio but have got hung up on nutting out trigonometric functions to simulate atomic bonds in a water molecule (each atom will be a button).

Going crazy at Zero:Hour. Buying CD's - Chemical Bro's and Moloko. Flipside is one of those resonating songs you just get and agree with every word of...

And outshopping girls. I don't know exactly what happened, but I managed to outshop my sister and her friend (wound up buying 'friend' a pair of very chunky shoes and an expensive khaki jacket she liked)...oddly, I want to do it again...

If you wanted to pull the plug on speed boosts, you could just say they only add to initiative rolls, and nothing else?

That would be nice and simple.

On the other hand, just because this is cp.co.uk and we must always challenge any assertion...imagine our Sandevistan speedboost.

It theoretically works by 'overclocking' your nervous system - for a while, you are literally running at faster rate than your non-boosted comrades.

For You, the affected observer, Time slows down. With that 'extra' time - could you not spend a dilated instant lining up the shot? Or perhaps squeezing off two shots?

Con :

Your body has literally less blood, so it would be able to hold less oxygen. Also, without legs you've just lost a hella lot of bone marrow, so you're not making as much blood now either.

Pro :

If the legs are powered seperately to the body, then your heart rate would have no effect on your speed. You'd just be a meaty torso on a metal transport...

I'd suggest that for long running applications, you get some decent hips or pelvis as well...

Also - another point about endurance.

I've had my various limbs for 23 years now and never had a breakdown. Even when I get tired they still work, but its obvious by their performance they're not at 100%.

A battery powered limb that went flat stick while on - or until the battery died, isn't exactly more enduring than said meat limbs. Short term its fantastic, but long term...

And as a last rave - w/ less blood in your body, you'd bleed to death quicker.

A consideration no punk should ignore.

Anyone remember HOME TAPING IS KILLING THE RECORDING INDUSTRY?

Unhhh...yeah. Right.

Regardless - my latest CD purchases have been of the most excellent band zephyr timbre and wonder of wonders - you can download .mp3's on their site for a preview!

...With the result I instantly went and ordered all of their CD's. (admittedly, only 3 of them, but hey! They're cool...)

The Fischerspooner site (yonks ago now...) had full mp3's of its radio play tracks...perhaps, just perhaps - this is a good way to go? Hoarding, defending and barricading content against people is a barrier to purchasing and makes everyone paranoid.

And whattabout mp3.com or speedbass.org? Very much the future of music, methinks...

I like the 'points over To-Hit up to max damage' because I hate telling a player they rolled a 20 points over To-Hit but rolled '1' for damage.

Imagine - if the working area could be vacuum and lightsealed, it might be handy for opening sophisticated containers.

(I have this mental image of an electronically controlled container, that blows up; destroying the contents - if the proper codes aren't used. And you don't have the codes or time to stuff about.)

For manipulator arms - there are these 'worm' arm things - imagine like a spine of plastic wrings, with little magnetic 'contractors' placed about each ring. It could contort itself into a huge variety of shapes - and then you could have manipulators, F/O viewers, probes or injectors on the end - perfect for slipping in through a small vent and doing 'keyhole' alterations to an otherwise solid box...

...and I'd be betting cost to be about $10k. Or thereabouts, given CP tech...

(me like this idea!)

Phone Splice.

It all started with Varr, the demigodlike nerd who was always talking to an AI. And I realised it was like telepathy. And was cool. And now I'll never make a character without it again...

They're just so handy! You could bug conversations, scam deals, gossip, conveniently call in taxi to arrive at the instant you step out of the Club...it would just make life look so effortless as things happen at your every wish...

And imagine playing 'Snake' and not have to fight with those be-damnably tiny buttons...

I'm curious, but very, very, afraid...

Hehe - having used this argument before, I normally find myself confronted by a well educated, technologically literate person with a house full of sophisticated gadgets who will, in all honesty, contend that technology isn't good and we'd be happier without it.

Obviously, I violently disagree.  

btw - advancement of humanity. What does an 'advanced human' look and act like?

#9081 +(1778)- [X]

Spin: arrrr, pirates of the south west

Spin: thar be large pipes o'bandwith near ye'ol univarsety.

Pirate: yearg, ye may be an ta somethan thar.

Spin: what say ye we pull yonder USB hard disk longside yonder NMSU puter and begin tha lutin and plunderin.

Pirate: yearg. The master done gaved me a testin machine with a grand ol CDR.

Pirate: Avast!

Pirate: MP3s off the starboard bow!

Spin: stere clear of ye porn pop ups rollin in from tha east.

Pirate: I have mah trusty Opera browsa to help me fend em off.

Spin: encrypt the data holds, batton down thar security patches, argh thar be spyware abound.

bash.org

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

They lacked armour for the pilot though. Which was strange.

Now there's an idea - war getting miniaturised. Rather than bigger and bigger guns, we start arming little drone robots and they get in little automated scraps while sneaking around the ventilation system.

Now THAT is the basis for an entire campaign...

Your objective is simple: World Domination.

Your motive is a little bit more complex: So another race can take over

Stage One

To begin your plan, you must first clone a rich and powerful ceo. This will cause the world to give one another worried looks, unsettled by your arrival. Who is this threat to our children? Where did they come from? And why do they look so good as a brain in a jar?

Stage Two

Next, you must seize control of the Internet. This will all be done from a space station, a mysterious place of unrivaled dark glory. Upon seeing this, the world will fall into catatonic trances, as countless hordes of corporate suits hasten to do your every bidding.

Stage Three

Finally, you must reveal to the world your corporate takeover, bringing about a 1984 police state. Your name shall become synonymous with metal, and no man will ever again dare point and laugh. Everyone will bow before your cunning intelligence, and the world will have no choice but to pray to you for enlightenment.

Hmm...sounds roughly like my plot for RoadPunk...

Necknock a hole, eh? Even the people from Kurri think they're worse...

Cessnock is being transformed. With the Pokolbin vineyards just out the back, there's all these classy, rich people around and its ruining the look of the place.

Sometimes I wonder what a 'punked Cessnock would look like.

Then I realise it would look no different, the people who'd be into cyber would already be so wiped from the drugs that comes with that tech level they'd never know...

...um, thumper, are we missing something?

But maybe I can help you. http://www.villainsupply.com

Canon - Hugely over populated, lotsa people living in Projects and breeding like rabbits cos there's nothing else to do. Kinda like Cessnock.

William Gibson - Repopulating, after a serious war. It seems there has also been some serious ecocide going on. The density of population in cities seems to relate to the environment being dead...

Blade Runner - Seriously underpopulated. The people still on Earth are the genetic dregs of humanity, the irradiated decaying last few who haven't got off planet. Also some serious ecocide keeping people out of the countryside and in cities.

Anime - general increase in population everywhere, rural communities still exist. The major influence on the 'number' of humans generally relates to the number of cyborgs around...consider Ghost in the Shell - who's left who's not wired? Of course, things like Akira are their own thing...

How effective d'yall think suits will get?

I can believe we'll develop armour like the Militech EMA-1 - Enhanced Mobility Armour, where the idea is that wearing lots of armour doesn't slow you down - you've just got a really hard skin now.

But leaping things, tearing through walls or even jets like bgc?

On one hand I'm not sure you could keep the squishie inside alive under all the deceleration and acceleration stresses (throwing a mach1.2 punch would give you hell bad shock bruises, like don't you get bruises on your upper arm after firing a heavy pistol a lot?), on the other hand I think superconducting batteries or really advanced myomar might make it possible to power something that strong.

Mm. Can't wait anyway.  

Now that is very cool...I like that idea!

Regarding hiding the stats, I'd only do it as a plot device if the characters had forgotten themselves. Otherwise, i have sometimes played with blank sheets, and asked as we go how good the player thinks their character should be at something. Once I think they have a useful specialty, the rest I keep around average.

In game, I generally pick the Sternmeyer T35 all the time. Or the Avenger if I feel like playing light.

In RL...eh...the best I could manage is a pocket knife or progressive blade. Ideally, big chunky boots applied carefully to a sensitive area before rapid exfiltration of the scene.

...the one time I have been in danger (an attempted mugging) I talked my way out of it. So yeah. Psycho-borg Malek uses diplomacy.

I'm SOOO ashamed!!

How do our conversations always go like this...

Anyway - what do your parents do? Having servants and drivers sounds pretty darn expensive. And cool. Where do I sign...

And I've been wondering for some time 'how' India is going. One news report will portray it as hell, and then I'll read something about fantastically successful tree planting schemes or how incredibly computer literate everyone is...how would you describe it in comparison to 'The West'?

The way you describe it sounds like its dangerous to go out...or is that just because you stand out with a computer room tan?

LOL!

Since we seem to have some singularly knowledgeable people on the topic here, what kind of machines would you expect in a well equipped autofac?

I imagine a Computer Controlled Lathe, a press that has modular heads for blow moulding plastic, die casting metal and puching thin metal, a tempering 'bath' like a seriously huge and evil chip machine, and some free roving gofer/stacker/shifter 'bots to move the milled bolts and pressed plates to a conveyor belt - manned either side by mechanical cyberarmed bodies to put things together.

And a  packing bot.

The above would make mechanical stuff - like guns, power drills and food processors.

As a possibility, you could 'train' the shop to work, like the way they teach car spray painting arms. You have a guy manipulate it like a puppet, and once you have a good record of the motions, just replay it endlessly.

Of course, in 2020 - you'd jack in a techie, and he'd 'be' the machines, do the job meticulously a few times and then you'd polish up the timing pattern.

I can just imagine all the text books about it - about tasks that can be 'compressed' by accelerating the movement of arms, precision tolerance at higher speeds, vibration absorbtion, processes that can't be accelerated so you need work patterns to ensure a steady throughput, automated QC.

*wanders off, dreaming about a machine that could paint his 40K army quickly...*

Ooh - don't worry. Say its about 2030 and there're Corporate spacecraft filling the sky...I'm sure I can find a use for it all!

The other idea I had was something to do with anti-matter...regardless, its still valuable stuff.

Um - I was thinking a map with a grid on it, and maybe smaller maps detailing the two sides bases would be sufficient in terms of terrain. I would expect the larger part of the paperwork to be in writing up the equipment for a force...and once that's done, I (as gm) do all the 'cannon shot has removed the radar mounting' type detail and keep inventory. It wouldn't be as free flowing as a normal game, but its not insurmountable...(especially with my campaign crazed dad's assistance. )

Ah! Now - not if you don't buy National force level MBT's.

I was thinking in terms of M-50 tank hunters ($1m bucks), IFV's($1.5m), AV's (AV-8 is $2.4m) and ACPA(Boris is $116k, Commando is $108k).

This would mean I'd expect a force to be composed of maybe 2 AV-8's, maybe 3 tank hunters for anti PA work, a unit of 10 ACPA's and some Kuma's and Dusters for patrol. You'd get change out $10m for that force...

Assuming you made the loadout on the ACPA's modular, it wouldn't be too fatal regarding paperwork...would it?

yeaahhh...I know.

As a sample Campaign turn, I imagined something like -

Week 3 -

Red Team

Dusters and Kuma's patrol grid squares A8 to F8, if they make contact, they follow standard Rules of Engagement (probably 'Fire if fired on'), report to base and retreat.

Green Team

Attack force of 5 Dusters and Panzer to move from D15 to D2 and attack Red base. Evade notice at all costs, retreat if detection is confirmed.

...As gm, I spot that the two forces will probably meet in square D8, and then post up this as a report to the commanders. Red team might call in the AV8's, Green team might retreat into an area they've filled with SAM troopers.

Lets say Green's Attack gets squished by the AV8's, but they are taken out by SAM fire.

That means Red has had a victory and a loss, so Morale should be steady, the budget has blown out to the tune of $5m and PR rating is ok because Red is the victim, but they did cause a lot of casualties.

Green has had a victory and loss too - they've lost a fair bit of equipment and people, but did take out Red's air cover - so another immediate followup attack should be safe...

In a combat situation - I'll RP a command room.

"Sir! We have 3 hostile Hover tanks in D8, Duster Patrol 3 is retreating."

You could respond w/ something like "Launch the AV-8's - pursue and engage Hover tanks. Also have the PA patrol in the foothills in F10 head west to engage retreating force."

"Sir!"

...does this make it any simpler or clearer?

I believe he will be tried in Iraq, by Iraqi's.

I think that would be an excellent statement, and get the prosecutors and judges some publicity - some visibility for the people who now have to control and secure Iraq can only be good.

And big congrats to the Forces! Perfect operation! No casualties! No fights, no wounded, no trouble - an arrest of a criminal. A Perfect conclusion.