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Infomorphs - Draft 1 - Playtest Q. Responses Only

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Tue, 2013-05-14 18:02

AdamJury

Infomorphs - Draft 1 - Playtest Q. Responses Only

http://eclipsephase.com/downloads/transhumanplaytest_InfoMorphs_may14.pdf Questions for Infomorphs Q. 1 – How did you review the material in this draft? Did you try them out in actual play with your group? For how many sessions? Using what kind of PCs? Did you crunch some numbers in a marathon character generation session? Or simply read through them with a critical eye? Q. 2 –What’s the most critical problem you’ve identified in these rules? Is there an endemic problem you think is underlying this rules set? Is this material too complicated for your liking? Is there a specific rules item you think is egregiously broken and needs to be fixed? Is there anything that you simply think *must* be changed? Q. 3 – What’s the best part of these rules? Is there anything that you absolutely loved? Something that you sincerely think *must* make it into the final version? Anything that really contributes to the game in a positive way? Something that shouldn’t be changed? Q. 4 – Is anything unclear or confusing? Mesh rules can be complicated and difficult for some folks to comprehend. Is there anything in these rules that you think deserves more explanation? Q. 5 – What do you think of eidolons? Are there any complications you see to using them? Should they require extra programming time to format/install properly, as upgrades do (keep in mind that normal infomorphs do not)? Should we ditch eidolons entirely, and instead go with a set of upgrades that provide aptitude boosts to egos? Q. 6 – What do you think of the server rules? Should we allow more specialized servers with larger bonuses available to infomorphs running on their system, such as Glitch? Q. 7 – Anything Missing? Is there anything else you’d like to see us address?

Wed, 2013-05-15 07:57

Smokeskin

Questions for Infomorphs

Questions for Infomorphs Q. 1 – How did you review the material in this draft? Reading and thinking :) Q. 2 –What’s the most critical problem you’ve identified in these rules? Rimward allows us to get biomorphs with cyberbrains, and cyberbrains can now be upgraded. It should be made clear that for example Endocrine Control bioware can't be combined with the Emotional Control upgrade, and Enhanced Pheromones bioware and Electronic Charisma upgrade. You can't run eidolons in cyberbrains, but an eidolon infomorph can run in a ghostrider module in a swarmanoid or flexbot and jam it. That may need to be looked at. I actually think that it is a decent way to get certain morphs some much-needed aptitude bonuses, but it feels like a hack, and I'd prefer to instead let eidolons run in cyberbrains at the cost of losing all the synthmorph's aptitude bonuses. It exposes some problems with how SOM is both body and brain, but I'd happily ignore that. These rules change the setting SIGNIFICANTLY. Previously, infomorphs had some advantages but in many areas they were behind physical morphs. Eidolons and upgrades removes most of these disadvantages and makes them much more powerful. With aptitude max 40, default speed 3, eidolons with stats that match physical morphs and can be copied and egocasted, and some unique upgrade options, expect to see many more infomorphs! The same is to some extent true with synthmorphs with the new cyberbrain upgrades - and this is a continuation of a trend in previous sourcebooks, where synthmorphs were introduced than encroached on what was previously biomorph territory. EP started out with biomorphs being the best, and synthmorphs and infomorphs had certain niche applications. Now, synthmorphs and infomorphs still have unique mechanical advantages for their niche applications, while they're able to match biomorphs in performance in all other areas. Biomorphs are left with only "soft" appeal and pretty much only make sense in habs biased against synth- and infomorphs. Q. 3 – What’s the best part of these rules? I like everything about it, except the power level. Q. 4 – Is anything unclear or confusing? I was a bit unclear on whether or not eidolons automatically copied along with the infomorph. I figure that eidolons are infomorphs, but it wasn't entirely clear. Q. 5 – What do you think of eidolons? I like eidolons. They're like morphs, while upgrades are like implants. It makes sense and parallels the system people are used to from physical morphs. They also have different mechanics than upgrades (like only 1 running, sleeving tests, etc.). However, I think they are too powerful in many ways. Stats are too good when combined with their unique bonuses. And they should be hardware-based. You shouldn't be able to copy and egocast around with them, and they're too easy to copy and pirate. Q. 6 – What do you think of the server rules? As I understand it, servers are not in PC reach and access to them is GM controlled. That makes them fine by me. Q. 7 – Anything Missing?

Thu, 2013-05-16 02:55

OneTrikPony OneTrikPony's picture

I'm happy to see most of this

I'm happy to see most of this material. I like most of these ideas even if they are a little rough at this point. However i think they have introduced, as well as fail to address, some structural problems with the game. This chapter needs to expound on how informorphs interact with the rest of the world. Some common questions have been answered some have not. [b]Q 1[/b] At this point I have only read, cross referenced, and bench tested this material. I would like to schedule some game sessions around these rules but I might not get a chance so this is the best I can do. I'll update if/when I do actually get to play these with a group. [b]Q 2 & 4[/b] [i]Is there an endemic problem? Is there anything unclear or confusing?[/i] Yes. We still don't know which stats are used when an infomorph is jamming a physical morph. We don't know why cyberbrains exist when infomorphs can run on any hardware. We don't know how much the "mind emulation software" that is an info[b]morph[/b] costs. Here is a more detailed expination of what I'm trying to say;

Spoiler: Highlight to view

The interplay, contrast and conflicts between; Infomorph, Cyberbrain, Computing 'Device', Shell Sleeving, Shell Jamming, Remote Control, and Piloting are ill defined as to their differences and function and also which stat is used in which situation. Furthermore some of these rules conflict (afaics) with other rules being introduced in this book. First: You have eliminated the cyberbrain. Support for a cyberbrain as a unique piece of hardware has always been shaky as existing rules do not prohibit an ego from inhabiting and fully functioning in any computer hardware as complex as an Ecto. The only difference between a cyberbrain and any hardware is a -30 modifier to hacking attempts (ostensibly due to architecture), and the ability to modify the aptitude of the inhabiting ego through modification of the cyberbrain hardware or the hardware it is attached to. However; for some unknown reason a cyberbrain limits all of the aptitudes of an inhabiting ego to 30 or less. In this proposal we learn for certain that there is software that emulates the functions of a cyberbrain and this "shell" or emulation software can be run on virtually any machine or group of machines with no lowered limitation to attribute maximum. In addition this emulation software imposes a -30 modifier to brain hacking. So; What is a cyberbrain and what is not? What is a cyberbrain that makes it unable to run Eidolons and Upgrades? Why do cyberbrains have lower aptitude maximums? Why would anyone ever use a cyberbrain if they can just jam a synth through a puppet sock while inhabiting an Ecto glued to to synthmorphs ass? Second: "How does it work when an infomorph sleeved in a Wirehead Eidolon, running on an Enhanced server, Specialized for Tactical Network processing, Jamms a Fury in a Battle Suit through a Puppet Sock?" Clusterfuck. The first time a player asks me that after these rules are published I'm going to prison for life. It won't even be a justifiable homicide because it's a realistic scenario in the setting. I really don't know the answer to that question because, since the first printing of the Core, I haven't been able to decipher which stats are used in which situation. So which stats are used in which situation? Do the Fury's aptitude bonuses apply when jamming? How does COO stack? Which speed stat is used? Which initiative stat is used? Do you use the rules on page 16 to determine the effects of damage to the puppet sock or ghost rider or do you use the other rules on page 8 of the extreme morphology proposal? My point is; All of the new gear is Kewl but there are some fundamental issues that need to be dealt with first.

here are some other issues; Scanning Infomorphs; the proposal states that to scan an infomorph the scanning character (using what software?) must have access to the I-morph's home node. Distributed I-morphs do not have a home node. By this draft RAW distributed I-morphs cannot be scanned. Please change this to reflect that the morph may be scanned if the scanning character has access to any node currently running a portion of the i-morph's mind emulation. Scanning characters need an MOS of 30+ to scan presensce of hidden plugins and upgrades but those can only be hidden by the upgrade mask which makes the scan a 1 hour task action with a -30 modifier. Do you really want it to be that difficult? Accomplishing a DOS attack with a complex action ignores all of the work that needs to be done to set up the aggressor network in the first place and implies that it can be accomplished by one guy with an ecto. While this mirrors the simplicity of Radio Jamming (core p 262) I think it's too simplistic. Increased Speed: the extra mental action that is granted to cyberbrained characters (I still wish the difference were defined), needs to be noted as an extra "Complex Action" that may be used on (one of) the character's turns in an Action Phase. Otherwise you're going to completely restructure the initiative system. Impersonate: This brings up several questions about how informorphs interact with the world that aren't answered very well in published word to date; ? How does a kinesics test apply to an infomorph? ? how does a Kinesics test apply to phrasing and digital activity (3rd paragraph) Emotion Control; I have objections to the terminology: "Designed", and "just as they would in a biological body".

Spoiler: Highlight to view

Saying that infomorph emulation software is Designed to model the emotional reactions of a biological brain leaves a big hole. In reference to just this piece of gear; If digital consciousness is possible without emulating this aspect of biology then why can't this gear infer total mastery and complete elimination of emotional states and reactions? In reference to the game in general it would be best to assume, (because it's probable), that a person's consciousness and personality cannot be copied and emulated electronically, without directly emulating all of the functions and architecture of the original biological brain. (I believe that Anders Sandberg supports me in this. I'll find reference to specific posts that he made in answering some of my questions on the forum.) My point is that precise modeling of the human consciousness is not a design feature it is an imperative. They can't throw out your emotional reactions and triggers, biases, and still claim that You are You when you're uploaded. That is the reason this gear exists. It's the reason psychosurgury exists. It seems to me that the author shares my view that an infomorph necessarily experiences emotional states because of the example of becoming 'flustered' but I don't understand how this relates and might be communicated, unwillingly, to the outside world? I don't understand how an infomorph might communicate other than the mediums of text, voice emulation, and AR avatar. This implies that the infomorph has less than complete control over these projections and I just don't see how that could be.

p7, Upgrades: Standard Software suite? This gear is going to be defined or atleast given a cost catagory at some point, Right? We also need to know more, (At least a cost) for psychosurgury suites. Adamant Mind. You can buy a +20 will modifier for 20 CP or (High)? Will increases cost 10 CP per point. I might allow this software to give a +5 will bonus for 20CP (High) [b]Q 5[/b] Eidolons are just a morph right? I don't have a problem with that except that players are going to try to stack the bonuses they get while running an eidolon while they're jamming another morph from a ghost rider or puppet sock. Also if you're going to do morph creation rules you should probably do it for Eidolons too. [b]Q 6[/b]I don't have an issue with the server rules but I'd like to know how much it costs to use or live in one. I'd also like to know how much all the special software suites cost to use. This is a good start there are a bunch of good ideas here. I do hope you recognize that these additions are very powerful when compared to physical gear and should probably make ego casting more expensive for a character with many software additions.

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Mea Culpa: My mode of speech can make others feel uninvited to argue or participate. This is the EXACT opposite of what I intend when I post.

Thu, 2013-05-16 07:47

ScienceGuy ScienceGuy's picture

Answers for Infomorphs

Q. 1 – How did you review the material in this draft? Read through with a critical eye, paying particular attention to how I think it would work in our EP game. Q. 2 –What’s the most critical problem you’ve identified in these rules? I am not at all keen on eidolons. I think they seriously damage the uniqueness of infomorphs, making them too similar to bio/synthmorphs. The 'Mental Repair' Enhancement should *not* make asyncs immune to morph fever! Q. 3 – What’s the best part of these rules? I really like Infomorph Enhancements. It really adds to the setting and playing infomorphs. And I think it sits very nicely - feels natural. Rules for running infomorphs on difference computational devices are very welcome. I have some suggestions (below) about this, but the overall concept is great. I really like the idea that some Enhancments need to be tuned to the specific ego on which they'll run. We've done something very similar in our game with a modular ego upgrade tech our Firewall team developed, called Cognitech. I like that you can use psychosurgery to wire-in Enhancements to the Ego, and that it has a rez cost. I like the 'Impersonate' and 'Panopticon' enhancements, because they give a way to improve the chances of success by in-game actions. For example, tailing and monitoring a target successfully for an hour increases my chance to impersonate them successfully. Q. 4 – Is anything unclear or confusing? The different levels of Software Enhancement become a bit confusing, in terms of terminology. I would suggest the following changes: Drop eidolons entirely (see below). Put plug-ins and upgrades into a single category ("Software Enhancements" or "Infomorph Enhancements"). Then either list for each entry whether or not ego personalisation is required. Alternatively (my personal preference), just keep it simple and rule that *all* Infomorph Enhancements must be tuned to a specific ego. This then allows a further simplification as you can drop the DRM rules entirely - just rule that it's very difficult to re-tune a specific Enhancement to a different Ego (unless an open source template is available). A number of Informorph Enhancements are basically software versions of existing hardware implants. I think this is a very good thing. But I would probably just make this explicit - why not just have a table that lists the implants for which a software version is available? Q. 5 – What do you think of eidolons? I *hugely* dislike eidolons, to the point where I would lobby in our own game to house-rule them out of existence. My reason for this is that I think they seriously damage the uniqueness of infomorphs. I think the key thing about an infomorph is that it runs on a generic computational substrate (as opposed to a cyberbrain or bio-brain, which is a specialist 'device' for running egos). I think a much better idea would be to give infomorphs aptitude bonuses based on the computational device on which they were running (see below). Q. 6 – What do you think of the server rules? I really like the idea of the server rules, but I would make some changes. Specifically, for any computational device on which an infomorph could run, I would define the following basic attributes: AptitudeBonus: a set of (mental) aptitude bonuses. For example, +5 COG, or +5 to any 2 mental aptitudes MaxEnhancements: the maximum number of enhancements an infomorph can run while on that device. Speed: the speed stat of an infomorph while running on that device For example, a ghostrider module might have zero aptitude bonus, speed 2 and allow 5 enhancements (as it's not very large). A standard infomorph server might give +5 total AptitudeBonus, speed 3 and allow 10 enhancements. A high-spec, specialist mainframe might give +15 or more AptitudeBonus, speed 4 and allow 15 or more enhancements. Specialist/enhanced servers are conceptually a very cool idea, and something that will certainly crop up in a lot of EP games (as the basis of x-threats, if nothing else!). I don't like the 'Device Glitches' rule. One more fiddly thing and I don't think you need it. Please keep things simple! Q. 7 – Anything Missing? I think it's very cool that cyberbrains can run Software Enhancements. Should there be a limit to the number that can be run, though? This would give infomorphs a nice uniqueness, that they could run more than said limit. A question about virtual skillware (and skillware in general). Does it really only take a complex action to online? As a player I immediately get to wondering if I can just carry around alibrary of different skillsofts and just online them as/when I need them. In our game, we've house-ruled that skillsofts take a few hours to bed in properly.. Can Software Enhancements be forcibly offlined? And if so, would this cause stress to the infomorph? Is there a limit to the number of Software Enhancements that an infomorph can run at once? What happens to Software Enhancements when an infomorph is egocast? Are they also transmitted? 'Electronic Charisma' raises an interesting possibility: Why not have a whole class of Enhancements that are basically +10 elite tools for a single mental skill? This would be a nice, distinctive think for infomorphs to have. And I don't think it would be too powerful. In general, we need some rules for how many infomorphs/forks/AIs can be run on a given device. I may have missed something, but it's not clear to me why I'd want to to use the psychosurgery option to wire-in an Enhancement to my ego (and pay the rez cost), when it's much cheaper to just have it running normally. What is the advantage to having it wired-in? Some examples of possible mental actions (especially in combat) would be useful. There are quite a few ways to get extra mental actions, and I know our group for one would find some examples very helpful!

Thu, 2013-05-16 20:28

LatwPIAT

Q. 1 – How did you review the

[b]Q. 1 – How did you review the material in this draft?[/b] Critical eye. [b]Q. 2 –What’s the most critical problem you’ve identified in these rules?[/b] Pretty much every aspects of Eidolons are terrible, because they escalate the power-level of morphs and almost completely remove the distinction and balance between the different kinds of morphs. In the core book, there were certain distinct and favourable second-order effects created by how different types of morphs were divided into categories. While synthmorphs were obviously the best for direct physical confrontations with their natural armour, the fact that can mount Heavy Synthmorph Armor, weapons mounts, physical damage bonuses, innate pain and shock immunity, etc., biomorphs with their more advanced transhuman brains could get the very substantial +10 bonuses to Aptitudes other than SOM and REF; the Menton's +10 COG and the Sylph's +10 SAV were, effectively, the domain of biomorphs. Furthermore, the +10 bonuses to COG, COO, SAV and WIL were rare and relatively expensive; there were only two morphs with +10 to COG, and only one for SAV, COO and WIL. Come [i]Rimward[/i], and the rooster of COG-bonuses has been expanded somewhat; there's now a synthmorph wit +10 COG, and on Bright they have the Hyperbright, which manages to get a total of +[i]15[/i] to COG. This is, obviously, rather unique - so unique and experimental that the Hyperbright has an innate addiction to the mentally soothing effects of Comfurt, as well as a hyperactive metabolism; significant downsides showing just how experimental that morph is - and it's one of the most expensive morphs in the setting too. And, thus, we have a total of four morphs with +10 COG or more. This draft contains no less than [i]three[/i] Eidolons with +10 to COG or more. One of them has +15 to COG and no downsides. Fluff-wise, Eidolons are supposed to emulate the hardware used to run an Ego on. Which means that, logically, someone has managed to emulate the positive sides of the Hyperbright without emulating the downsides. Secondly, it's power-escalation, and that's bad. In the core book, +10 to any Aptitude was a major thing. Four sourcebooks in, +10 to SOM is being handed out like candy, and +10 to COG is steadily gaining; to seem impressive, morphs suddenly need to have +15 to a stat to be remarkable. This is not good, because it invalidates the value of morphs from the core book, and it is also not a sustainable model of development. (Part of the Hyperbright's writeup should quite literally have been "No other sleevable morph may have +15 to COG, ever.") In general, I oppose the idea that Eidolons should get Aptitude bonuses. Aptitude bonuses should be the domain of dedicated hardware, especially biological hardware for the high Aptitude bonuses. Just as synthmorphs tend towards more specialized purposes than biomorphs, Eidolons should strive to be something different again; playing a specialized infomorph morph should, ideally, have some other thing they're adept at, mechanically. Bonuses to Aptitudes for infomorphs should probably be the domain of dedicated hardware - either meaning that you sleeve into a synthmorph, even if that synthmorph is just a laptop that grants +5 to COG, or a mainframe/server that can provide the same bonus to many infomorphs simultaneously. [b]Q. 3 – What’s the best part of these rules?[/b] "open source or pirated versions of these enhancements may be available online, if one knows where to look (requiring a Research or Networking Test). Characters must be cautious with free versions, however, as they may be glitchy or loaded with malware." I like this. It helps to mitigate how broken blueprints/software is. There should be more rules like this. I love that the ostensibly free goods now have a risk attached to them. [b]Q. 4 – Is anything unclear or confusing?[/b] The second use of Copylock is not very clear on exactly what kind of copying it can prevent, and how it does so. What kind of DRM is it? [b]Q. 5 – What do you think of eidolons?[/b] I've already outline my opinion of Eidolons quite thoroughly, but to summarize, Eidolons should not simply be bodyless biomorphs. Just like synthmorphs are mechanically and fluff-wise distinct from biomorphs, Eidolons need something special they can call their own to make them interesting. So far, the rules DDoS attacks and running on different kinds of devices and networks provides an interesting opportunity, but I'd like to see it expanded more; what are the distinct advantages of being an infomorph, and how are these advantages being exploited to the bone in-setting? [b]Q. 6 – What do you think of the server rules?[/b] The skill-bonuses seem somewhat odd; how exactly does a server provide a bonus to a skill? Is is something like skillware, where the knowledge is integrated into the informorph's Ego? Is it simply an equipment bonus, as with neo-homonids and octomorphs and climbing? Just as with Eidolons, servers should probably be made distinct and interesting, rather than simply existing as skill-bonuses. [b]Q. 7 – Anything Missing?[/b] Unlike synthmorph, pods and biomorphs, informorphs simply do not have a body in any meaningful sense - how do uploaded humans cope with this?

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@-rep +2 C-rep +1

Wed, 2013-05-29 20:58

DivineWrath DivineWrath's picture

Q. 1 – How did you review the

Q. 1 – How did you review the material in this draft? Critical eye and critical thinking. I also reviewed the Core Rulebook many times when my knowledge of the game was lacking. Q. 2 –What’s the most critical problem you’ve identified in these rules? Changes to Lucidity and Insanity ratings (observation) - There are a number of cases where an ego can have their lucidity and insanity ratings changed, and have other related traits changed as well. This can lead to special problems at times. A simple example is when a character is suffering from so much stress that its nearly permanently insane, but then is resleeved into a morph that will reduce it WIL aptitude. This drop in WIL might lead to a big enough drop in Insanity Rating to cause the character to go permanently insane because its limit was reduced (plus the possible stress from resleeving doesn't help). I think this should be considered since we are getting more stuff that might boost WIL, Lucidity, and other stuff. Mental Stability (Upgrade) - This upgrade increases the character's Lucidity rating. Does this also increase the character's Insanity Rating as well? Adamant Mind (Upgrade) - This upgrade makes it more difficult for someone to perform psychosurgery on an affected mind. Does this defense also apply to changes wanted by the affected ego (making it more difficult to make beneficial or desired changes)? Compliant Mind (Upgrade) - It says at the end that this upgrade is sometimes used to make it easier for someone to undergo extensive psychosurgery modification. Does this mean that the opposed roll during psychosurgery is mandatory? Is there no option to choose to fail the test so the modification(s) takes hold? Q. 3 – What’s the best part of these rules? I like having access to new programs to enhance informorphs. I also like that some of these programs can be added as permanent parts of an ego (as ego traits) through the use of psychosurgery. I'm under the impression that if these programs are edited in, that the affected egos can benefit from these programs (as traits) even when sleeved in biomorphs. Q. 4 – Is anything unclear or confusing? As stated above, I'm a bit confused as to how to handle cases where a character has a lot of stress, but resleeves in such a manner that reduces Lucidity Rating and Insanity Rating enough that they go permanently insane. Q. 5 – What do you think of eidolons? I'm trying to determine if I should approve or disprove of eidolons. My thoughts in favor of eidolons: Eidolons can allow characters to max out multiple aptitudes. Before eidolons, an infomorph had difficulty maxing out an aptitude. A normal transhuman can have a max aptitude of 30. With the "Exceptional Aptitude" trait, the infomorph could push 1 aptitude to 40, but only 1 aptitude (because you could only select that trait once). However, with eidolons, they can provide aptitude bonuses so its now possible to have multiple aptitudes maxed out. A variety of eidolons can provide a bonus of up to atleast +10 which is pretty good and handy. The costs for aptitude bonuses is very good, especially when compared to what was proposed in the morph creation first draft. In some cases, its better than a 1 to 1 ratio (1 point of aptitude to 1 point of CP). My thoughts against eidolons: With most eidolons, ignoring costs for a moment, the only thing really worth considering when picking one is the aptitude bonuses. There is no durability, morphs traits, or movement speeds to consider. There is no need to consider picking special morph to go some place special, like picking a quartz morph so you can do an adventure on Venus. The programs that you can get with eidolons, like plugins and upgrades, can all be purchased and installed separately. If you were to make programs that could provide aptitude bonuses available as upgrades, you wouldn't need eidolons. A problem that has been creeping up is the reduced value of the "Right at home" trait. That trait removes the need to make tests to resleeve into another morph (to avoid problems like adjusting to your new body). With the increased variety of morphs available, this trait is losing its value due to the reduced likely hood of having a specific morph that an ego might finds very comfortable. This problem can be reduced by carrying around blueprints for your favorite synthmorphs and eidolons, but you can't do that with any kind of biomorph. Q. 6 – What do you think of the server rules? The server rules seemed alright. I have a few characters that would like to have their own specialized enhanced servers. I'm not sure if the servers should be made more powerful though. I suppose there would be nothing wrong with bestowing benefits that an infomorph could get with plug-ins and add-ons (so long as having both don't stack). Bestowing the benefits of traits might be a bit tricky though. Hmm... Thinking about more powerful servers for a moment. A person renting a slot on a "panopticon" server might desire the server due to the fact it provides Virtual Skillware for the perception skill and bestows the Eidetic Memory and Situational Awareness Traits. Another person might rent a server slot on a "learning" server because the server provides access to the Faster Learner and Hyper Linguist traits. Q. 7 – Anything Missing? There does not appear to be any prices for the different servers. I don't know what to pay to buy a specialized enhanced server. There is also no prices for renting a slot or time on a server. Since powerful servers can provide bonuses, character might want to upload themselves to one from time to time. Having some sort of rent price would help judge how much trouble, money, or rep it would cost to borrow the use of one for a while. When I was thinking about how to improve infomorphs, an idea I had (before I read the news about this transhuman book) was to have different devices to have a process load capacity (for the lack of a better name). A typical infomorph might use an X amount of process load and any device capable of running an infomorph typically has more than that. For example, an infomorph might require 20 process load points and an ecto might have 25 to offer. Additional process load points could be used to enable the use of add-ons, upgrades, eidolions, and other resource intense programs. If there was insufficient process load capacity on the device, then the infomorph might need to distribute some of the load to the mesh or turn off some programs (even reduce the performance of themselves) until they balanced the load. Failure to do so could lead to other problems... Of course these process load rules I had in mind might also have an impact on the mesh, making it easier to track down (or monitor behavior of) those people who have a large mesh presence. A large mesh presence might be caused by distributing yourself over a large part of the mesh or using resource intensive programs and relying on the mesh to help provide much needed computational resources.

Sun, 2013-06-02 09:34

Gilgamesh

Infomorphs

[b]Q. 1 – How did you review the material in this draft?[/b] Reading [b]Q. 2 –What’s the most critical problem you’ve identified in these rules?[/b] Eidolons and Servers should swap places: The computing power of your processing capabilities should be the big booster, not an add-on software pack. Even the slave eidolon has an Aptitude Limit of 40, and Speed Modifier +2, and for a mere 25 CP you get +10 COG, +5 INT, +5 on two other aptitudes. A Wirehead grants +10 REF for 45 CP and boosts speed and gives you Panopticon. On the other hand the top State-of-the-Art server of an Elite Military Vehicle gives you +10 on Pilot, Gunnery and +1 Initiative. So, if I sleeve in a Wirehead Eidolon in a Enhanced Server, I get the same bonuses to Pilot and +5 to Gunnery plus a whole box of goodies on top. The Running on Devices part is much more interesting and it would be interesting, if it were possible for Distributed Infomorphs to constantly optimize the computing power and bandwidth of your net by shifting around the mesh. E.g. instead of rolling initiative, you roll interface to determine your bonuses for this round. Or something like it. [b]Q. 3 – What’s the best part of these rules?[/b] Plug-ins and Running on Devices rules. [b]Q. 4 – Is anything unclear or confusing?[/b] Nothing [b]Q. 5 – What do you think of eidolons?[/b] The idea is neat and I do like them, but as mentioned, they should swap places with the servers. [b]Q. 6 – What do you think of the server rules?[/b] Great. I like the idea, but while currently the servers and Running on Devices rule each other out, they should be possible to combine (you just need to find the computing power somewhere). [b]Q. 7 – Anything Missing?[/b] Nope.