eaton wrote:

Thanks, that definitely reassures me that I'm not breaking things too much by juicing up the bots a bit (especially given the fact that they were intentionally instructed to do damage by the station's AI). I'm totally comfortable with these particular bots weighing in at the 20-40 range, since the players will be encountering them while (literally) naked and unarmed.

Really, 40's a good number for generic mookery of any sort, meat or machine. Take a look at the [url=http://eclipsephase.com/quick-dirty-npc-generation]Quick and Dirty NPC Generation[/url] thread for more of my thoughts on this matter.

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Edit: I'm also assuming you mean that a bot should never be rolling less than that for basic physical actions that someone had time to prep it for (either via uploading a skillsoft or some up-front programming). A Dr. Bot wouldn't get an automatic 40 with exotic bladed weapons, for example.

Honestly, I would say that a dumb bot (an AI, excluding an AGI) shouldn't be [i]able[/i] to even attempt to do things it hasn't received programming for. Your average doctor bot doesn't have any routines for "kill," it's in fact likely specifically programmed against trying to do any kill actions. If there's a hostile AGI in charge of the station, then it should certainly be able to alter these programmings, however; grabbing skillsofts for bladed combat off the net, etc, doing some tweaking to make them work for the doctor-bot. Or it could program them itself. Standardization and using already-open-sourced robot blueprints would help this process, because if you're using a common or open-sourced model of robot, you can bet your ass that some anarchist or scum habitat has a demented tinkerer on it who's already programmed combat routines for that model for use in habitat defense, and has likely released those routines open-source. Even if not, though, an AGI working at 60x acceleration, especially if it has, say, the Multi-Tasking implant's electronic equivalent installed where it keeps its mind, or if it just forks itself a lot, can do a [b]lot[/b] of programming in a very short amount of time. So, no. Don't feel bad about beefing the bots up to 40. Don't feel bad about it at all.

I believe it is one of the stated AI limitations that they [i]cannot[/i] default, even though they have aptitude scores (which are capped at 20 and are 10 by default, IIRC). However, skillsofts are still a thing, and shouldn't be uncommon for cracked AI. Hell, given that AI are only capable of "learning" via direct programming, its entirely possible you can just add new skills via programming given some time and admin access to the code. Giving them plasma cutters or vibroblades as just roughly statting equipment probably isn't too out of line either. But really, this isn't the Fall, and we're not subverting Security Pods here. Fiction likes to make the pervasive robot apocalypse really scary because all your technology is coming back to try and slay you, but for Eclipse Phase PCs, Weak AI flailing with industrial claws isn't a serious threat. Regular Bots shouldn't present too much of a threat profile, especially given Post-Fall security concerns, but the sudden nature of the attack might be worth a Stress test and somebody getting a booboo or two. Logically the bots'd probably be better off with opposed Freefall and literally throwing themselves at what may be soft, squishy meat-humans.

ORCACommander wrote:

Also remember that the devs are taking it easy on us when they write these modules :P

We're evolving a bit as that goes. Multiple times, I had to pull some punches when running Caleb's module for newbie groups at cons lest they get murdered by the first 9 Lives welcoming party they met (having them not use BF or FA mode with their shotties is a good nerf). There're some tough encounters in MYE, too. At the same time, the sample PCs in TH are also more effectively min/maxed than in previous books. Hopefully, this is a trend you guys like. If I were running older modules for my group, who've been playing EP for a long time now, I'd definitely beef up the opposition.

Don't forget about modifiers. Aiming will grant a +10 or +30 bonus right off the bat, and with advantageous positioning or teamwork you can essentially pump your minionbots all the way up from 10 to 70 without changing anything. That said, bots like that are perfect for screwing your players over, as ShadowDragon8685 said. Sure, they can't attack very well, but they're great for welding boots to the floor, destroying weapons, removing armor or just "being in their hair"

HUGE SPOILERS (duh) . . . . . . I've run Continuity once or twice. I believe out of maybe ... 40 players I've put through that meat grinder, the automechs have eliminated two (of course, dying in the first hour sucks, so it was a challenge, not a resleeve). The dwarves have a total count of 0. Yes, part of this is on purpose. It's the first hour/two hours of a game, usually for brand new players. So pulling punches is on purpose. But they're also a huge challenge. The bots all have enough armor that they're pretty much invincible to the PCs (at least, without their wasting valuable ammo). And the goal of the bots isn't to kill the PCs, it's to evacuate all the atmosphere/put a hole in the station (which has the unfortunate aftereffect of killing the PCs). So generally my Continuity opens like this: 1) Discover the open air lock 2) Decide to close the air lock, so leap "down" to it 3) Realize they forgot the rope. 4) Fellow PCs stage a quick rescue 5) Push the automech out of the way, seal the doors 6) Heroes! Retire for sandwiches. 7) Automech cuts open doors 8) PC investigates 9) Fellow PCs follow with rope 10) WTF automech why you cutting? Punch automech 11) Dodge cutting torch 12) Get frantic 13) Automech slap-fight ensues. Things get hectic 14) Automech cuts ropes 15) PC knocks automech out the airlock 16) Airlock seals, locking PC and automech in vacuum 17) Discussion of vacuum resistance of paper gowns/next steps 18) Rescue PC 19) Automech begins cutting garden roof (You get the idea.) The automech isn't a deadly threat as such, it's a challenge the PCs need to figure out and disable, and generally combat won't cut it.