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Rules question: Muscle Augmentation & High-G Augmentation inconsistency

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Mon, 2017-03-20 00:35

GenehackedGynoid GenehackedGynoid's picture

Rules question: Muscle Augmentation & High-G Augmentation inconsistency

Apologies if this has been asked already. This has been a question of mine for a while, and maybe it is just an oversight or maybe there is something I am missing: Muscle Augmentation provides +5 SOM for a cost of High. High-G Augmentation provides +5 SOM, and additional protections against higher gravity environments, for a cost of Moderate. Is there any particular reason, other than that High-G Augmentation is from a later book and Muscle Augmentation is from the core book, that this is the case? As it stands, there is no reason to get the more expensive, less effective Muscle Augmentation over High-G. Two fixes I'd propose:

Trade the costs on High-G Augmentation and Muscle Augmentation; keep the SOM bonuses stackable, maybe.
My current house-rule fix: make both have a cost of Moderate; make Muscle Augmentation a pre-requisite for High-G Augmentation; remove the additional SOM bonus on High-G Augmentation and keep the other bonuses.

Any thoughts on this?

Mon, 2017-03-20 00:53

UnitOmega

No, pretty sure as a [High]

No, pretty sure as a [High] and a full cost augmentation (for morph creation) Muscle augmentation is supposed to be that expensive. Most implants which have direct impacts on combat efficiency tend to be as a bit of a balancing act for PCs and NPCs alike (similar highly costly implants include the ones which provide significant bonuses to speed or REF, for instance). Hardened Skeleton is also [High]. And if you want to get into the cost of that +5 DUR... well, then it really should be [Expensive], the equivalent of the 10 CP you spend to get Tough 1. So it's not an exact equivalence between things here. Easiest answer? Devs forgot some stuff or made a calculation error. Happens all the time, the books are huge. Logically obviously it doesn't make sense, except that High-G Adaptation is in Gatecrashing, and unless you want to get smooshed in a gas giant, there's not really anywhere inside the normal solar system to get any use out of it. It's also one of like, only two ways to actually just get better at high-g. In general, remember costs are categorical. Maybe High-G is a upper [Moderate] and Muscle Augmentation is a lower [High]? If there are concerns, about players abusing High-G to get extra SOM (for wound checks and DB), then use modifiers to categorize it up. You on a micrograv station? Better get rolling Research guys, nobody keeps the High-G aug in their default libraries as it serves no real purpose.

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Mon, 2017-03-20 02:09

GenehackedGynoid GenehackedGynoid's picture

Fair enough; an availability

Fair enough; an availability modifier would probably compensate for the difference - but then, there really isn't any similar availability mechanic for a lot of other gear. For morphs, availability effects are also often apparently rolled into price, meaning that something that is rare is also expensive. Making High-G Augmentation an Expensive price class would probably be the most sensible (if painful) fix, considering the vast number of positive effects it has. Then, there could be some kind of subsidy for it made available by some gatecrashing organization or other. Thanks for the input on that.

Mon, 2017-03-20 10:53

ORCACommander ORCACommander's picture

Also it could be argued that

Also it could be argued that High G is only available when building a morph from the ground up while muscle aug has surgical and healing vat applications in additions to building from the ground up. and thus the result of an increased price could be argued economic forces

Mon, 2017-03-20 14:32

GenehackedGynoid GenehackedGynoid's picture

That would make more sense if

That would make more sense if it was a trait, rather than an aug. But maybe it should be one.

Tue, 2017-03-21 05:15

CordialUltimate2 CordialUltimate2's picture

Yeah it is kinds ambiguous.

Yeah it is kinds ambiguous. If you take for example remade morph, they are described as muscular and overally optimised with improved everything including cardiovascular system. They also have +10 SOM bonus. I would rule that remades have high-g adaptation, already but per RAW, you could have Remade with +20 SOM for only 6k additional cost. Add some Cyberlimbs and you get a ridiculous +30. Overally if you are allowed to upgrade the morphs for a period of time you get ridiculous. EDIT: I have a "battlesplicer" that could take on a fury with only implants that cannot be detected. No unidentified cyberware the size of an orange inside it, no adamantium laden skeleton. Planethopping is good in general for keeping players gear in check.

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Thu, 2017-03-23 08:04

ThatWhichNeverWas ThatWhichNeverWas's picture

TransSwolism.

It's worth mentioning that High-G is only available as Bioware, whilst Muscle-Aug is Cyberware and can be taken by Synths.

CordialUltimate2 wrote:
I have a "battlesplicer" that could take on a fury with only implants that cannot be detected. No unidentified cyberware the size of an orange inside it, no adamantium laden skeleton.

Morphs kind of get more credit than they deserve. Most of the advantages they provide come from being pre-assembled Aug packages. The rest is 'useful' but not to the extent they seem to be given. I find it helps to think of them as a Chassis or Bodywork - the Augs/Traits are the ones that come 'as standard'. Giving a Remade High-G makes sense, but does it scan that ALL Remade should have High-G, including those that will only ever experience Microgravity, or should they have the 'potential' as a dormant trait that can be activated later (the augment)? That said, if you want to give Remade High-G as standard then their passive bonus should be reduced to compensate. Other options would be to have the High-G augment provide a bonus to specific SOM checks rather than the Attribute itself, or have it only apply a SOM bonus to morphs with an innate bonus below +10 a'la Neural Enhancers.

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Thu, 2017-03-23 11:36

CordialUltimate2 CordialUltimate2's picture

Yeah, I meant rolling the

Yeah, I meant rolling the high-g augment into the inherent Remade bonus. As for why would Remade that was born in microgravity and never stood on a planet need resistance to high gravity... well he doesn't need it. But Remade was intended as a general replacement to a splicer and as such it was made to be as generalist as possible while being better than baseline human body in every aspect.

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