Under bots, Parispheres and Shield Drones don't have a listed Complexity. Rare/Restricted and Major respectively?

Pg 37, In Prisoner Mask:

Quote:

Prisoner Mask: This hood tightens around the head of a prisoner and blocks visual frequencies, so that even a prisoner with enhanced vision is blinded. The hood is all a faraday cage and engages in low-level jamming...

I think it's supposed to read, "The hood is also a faraday cage..." Also the next sentence contains the word equippped

Moving these questions to this thread. I think that skillsofts were poorly written in EP 1. I think its still bad written as they are now. Any rules for making your own ALI? How about modding existing ALIs? Vehicle hardware, improved handling: It says it offers a -10 mod to pilot tests. Shouldn't it be a +10 mod?

Enhanced vision feels a little OP to me. Besides the +10 to perceive, and 5x zoom function, it also encompasses everything related to infrared vision, which includes +20 to kinesics, white walls become mirrors, able to see through non-thermal smoke, able to see previous heat signatures, and make know:chemestry tests with sight alone. On top of this, you don't need a T-ray emitter in vacuums. The only balance I knew of in 1st ed was the fact that the bioware models couldn't be filtered. Now they can. This also begs the question, why have cyberware when bioware options are available? Bioware can't be hacked after all. Here's a question, does Muscle Augmentation stack with Pnumatics? They can both be hardware, so they can both be put on a synth. I lake that Shape Adjusting still allows you to make your own ware. The inability to make advanced electronics like a ghostrider makes sense, I'll still allow my players to make any mobility system they want since I like the idea of these things being Transformers. I like that Skinflex now adds hair color into the mix, before I had to homebrew a specific ware for that called "smart hair", except smart hair also allowed the user to control hair length and shape (a simple command switched your curly hair into a beehive) Why are Dead Switches still a thing? They can only be activated when you die, which begs the question, why not just remove your stack for next to nothing? If it could be remotely activated as well, then I'd find it useful. I see we still have no ALI for automated defenses, or are bot AIs supposed to be using interfac and weapon systems? Is a specific software needed to record exps? Like a mission recorder or Mnemonics? Does implanting augments by yourself count as an expense? Or are you just paying for the service/blueprints for them? Nice to see Schitzo is still there. It never served much of a purpose but it was fun as hell. Interesting to see that BTX2 now has a counter, I always thought the whole point of it was that it was expensive, but the best way to make sure a biomorph stayed dead. I especially like how the Resource trait got balanced. And the idea that most gear would be sold is rather interesting. So, one thing I've been toying around with in the past is the idea of a license, and I think those should be a thing to get restricted gear, with price categories ranging from minor to rare based on the legality and danger of the weapon, to where it could be used. Examples would be things like light arms, conceal carrying, ammunition types, caliber, magazine>15, full auto fire, restricted to home defense only, etc. That's all the feedback I have for now. On this section.

You should clarify whether gear modifiers stack, or this will be discussed at excessive length around game tables. Do they never stack, you only use the best? Do they always stack? Or do they sometimes when you can rationalize that you could benefit from both? I would prefer the first option, that leads to the least number of discussions and abuse. I don’t want to spend time discussing whether a character can benefit from both having specs and enhanced vision at the same time or not.

Quote:

Tools: Tools come in kits (medium, portable), shops (can ft into a large vehicle), and facilities (huge, non-mobile). Each set of tools applies to a particular skill, such as Hardware: Electronics or Medicine: Paramedic. [Min] for kits, [Mod] for shops, and [Maj] for facilities.

I confess that I have trouble understanding the explanation and usefulness of the Tools (page 8). It allows you to use one of the two skills? But then, what's the difference between the three sizes? And what is the difference with the Utilitool?

Thank you, but what is the difference with the Utilitool (same page)? I ask this because these two gears are offered with the Explorer pack.

Thank you for that answer.

I found the missing gear. Weapons are in the action and combat chapter (spread throughout), and mobility systems are in the game mechanics chapter (last 2 pages). Those are not the first places I would look for them.

Grim G wrote:

How many doses of a drug/toxin can one get with one purchase? Because if nothing is stated then I'm defaulting to 1.

Page 24 indicates that you get 5 doses for the listed complexity price under the Chemicals and Toxins header. Page 32 repeats this under the Drugs header.

I haven't had enough time to read through in detail, but I have a couple of preference-based comments; Skillware/wires: Could we reword it to "Each Skillware contains the knowledge to use a single skill encoded in software form. When used with a skillware system, they allow the character to make tests as though they had a rating of 40 in an active skill or 80 in a Know skill." Then reword Skillwires to set the amount of installable skillwares, perhaps with multiple variants (1 for Min, 2 for Mod, 3 for Maj). Time to replace would also be really good, but I'd suggest making it a part of short/long Recharges. Second, it might be good if toolkits/shops/facilities could provide skill bonuses (+10/+20+30), both to make them stand out from utilitools or otherwise basic stuff and to provide a more concrete reason for investing in them. This could be restricted to GM choice, but I personally don't think it's necessary. I'll put my thoughts about weapons in the combat thread.

Grim G wrote:

It should say what the aptitudes are.

Based on p. 12 of The Mesh, the aptitudes are presumably 10 (the usual value). It would be nice to have that information mentioned in the Gear section.

It would be nice if you could combine 2 weapon mounts to allow use of a two handed weapon on medium bots and morphs. I would expect some of the heavier bots, like the parisphere and sentry, to be able to use these larger weapons. Similarly, I would expect Reapers to equip two rifles, rather than four pistols in their mounts.

ubik2 wrote:

Grim G wrote:

It should say what the aptitudes are.

Based on p. 12 of The Mesh, the aptitudes are presumably 10 (the usual value). It would be nice to have that information mentioned in the Gear section.

Except Last time I checked muses have higher INT, but that's never mentioned.

ThatWhichNeverWas wrote:

Simply put, would it be possible to give Item/Favour Complexity and possibly Ware Types either individual single-character icons, or different text colours if that would be better. The main thing I've run into whilst going through/searching the lists is finding these elements takes a second or two to parse. Giving them a distinct visual key could make searching for specific items or combinations (for example options for shape-adjusting) much simpler.

I suggest a triangle for minor, a square for moderate, and a five pointed star for major. At least in the tables. Bio, Cyber, Nano, Hard, Info might be trickier.

Smart animals don't have any listed skill. Why exactly? This seems like a big problem.

DivineWrath wrote:

Maybe you have to train them yourself? /joke What do you mean no skills? Every one I've looked at have skills. See p. 29-30.

Yeah, I guess the way it was formatted mad me look over it. It does raise an important question I never got an answer for with first ed. Are the listed skills in ranks, or total?

Grim G wrote:

Are the listed skills in ranks, or total?

I'd assume they're the totals. They're listed the same way for bots, and in that case, if the aptitudes were added to the skills, the skills would generally exceed the skill caps. If you imagine training a dog to do a trick, you train the dog until it's got the skill down. A smart dog learns the trick faster, but you stop the training when the dog reaches a specific skill level. If a player takes Exotic Skill: Animal Handling, and wants to train their creature to have a better skill, I'd apply a skill limit of 60 (like ALIs), which leaves you with a decent game balance. A player with Program should be able to do the same for an ALI. I'd also require the player to also have the skill being trained (or teamwork with someone who does). Many of the smart animals do exceed the base ALI guideline (only one skill over 40, capped at 60).

CordialUltimate2 wrote:

Cyberbrains and Ghostriders They do almost the same but their cost is different. Cyberbrains is Major. Ghostrider is Minor. I would propose they are both Moderate. Or even there is one device Universal Host which controls the morphs or devices with a Puppet Sock. With how Jamming now works it is advantageous to implant any of your Morphs with Ghostrider and install a Infomorph in it. It is strange but thanks to the low pool of MPs it isn't broken like it could be in 1st ed. But if you want to create an army of Researchers the best way is to: 1.Get 1 Case 0MP 2.Get 1 Agent 2MP 3.Get 4 Cases 4MP 4. Install 5 Ghostriders in the Cases 5GP or 5MP 5. Sleeve an Agent. 6. Copy yourself 5 times. 5. Install on 5 Ghostriders. 6. Jam the Cases. You now have 5 Morphs with 4 Insight. Cost total: (11 MP) or (6 MP and 5 GP) Using Mentons or Savants it would be 28 MP.

I think you misunderstand the functionality of the Cyberbrain and Ghost Rider modules. A cyberbrain is Maj because you are installing a Host computer and artificial nervous system to a device that does not normally have one. Such as a drone. This turns the device into a morph. The Ghost Rider module is an extra cyberbrain installed connected only to the mesh inserts in an already existing morph. This allows a second ego to ride along with the person sleeved into the morph. It's Min cost because the morph it's installed into already has a nervous system and mesh inserts. Further, it gives no control over the host morph and any mesh access for the second ego is at the privilege of the host ego. If you want to control an existing morph by remote or from a ghost rider module, you need to install a puppet sock module. In your above example, if you are buying 5 cases, why not just fork yourself 5 times and sleeve each of the egos in the cases? You could also get a server that can run 50 egos at once, fork yourself 4 times into Operator infomophs and then Jam all 5 cases. That way you'd be able to use your Insight Pool as Vigor pools for the cases. This might not be a bad idea for some cheap fire support, but watch out for enemy hackers and EMP weapons.

I think the Drone Rig would be fine if it didn't apply to full morphs (like the Case). In this case, while you might still sit in a Ghostrider, and use the Puppet Sock to control a Case, you're not getting any significant advantage over having a servitor bot carrying you in an ecto. In particular, it's not mechanically superior to sleeving. The Puppet Sock states that they "allow a morph to be remotely controlled, just like a drone". With that wording, both Drone Rig and Drone Affinity should apply. If there were an exception for Drone Rig, do people think it would still be a problem? Edit: Having alpha forks is going to be a balance issue, regardless. I think that in order to properly explore the crazy EP world, you want players to have this option. I'd suggest that if you feel it's being abused, the GM talks to the player to tell them to stop.

I'm pretty sure the thing about Ghostriders is that they aren't standalone modules; you need a cyberbrain/biobrain first, and the Ghostrider leverages the existing hardware. Regarding Self-Puppeting, you're at least more vulnerable to being hacked as you don't have the inserts/cyberbrain barrier to defend against intrusion, and you arguably don't have a stack either. For multiple morphs, I wouldn't allow a "main" morph to cost 0 if the character has additional morphs - The most expensive is the main one, then calculate the costs.

Dr. Maxwell wrote:

Synths don't seem to have any way to gain additional limbs. This is especially relevant for shape adjusting with flexbots.

Just use a Cyberlimb with your synthmorphs armor.

Dr. Maxwell wrote:

It is unclear if fixer swarms stack to allow rapid healing of synths.

My GM fiat would be: "With Programming: Nanofabrication test, yes they do"

An idea crosses my mind. How much should a pair of limbs for synthmorphs cost? I think its kinda bad to buy 2 limbs (using cyberlimb prices) for 4 MP, for a Case morph which would be 1 MP at most. In EP 1, an extra pair of limbs had a cost less than the cost of a Case. Now, it would be worth far more than the Case.

CordialUltimate2 wrote:

Just use a Cyberlimb with your synthmorphs armor.

This is a decent house rule, but as written, cyberlimbs are only usable by biomorph/pod/uplifts (apologies to DivineWrath if that was his point already). It might be best to just make an item that is [Min] per pair (and not granting Vigor pool). This is the cost that was used when computing the Morph CP in the original spreadsheet. If this were the case, the Shape Adjusting feature of the Flexbots could be used to generate limbs as needed.

CordialUltimate2 wrote:

Hmm this doesn't seem to be written explicitly or I missed it. IIRC there is only a sentence on various types of attachment options to the structure of a Morph. Mainly biomorphs compatible but still synthmorph should be able to use all cyberware.

Cyberware is explicitly biomorph only on page 4 of gear. This is mostly not an issue as most cyberware is also hardware, but limbs are not.