Making cyborgs appealing again

[Zamujasa]

I was thinking about it more last night and I think that making the module rewriter borg-usable in some way would do a lot to fix the lack of appeal for borgs. That would grant borgs a lot more "freedom" to choose the less-popular modules, or switch out of them if they picked them in the first place.

Integrate it with the charging dock and give it a five-minute cooldown per borg. Build a big fancy room at the escape arm, then go switch to brobot and throw a party. Change to medical and attend to people after a bomb, then go construction and work to patch the hull. Go Engineering to set up the engine and hotwire it, then swap to Janitor and slip people into shocked doors.

On second thought, maybe not that last one.

[Paineframe]

Hydroponics borg is basically useless right now, even by Botany standards. Not only does it have the usual borg limitations, but it can't use any of the machines in Botany, either. It can't splice seeds or infuse them, it can't extract reagents from produce, it can't even pick up and use seeds from the human botanists' crops.

[Amuys]

Chemborgs and Constructionborgs are fun.

[Erev]

I was thinking about it more last night and I think that making the module rewriter borg-usable in some way would do a lot to fix the lack of appeal for borgs. That would grant borgs a lot more "freedom" to choose the less-popular modules, or switch out of them if they picked them in the first place.

The module re-writer IS actually borg usable with the exception that they cannot load modules into it. One thing I tend to do as a roboticist is to leave several modules in there so that borgs can re-write and install their own modules. As they cycle through said modules I then jsut collect the ones that they've left behind in the docks and put those back into the rewriter.

[Zamujasa]

That's true. Most of the time it's never stocked, though. You also have to be in Robotics proper, as opposed to, say, other recharging stations (like the one in tool storage).

[BaneOfGiygas]

That's true. Most of the time it's never stocked, though. You also have to be in Robotics proper, as opposed to, say, other recharging stations (like the one in tool storage).

Speaking of which, are cyborg recharge stations scannable/deployable? If they aren't, then they probably should be, as all one would need to do to kill off cyborgs is bomb the four docks and wait for the batteries to die out. Also, given how much of a hotspot for bad things medbay usually ends up being, being able to relocate the stations would be nice.

[Zafhset]

Speaking of which, are cyborg recharge stations scannable/deployable? If they aren't, then they probably should be, as all one would need to do to kill off cyborgs is bomb the four docks and wait for the batteries to die out. Also, given how much of a hotspot for bad things medbay usually ends up being, being able to relocate the stations would be nice.

They are scannable and deployable. There are also a total of 6 docks that borgs can access with relative ease, though 3 of them are in the mining/faint z-level.

[BaneOfGiygas]

Ah, never mind then.

[Anticheese]

Also, if merging the chemborg and medborg isn't plausible, maybe make the chemborgs into a general resesarch borg, letting them interface with artlab, set up toxins mixtures, and maybe give them a hand tele or something of the sort? As stated before, there's very little that a chemborg can do on the default lawset.

An engineering/construction/standard borg can already do all of these things. Any borg can log into DWAINE, most of the borgs have a wrench for interacting with toxins stuff..

[Marquesas]

I don't see a clear concensus here on what you want. It'd be better if you could compile a clear and concise (and agreed upon) pro/con list for every module, and we can work off there.

I have some ideas regarding custom modules, a project which I'll tend to later, and some serious UI improvements, a project which I'll tend to *sooner*.

[BaneOfGiygas]

Yeah, the original post was made off the top of my head, and I don't tend to be very good at being concise. Here's a thorough and hopefully concise list of changes to robotics that I think will help:

- Changing/merging of underused modules (which is almost all of them) to increase usability and functionality, in order to better distinct them from normal crew members of the same job. Some ideas:
- Merge Hydroponics with the former Vendor to make chefborgs.
- Merge Engineering and Construction for repairborgs.
- Merge Medical and Chemistry for scienceborgs. Alternatively, give chemborgs increased functionality with the rest of research, somehow.
- Give the Janitor borgs an increased water tank and possibly a trash compactor, as suggested previously.
- Nerf the infinite-use RCD and patches in some fashion, possibly through making them run on independent charges, to help maintain balance between modules.
- Introduce new robot types (like that brain jar thing that got a lot of hype a while back) to provide alternatives to plain ol' borging.

That should be a good start for giving the roboticists something vaguely productive to do.

[Dr_Bee]

Adding /vg/ station style MoMMIs or /tg/ style drones would be nice alternative to borging. I want to be a cute robot dammit!

[BaneOfGiygas]

For the record, I'm working on a big ol' list describing all of the modules. Free time is just at a bit of a premium and I thought I might as well put that post there in the meantime to kickstart discussion.

[Marquesas]

- Merge Hydroponics with the former Vendor to make chefborgs.

Doable.

- Merge Engineering and Construction for repairborgs.

These are two Rather Powerful modules. No, for the time being. Might as well call it "Area Denial Module".

- Merge Medical and Chemistry for scienceborgs. Alternatively, give chemborgs increased functionality with the rest of research, somehow.

Again, same thing as above, so no to the first part. The second part is considerable however I'd like to note that borgs can do artifact research with minimal to no assistance.

- Give the Janitor borgs an increased water tank and possibly a trash compactor, as suggested previously.

Janitor borgs are not as weak as they look, however, this is something that can be considered.

Nerf the infinite-use RCD and patches in some fashion, possibly through making them run on independent charges, to help maintain balance between modules.

Here, take a seat next to me, my hitler padawan. (Yes, will consider it).

- Introduce new robot types (like that brain jar thing that got a lot of hype a while back) to provide alternatives to plain ol' borging.

Yes, I'd like more robot types, I've been considering some stuff however I have no idea what Daeren is doing in regards of robotics so I did not want to touch that for the time being, with the exception of the brain jars. While I understand the concept of brain jars is great, I could come up with no reason I'd want to be a brain in a jar. It'd be totally feasible, supported and implemented if you could come up with a reason (special perk) to be one.

[Sundance]

As the person who made up the brain bot/vat idea, there is a ton of reasons why you should implement it, it was the reason why the thread was so popular.

Pro's:
>You are immune to almost all forms of damage. No suffocating or dying in a fire, or getting shocked by the AI. You are, a brain in a vat, after all.
>You can open doors that the ID has swiped to you.
>You are not bound to asimovs laws. You are not a cyborg, just a human brain in a vat with little wheels.
>You can't be disarmed. Anything you pick up with your one arm is now practically glued to you.
>You can be easily put back together if you are destroyed.
Con's
>You are extremely vulnerable. A few hits with a crowbar or shot with a projectile and the glass is cracked and the brain is ejected and you are dead.
>You have no storage. You can however, pick up/drop/throw items.
>You can't pull or grab aggressively/choke. Your little robotic arm just ain't strong enough. You can however grab passively and drag someone slowly.
>You can be taken hostage very easily. Someone can just stun you, remove your arm and leg with a wrench and then just pick you up.

That is for the brainborg, i.e: Attaching wheel and arms to it to a brainvat. The brainvat on it's own serves another purpose

Slap a brain in it to see if it's owner is braindead or not.. Laugh as the brain audibly expresses their disgust! Slap several brains in several brainvats to keep yourself company while you work.. Laugh as the brains audibly tell you to hurry up with their cyborg body!

You can also pick up brainvats and walk around with them. Similar to PAI's in other servers, but more bulky and insulting.

And that's not including the concept of wrenching brainvats onto critters, daeren stated that it's quite possible given the new wraith coding.

But barring all those reasons marq, the brainbot is a good idea because it's fun.