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Cyberorgan wear and repair
#1
I see a lot of worry whenever suggestions are made for changes adjacent to robotics that roboticists already have barely anything to do, which is definitely true. Hiding cyberorgans behind roboticist access shored up the damage ever so slightly, but it fails to address that as far as humans are concerned, cyberorgans are a one-and-done (mostly) straight upgrade. Which doesn't quite sit right with me, as an enthusiast of weird biomechanical body horror.

The damage
I propose that cyberorgans should take damage and receive repairs less like a biological organ and more like a machine, unable to heal on their own and causing unpleasant and potentially horrific symptoms as they break down from misuse and abuse, with damage thresholds that introduce malfunctions. Unpleasant grating noises in the chest, coughing blood, seemingly random electric stuns, collapse, vomiting, shortness of breath, leaking toxic reagents into the blood and a general plethora of scary messages in the chat indicating that something is fucked up with you.

The fix
Much as the scalpel, scissors and saw are the three surgical tools, I propose cyberorgans should use multitool, wirecutters and welder as their surgical repair tools. Cyberorgans should have a differently coloured icon in the surgical menu to indicate cybernetic status and current damage level, and clicking on their icon with a repair tool should open a repair radial where a roboticist must pulse, mend and weld to unfrick that which is fricked. Like how meat organs may require just scalpel and scissors, just scissors, or also throw a saw in there for fun, cyberorgans should similarly require different combinations of pulse, mend, weld to fix. This blurs the line thematically between surgery and engineering, while keeping all the grody body horror fun in the hands of the roboticist.

Other thoughts
The impetus for this idea came from my desire to have cyberorgans at round start because, well, I want some of my characters to be part machine. Getting my organs replaced at the start of every work shift does not fulfill that idea, it just makes my character a needy pain in the ass. As it stands currently, organ replacement with cyberorgans happens only when the original organ is dead, or else a roboticist or lunatic staffie electively gets all of their organs replaced for a bit. This isn't really what I'd call stable employment. If cyberorgans wore down and broke, work would come to the roboticist throughout the round in cases of emergency much like the medical doctors. The more personnel that have cyberorgans, the more cases of blown spleen gaskets and heart BSODs would show up for the roboticist to fix. As such, I think that round-start cyberorgans with this model would increase the amount of work a roboticist gets to do rather than reduce it.

All in all, I think that making cyberorgans a sidegrade with risks and downsides rather than a straight upgrade will elevate the power of choice, create some fun counterplays (emp'd organs stop working until you cut the patient open and pulse their guts), and create opportunities for properly nightmarish side effects.
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Messages In This Thread
Cyberorgan wear and repair - by WyrdDoe - 08-22-2025, 03:29 PM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by JORJ949 - 08-23-2025, 03:12 AM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by Gomp - 08-23-2025, 04:47 AM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by Agent reburG - 08-23-2025, 10:20 AM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by WyrdDoe - 08-23-2025, 01:29 PM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by Agent reburG - Yesterday, 07:13 AM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by Jamie! - 08-23-2025, 11:06 PM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by WyrdDoe - 08-23-2025, 11:11 PM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by Asterion0 - 08-23-2025, 11:50 PM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by Jamie! - Yesterday, 12:47 AM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by WyrdDoe - Yesterday, 01:06 AM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by Gomp - Yesterday, 01:21 AM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by Frank_Stein - Yesterday, 06:42 AM
RE: Cyberorgan wear and repair - by WyrdDoe - Yesterday, 02:18 PM

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