Cyborg Discussion (Cogwerks)

[V12US]

I suggested a Cargo module that could spawn and carry crates and stuff a long time ago.

Having to drag stuff as a cyborg gets pretty annoying.

[FrontlineAcrobat4]

Th A.I. beeps, "Joe Shitstain is getting maimed in the chapel." and Punkbuster boops, "Time to bust this punk ass."

I don't know why, but this reminds me of the show Futurama, where the only two police officers was a human, and a cyborg who called everyone punks and beat them with batons.

[Val]

I realize you said you were done with the secborg argument but I just have to call BS here. This is complete nonsense...

So bots can do just about everything better AND don't cause as much trouble? Nuts to cyborgs then...

I think a detective borg could be pretty cool, something that wouldn't arrest people...

I think this is a nice idea. Let's see...

Detective borg mod
Module: Module looks like a an old school TV set with a magnifying glass in it.
Appearance: Upon selection, the cyborg gains a long coat and a shady hat.

• Note: No smoking because smoking is harmful to human health.

Equipment:

• Forensic Scanner: To analyze blood and stuff.
  
• Fingerprint Interface: To grab fingerprints from someone.
  
• Camera Viewer: To interface with the security camera network and snoop on people.
  
• Evidence Case: To store evidence. If you're destroyed, it flies out of your body.
  
• Security Records: So you can figure out who's blood/prints they are.
  
• Universal Recorder: To covertly record people's conversations/confessions.
  
• Flashlight: So suspects can't just hide in the dark.
  
• Flash: To subdue rowdy suspects.
  
• Lighter: To offer your partner a light.
  
• Thermal Optic Scanner: Your starting upgrade.

Role: To be the best goddamn detective ever. Except without the drinking problem and lung cancer.

I don't see any problems with this. The only thing people might object to is the flash, but that's not much of an issue. Maybe make it have a huge power drain on use and a limited amount of uses like a regular flash?

I suggested a Cargo module that could spawn and carry crates and stuff a long time ago.

This one too.

Cargo borg mod
Module: It looks like a big brown package?
Appearance: You gets a unique cap and matching paintjob, similar to the QM.
Equipment:

• Destination Tagger: Allows you to teleport things via teleporter pads.
  
• MULE controller: So you can tell that lardass to get into gear.
  
• Wrapping paper: Useful for wrapping packages.
  
• Wirecutters: Used to open said packages.
  
• Pen: To write on paper or packages.
  
• Hand labeler: In case you want something to be tagged as "butts".
  
• Request Console Interface: So you can take orders right where you stand.
  
• Shuttle Interface: For annoying the QM while he's busy fulfilling an order in cargo.
  
• Crate Clamp: Two clamps that allow you to carry up to two different crates.
  
• Speed Upgrade: Your starting upgrade.

Feedback on any of these?

[Coolguye]

Detective borg mod

Yeah my initial reaction is that a borg shouldn't have a flash. Thinking about it, though, it might be interesting in tandem with the fact that the cyborg doesn't have a good way to beat someone to death or keep them subdued (cuffs). It'd be interesting to see how it would go as written, I think.

Also, the thermals are pretty buggy on borgs right now so I wouldn't prefer that to be the starting upgrade. Ideally it would be an Operational Upgrade so you could recover from a stun that a suspect has inflicted upon you, but those are pretty badass powerful so a Speed Upgrade might be a good compromise.

Cargo borg mod

By Destination Tagger, do you mean a Cargo Transporter? Because if you don't this needs one, full stop. Beyond that I've long thought that we need a QM-style cyborg since Quartermasters are so useful to the station but the human ones leave quite a bit to be desired.

Also, Speed Upgrade would probably be a bit superfluous due to how many tools you have to do leg work for you. The clamps are useful for priority deliveries, but you should be doing so few of those that being a little slow shouldn't matter. I'd probably go with an Efficiency Upgrade, this module will have a lot of tools out at once and its usual haunt is far away from Robotics.

[Dachshundofdoom]

I like the idea of detective borgs but the flash has got to go. You don't need cuffs when you can just flash them over and over and drag them to a cell/space/etc. If the flash can burn out like a regular flash, the borg has no way to replace it, of course, but the damn things seem to either last forever or burn out at the worst possible time. Maybe if it was a massive power drain, but still, seems like too much trouble...

I seem to recall horror stories about how Secborgs used to be able to abuse a glitch where they could drop their internal battery-powered taser for a human, then go get charged so the human would have a bottomless clip taser that could ruin everyone. Not to mention all the other problems people mentioned. Giving someone the power and responsibilities of Sec AND asking them to follow the three laws is too much, most people have trouble coping with just one.

[Val]

I like the idea of detective borgs but the flash has got to go.

I then offer two possible alternatives to the flash, that should still make the module viable against a troublemaker:

• Pepper Spray: A can of capsaicin or whatever it is that's extracted from chili peppers that can be sprayed anywhere within one tile of the borg's standing position. It would work similarly to a spray bottle and when used on a human, will blur their vision and screw up their movement but otherwise do very little else. I'm not sure if this counts as harm, since it's fairly painful in-character, but otherwise doesn't do damage. Certain headwear and masks counter the effect of this tool.
  
  
• Dazzler: An alternative to the flash. It doesn't incapacitate you completely, but it does do nasty things to your vision and interface. Firstly, it causes temporary and partial blindness. Secondly, it screws up the way you move. Finally, it stops you from running and forces you to walk. If you try to run while dazzled, you will trip. This device can be used infinitely, but has a recharge time equal to the duration of the effects. Wearing dark glasses protects against its effects.
  
  
• Note: Both have a moderate chance to make the target drop their held items.

AFAIK, any borg can refill/replace their module tools that have a finite supply by asking for a roboticist to rewrite it to the same module and re-install it. The construction borg can exploit this and give the roboticist an abusrd amount of glass, metal, and pharosium this way.

[CaptainBravo]

[*]Dazzler: An alternative to the flash. It doesn't incapacitate you completely, but it does do nasty things to your vision and interface. Firstly, it causes temporary and partial blindness. Secondly, it screws up the way you move. Finally, it stops you from running and forces you to walk. If you try to run while dazzled, you will trip. This device can be used infinitely, but has a recharge time equal to the duration of the effects. Wearing dark glasses protects against its effects.

what part of this stops the cyborg from being a super shitty long arm of some nanny state AI and just spamming this until the cooldown is done while someone either:

a. trips repeatedly because no one walks at all ever because walking sucks

b. actually does bother walking, making them stupidly easy for the cyborg to catch over and over and over

[FrontlineAcrobat4]

I dont think giving Cyborgs any sort of stunning weapon could work due to the fact we cannot trust that every player is not going to act like the AI's personal enforcer. This why we dont have secborgs anymore,


or fun.

[epicdwarf]

I dont think giving Cyborgs any sort of stunning weapon could work due to the fact we cannot trust that every player is not going to act like the AI's personal enforcer. This why we dont have secborgs anymore,


or fun.

What if the secborgs where not controlled by the AI, but by the hos?

[Coolguye]

What difference would that make? Particularly considering that the HoS is absent for like 98% of rounds.

Flashing someone repeatedly and yanking them out an airlock is Bad Borg shit for sure, but it's so aggressively Bad Borg, on a par with a Construction module ripping up floor tiles. There's also plenty of ways to counter a flash, even if you don't have sunglasses like the entirety of Sec and the Heads you can steal or fabricate a welding helmet (pretty sure the GM makes them for like 2 minerals total). So yeah, a Bad Borg could probably kill one or two people, but then whenever someone with Sunglasses or a Welding Helmet shows up, he's helpless and can only run away.

I'd be interested to see how it'd go, anyway. Secborgs are a huge problem because they've got the goddamn taser that they can fire until the cows come home. No way to defend against that. A flash, there's a couple ways to make yourself completely immune.

[epicdwarf]

Then we simply remove the taser gun from the secborgs. Also to fix the his problem we just put 3 or so modules in his locker, and make it impossible for a robotist to make sec Borg modules.

[V12US]

I dont think giving Cyborgs any sort of stunning weapon could work due to the fact we cannot trust that every player is not going to act like the AI's personal enforcer. This why we dont have secborgs anymore,


or fun.

What if the secborgs where not controlled by the AI, but by the hos?

That job already exists. It's called Security.

[epicdwarf]

Yes, but security is semi unreliable. The secborgs would be less effective, but reliable.

[Karakoran]

Chem borgs are WAY more powerful than Sec borgs. Throw down some neuro smoke at a meatbag and they're screwed for the entire round. Rarely have I seen someone actually get back to normal after neuro poisioning unless there happens to be an excellent chemist aboard the station (1 in a million chance).

[CaptainBravo]

Chem borgs are WAY more powerful than Sec borgs. Throw down some neuro smoke at a meatbag and they're screwed for the entire round. Rarely have I seen someone actually get back to normal after neuro poisioning unless there happens to be an excellent chemist aboard the station (1 in a million chance).

and yet somehow we don't see chemistry borgs being fucking awful all of the time to the point of being removed entirely, like we did with sec borgs.

it's not the equipment and it's not(entirely) the fault of the players. giving cyborgs the mission "arrest criminals without harming them" is just a little more than people can feasibly handle.