There was a suggestion a while back about adding IPCs to /TG/. While I'm very much against adding more roundstart races, I love the idea of robotics being able to make cybernetic bodies to place brains into. These would be a sort of cross between mechs and borgs in function, except that they would function as humans that are fully capable of interacting with the world. I'll explain how this would work via bullet points, since it'll be easier to follow that way.
How they work
- Basic chassis requires medium tech levels in bio and engineering
- Chassis is assembled just like a mech, with a frame and control circuit boards. Titanium-plasma alloy is required for the plating
- Brain is placed in the chassis just like a borg
- The cybersuit is not a silicon in any way, shape, or form. People placed in them retain all their memories and loyalties.
- Code-wise, cybermen are treated as people, with limbs and everything
- Upgrades are available, some of which mitigate or eliminate the initial weaknesses. Some are inexpensive, others are costly, and each has its own research requirement. Installed just like borg upgrades.
- Immune to all chems
- Immune to toxin damage
- Cannot be knocked unconscious
- Immune to viruses or genetic damage
- Immune to cold and pressure
Weaknesses
- Requires a power cell to run
- EMP will instantly drain the battery and induce unconsciousness until somebody drags you to a charger
- Systems are air-cooled; takes burn damage when suffocating. No cooling necessary in space
- Medbay does nothing for them. Injuries are healed just like augments are
- Has no DNA; cannot be cloned or given superpowers
- Forgoes beneficial viruses
Anonmare wrote:If nobody minds, I could write up my own list of upsides and downsides.
- Upsides:-
- May repair yourself with welders and wires which are more readily available.
- Slightly higher damage thresholds for brute/burn and complete immunity to toxins/radiation/diseases/deathchems/disabilities.
- NO_BLOOD, NO_ORGANS and NO_BREATH species. Not affected by N2O or CO2.
- Access to robotics-based upgrades.
- Cannot be knocked out by conventional means.
- Immunity to stamina damage (But not tasers).
- Not Law_Bound.
- Do not require surgery to re-attach limbs.
- Downsides:-
- Conversion must be done by someone else, that means trusting someone who can just as easy flush your brain down the toilet as they can put you in a robosuit.
- Still affected by cold and high heat unless wearing protection or equipped with the equivalent upgrades.
- Expensive and rare material, in addition to high R&D costs.
- When killed, may only be revived with a cyborg reboot module made in an exofab and the total damage to their body does not exceed their total health, or have the brain moved to another body. That means no cloning, no pod-cloning, no strange reagent revivification and no defibrillation. That also means your physical, intact body needs to be found in order to revive you.
- You cannot change your power cell by yourself, you can recharge it but not replace it.
- Repairing with a welder/wires requires standing still for a few moments (about as long as it takes ointment/bruise packs to work).
- EMP weakness, though that goes without saying.
- Flashes cause temporary blindness and force drops items in hands, similar to cyborgs.
- Cannot make use of any biological enhancement (xenobiology/virology/genetics/chemistry/alien and abductor organs etc.)
- Power cell restricted, if it is empty - you are treated as unconscious until power is returned.
Upgrades
- Liquid cooling: Eliminates need for air
- Toolset arm: Just like the human equivalent
- Reinforced plating: Adds brute resistance, with a minimum threshold for brute damage. Similar to borgs.
- Plasma metabolizer: Allows cyberman to eat plasma to recharge
- Arm blade: Extends a blade from the arm
- Illegal tech upgrades could also be a possibility. Taser/stunbaton immunity could be one.