Android Player Race!

[C a r p r i l l o]

Hi! I figured that if I was gonna make a first post, I might as well make it worthwhile and suggest something!

Introducing...ANDROIDS! Or, uh, synths? I dunno. The point is, I think these could make an interesting addition for people who want to try to play the game a little differently. I like to think it would add something that's not only refreshing, but also challenging. If we are to think in terms of 'difficulty', I'd scale it like this:

Lowest
Humans
Lizardmen
Flypersons
Androids
Plasmamen
Highest

This means that while they aren't quite the 'hard mode' that plasmamen are, they are still rather challenging due to their rather long list of drawbacks. While they DO enjoy a small range of benefits, the negatives do outnumber them by quite a bit. I tried to give them a level of uniqueness that is still balanced.

This spoiler contains mostly lore fluff explaining how I'd imagine an android would be played from an in-universe perspective. If you're solely here for the technical and gameplay assets, don't feel bothered to open this.

Spoiler:

Androids

For years, Nanotrasen has searched for a cheap-to-produce alternative to organic crewmembers. After extensive research and xenobiological experimentation, they have finally found it. Introducing androids, Nanotrasen's latest innovation in the artificial intelligence industry. They are, in essence, a metal frame surrounded by a web-like network of tubing and wires. This is overlayed with a set of synthetic organs that serve roughly equivalent purposes to their organic counterparts. On top of all this is a elastic polymer 'skin'.

This 'skin' can be separated in certain places at will, allowing the android to install implants easily and cleanly. However, it is also vulnerable to sudden external electric shocks, which cause it to stiffen and violently react, causing considerable damage to the android. Behaviorally, androids act similarly to plasmamen, being polite and courteous. They are not, however, particularly 'eager' nor 'subservient', instead being rather independent and dignified.

They are distinguishable from their organic counterparts by their silver-gray 'skin' and the various small lights across their body (shoulders and chest, generally.)

In terms of identification, androids often use human-like names. They tend to lean towards gender-neutral names, however, given their own genderless nature.

The android initiative is still in the testing phases, however. They are controlled by a derivative of Nanotrasen's AI programming, giving the android the closest semblance to free will an artifical construct can have. This isn't without it's kinks, though, and rumors run wild of less savory customers reprogramming androids for considerably more sinister purposes...

Now, for the aesthetic and gameplay aspects:

Androids can not have a gender or hair.
They cannot have any other skin color other than 'silver' or 'gray'.
They can have differently colored eyes, however.

They're essentially gray/silver bald humans in terms of appearance. Maybe some darker lines and some lights matching eye color on their sprite? I dunno.

Benefits

Resistant, but not immune, to cold and heat
Immune to viruses.
Does not need to eat.
Can attach limbs from the ground without surgery, though you must remain still while doing so.
Can attach implants without surgery. See drawbacks, however.
Can repair brute damage with welding and burn damage by replacing wires.
Syringes cannot penetrate your skin. Also a drawback.

Drawbacks

Cannot heal brute and burn damage with conventional means.
Bleeds oil, which means that regular blood will NOT help fix blood loss.
Implants, once attached, can't be removed. Incidentally, you can only have one of each 'type' of implant. No having diagnostic, medical, AND security HUDS at once. Just one.
Vulnerable to electric shocks and can be knocked out cold by EMPs.
Not considered 'human' by the AI.
You can't have command jobs.
You can't use syringes, which could be a drawback if it's something positive.
You cannot receive powers through Genetics due to your inorganic nature.
Just because you CAN attach limbs without surgery doesn't mean it'll always work. There's a decent chance you'll fail in attaching the limb.
Organs are artificial, meaning that they will not work for organ donation or transplants. Their brains are compatible with MMIs, however.
Cloning is either impossible or very difficult.


This is obviously still something of an early draft, but I figured I'd pitch the idea to y'all anyways! If you have any questions regarding this suggestion, or any advice on how to balance it further, feel free to let me know!

Hopefully this idea is as appealing to others as it is to me, and I look forward to hearing your input.

[TheColdTurtle]

Sounds like every other synth thread

[C a r p r i l l o]

I'm new here, so you're gonna have to help me out. Is that a good thing or not?

[Alipheese]

I'm new here, so you're gonna have to help me out. Is that a good thing or not?

Personally bad idea. You can fully Aug and still have the benefits of uman and part robot. And we have Snpc's. Good try but old and ded idea.
1/10 made me reply.

[Anonmare]

We generally keep races with mechanical benefits to ones that are made in midround. Plasmamen are the closest race with a mechanical benefit (Disease immunity, flash-proof helmet etc.) but they are overloaded with downsides (Non-Human by Asmiov basic, Cannot breathe O2, difficulty in revivification, inability to gain benefits from violorgy or genetics etc.).
Plus there's the concern of non-Human races getting a majority which would conflict with the design direction and would require a lot of things to be overhauled (Like AI laws) if we went that direction.

Plus Synths sort of already exist, though I can't remember how much they have going for them. I seem to recall Synths being somewhat more resilient to damage and superficially resembling Humans (until the synthflesh covering get's destroyed). I don't remember what happened with them, I *think* they might have been a potential side antag, but I think there were some complications in the coding. I believe you can still make yourself a synth via xenobiology's mutation toxin however - just get a green slime, process it for a core, inject the core with radium and start playing the mutation roulette. Or wait until stabilised mutation toxins gets merged.

[XDTM]

Androids (not synths) already exist as a race obtainable with green slimes; they have quite a lot of advantages, though, which may get them removed from the pool in the future. They are immune to heat and cold, spaceproof, doesn't need air, pierce immune, immune to viruses, can attach limbs quickly. In return they're paralyzed for a long time by EMPs and need to be repaired with welding and wires.

Synths, which are not obtainable, also have flesh disguises, and military synths have stunpunches and free armor.