Four suggestions for a new iteration of the bionics system

Game Talk The Drawing Board
1

Bionic augmentation slots.
Right now the PC can become a bionic god by installing everything. Even weird combinations like having an integrated toolkit, finger laser, flamethrowers and a fusion blaster installed at the same time. All of which are supposedly installed in or are replacing hands and arms.
By having bionic augmentation slots the player will be forced to make a tactical decision regarding what to install. And depending on whether or not bionics will become removable, he’ll have to stick with that decision for quite some time.

On a related note, this was talked about on IRC a while back: Mutation slots that conflict with bionics installed in a corresponding slot, causing severe pain until the bionic is removed or breaking the conflicting bionic entirely.

A downside to having bionics installed.
Also, currently any bionic is a straight upgrade from having no bionics. Other than the risk of a failed installation there’s really no downside to having something implanted.
I feel this needs to change, because there is no way you can convince me that replacing you hands with hand-shaped toolboxes will not impact manual dexterity.
Having an integrated toolkit installed would probably give a severe penalty to dexterity. The same goes for hydraulic muscles: They may be stronger, but they’ll never be as responsive as the real deal.
The metabolic interchange and EtOH burner bionics would probably be integrated with- or replacing part of the liver. It seems only logical that missing part of your liver makes you more susceptible to alcohol and other toxins.
An internal furnace due to it’s size would probably be installed in the gut, and to make room some intestine would need to be removed with the effect of gaining less nutrition from food.
Any CBM installed in or right under the skin would probably be bumpy and look hideous.
Etc. etc.

In the end, having bionics installed should present a clear advantage in one gameplay aspect, while at the same time limiting the PC’s functioning in another.
Because while a blood filter bionic can quickly clean a patient’s blood when active, it will severely hamper the body’s natural, passive filtration if a kidney had to be sacrificed for it to fit.

Grouped bionics.
Right now it feels all bionics are grouped together in a single gray blob labeled “bionics”. Cata is a very thematic game and it’s bionics could do with much more variety. By subdividing general “bionics” into several groups and filling those groups out, Cata’s world would feel much more alive (or at least “lived in”). I propose:

-Medical bionics
A group woefully absent from the world of Cata. Where are the artificial kidneys, cochlear implants, implanted pacemakers and defibrillators, artificial pancreas(-es?) and grafts with artificial skin? If the health system ever gets expanded to include organ damage this group could shine.

-Professional bionics
Integrated toolkits, hydraulic muscles, the implanted welding glasses and anything that could be designed for professional use.
Should very rarely be found in hardware stores and (once Cata is capable of it) be found in industry-themed districts and -cities.

-Black market bionics
Implanted shivs and things related to that.
A group fitting with the dystopian future of Cata, and in particular to bridge the gap between civilian and military bionics. When the government wouldn’t give military-grade bionics to the general public, clever people would set up shop and make their own.
I imagine drug dealing cyborgs would be outfitted with these.

-Military bionics
Rotary machine guns, cloaking systems, and everything offensive, defensive and clandestine.
Should be found attached to military cyborgs, in bunkers, dead convoys and related places.

-[SPOILERTASTIC] bionics
Teleporters and fusion blasters and whatnot.
Rewards from labs and bunkers.

Surgery.
Why is the PC able to crack open his own face to install a cranial flashlight? Or install multifocal lenses IN HIS OWN EYES? Or preform brain surgery on himself to install quantum memory banks?
Small things like the fingerpick or internal chronometer CBMs should definitely be possible to install by yourself, on yourself, but invasive things like quantum brain surgery or implanted night vision shouldn’t.
I think it should only be possible to install those in a (ghetto) operating suite by a skilled NPC (once they don’t suck).
Finding an NPC skilled enough and clearing a hospital for him to set up shop, or alternatively, finding enough money to pay a surgeon (once factions work properly) would emphasize the idea that becoming a cybernetic god is a late-game goal.

2

Well, i like a few ideas, but the surgery one…

Supposedly cata is 20 Minutes Into The Future, as someone said here, so it could be really normal to have auto installable stuff…

Also, there is some stuff that should not be changed. The Scalation from Realism VS. Fun proves it.

3

Oh, it’s one of these topics again…

To your first point. It’s a nice thought, and while a handful of them are conflicting there aren’t enough to go “Okay you get one hand, two arm, two leg, and two torso bionic slots.” And with effort, you might be able to get them to work together anyway. (Because who uses that stupid fusion blaster arm?) As far as “having to make a tactical decision regarding what to install” is concerned that’s a nice idea but this isn’t Deus Ex, The longer you survive, the more OP you’re supposed to get (The game is supposed to get harder with you however, but that’s not the point of this topic and nerfing other things because of incomplete features is how you make a bad game.) The Bionics don’t have to be something that takes up TONS of space, hell none of the ‘install’ packages take up more space than a gallon jug of liquid.

As far as Conflicting mutations x bonics are concerned, there are very few that would be permanently conflicting, a great many would be temporarily conflicting and need reworked, but not many that’d need flat out ‘ripped out’


“Lizard” (Well, Ekarus) with an assortment of bionics.

To your second point yes bionics are going to look ugly (I had a bit of a hard time butchering Ekarus for that image.) But I need to point out that your “Hand-shaped toolbox” concept isn’t exactly accurate, it’s described as having a set of heads for the ‘tools’ in the palms and fingertips. (Like a fancy screwdriver.) The same goes for Hydraulic muscles, they’re not replacing your existing ones, they’re supplementing them. As far as the assorted ‘torso’ bionics, again, you don’t have to be installing a semi-truck in your torso, and there IS an amount of space in there. Beyond cosmetic issues, there really shouldn’t be much a problem for bionics as most of them don’t replace, they supplement. The one exception is the Fusion Blaster Arm, which is a stupidly underpowered bionic anyway.

Your third point is literally cosmedic, I don’t see what you’re getting at with it.

Your final group is one that seems to have been open to interpretation by everyone and their sister. Rather than argue an ‘auto install’ standpoint I’ll go with your version of it. It’s nice that you want to emphasize that bionics are a late game concept, but going “Yeah you can’t install those by yourself ever.” while admittedly logical from that perspective here’s an equally logical point: The equipment needed to perform a surgical install is in there (minus the skill) which would lead me to suggest that you are capable of performing more minor installations by yourself.

Or they’re auto-install packages.

4

[quote=“StopSignal, post:2, topic:5415”]Well, i like a few ideas, but the surgery one…

Supposedly cata is 20 Minutes Into The Future, as someone said here, so it could be really normal to have auto installable stuff…

Also, there is some stuff that should not be changed. The Scalation from Realism VS. Fun proves it.[/quote]
Cata is supposed to be 40 years into the future, IIRC. But Kevin mentioned on Git that technology defaults to contemporary and that exceptions are explicit.
Therefore i assumed the bionics in Cata are roughly comparable to those in Deus Ex: HR.

Well if that’s the case i guess i should just stop posting in the Drawing Board subforum all together. Because everything that can be suggested for Cata has already been said here. [/sarcasm]

And from the rest of your post, and especially that image i can make that you view bionics as magical machines lacking any significant volume or weight. For the Cranial Flashlight i can accept that, seeing as they’re LEDs. But an Internal Furnace or the internal storage space needs volume to put stuff in. Same goes for the Hydraulic Muscles, as those needs crosssection to apply force.

I see them as being very much mechanical in nature, and stuff like that has volume and weight to them. That’s why i suggested the augmentation slots, to give a sense of volume to them.

My third point wasn’t just cosmetic. We have a whole bunch of bionics in the game that have mostly military or professional applications, while there aren’t any that have medical purpose. Which is something i think would be the first reason those CBMs would have been developed.
Cata’s world lacks any evidence of existing before the Cataclysm, which is why i mentioned it.

A cranial flashlight that attaches itself to your face like those egg-things from Alien? I’d like to reject that idea completely unless Cata goes into Deus Ex territory and makes CBMs to be nanomachines that assemble themselves after injection. This would require Cata’s timeline to be retconned to even further into the future than it already is, though, and give more issues with what technology is and what isn’t appropriate.

5

Well, it’s nice to see your point boils down to ‘it’s more realistic, except not because I take all my cues from video games, so basically I want to cripple the game for no reason at all’. The bionics in the game are clearly capable of being installed on your own, conflict with your existing body parts very rarely and have very few downsides. Simply insisting that that’s not how it should work because it goes against your headcanon ignores the existing mechanics and makes a mockery of all the existing work that’s already been done on this.

6

Regarding bionic installation, this is how I think they work:

Each kit contains a set of nanobots reconfigured to create the advertised bionic. The only thing that you have to actually do is to match and reconfigure certain settings to mach your internal anatomy (to lets say: make sure that the bionic that replaces your stomach with a machine doesnt end up taking away a part of your heart too). After that is done you probably inject the nanobots and they will consume obstructing flesh and construct the necessary tissues/organs/etc etc.

Still doesn’t explain how messing up a brain installation can be survivable but is better than nothing.

Remember that Cata World tech is very different from that of our world too, I dont foresee us having assault rifle sized plasma weapons in at least the next 100 years.

7

[quote=“John Candlebury, post:6, topic:5415”]Regarding bionic installation, this is how I think they work:

Each kit contains a set of nanobots reconfigured to create the advertised bionic. The only thing that you have to actually do is to match and reconfigure certain settings to mach your internal anatomy (to lets say: make sure that the bionic that replaces your stomach with a machine doesnt end up taking away a part of your heart too). After that is done you probably inject the nanobots and they will consume obstructing flesh and construct the necessary tissues/organs/etc etc.

Still doesn’t explain how messing up a brain installation can be survivable but is better than nothing.

Remember that Cata World tech is very different from that of our world too, I dont foresee us having assault rifle sized plasma weapons in at least the next 100 years.[/quote]

…That would be Deus Ex again, but I do find that to be the most “plausible” system. That said, it does deal with the brain issue more than it sounds like it would, you aren’t doing the surgery, the robits are.

8

Ah really?

I have never played any of the Deus Ex games. I must admit that I am not really much of a video game person

And he even mentioned it actually, its just that I tend to stop reading at the point the new guy uses sarcasm