I haven’t messed with bionics since the new changes but I did occasionally when a really good bionic went wrong or a really low fail percentage failed, or death or some other catastrophic failure that was game breaking.
I usually wait until I’ve got at least 4 then take a double dose of heroin. I tried alcohol after someone suggested it. That was a horrible idea lol. Alcohol is a minor painkiller and it tanked my intelligence. So…not a smart idea.
I’ll usually reset until I succeed on the majority of my installations. It’s cheating, sure, but I can’t imagine how much work I’d have to put into my save to be able to do most successfully. -_-
If you are using a autodoc you don’t need to use any painkiller besides the anesthetic at the start of the surgery. So if you boost intelligence using cigarettes and adderall then most installs aren’t too dangerous. BUT autodoc uses computers instead of mechanics so you might have lower chance to install if your computer skills are low.