# Non-Combat CBM Suggestions

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [August 21, 2014, 2:02am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139 "2014-08-21T02:02:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Logrin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/logrin/32/209_2.png) [@Logrin](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Logrin)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 2:02am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/1 "2014-08-21T02:02:46Z")

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Just figured they could use some wide market appeal,

Automated Subvocalization Eliminator - A discreet pair of lenses that stow away when not in use this CBM assist the reader with an intuitive and feature rich overlay marketed for speed readers. With freeform parsing and highlighted text even the most remedial of readers is sure to show improvement.

Effect: Decreases read times by a certain percent. Since it’s percent based smart readers will show more improvement over their low INT counterparts. Causes slight pain and unhappiness with prolonged use.

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Synthesized Insect Repellent System - The No-Sweat[size=4pt]TM[/size] anti-pest system actively discourages all manner of bugs and creepy crawlers from the user’s proximity thanks to a patented apparatus that laces your sweat with a harsh chemical compound.

Effect: Bugs will go out of their way to ignore you.

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Virtual Reality System - With the Mirage gaming system you are the controller. Don’t just play it–LIVE IT!

Effect: Activating the CBM prompts a choice from a menu where you can select either UNKONQUERED (a mortal kombat clone) or CompanionPLUS (a ‘dating’ sim). The fighting game summons increasingly more difficult hallucinations for you to test your might, padding your morale with each fallen foe. Fail to take a combatant down before he disappears ((The CBM should give you a Kount down)) and it’s game over. CompanionPLUS is a little less challenging, it’s just a straight trade off of power, time and fatigue for a long lasting morale boost and chance of forming an unhealthy addiction.

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**Author:** ![Solusphere](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/solusphere/32/66_2.png) [@Solusphere](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Solusphere)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/2 "2014-08-21T02:17:16Z")

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[quote=“Logrin, post:1, topic:7139”]Just figured they could use some wide market appeal,

Automated Subvocalization Eliminator - A discreet pair of lenses that stow away when not in use this CBM assist the reader with an intuitive and feature rich overlay marketed for speed readers. With freeform parsing and highlighted text even the most remedial of readers is sure to show improvement.

Effect: Decreases read times by a certain percent. Since it’s percent based smart readers will show more improvement over their low INT counterparts. Causes slight pain and unhappiness with prolonged use.[/quote]

Game effect seems sound to me, but how is any kind of interface supposed to eliminate subvocalization, and how is this in any way a good thing? Reading without subvocalization is known as “skimming” and is pretty much useless for learning anything in detail.

EDIT: Huh, after looking into it, apparently there IS a big speedreading subculture convinced that subvocalisation produces unnecessary cognitive burden. Don’t believe it. There’s no science to support it, and it’s based on flawed reasoning. Subvocalization is a manifestation of your brain’s linguistic processing at work. Eliminating an important step in processing what you’re reading might let you work through a text faster, but it’ll murder your retention of the text, so what’s the point?

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**Author:** ![Logrin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/logrin/32/209_2.png) [@Logrin](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Logrin)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/3 "2014-08-21T02:51:04Z")

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I love informed replies!

You are of course correct, skimming does tend to effect comprehension. Let me explain the nitty gritty of how I see this device operating:

1. You activate the bionic and cool tinted lenses slide from there installation to cover your eyes.
2. The CBM uses recognition software to identify what you are reading, processing the words much faster than you.
3. The device both monitors and guides your retina. Highlighting passages and sentences in that order with colors that become less intense the longer you take to read the material and adjusts its expectations of you on the fly.
4. As feedback alerts the CBM that you have read a word a visual representation of the word is imposed over the background and the word is redacted via a black bar, to discourage the reader from retracing their steps.
5. An ever growing serial stream of the entire body of work is presented at the end of each sentence, paragraph and page for so short a span most readers aren’t consciously aware of it. This mechanism encourages the brain to parse and interpret the information, aiding in the retention and comprehension of the information.

This is actually quite a stressful process and as such was marketed more or less towards those in professional fields and academics. A condensed cram session complete with all the eye strain and head-aches that come with it.

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**Author:** ![kevin.granade](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kevin.granade/32/1316_2.png) [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/4 "2014-08-21T04:17:36Z")

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There’s a much more straightforward way to implement it if you’re going that far, which is replacing the text entirely with a “Rapid Serial Visual Presentation” stream, which is an actual technology for speed reading. With practice your brain/eyes can recognize individual words much faster than your eyes can move, so you just flash a series of words in the same spot, which is the focal point of your vision.

It does have some shortcomings WRT actual studying though, since you can’t go back and re-read things or examine diagrams, it’s problematic for e.g. textbooks, a more advanced implementation may address that though.

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**Author:** ![Solusphere](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/solusphere/32/66_2.png) [@Solusphere](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Solusphere)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/5 "2014-08-21T04:45:10Z")

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[quote=“Kevin Granade, post:4, topic:7139”]There’s a much more straightforward way to implement it if you’re going that far, which is replacing the text entirely with a “Rapid Serial Visual Presentation” stream, which is an actual technology for speed reading. With practice your brain/eyes can recognize individual words much faster than your eyes can move, so you just flash a series of words in the same spot, which is the focal point of your vision.

It does have some shortcomings WRT actual studying though, since you can’t go back and re-read things or examine diagrams, it’s problematic for e.g. textbooks, a more advanced implementation may address that though.[/quote]

Is that the system used in [Spritz?](http://www.spritzinc.com/)

It’s certainly fast, but again, I feel like i’d struggle to recall anything from a large volume of text read in that way. Some kind of hybrid between that and regular reading might work really well though.

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**Author:** ![kevin.granade](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kevin.granade/32/1316_2.png) [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 6:06am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/6 "2014-08-21T06:06:26Z")

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Like I said, for studying difficult material it’s bad, but if you would read the text straight through in a book, the recall is going to be exactly the same.  
There’s pretty much no way to do a hybrid, if you display more than one word at a time it ruins the effect completely. If there are alternating passages that you would study carefully and re-read or read straight through, then you could toggle between the two modes, but that’s as close to a hybrid as you’re going to get.

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**Author:** ![Zireael](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/zireael/32/956_2.png) [@Zireael](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Zireael)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 8:32am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/7 "2014-08-21T08:32:51Z")

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I like the CBM ideas.

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**Author:** ![Catfoodbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee59a6/32.png) [@Catfoodbob](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Catfoodbob)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/8 "2014-08-21T17:45:18Z")

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Why not just a cbm: Bookreader - once you read a book it stores it on a high quality 5 trilobite usb drive to where books you skim are recorded and you just activate it to read books in your brains… while doing something else 😛

activate the book and it could act like a narrator / teacher continously talking/reading the book and showing pictures and such… it would definitly distract you, but weee multitasking.

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**Author:** ![Datanazush](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/datanazush/32/1055_2.png) [@Datanazush](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Datanazush)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/9 "2014-08-21T18:20:25Z")

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[quote=“Catfoodbob, post:8, topic:7139”]5 trilobite usb drive

[size=14pt]5 trilobite[/size]

[size=18pt]trilobite[/size][/quote]

 ![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Trilobite_Ordovicien_8127.jpg/1280px-Trilobite_Ordovicien_8127.jpg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Catfoodbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee59a6/32.png) [@Catfoodbob](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Catfoodbob)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/10 "2014-08-21T18:28:51Z")

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You know what i mean.

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**Author:** ![Vanigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/45deac/32.png) [@Vanigo](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Vanigo)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 12:44am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/11 "2014-08-22T00:44:13Z")

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[quote=“Catfoodbob, post:8, topic:7139”]Why not just a cbm: Bookreader - once you read a book it stores it on a high quality 5 trilobite usb drive to where books you skim are recorded and you just activate it to read books in your brains… while doing something else 😛

activate the book and it could act like a narrator / teacher continously talking/reading the book and showing pictures and such… it would definitly distract you, but weee multitasking.[/quote]Hmm… or maybe a sleep learning CBM?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Catfoodbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee59a6/32.png) [@Catfoodbob](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Catfoodbob)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/12 "2014-08-22T02:09:24Z")

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I could imagine the cbm could subliminally talk to you in your sleep, then you find yourself sleep karate-ing.

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**Author:** ![pingpong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4bbf92/32.png) [@pingpong](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/pingpong)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/non-combat-cbm-suggestions/7139/13 "2014-08-25T03:27:28Z")

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Not sure if this is the right thread,but I had a suggestion on the ethanol burner:

Make alcohol add alcohol units to your body. Over time they would make you more drunk (increasing the alcohol effect units), unless they were extracted using the burner. Currently drinking alcohol is instant drunkenness, and you basically have to be an alcoholic to use ethanol burner, when it seems a rather straightforward fix could resolve it.