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Message no. 1
From: Joshua Bell <joshbell@**********.COM>
Subject: Cyberware: Where do you put the bateries?
Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 18:42:47 -0400
Hello all Josh here,

In my musings for today I was contemplating cyberware. I wondered how all
of these neat little devices got the power they need to run. Does wired
reflexes have a battery pack? If so why isn't it listed so I as a GM can
rule that it shorted out at a most inoportune time <display evil_grin>.?.

I assume (rightly I hope) that certain cyberware requires a LOT of power
such as Encephalons, C^2 decks, Cyberlimbs (gosh yes!), etc.

What are your thoughs on how they are powered, Ahh an Ephipany! the
"Nuclear Power Plant" implant Essence cost -1,000,000. <grin>...

No really, would a datajack like act as an AC/DC cable?
Message no. 2
From: Max Rible <slothman@*********.ORG>
Subject: Re: Cyberware: Where do you put the bateries?
Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 14:55:01 -0800
At 18:42 5/6/98 -0400, Joshua Bell insinuated:
>In my musings for today I was contemplating cyberware. I wondered how all
>of these neat little devices got the power they need to run. Does wired
>reflexes have a battery pack? If so why isn't it listed so I as a GM can
>rule that it shorted out at a most inoportune time <display evil_grin>.?.

>I assume (rightly I hope) that certain cyberware requires a LOT of power
>such as Encephalons, C^2 decks, Cyberlimbs (gosh yes!), etc.

I presume that low-powered cyberware (anything that doesn't need to perform
mechanical action or transmit large amounts of energy, like datajacks,
encephalons, C^2 decks, headware memory, etc.) runs on something
resembling a very tiny fuel cell that turns your blood glucose into
electricity. Remember that encephalons may do a lot of computing, but
that's not necessarily going to require much *energy*.

High-powered cyberware, like cyberlimbs, eye lights and lasers, commlinks, and
so on require charging in some way. Since we have a precedent in Rigger 2
that you can have arbitrarily high energy density in a battery as long as
you're willing to pay for it (since increasing the number of power factors
available on a vehicle does not increase the load or CF requirements),
I've been figuring that cyberlimbs just have very good batteries that
need recharging once a week or so, and that is in fact why they cost
so much. :-) Beta or delta grade cyberlimbs might even hook up to your
circulatory system and get the energy they need for operation the same
way your regular limbs do.

--
%% Max Rible %% slothman@*****.com %% http://www.amurgsval.org/~slothman/ %%
%% "Ham is good... Glowing *tattooed* ham is *bad*!" - the Tick %%
Message no. 3
From: "Jeremy \"Bolthy\" Zimmerman" <jeremy@***********.COM>
Subject: Re: Cyberware: Where do you put the bateries?
Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 15:56:41 -0700
----------
> From: Joshua Bell <joshbell@**********.COM>
> To: SHADOWRN@********.ITRIBE.NET
> Subject: Cyberware: Where do you put the bateries?
> Date: Wednesday, May 06, 1998 3:42 PM
>
> Hello all Josh here,
>
> In my musings for today I was contemplating cyberware. I wondered how
all
> of these neat little devices got the power they need to run. Does wired
> reflexes have a battery pack? If so why isn't it listed so I as a GM can
> rule that it shorted out at a most inoportune time <display evil_grin>.?.
>

Shhh! No! Bad! You're making a mockery of the system!!

I especially don't want to think of it since I'll be running a heavily
cybered character in our next campaign. =)
Message no. 4
From: Matb <mbreton@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject: Re: Cyberware: Where do you put the bateries?
Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 17:15:39 -0700
Joshua Bell wrote:

> I assume (rightly I hope) that certain cyberware requires a LOT of power
> such as Encephalons, C^2 decks, Cyberlimbs (gosh yes!), etc.

One of the "evil GM options" used in second-hand cyberware (SSC), if I
recall correctly.

> What are your thoughs on how they are powered, Ahh an Ephipany! the
> "Nuclear Power Plant" implant Essence cost -1,000,000. <grin>...

Anything requiring a datajack (chipjack/synthlink/etc) can rely on
outside power, the same way your telephone actually carries a small
charge (millivolt range).

Larger augments could use flywheels or chemical power; anything from a
diesel-powered cyberarm to a nearly biological muscle augmentation.

Bioelectric power might be something; or even using muscle power (each
step you take, a small charge is generated; a portion of which is
diverted to a power cell) or even gravity (stand up, sit down, and
presto! your gear is recharged). The body's probably the cheapest and
most available source of power, after all.


- Matt

------------------------------------
Ask me tonight why love is strange
For I am drunk and full of reasons....

SRCard list.member.newbie
Teen Poets FAQ: http://pw1.netcom.com/~mbreton/poetry/poetfaq.htm
SRTCG Website: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/2189/ccgtop.htm
Message no. 5
From: "Jeremy \"Bolthy\" Zimmerman" <jeremy@***********.COM>
Subject: Re: Cyberware: Where do you put the bateries?
Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 15:58:31 -0700
> so much. :-) Beta or delta grade cyberlimbs might even hook up to your
> circulatory system and get the energy they need for operation the same
> way your regular limbs do.
>

Or better yet, it may use your body's motion to generate electricity in
someone, kinda like how stillsuits in Dune used it to supply what little
mechanical energy the suit needed.

Hmmm... =T
Message no. 6
From: Robert Watkins <robert.watkins@******.COM>
Subject: Re: Cyberware: Where do you put the bateries?
Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 09:00:38 +1000
Joshua Bell writes:
>In my musings for today I was contemplating cyberware. I wondered how all
>of these neat little devices got the power they need to run. Does wired
>reflexes have a battery pack? If so why isn't it listed so I as a GM can
>rule that it shorted out at a most inoportune time <display evil_grin>.?.

>
>I assume (rightly I hope) that certain cyberware requires a LOT of power
>such as Encephalons, C^2 decks, Cyberlimbs (gosh yes!), etc.


Purely electronic implants (eyes, ears, encephalons, decks, radio
_receivers_, etc) could probably run off the electricity your body already
generates. IMHO, the ability to tap into that would be the key breakthrough
that would allow cyber, after figuring a way to interface with the brain.

Mechanical implants (such as cyberarms/legs), or implants that require power
(such as a headphone or radio transmitter), would either have to have a
battery power source, or piezoelectricity has made huge advances. Actually,
I take that back. Mechanical implants could probably use the chemical energy
your muscles already use to power them. Maybe that's how they do it: a
little engine takes in glucose and blood, combusts the glucose, and uses the
resulting energy to generate electricity.

>No really, would a datajack like act as an AC/DC cable?


It could, but you don't need a datajack, so that's not the answer.

--
.sig deleted to conserve electrons. robert.watkins@******.com
Message no. 7
From: Ereskanti <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: Cyberware: Where do you put the bateries?
Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 00:12:19 EDT
In a message dated 5/6/98 5:43:51 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
joshbell@**********.COM writes:

> I assume (rightly I hope) that certain cyberware requires a LOT of power
> such as Encephalons, C^2 decks, Cyberlimbs (gosh yes!), etc.
>
> What are your thoughs on how they are powered, Ahh an Ephipany! the
> "Nuclear Power Plant" implant Essence cost -1,000,000. <grin>...
>
> No really, would a datajack like act as an AC/DC cable?
>
Actually, I would like to point out that the cyberware may or may not have a
power plant, depend on the level of "superconductors" and "bio-electric
cross-
mechanics" have reached in your games. As for the datajack acting like an
AC/DC cable...consider this...plug in your phone jack....

-K
Message no. 8
From: losthalo <losthalo@********.COM>
Subject: Re: Cyberware: Where do you put the bateries?
Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 01:16:47 -0400
At 12:12 AM 5/7/98 EDT, you wrote: As for the datajack acting like an
>AC/DC cable...consider this...plug in your phone jack....

Well, datajacks should be optical anyhow. :) Electricity, we don't need to
stinkin' electricity!


losthalo@********.comwhileyouarelisteningyourwillingattentionismakingyoumore
andmoreintothepersonyouwanttobecome.

"Some things are true whether you believe in them or not."
Message no. 9
From: "Arno R. Lehmann" <arlehma@***.NET>
Subject: Re: Cyberware: Where do you put the bateries?
Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 12:30:36 +0200
On Wed, 6 May 1998 17:15:39 -0700, Matb wrote:

>Anything requiring a datajack (chipjack/synthlink/etc) can rely on
>outside power, the same way your telephone actually carries a small
>charge (millivolt range).

Not milivolts. At least the phone systems I know use 20 to 60 Volts,
but with a limited current - limited to some miliamperes. Which still
is enough for some really annoying bells...

Arno
--
Arno
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