Message no. 1

From:	Mongoose <evamarie@**********.NET>
Subject:	Instructsofts (was Re: Ork Language)
Date:	Tue, 1 Sep 1998 12:26:39 -0700

> What about Instructsofts? A chip who's purpose is to teach a
>character something in the shortest period of time possible?

These sort of exist already; in the companions training rules, the
talk about "virtual instructors"; they are basicly simsense skill training
manuels. SR3 mentions them breifly also, I believe.
They provide an instructer, but DO NOT reduce karma cost (nor does a
real instuctor). They will reduce the time needed to learn the skill
(which is what instructers are for).

> Game terms: Karma must be present still to purchase skill
>(consider it a calm, open mind) but the costs are half normal. Of
course,
>the chips themselves would be expensive as hell. And you can only learn
>the skill at the rating the chip is at.

I've been messing around with re-writng various cyber for SR3, and I
targeted the encehpalon for similar possiblities; basically, you could
write your own, personalized "skillsofts" to run while training, and save
some karma when buying skills. The justification being that the
encehpalon allows you to accelerate the normal trianing process by
"programing" the brain with repaeted playback, or some such.
This would take the form of a using "simsense programing" as a
complementary skill to reduce time when learning skills. As another
function, you would raise the linked attributte by the encephalons level
(mnemonic enhancers could do a similar thing, just for knowledge skills)
when figuring the cost to raise a skill (this might require a special
"learning program", an some headware mememory to cache new knowledge in
until you buy the skill- such caches might be the ORIGIN of skillsofts).
That would make high level skills cheaper, mostly, and not affect the
total cost as much as a blanket reduction.

I think anything that reduces skill cost (by 1/2 karma!) is to
powerful. It should chomp your essence pretty hard, which the encephalon
does. (not that this might replace the "task pool", since you would LEARN
skills more easily). The high cost of your proposed "Instructusofts" is
maybe restrictive, and maybe not, depending on the game. Note that softs
are generally cheaper in SR3; thier cost is that of a program (in VR2)
with a size multiplier of 3 (2 for specialized skills).

Mongoose