| From: | Paul Gettle RunnerPaul@*****.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Headware Memory |
| Date: | Tue, 09 Feb 1999 22:29:33 -0500 |
At 05:16 PM 2/9/99 -0600, dghost@****.com wrote:
>SR3 increased active memory of "standard" decks by 6-20 times.
>SR3 increased storage memory of "standard" decks by 5-10 times.
SR3 "standard" Headware Memory costs one third the essence of the
"standard" Headware Memory listed in previous editions of the core
rulebook. It has the same essence cost as the "Essence-Friendly" FIFF
Headware Memory that appeared in Shadowtech, but no mention is made of
System Load Delay, a special game mechanic that applied to the FIFF
Headware Memory but not the standard variety.
It is unclear whether FASA omitted SLD to represent the fact that
"Standard" Headware Memory had advanced in essence-friendliness to the
point where FIFF memory had been eight years previous, or because they
wanted to leave a complex rule (that no one used much anyway) out of
the core rulebook, or because they just plain forgot about it.
>Cranial Cyberdecks use headware memory as both active and storage
memory.
>According to Shadowbeat, Optical Memory Chips are the same size
>regardless of storage capacity with a possible implied limit of one
>gigapulse (Which, according to shadowbeat is equal to 1,000
gigapulses.
>;).
It should be noted that other parts of Shadowbeat seem to contradict
the notion of a 1 Gp limit, specifically:
"... a feature-length, sixty-minute recording occupies about 18,000
Mp. ... The chip alone costs a fortune!" -- Shadowbeat, p. 79.
Note that the phrase above is "The CHIP alone costs a fortune" which
seems to imply that you can fit over 1000 Mp on one chip.
>In the interest of not screwing over decker-types and adding a hint
of
>consistancy to the above, I present this revision of Headware memory
for
>SR3:
>Essence Cost: .1 per 100 Mp or fraction thereof.
The assumptions that you're making here being that headware memory
consists of memory units that are physically smaller than the standard
OMC, and have a capacity limit of 100 Mp?
>Availability: Always (ever hear of a computer store that didn't have
>memory SIMMs and/or hard drives in stock?)
To answer the question, no I haven't, but are those SIMMs medical
grade, suitable for implant purposes? From what you seem to have put
forward, these aren't going to be the typical, garden variety 1cm x
2cm x 3cm Optical Memory Chip, but a smaller, more specialized unit.
I'd keep the Availability where it was: 3/24hrs, or perhaps drop it
back to 2/24hrs, which was the Availability of "Standard" Headware
Memory back in SR2. An Availability of 2/24hrs is damn close to
Always, but it still allows for those possible botches.
>This gives you memory in your head but does not give you I/O access
to it
>or any form of processing power (ie, consider just implanting
headware
>memory akin to disconnecting your hard drive from your computer and
>setting it on your desk.).
This is in keeping with how headware memory is described in the BBB3.
However, I've personally always found a bit of charm to the first
edition definition which described headware memory as "the computing
power of the chips in your head." As such, I allow characters who have
appropriate pieces of other headware to use their headware memory as a
cyberware version of a personal computer. For this house rule, I
require either a C^2 deck, an encephalon, or aat the bare minimum, a
Direct Neural Interface to the Memory as input and an Image Link as
output.
>This approximately divides the essence cost by 3.
>
>This (or something similar) has probably been done or considered by
>others, but I thought I'd post anyway. :)
Seeing as how the essence cost for Headware Memory listed in the BBB3
is already 1/3rd that listed in the BBB2, I'd say dividing the essence
cost by 3 had been considered and done by FASA. :)
There's also Aaron Wigley's houserule for headware memory, that while
following similar logic, is much more grand in scope. Details can be
found at:
http://shadowrun.html.com/archive/ArchiveShowArticle.php3?IDA;
To sum up, Aaron's version assumes a full sized OMC is implanted into
the head, and as such, has a flat essence cost, up to the max capacity
of an OMC (whatever that may be -- Shadowbeat is hardly clear on the
subject). This can lead to some astonishingly high memory capacities
for very little essence, given sufficent nuyen.
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--
-- Paul Gettle, #970 of 1000 (RunnerPaul@*****.com)
PGP Fingerprint, Key ID:0x48F3AACD (RSA 1024, created 98/06/26)
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