| From: | Marc Renouf renouf@********.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | skillsoft chips |
| Date: | Thu, 18 Feb 1999 17:27:28 -0500 (EST) |
cycle-sucking process of doom to finish, so this is in-depth and a little
long. Hopefully it will give you plenty of information to help you get
the most out of playing your new character.
On Thu, 18 Feb 1999, Dodge wrote:
> #1- Whate shape and size are the "chips"?
The old SR1 book gave an illustration of a chip. It was a small
(approx 1cm^2 area) wafer that was sort of triangular in shape. This is
more or less how I've always seen them. If I remember correctly the
triangular shape was elongated (one would presume that this would alow the
chip to only be inserted one way)
> #2- How dose a jukebox work?
It's a multi-slot system whereby you can have more than one chip
slotted at the same time. That way, you can switch which one you have
access to without having to physically change chips. Note that in
Shadowtech, there are rules given for "Softlink System Load Delay" (SSLD)
which gives the amount of time it actually takes for the switch to be made
and the new skill to be made available to the user. As far as I know SR3
has not yet given any rules dealing with this matter.
> #3- How do you make a chip?
A skill chip is burned in a chip burner just like any other chip.
As for how the skills are encoded, that depends on the skill. I would
imagine that knowsofts are like a highly correlated reference book
complete with search engine. You need a fact? They search the archive
on the chip in a heartbeat and give it to you. Note that chipjacks link
to the cognitive area of your brain where information is conciously
conceptualized. When the chip finds the answer, it dumps the concept into
your cognitive brain and you just "know" the answer (insert handwaving
pseudo-science here, and pay no attention to the game designer behind the
curtain). In SR2, this was handled via a chunk of cyberware called a
"datasoft link" (or could be handled through an encephalon), though if I
recall correctly, this bit of cyberware is considered included for
standard chipjacks in SR3.
Linguasofts are probably very similar, with "voice activation"
software thrown in. Given the state of computer technology in the SR
timeline, voice-activated computer technology is much more refined than it
is today. Thus, when you "hear" something, the software on the chip does
a voice analysis of it, parses out the individual words or phrases, and
does a translation of them. Note that higher rating linguasofts imply
translation that is more context sensitive and can handle more complex
idioms or turns of phrase. Again, the information is dumped to the
cognitive brain and the user "knows" what is being said.
Speaking in return is a little more difficult. Linguasofts don't
require you to have skill-wires, and thus can't control your
mouth/lips/tongue/vocal-chords/diaphragm directly. What is likely is that
you formulate a response, which is then passed from the cognitive center
of your brain to the chip, which then translates and passes the
appropriate phrase back. You then "know" the phrase you should use to get
your point across. Note that this doesn't guarantee that you can
*pronounce* the proper response. :) In my campaign, I pretty much assume
that anyone who uses a chipped language speaks with an accent, as they
don't have the skill to be able to capture the proper pronunciation,
inflection, or tone.
Finally, activesofts are somewhat like simsense. The skillwires
are effectively a RAS (Reticular Activation Stimulus, IIRC) override
cutoff. The RAS override is what keeps simsense audiences' bodies from
actually doing the things that they are sensing (or more appropriately
from reacting to what they are sensing). Further, skillwires wire
directly into the motor control centers of the brain. Effectively, the
active skillsoft is a set of encoded motor impulses, which are sent as
necessary. You need to be able to run like a marathoner? Your encoded
Athletics(Running) chip puts out motor control impulses that regulate your
gait, stride, breathing, and arm-motion to give you that picture-perfect
Olympic running form. Whether or not your heart and lungs can keep up is
another matter entirely (a fact which Shadowrun handles well, considering
that your endurance is determined by your body attribute, which is
totally separate from your skill rating).
But still the basic idea is there. When you get into skills like
Pistols, the skillsoft will contain impulses for getting a proper sight
picture, controlling your breathing, making your stance solid, keeping
your hands steady, and squeezing the trigger properly. More complicated
skills like various Unarmed Combat skills follow the same concepts. They
teach you how to throw a punch properly, how to maintain your balance in a
fight, etc, etc.
There are limits, though. Slotting the "Bruce Lee on Crack" chip
is all well an fine, but when your Bruce Lee on Crack impulses tell you to
do the splits to avoid an incoming blow, your body is going to be sorry.
As such, the impulse sets put on chips tend to be limited to those that
are more useful to everyday folks of average physical conditioning. They
also have limited encoding space available. As a result, people using
chipped skills *never* get the benefit of appropriate pools. So someone
with a natural skill of 4 could conceivably roll twice as many dice as
someone who has a chipped skill of the same level. Note, however, that
since SR3 has made the dice pools only refresh once per combat round (as
opposed to on every action in SR2), the value of chipped skills is
increased somewhat in relation to natural skills.
> #4- What's the difference between a knowsoft and a skillsoft chip in
> terms more elaborate than, "a skillsoft gives you active skill, a
> knowsoft gives you knowedge skills."
I think I've pretty much covered this above.
> #5- Where is a good chip dealer in Seattle?
Don't play in Seattle, don't have the New Seattle sourcebook, so I
don't know. Sorry. :(
> #6- Is it possible to become dependant or addicted to chips? (I.E. he
> becomes afraid to do anything new if he dosn't have a chip for it...)
As far as I know, there have been no indications of this.
Certainly it's open to roleplaying interpretation. If you *want* to play
a character who has a psychological dependence on his skill chips, most
GMs will work with you. Realize that this is a character background thing
rather than a skillwires rule thing, though.
I hope that this has been helpful. Realize that most of this is
my own interpretation of how skillwires work, and is just a reasonable
"best guess" estimate based on the published information. Other GM's may
vary in their interpretation, so I'd suggest you talk it over with your
GM.
Marc
