Infomorphs, shells and sleep

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

1. Ghost walks around in a bioshell with 12 FP. Ghost does it long enough to lose half of its FP to Lack of Sleep. Ghost switches to a different bioshell with 10 FP. What happens?
   
2. Ditto, but Ghost switches to a cybershell, which has FP N/A.
   
3. Ghost walks in a bioshell for 16 hours; ghost goes to sleep and lets its NAI (who Doesn't Sleep) take over the shell and walk around some more. In 8 hours, the Ghost wakes up, takes control of the shell, and sends the NAI to do other stuff. Keep doing that for months. Is the shell at full FP?

Thanks in advance!

[jeff_wilson]

IIRC, the Ghost doesn't lose fatigue to exertion but it can suffer from lack of sleep. Its emulator may be set up to to reproduce the bioshell's fatigue levels and other frailties of the flesh in the ghost's virtual bloodstream, but that's custom, elective work similar to what's canonically possible with virtual brain bugs. It still has to sleep eventually, unless it's got some new bug that makes it unnecessary.

Also (as I explained at some length a few weeks ago), I believe that the default slink feed from the bioshell will make the occupying Ghost feel tired, hungry, etc so it can't get to totally ignore the bodily conditions and so it probably suffers similar penalties to FP loss, but mitigators will be easy to come by, like a MUTE button,so they only really suffer as long as the controls are set for them to.

[sir_pudding]

It seems like you'd really want to track the simulated FP for the Ghost separate from any actual FP-loss from the shells.

[Flyndaran]

Ghosts don't have fatigue to lose or suffer from. But sleep deprivation has other effects based only on time spent awake.
I posted in another thread about this same issue, and that was the final verdict.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Ghosts don't have fatigue to lose or suffer from.

Interesting. I do understand what you mean to say, but technically it's not the Ghost part of the combined entity that defines whether it has FP, but the shell part.

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

But sleep deprivation has other effects based only on time spent awake. I posted in another thread about this same issue, and that was the final verdict.

This one? I don't think reducing the HT of a cybershell while it is operated by a Ghost (but getting it back up once an AI takes over) makes much sense.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

But sleep deprivation has other effects based only on time spent awake.

It does? Page reference?
p. B427 only bases the effects on FP lost, and these are effects that should apply to Ghosts, IMO.

If you’ve lost half or more of your FP to lack of sleep, you must make a Will roll every two hours you spend inactive (e.g., standing watch). On a failure, you fall asleep, sleeping until you are awakened or get a full night’s sleep. On a success, you have -2 to DX, IQ, and self-control rolls.

Which, again seems to suggest that Ghosts should track simulated virtual FP loss separate from "redline" effects on the cybershell.

[Flyndaran]

Lumping physical fatigue, mental fatigue, energy loss, etc. into one single number is rather worse than even IQ being all things cognitive not coordination related.
Way, way back I wondered something like this for brain in box cyborgs, and no one agree with it then. Am I being hipster by wondering why so many agree with my ideas but only a year or two later?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Lumping physical fatigue, mental fatigue, energy loss, etc. into one single number is rather worse than even IQ being all things cognitive not coordination related.

This is GURPS. At any rate, in Transhuman Space, I don't see a problem with tracking simulated virtual FP for Ghosts. This should include sleep as well as FP from Condition Orange/Focused from Tactical Shooting (if using that rule).

Way, way back I wondered something like this for brain in box cyborgs, and no one agree with it then. Am I being hipster by wondering why so many agree with my ideas but only a year or two later?

As I recall that thread was pretty confusing and went haring off into the weeds in a page or too. I'm not sure you can really draw any conclusions from that.

[Flyndaran]

If Ghosts have fatigue to lose, then they have it to burn. Unless they have something other than the zero point feature either biologicals or machines have. That would definitely be a disadvantage.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

If Ghosts have fatigue to lose, then they have it to burn. Unless they have something other than the zero point feature either biologicals or machines have. That would definitely be a disadvantage.

Well, a Ghost possessing a cybershell doesn't have FP to burn for Extra Effort (or Power Blow in Martian Cinematic campaigns!). Possessing a bioshell, even an AI has FP.

(Side note: Autohypnosis can also be used to ignore being at 1/3 FP, which is an interesting effect if your FP loss comes from lost sleep.)