[Spaceships] Robot spacecraft

[RogerBW]

Spaceships will let me know the Complexity of a ship's computer, and thus what programs it can run.

What if it's doing things autonomously, either because it's a completely automated ship or because it is operating some sort of computer gunner program (the equivalent of a modern Phalanx mount)? Using Ultra-Tech terminology, a Non-Volitional AI or a Drone ought to be able to be programmed with Piloting or Gunner skills, but how much of a skill is it reasonable to expect – and while I can back-calculate the IQ of the governing program, what is the DX of the servo that operates the weapon mount when there's no human gunner in the loop?

(Yes, I do see the irony of my asking this. In Will to Live I could reverse-engineer these values from the original Robots/RoS stats…)

[Anaraxes]

You don't really need stats for the ship. You just need to be able to calculate the base skill level for its tasks. So you could say that the Gunner skill for a point defense mechanism is, say, TL + Complexity of the Gunner program.

(That's completely off the cuff and unreferenced to anything, so the actual values from that formula may be crap. But you get the idea; you just need a spec for the skill, not a way to treat a ship like a robot with a human-like DX and brain you have to train. Make a table if you'd rather.)

The reason to model robots like humans, with a generalized body and a general DX that requires training in various tasks, is precisely to fit the SF image of a robot as a mechanical man. If you want personalized ships as characters, you might still go this route even for ships. But if ships are machines, normally piloted and inhabited by humans, they just need a skill set defined by the GM. They're not meant to be general-purpose machines like the typical robot, so there's not much reason to try to use human attribute mechanisms to model them.

[RogerBW]

Thanks; I realise I can say TL + Complexity - I'm just looking for a RAW answer if there is one.

[chandley]

Spaceships 1, p.50, Character Actions says to use the GURPS Ultra-tech rules for sapient computer programs. That includes Dedicated AI (smart tools) and Non-Volitional AI.

So, looks like RAW is build an AI that can run on the ships computers, give it skills, and then charge the ship the cost of the AI, as figured with Ultra-tech.

Which does leave the question of "what skill level is reasonable", since I cant find where Ultra-Tech has anything to say about that.

[RogerBW]

Indeed. I can build an AI template, and given the IQ-Complexity relation I know its maximum IQ, but that doesn't tell me how many points the AI can spend on Gunnery skill or what its DX is.

[munin]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

… Using Ultra-Tech terminology, a Non-Volitional AI or a Drone ought to be able to be programmed with Piloting or Gunner skills, but how much of a skill is it reasonable to expect …

RAW, "If bought with extra IQ, Perception, Will, or mental traits (including skills and techniques), each additional character point adds 5% to the cost of the robot." (UT29)

However, this rule makes no sense to me. Why should the cost of software depend on the cost of the hardware it's running on?

Applying that rule to spaceships makes even less sense. Do you apply that rule to the cost of the spaceship, the cost of the Control Room, or the cost of a computer equivalent to that granted by the Control Room?

The Basic Set offers another approach which I prefer. Transformations (pp. B294-295) suggests dollar costs for character points. Assuming the installation of these skill points is simple, these character points should cost at least $2,000 each. In addition, there has been a trend in recent GURPS publications to apply a multiplier to character point dollar costs proportional to TL starting wealth (with TL8 as the default, I think).

As for DX, assume DX 10 and purchase additional points as desired.

[ericthered]

I despise pricing technology based on points.

I swear I saw something where you can buy a program that just performs a given skill for a set complexity, but the only thing I've been able to find is Verfier software, which is only a single point of data.

It'd be really nice to have this information though, I must say.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by munin

The Basic Set offers another approach which I prefer. Transformations (pp. B294-295) suggests dollar costs for character points. Assuming the installation of these skill points is simple, these character points should cost at least $2,000 each. In addition, there has been a trend in recent GURPS publications to apply a multiplier to character point dollar costs proportional to TL starting wealth (with TL8 as the default, I think).

As for DX, assume DX 10 and purchase additional points as desired.

Thanks, I think I'll probably use that. The cost of a decent robo-gunner is going to be fairly trivial compared with the $100M super fusion plant and the $50M spinal antimatter cannon.

[weby]

Not a fully raw answer but:
Basically my house rule for things like weapon emplacements and piloting computers is that they all float the appropriate skills to IQ as per the Skill based on different stat perk PU2:15

So an AI gunnery program will have Gunner (IQ/E).

Thus a AI point defense gunner at TL 10 with CPX 6 (something suitable for a point defense weapon on a larger ship or main weapon on smaller would be):
Base AI cost: $300 Dedicated AI: IQ=10. NAI;IQ=8 VAI IQ=6

Then you need to add the skill to the AI in the RAW there are no limits on this apparently.. so each $300 would be 20 more points in the skill making high skill levels really easy.

My house rules treat each skill as a separate program that must be run with increasing complexity based on skill level limiting the skill levels to a few levels higher than the IQ.

[Andreas]

It is fairly trivial to program a near optimal gunner program for shooting targets in space. It would probably be better to determine skill level from the precision of the weapons and the properties of the machinery used to aim the weapons (if I recall correctly Tactical Shooting has a guidline for determining maximum possible skill for weapons).

This is probably true for many piloting tasks as well.