Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs
It looks like the multiplier for a step is approximately 5; that is, "a number that is closer to 5 than to 0 or 10." So for shorter intervals, I would say 6 hours, 1 hour, 15 minutes, 5 minutes, 1 minute, 15 seconds, 5 seconds, 1 second. For longer ones, probably 6 months, 2 years, 10 years, 50 years, 200 years, 1000 years. Those are mostly between 4 and 6, but are also conveniently round time periods.
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So what you're suggesting would follow something like the schedule below? If so, I think I could work with that.
x -20% = 1 second
x -25% = 5 seconds
x -30% = 15 seconds
x -35% = 1 minute
x -40% = 5 minutes
x -45% = 15 minutes
x -50% = 1 hour
x -55% = 6 hours
x -60% = 1 day
x -65% = 1 week
x -70% = 1 month
x -75% = 6 months
x -80% = 24 months
x -85% = 120 months
x -90% = 600 months
x -95% = >600 months.
One of my issues is that when dealing with the pricing scheme with GURPS as regards to "Blindness" and "One Eye" - the premise is that when you lose one eye and you require two eyes to function normally, that yes, losing one eyes loses depth perception, changes your peripheral vision arc etc. After a time however, people who suffer from the issue of depth perception learn to compensate (witness one eyed drivers) to some extent.
Losing your ONLY eye however, results in all of the penalties of losing your vision at all. However, it is LUDICROUS to believe that buying one cybernetic eye counts as a 4 point advantage, while buying two eyes counts as a -1 disadvantage (or a quirk level problem).
I think too, that the approach taken with requiring 1 month maintenance and the maintenance scheduling costs are just asinine. "too granular"? Um, excuse me?
Then comes the issue "it doesn't come up in play" or "it doesn't affect the player sufficiently". As I pointed out in another thread - maintenance incurs a cost both in character time allocated towards performing the maintenance, and also incurs an expense. A technician who performs the maintenance gets paid to do that maintenance. At TL 9, the average income for a struggling job is 1800 per month. At an estimated 4 weeks per month, 40 hours per week, dividing 1800 by 160 = $11.25 per hour. Few maintenance personnel can simply handle the job without overhead costs, so let's make it a simple $20 overall (call it the cost for paying for the equipment used, the room/building the maintenance is done within, and the staff support that handles scheduling etc).
Each 1 hour maintenance interval should be costing $20. If one eye alone takes an hour, then 2 eyes take 2 hours. If you have a cybernetic arm, two eyes, and perfect balance - are we talking about an increased monthly cost of 80 per month and a loss of 4 hours of free time? If you have NPC enemies, knowing you have to go to a clinic to do maintenance might prove to be a nice adventure hook <shrug>
Me? I just don't like it. Maintenance every 6 months is nice. Every 2 years is also nice. Having to do it every hour might be for a prototype device just off the drawing boards. Having an expanded maintenance interval along with an expanded Mitigator schedule would go a long way towards alleviating my issues with the "system" as proposed with GURPS.
Then on the other hand? Having the original "unreliable" and "breakdown prone" from GURPS CLASSIC CYBERPUNK would also help a little bit.
So, piece by piece, item by item, I have to take a hard look at the pricing of cybernetic devices from GURPS ULTRATECH and see if this is something I'd want for my Cyberpunk campaigns.
Oddly enough, the one person who loves Cyberpunk as a genre, is also the one person who won't take any cybernetic implants voluntarily because of the EMP potential or Electrical overload potential to shut down temporarily, his electronics. Yet he is also the same player who loves his DNI, his computer implant, and the ability to store digital video of his activities as computer files. Never mind that an X-ray of his head or perhaps MRI's of his body might complicate things a wee bit. ;)
In fact? The one time I had a little fun at his expense was the question "Where are you keeping your file recordings of your activities?" They constitute incriminating evidence of any illegal activity should you be investigated." So he turned to an IRON MOUNTAIN like service for his stuff, unaware that his enemy had infiltrated the Government's agencies. They in turn simply set up a subpoena and confiscated his files...
So, yes, I do utilize the Down time rules in my campaigns. Yes I do have situations in which a character might find himself stranded and far away from maintenance personnel. I also have a problem with treating certain "cybernetic" devices as mitigating devices where the rules specify that the mitigator is a TEMPORARY fix for the issue. Glasses when removed/stolen/broken - force the player to deal with his bad vision. Cybernetic eyes when used in replacement of actual eyes are not easily stolen, are not easily removed, and the way to break them tends to use the same process as would blind/destroy biological eyes in the first place.
Put another way?
If during game play, a 100 point character loses an eye, his point total drops 15 points and he is one eyed. Should the same character lose his remaining eye, he loses another 35 character points. Should he purchase or have installed, a cybernetic eye, his point total is functionally back up to 85 points (assuming no maintenance costs involved, no unreliability issues, etc). He goes back up to 100 points when he gets that second eye.
In all? This whole process started strictly as a result of a closer examination of the cybernetic eyes issue and why the whole thing results in a 4 point advantage for one eye but loses 5 points simply for having two eyes of the same capability/functionality.
Having eyes that can magnify an imagine without requiring you pull up a pair of binoculars is not worth the same as being in a society or tech environment where the only way to have that level of vision is as a strictly biological/supernatural/supernatural advantage. Not having to lug binoculars is convenient. But when any yahoo can buy contact lenses and get the same effect? Um. No, not worth the full value as given in GURPS ULTRATECH. But, that is a debate for another thread, another time.
I do want to thank you for the refinement above however, THAT is very much appreciated and what I shall adopt going forward. I will also likely change the maintenance advantage to suit my uses, but that will strictly be a house rule for my campaign(s).
I've always said that the point costs for advantages and disadvantages and attributes is largely arbitrary. So, if they don't seem to work, change them. ;)