Questions GURPS-wise

[GaiusT]

Hi,

I may have posted once or twice before. However, I've had problems with the GURPS mechanics about skills. If there is a thread that can answer this, please forgive me and please link me to the following threads. Let me explain first my problem.

I've been hammering away on my world-building; obviously working on everything that my hands could practically work on. When I came up with some reading on skills, I was stumped. I was working on both occupational templates and deciding on what the game world would require on the basis of skill use.

I'd go for relative skills with attributes since without talents, your skills are dependent on how well you do; with talents, it helps improves your odds in combat. I'm more of a GURPS player that prefers realism with some favoring odds and some hurting to feel like it can happen in real life vs. cinematic realism where shootouts last longer, feels like a cheesy action movie.

Only problem with the screws in my head is I'm wondering about the skills. Do you have to buy up the skill levels from zero to whichever you must purchase to? For 3e, a friend of mine was able to help me get started on my first GURPS campaign (which he created and still going). He had skill costs which came with GURU. How then do you know how much does a skill cost? If there is a cost, then is there a base level for a skill to be built from? Kind of like what you do with your attributes. ST 10, DX 10, IQ 10, HT 10 and then purchase + or - depending on cost, that kind of thing.

Any suggestions?

Another thing. I even tried my first hand on advantages. A particularly new type of advantage.

Say I wanted to create an advantage based on a binary language. Really. The advantage requires that the race have a spoken binary language. However, I've been able to pour my time into the Basic Set to find the proper advantages with certain limitations and enhancements.

I found that I wanted to change Mindlink to Datalink, a robotic form of Mindlink. So I changed it, but here came the catch. Mindlink said you had to have a permanent link to a person. I'd be willing to specify the user of Datalink would be linked to an AI Core program. The range between the user and the AI Core program requires it be very long. Let me explain.

A Platform ship capable of carrying an AI Core program within itself is capable of sending binary-coded battleplans to its recievers, establishing that communications is not a problem. However, the communications established between the parent AI Core program and the receivers can be very long as the Platform ship would normally be in orbit around a planet while the recievers do make planetfall when necessary.

By making planetfall, the recievers are able to move as a single-minded army; however, the AI Core is capable of producing thousands of tactical options based on binary alone depending on how the planet is. I do not know how far the range should be because I am not quite mathematical in this aspect.

By adding Datalink to Wordpad, I was able to add another advantage as a prerequisite of Datalink, Obscure (Binary) (Stealthy), to determine that the binary code language cannot be detected by the five senses of a humanoid race.

Linking Datalink (Mindlink version) Digital Mind, Increased Range (Enhancement), and Preparation Required (Limitation) altogether makes for the Hidden AI Communications advantage; however, I am not so sure if it would work if I specified that the recievers of battleplans can be prepared for battle synchronization in 1 minute, resulting in a No Movement penalty for a turn when coming across combatants or percieved threats hence why I thought I should add Preparation Required.

The overall picture of the advantage was to present the idea that the recievers are not like humanoids, and always must prepare themselves for battle synchronization a minute when coming across percieved threats or pockets of combatants.

I would like some input from some of the experienced GURPS players who may have tinkered with advantages before. Perhaps it'll be useful to learn from some of you while I keep building my own game world.

Thank you!