ability creation help.

[Jaware]

I have a concept of am ability the enemy forces are going to have in a ultratech - sci-fi - horror game.

but I am having trouble fondling how to make it...

what I'm doing is the enemies have a disturbing ability to use "biomass."

what they do is when they conquer a planet/city/town/spaceship etc. They take followers. Those that don't convert get converted into raw materials in order to fuel the warmachine.

so. What I want is am ability to put on things called Dreges. They are about the size of a golfball. Maybe a bit smaller. But what they do is corpses on the battlefield they swarm over. And convert it into biomass bricks. 10 biomass per 1pm of St. At some rate of time.

then the enemies main force (think of them like smart space zombies who build their bodies themselves) use them for everything. Everything from ammunition for their organic weapons, to healing themselves.etc.

how would I go about building this ability?

[sir_pudding]

This seems like a description of (superscience) nanotech equipment; I'm not sure how this is an ability at all.

[Jaware]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

This seems like a description of (superscience) nanotech equipment; I'm not sure how this is an ability at all.

It's an ability because hat is doing it isn't equipment. Or machines. It's a creatures purpose. And they are used in a swarm. Sort of like a swarm of rats or something similar.

[MrTim]

Originally Posted by Jaware

It's an ability because hat is doing it isn't equipment. Or machines. It's a creatures purpose. And they are used in a swarm. Sort of like a swarm of rats or something similar.

If they're not a possible PC (or PC Ally) race, all you really need to do is say "x dredges can convert 1 ST worth of biomass into ten bricks in y time units; this battlefield has zx dredges on it."

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Jaware

It's an ability because hat is doing it isn't equipment. Or machines. It's a creatures purpose. And they are used in a swarm. Sort of like a swarm of rats or something similar.

They are engineered organisms that convert biomass to fuel, right? Is this something that a character would need to do?

It's probably universal digestion, and maybe a perk that makes excreted waste into a fuel. Just being able to eat and excrete itself is 0 points.

Alternatively you might do something with Create with Transmutation Only, but really that's probably overkill since the product is only usable by specific tech. "My poop is fuel" really seems like a perk to me.

Really though, unless these things are sapient, I'd just consider this as bio-tech gear.

[Jaware]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

They are engineered organisms that convert biomass to fuel, right? Is this something that a character would need to do?

It's probably universal digestion, and maybe a perk that makes excreted waste into a fuel. Just being able to eat and excrete itself is 0 points.

Alternatively you might do something with Create with Transmutation Only, but really that's probably overkill since the product is only usable by specific tech. "My poop is fuel" really seems like a perk to me.

Really though, unless these things are sapient, I'd just consider this as bio-tech gear.

Well they are sapient. They can follow orders and commands, albeit from a hive mind type thing, but they aren't alive. Think smart space zombies, and that's just one of their forms. It just converts deceased organisms into biomass bricks.

the other ones are like a backpack response system. When the entity is damaged and they receive the go ahead, they swarm out of it and use it'd stored biomass (both bullets and potions so to speak) to heal it. Granting something like regeneration 1hp/1s at the cost of X amount of biomass.

but they are smart. And the larger swarms (thunk kryll storms from gears of war) can process entire cities overnight. Providing the parts to fuel their conquest.

not literal fuel. But more like figurative. They have machines that can convert the biomass to specific soldiers, or repurpose existing soldiers for other roles eg.weak artillery units to big beefy melee brute units. And they they can use me it to heal themselves, their equipment etc much like how living metal from ultratech works. And then rearm themselves with new bullets.

In doing so it gives the threat of impending doom. Even on the ultratech level. You know the whole every good guy that falls becomes a bad guy, our ranks shrink and theirs grows type feelings of despracy.

[Jaware]

Originally Posted by MrTim

If they're not a possible PC (or PC Ally) race, all you really need to do is say "x dredges can convert 1 ST worth of biomass into ten bricks in y time units; this battlefield has zx dredges on it."

I agree with you. That's what's probably going to happen.

I just like to know how to build advantages. That way I get better at the rules while getting better at building what I want.

so I want to know how I would go about building that particular advantage. If just so I can say because I did it and t I feel proud of myself. Hahaha.

[Jaware]

Oh, and one of the big reasons why I want it to be an advantage is so I can make other things in the game world have it as well.

for instance. This race is totally organic in nature. So all of their ships, siege weapons, etc are all made from organic stuff as well.

I would like to be able to make mighty siege beasts that can do it as well. Or maybe giant clean up crews. Etc.

for instance. A machine the size of a car that's sold purpose is to process entire bodies at once. Not just people. But animals. Maybe something like cows, or space dinosaurs etc. It would work similarly to the dreges. But much quicker, and stationary. Probably have controls as well. Etc.

or maybe something as big as a siege elephant that has organic gabby arms like a scorpion that picks up raw materials and processes it as it goes while it's being ridden bu it's drivers as they shoot mounted guns on it. Etc.

it would be much easier to just modify one or two numbers in the advantage formula, then it would be to make a whole new one.

For instance, say it processes 5 times as much raw materials a second as the dreges, but it also does so at a faster or more efficient rate.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Jaware

then the enemies main force (think of them like smart space zombies who build their bodies themselves) use them for everything. Everything from ammunition for their organic weapons, to healing themselves.etc.

how would I go about building this ability?

Create Fuel (Transmutation) might do it. Some kind of limitation to account for it taking time perhaps - I would look at Onset and modify that.

[kdtipa]

Until I saw the bit about wanting to practice with making advantages the official way, I was just going to say: make something up.

You could also look at what the human body is actually composed of, and see what you think might be used. Then I might use some of the advantages and disadvantages around eating and say that the zombie rat thing just needs maybe the calcium and potassium (for example) to maintain itself, and say it excretes the rest. The water (which is most of our mass) can easily be used as a source of hydrogen (machines could split the hydrogen and oxygen), and the two components could be saved as fuel for a Hydrogen Fuel Cell (who's exhaust is water).

We also have a fair amount of carbon which can be very useful in making a variety of materials stronger.