Buying an AI and designing it?

[TheMorten]

Hey folks,

In my current campaign (mid TL9) one of my players discussed with me the idea of infusing the squad's armoured car with an AI.

Looking through Ultra-Tech, we decided to look at Complexity 5-6 computers and a Volitional AI (meaning it'll be rather dumb, but still somewhat sapient).

Now, the primary task of this AI, in the campaign, will be comic relief, driving the armoured car and shooting stuff using the mounted turret. We wanted to create this like sort of a character sheet, where we would invest character points to represent programs and capabilities of the AI.

However, there seems to be no guidelines for how many character points an "average" AI starts off with, in order to acquire skills and certain advantages, and rules for an AI using a gunnery turret (what's the DX of a disembodied AI?!)

What rules can be used to cover this? Is there a smarter way to do it?

[Scalping_Elmo]

Someone who has read every redundant bit of published material will probably tell you different, but this is how I do it, as it is simple:

Think of the armored vehicle as a Player Character or highly fleshed out NPC. Fill out a character sheet based on what you know, extrapolating basic stats from the information that you do know. If you have no data from which to extrapolate, take a guess with the interest of comic relief and game continuity in mind.

As for AI, the only game I have run with it was in Transhuman Space. NAI, LAI and SAI. Not to sure what you mean by volitional, other than what the word volition itself means.

[TheMorten]

This is the way we are doing it, but I'm at a loss as to how many character points this AI will have available... And how to define its DX. Maybe the DX would have influence on the vehicles Handling?

Volitional AI, by the way, is an AI capable of creative thinking and self-learning - i.e. what you'd expect from a "human-like" AI.

[Scalping_Elmo]

Cool. As for character points, I wouldn't worry about it. Just flesh it out as you see fit and calculate afterwards. DX I believe would be the DX of the vehicle, as the AI is disembodied except for its access to the vehicle components. What is the maximum mechanical speed that the turret can rotate at? how quickly can it stop, accelerate, etc?

Sometimes I will work backward and ask myself; how easy would I want task N to be for said character? Helps sometimes.

[starslayer]

Price it as an ally-> buying/programming the AI is HOW the PCs acquired it, but you want it to function identically to the ally advantage, so have the PC pay the character points for the ally advantage. (conversely as a generous GM you could award the character points directly into the lowest level of ally and allow the player to buy it up from there).

Once it's an ally it gains CPs at the same rate as the player (multiplied by it's % ratio of player CPs)

[Langy]

The information you're looking for is on page 29 of Ultra-Tech:

AI Software: AI software uses the Software Cost Table (p. 25). 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. For example, an extra 60 points of modifications adds +300% to the cost. If the cost is negative, don’t reduce the software cost below 20% of the base cost.

In other words, an 'average' AI starts off with zero character points (after paying for its IQ due to complexity and due to the lens you give it).

DX is more difficult. In general, it depends upon the cybershell (the physical body of the robot) rather than the computer. In general, I'd give a generic robot a DX equal to its TL, though that's just a guideline.