Return borg movement while in emergency backup power and revamp it a little

[CakeIsOssim]

Bay removed the ability for borgs to move while in emergency backup power. I propose to re-add that, while changing it to something else similar: emergency power to actuator (and maybe camera). It would allow for borgs to be able to move and see, but all of their other modules would be powerless. Just to elaborate on that a bit, that means no armor, no radio, no binary, and no tools or weapons. The emergency power to actuator (+ camera) would allow the borg to quickly get to a recharger. It would, however, have a time limit. Let's say, two or three minutes. After that, it goes back to a state where the actuator and camera are no longer functional and it has to sit there like a statue, begging for help through PDA messaging.

And, maybe just as a thing, if the cell gets drained due to EMP, and it gets hit by another EMP while in this emergency movement mode, it would reduce the timer to zero again and disable it - back to statue mode for that borg.

Thoughts?

[nicemoreoften]

I think standard cell drain should have a chance of emergency movement mode if not hit by EMP weapons, but I think if the charge is drained by an EMP they shouldn't get emergency movement.

[Nanako]

Radio on emergency power makes more sense than movement. cyborgs are 300kg+ hunks of metal, they don't move easily

[Dreamix]

Radio on emergency power makes more sense than movement. cyborgs are 300kg+ hunks of metal, they don't move easily

I'd rather go the balance way. Only movement. So, when the borg loses power for whatever reason, it has to wander aimlessly around until it finds someone else or a recharger. Until then, it's dead silent, making its location and reason for power loss a mystery for everyone else until they fix it. That would be a nice mechanic, instead of a "help help emp traitor" if radio always works.

[Synnono]

I'd be in favor of emergency radio only, but have it be garbled like when TComms are screwed up. That way a borg can't just out the thing that fried them, but it can be made clear something is seriously wrong with it.

[Nikov]

The PDA messages already operate as that emergency beacon, doesn't it? Let it crawl home at starving dionae speeds and PDA message for help, and if TComms are also down, then its just a bad day to be a borg. Maybe unpowered borgs can also show up on engineering's power alert monitor?

[Skull132]

I'd be in favor of emergency radio only, but have it be garbled like when TComms are screwed up. That way a borg can't just out the thing that fried them, but it can be made clear something is seriously wrong with it.

 

Movement only would be better.

You lost your power somehow. Chances are, you fucked up. Giving a radio would make the punishment for failure too lenient, IMO, as you can just scream for help and someone will come and get you.

Communication > mobility, always.

[SierraKomodo]

There are two reasons why providing a cyborg with a radio instead of mobility when EMP'd is a bad idea:

1: Consistancy. Anything else that gets EMP'd with a radio loses that radio for a time and/or has to reset the radio to turn it back on; Cyborgs should be no different.

2: Balance. As has already been said, having the radio but no movement is just going to encourage 'ANTAG MCGEE HAS EMPS IN LOCKER ROOM HELP ME' because the cyborg will literally be unable to do anything else to escape or save itself.

[Nanako]

Emergency power is supposed to be an unconscious state for borgs, i'm not so sure they should have anything, but radio still makes the most sense and offers the most RP imo.

Put a timeout on it. If a borg shuts down, it has to wait 5 minutes before emergency power kicks in

enough time for whoever damaged it to finish disabling it by jacking out the radio, or emagging it, or completely destroying it, or something

I'm thinking about borgs that get trapped in remote areas, like on the derelict (that happened to me once)

And make the radio message use emergency power per-character, so you have to keep them short

[CakeIsOssim]

This is all fine and dandy (it's not, actually, no radios pliss), but this is not about allowing them to use their radio. It's about allowing them to move and see. Emergency power would also be extremely limited. I'm willing to gauge it anywhere between two minutes down to thirty seconds, maybe with some other modifiers like getting hit with an EMP while in the mode disables it completely, reducing the borg to begging for help over PDA.