Medical/Biomech Research, prosthetic brands

[Absynth]

The medical tree in research is.. kind of lame. Medbay never, ever asks you for any cool high tech toys and will rarely, if ever actually use them even if you bring some to Medbay. The only decent thing even in there is the advanced laser scalpel. So instead I'd like to propose adding more, and upgradeable, biomechanical augmentations, implants, and body parts, and allow R&D to create smaller items and implants with Robotics assemblies building prosthetic parts. It would be best if Robotics got an actual prosthetic fabricator instead of using the usual ones.

Some examples:

Basic external prosthetics are available by default in Robo, as they are now. Rather than use robot arms, these should be turned into actual seperate items. By default, players spawn with these.

Upgraded external prosthetics need low-medium levels in engineering, materials, and medical. These limbs grant bonus resistance to damage; upgraded prosthetic legs improve your run speed slightly while arms increase your melee damage (perhaps 5-10%).

Advanced external prosthetics require medium-high levels in the above, and also grant a degree of shock resistance, fire resistance, and resist pressure damage.

Prototype external prosthetics are slightly different. These are instead oriented and specialized towards specific tasks, rather than general purpose - for instance, let's say combat, and engineering. Combat prosthetics are probably obvious, increasing general combat abilities, but also perhaps adding cool stuff like making projectiles miss less often (gyroscopically stabilized), actually deflecting bullets if the hands are free, or leaping across multiple tiles. Engineering prosthetics would grant shock immunity, the ability to conjure any tool into the hand, and legs grant the effects of magboots without the speed loss. These prosthetics would be expensive, require very high levels, and have a chance of failure when used, but should grant significant bonuses.

That's just for external limbs; currently the game does not allow you to print internal parts, however. Internal parts are a different story.

By default again all internal parts should be available in prosthetic form. I was playing xenoflora the other day and had such massive toxin damage that my liver actually was destroyed, and there was no way to replace it at all. You would think that they'd have prosthetic hearts and livers and lungs and whatnot by now, right? Considering they already exist in the present day..

The stock internal parts would simply be equal or less efficient than the biological equivalent, but of course subject to EMP as usual - you can start in chargen with bionic eyes or a heart but they don't do anything but make you instantly die to EMPs, as far as I can tell.

Instead, internal prosthetics should be widely varied, with perhaps alien equivalent parts being made available at higher research levels. Improved or prototype prosthetics should be available as well, Deus Ex style -- eyes that allow you built-in meson or night vision goggles, a prototype liver that can filter any toxin out, lungs that can convert CO2 into breathable air, the only limit is the dev's creativity.

All activateable or advanced prosthetics should use body glucose for energy, thus making you hungrier each time you use them.

In addition, each of the different manufacturer brands should do something very slightly different. I'm not talking a noticeable difference, but something to actually differentiate them mechanically instead of all being identical would be neat. Ie:

Hephaestus Industries prosthetics have 5 more health each.

Zeng-Hu Pharma prosthetics can be detached and removed at any time by the wearer without needing surgery.

etc. etc.

In conclusion, a more robust and genuinely useful prosthetic/augment system would make things much more interesting for both Science and Medical, allowing some much-needed collaboration between departments.

[Nanako]

What game are you playing?

Science can make bluespace beakers and incision management systems. I rarely see those, despite requesting them often. Don't complain there's nothing to build when science rarely makes what there is!

[Absynth]

Huh? I'm science every shift and I have never once gotten or even seen a single request of any kind from medbay.

[Nanako]

well regardless, about the main thing.

Giving prosthetics mechanical advantages is somewhat iffy, because then people will want them. Which raises all sorts of questions:

-Who comes in on a normal workday to have their body modified?

-Why would NT employ someone who essentially has weapons built into their body

[Guest Complete Garbage]

-Why would NT employ someone who essentially has weapons built into their body

See:

-Tajara

-Unathi

Prosthetic arms being able to do an extra two points of damage in unarmed combat hardly classifies them as a weapon. By that standard, toolboxes need to be locked up in the armory.

[Absynth]

well regardless, about the main thing.

Giving prosthetics mechanical advantages is somewhat iffy, because then people will want them. Which raises all sorts of questions:

-Who comes in on a normal workday to have their body modified?

-Why would NT employ someone who essentially has weapons built into their body

 

Well, yeah. Of course people will want them. That's the point.

-People who already have basic chargen prosthetics and want an upgrade, or to test out the latest models.

-For weapons, see also: Vaurca, security officers, CCIA, anyone with an implant, cyborgs.. anyone with a fist..

[VileFault]

I second what Absynth said about never getting medical requests, but I may make an effort to initiate the toy-giving process now that I know medbay cares Nanako. I think incision management systems require diamonds which we get maybe 1/3 rounds, though. Regardless, if we were to make additional/upgraded prosthetics they don't all have to have effects like punching better - which seems pretty lame and useless most shifts. Fist fights are rare, and mostly for RP. Rarely would I really enjoy having a rocket-powered megafist. Other ideas I think might be more practical include:

 

• Legs that decrease the speed debuff you get from pulling/grabbing, which could come in handy for EMTs and Cargoboi's.
  
• EMP resistant limbs, no longer will you be essentially a walking bomb!
  
• More durable limbs, that don't explode after touching a shocked door twice. Maybe it take 3 or 4 touches?

 

Obviously the only limbs accessible at round-start should be the defaults for balance purposes. I think it would be good to give Roboticists something else to do, though. The only thing is that I worry that every shmuck with a robo-hand is going to want to be given an upgrade every single round, which would be tedious. They should only be given what are presumably expensive and experimental models when their jobs require it, or they are very likely to soon be in a type of danger that the limb would otherwise be vulnerable to.