[1 Dismissal] Baseline and Industrial IPC Paper Printer

[NoahKirchner]

Allow baseline and industrial IPCs to take a prosthetic organ (Just so people can choose to not have one), that would write on and print papers.

Mainly because I find it silly for a big hulking industrial IPC or basic baselines to try to write on a paper for reports and what-not, especially the less advanced ones.

[NebulaFlare]

No. D:

That is so wierrrrd!

[Snakebittenn]

No. D:

That is so wierrrrd!

 

Would you like to atleast tell us why?

Personally, I'd be good with it.

[Skull132]

This is a weird thing to implement on its own. It should be rolled into a greater project about prosthetics and having them provide alternate functionality.

[ChevalierMalFet]

Why would an IPC carry around a ream of paper and an ink cartridge when there's loose paper and pens everywhere?

[NoahKirchner]

Why would an IPC carry around a ream of paper and an ink cartridge when there's loose paper and pens everywhere?

 

I figured that the IPC would slot a paper into itself, and it'd come out completed. (Would essentially be like using a pen on it, but you would hold it inside your body until it's done, and you dont need a pen in hand. Still can't move though)

[ChevalierMalFet]

Why would an IPC carry around a ream of paper and an ink cartridge when there's loose paper and pens everywhere?

 

I figured that the IPC would slot a paper into itself, and it'd come out completed. (Would essentially be like using a pen on it, but you would hold it inside your body until it's done, and you dont need a pen in hand. Still can't move though)

 

I mean, don't get me wrong; I'm sure that such technology would exist, in theory. But how much utility would you, as a flesh-and-blood person, get out of strapping a printer to your back and walking around with it everywhere?

[Chada1]

Why would an IPC carry around a ream of paper and an ink cartridge when there's loose paper and pens everywhere?

 

I figured that the IPC would slot a paper into itself, and it'd come out completed. (Would essentially be like using a pen on it, but you would hold it inside your body until it's done, and you dont need a pen in hand. Still can't move though)

 

I mean, don't get me wrong; I'm sure that such technology would exist, in theory. But how much utility would you, as a flesh-and-blood person, get out of strapping a printer to your back and walking around with it everywhere?

The mistake in your logic here, is that these two instances are not comparable. IPCs are not a 'Flesh-and-blood person'. They are machines. Their body can realistically have excess utility where a 'Flesh-and-blood person' cannot. There could be multiple reasons for an IPC to have this; They could have been created for Clerical duties, and thus they'd have paper dispensers/etc on-board their Chassis. It's easy to forget that we're talking about Robotic entities here, not Humans, these entities are created for their utility, there is nothing wrong with them having utility, especially if it's completely optional and harmless like a printer Chassis component.

I like this, actually. But i'm going to mirror what Skull said, it really shouldn't be implemented on its own.

[NebulaFlare]

As I recall, there is an ongoing, undocumented part of lore that explains away any kind of modifications or deviations from the norm of IPCs: People are still very wary of IPCs, being unlawed individuals, from having access to anything that is not approved body parts. You and I might see a printer to be totally harmless, but an IPC, who can tackle the idea a trillion times a second, can come up with some nefarious idea with a printer. It's a Skrell's worse nightmare. This is why IPCs cannot repair themselves. It prevents them from accessing their bodies and manipulating it to install new equipment. (If this is not part of modern lore, well shoot. This is what I've been going off of the entire time)

If this was for a station-bound unit, it'd be fine, because now we have the lawset failsafe in place. They're not built to be citizens, they're built to be tools.

What is an IPC anyway? Why build an IPC instead of some other android implemented with laws? ICly, people want to give sapient robots the chance to be sapient citizens, by giving them the way to buy their freedom. They should be made as human-like as possible, but maintain just a few qualities of their robot-likeness to form their own little culture. IPCs were built primarily as indentured servants, not slaves. Slaves are the lawed synthetics. Indentured servants have more freedom and choice. IPCs are caught somewhere between the lawed androids and everyone else in the social hierarchy.

In 21st century, our robots are highly autonomous bots that are specialized for specific tasks, and look nothing like IPCs. Somehow in the year 2459 we shifted away from that set and made human-like robots that can complete human-like tasks. Why? Maybe because the whole 'walk upright on two legs' is a right of passage for intelligent and sapient individuals. I dunno.

However...

Mulling this over a bit, I can see this be usable. I wouldn't mind having my engineering robots have access to a few tools built into them. Pull a screwdriver out of an arm? Sure.

[driecg36]

I do think that expanding IPC parts and organic body mods would be really neat, but as Skull said, this particular change doesnt make much sense by itself; I would be for it, in a larger package.

Maybe give IPC's modules to use that consume energy that are related to their job? So a bureaucrat IPC would have one of those paper printers, but an engineering one wouldn't. On top of that, robotics could make more of these modules/more advanced modules, and even modules that can be attached to organics (within reason of course).

[Chada1]

As I recall, there is an ongoing, undocumented part of lore that explains away any kind of modifications or deviations from the norm of IPCs: People are still very wary of IPCs, being unlawed individuals, from having access to anything that is not approved body parts. You and I might see a printer to be totally harmless, but an IPC, who can tackle the idea a trillion times a second, can come up with some nefarious idea with a printer. It's a Skrell's worse nightmare. This is why IPCs cannot repair themselves. It prevents them from accessing their bodies and manipulating it to install new equipment. (If this is not part of modern lore, well shoot. This is what I've been going off of the entire time)

If this was for a station-bound unit, it'd be fine, because now we have the lawset failsafe in place. They're not built to be citizens, they're built to be tools.

What is an IPC anyway? Why build an IPC instead of some other android implemented with laws? ICly, people want to give sapient robots the chance to be sapient citizens, by giving them the way to buy their freedom. They should be made as human-like as possible, but maintain just a few qualities of their robot-likeness to form their own little culture. IPCs were built primarily as indentured servants, not slaves. Slaves are the lawed synthetics. Indentured servants have more freedom and choice. IPCs are caught somewhere between the lawed androids and everyone else in the social hierarchy.

In 21st century, our robots are highly autonomous bots that are specialized for specific tasks, and look nothing like IPCs. Somehow in the year 2459 we shifted away from that set and made human-like robots that can complete human-like tasks. Why? Maybe because the whole 'walk upright on two legs' is a right of passage for intelligent and sapient individuals. I dunno.

 

Many IPCs are still owned and were created for a utility purpose more than to be a Sapien Citizen. Many free IPCs were once created for a specific work-purpose and obtained their freedom afterwards. If IPCs were still regulated in terms of basic utilities like this, I don't see why such things as an Industrial IPC frame would exist. It already has things that are far crazier and potentially dangerous than an integrated printer, mostly in the form of enhanced armor plating. I do get the point you're making but as it stands i'm not sure a utility component like this would really count, and being an IPC does make them stand apart from a station-bound but it literally does not mean the specific IPC was created to be a free citizen. Their PBU and Chassis was chosen with a purpose in mind, even the Shell which is designed to fit in. That purpose could have been to be a free citizen, or it could have been to do exactly as it was told and clean an area. This is a fact of Synthetic life.

I think the reason you'd build an IPC over an Android is that the IPC is capable of performing a more varied level of specialised tasks, while you would likely have to assist with the Android due to the nature of their Chassis. That doesn't mean they're 'Slaves', it simply means they were very likely created for a specialised purpose (IE: Mining, Office work, Janitorial...) before they obtained their freedom, as all Synthetics were. They are expensive and not many people would invest in them for nothing. I disagree on your concept of putting IPCs so far above Station-bounds, as the 'Lawset' is linked to the Chassis, and both IPCs and Station-bounds tend to have Morality Cores embedded into their PBU (Which is a sort of Failsafe) regardless of Chassis. It's more likely that Morality Cores are seen as good enough and Laws are seen as unnecessary for IPCs. Otherwise, i'd say, making them as absolutely human-like as possible really kills the magic of playing a Synthetic, but that's an opinion. It would be far cooler if they were still human-esque, but certain things kept making it apparent they were not human. This is something that could do that. Shells are meant to play the role of being as 'Human-like a possible with Robotic undertones', not IPCs as a whole.

They are more alike in the Lore than you're saying, Androids/Cyborgs think for themselves and tend to have personality just like IPCs do, the big difference is in their Chassis (Which has the Law Failsafe, which is strict, but you put a bit much of an emphasis on it, it's pretty relaxed and easy to follow once you get used to it) which regulates their actions/behavior, and of course, their legal standing, which has no bearing on the reality of their intelligence, basically nothing more. The rest is all legal jargon and perceptions and junk. No technicals aside from afew mentions that they can be simple, but so can IPCs.

The way I see it; Baseline/Shells are a light Chassis, Industrials are a medium Chassis, and Station-bounds are a heavy Chassis. A better argument is that only medium/heavy Chassis can afford to incorporate utility Components, due to their more even weight distribution and heat tolerance. Station-bounds already have integrated printers through the Clerical Module, and I literally see no reason why NT would be against allowing their IPCs to use an integrated printer, it would boost productivity by a ton for specialised IPCs.

As for this undocumented Lore, please tell me more through another medium if you can, i'm interested in that, and it really Should have been documented. Undocumented Lore is hard to argue as Lore.

 

TLDR: There are reasons that IPCs could have this, and not being Lawed isn't really that valid of an excuse for such small things as an entirely optional integrated printer, especially since Morality Cores exist. Being human-like also isn't that great of an excuse, since IPCs as a whole are not actually meant to be as human-like as possible with Robotic undertones, that's what the Shell frame is for, that's literally the purpose behind it, and this kinda thing wouldn't be for the Shell frame. The Shell frame already gets bonuses in the form of being allowed to take an increased number of Head of Staff roles.

[NebulaFlare]

Welp, my argument got crushed. I got nothing else to argue against.

Although I still think it's just wierrrrd! Who the heck wants to install a printer inside themselves?

[NoahKirchner]

Welp, my argument got crushed. I got nothing else to argue against.

Although I still think it's just wierrrrd! Who the heck wants to install a printer inside themselves?

 

An IPC built to perform a specific task which will require paperwork.

An IPC whose only method of being able to survive, pay for maintenance etc is working jobs that require paperwork. It would increase efficiency.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

I will only tolerate this change if the paper comes out of a little slot on their head, so it's like they're spitting it out.

[NoahKirchner]

I will only tolerate this change if the paper comes out of a little slot on their head, so it's like they're spitting it out.

 

antag type where IPCs become highschool bullies and spitball nursing interns from across medbay?

[NebulaFlare]

While we're at it, can we install tasers in security units?

And needles in medical units.

[Chada1]

While we're at it, can we install tasers in security units?

And needles in medical units.

 

Those things probably aren't completely off-limits, but extra caution would have to be taken in that, because they are not just utility. Those could potentially beeee very daaaaangerous, since they couldn't be disarmed from the unit. OH and Nebula you can already store chemicals in yourself as an IPC. So you have that. (I think)

Overall, I Really hope Prosthetics are expanded at some point in the future. They don't have to be all super useful or game changing. Just simple stuff is completely okay. So in that vein, i'll repeat what I said before; I really hope stuff like this is included in a bigger project at some point. Stuff like the Pacemaker and Assisted Eyes are awesome for Organics, but these things can't be used for Synthetics. Stuff like an Integrated Paper slot would be awesome and flavorful for an IPC character based around Office work, be it a Warden, a Scientist, or a Cargo Technician.

[LordFowl]

Voting for dismissal. A feature like this should only be packaged within a general cybernetics system, which I do not see happening anytime soon, especially regarding the state of IPC balance.