Lo-Fi Games

First let me say that this game is very very cool. I've got a suggestion for the future usage of combined medical and robotics skills.

This is pretty extreme, but keeping in line with robotic limbs and cool stuff like that I had the idea that one could essentially "create" either robotic soldiers, clones, or organic soldiers with implanted brains. I'm sure you're wondering, "But Ultima, that's downright insanity." I know, I know.

First, how does one obtain the base materials for any of these things? Well, that's easy, and they all have their own advantages and disadvantages. Let's start with robotic soldiers.

Robotic Soldiers
With a high level robotics skill, one could obtain special assembly-line equipment that consumes input trade goods for the construction of robotic squaddies. These squaddies would have an inherit defensive bonus either dependent on the material input , robotics skill (either as the end-all-be-all or modifier), or simply a standard grade shared with all robotic soldiers. So you just input 10 steel bars, 10 robotic components, 5 textiles, and 5 units of tools. Out pops your robotic soldier, loyal to you as any other squadie. You can name it, and do whatever (it may pop out as a recruiting NPC would, but instead of being payed for, it is "activated"). But, you might ask what are the SKILL levels given to this cyber soldier of metal death? Quite an interesting question, indeed...

The skill levels of robotic soldiers can be dependent on the robotics skill of the creator (recruited or otherwise). Say for every 10 points in robotics, the machine starts out with 5 points in all attack, defense and weapon usage stats (they have the same skill levels in all weapons in the beginning). They DO NOT learn like organics do, however, and depending on the games programming limitations, cannot be "reprogrammed" to increase their skill or base values. They can, however, be deconstructed for parts at a loss. Also, robots can only equip back packs and weapons. Another disadvantage of robotics. This would balance the issue of ultra robot soldiers (unless your robotics skill is completed ridiculous).

Clones
Simple, you've got a doctor skill of a comparable level to robotics to create robots. Similar procedure. Buy factory parts, input trade goods such as "Organic Material". The deal with clones is that they don't instantly pop out. They take time. So whenever some sort of TIME factor is input into the game, this will be put into consideration. So, the situation with clones is that while they don't retain the collected knowledge of the super-soldier that is being copied, they DO maintain, say, UP TO HALF that soldiers skill levels. Knowledge such as robotics and medical skills, etc will suffer much higher penalties. Unlike robots, clones DO learn and can wear armor. Organics can be obtained through purchase or imputing bodies that were carried to a "vat" of some sort. Organic Material and cloning equipment are both expensive. On top of that, not just anyone will buy Organic Materials, although medical facilities might.

Clones/Bodies w/ implanted brains.
This requires a high medical skill PLUS a moderately high robotics skill. Long story short. You can lob off the heads of ANY individual. Collect the head for combination into a organic goo jar (purchased separately) and then place the head-in-goo-jar in a machine for transfer into an organic body. This head/brain would be implanted with a loyalty chip so that even cannibals could be used. They retain up to 75% of ALL skill levels (25% penalty due to decomposition) but may lose certain body bonuses such as athletics and strength (depending on the quality of the body being used).

All considered, with implanted brains, your character being decapitated by an angry enemy isn't the end of the world on hardcore mode players (where you can't simply reload). Simply have a buddy grab your head or brain, and pop it into a prepared replacement back at home base. Awesome.

I understand these ideas are pretty extreme, even for a fully completed game. I imagine this game will , in the future, contain MANY possibilities with crafting and building so I figured I'd just pop this in here for the "Great Creator" to use.

Would be interesting, but currently there is not a set level as to how far Chris wants the future tech to go. I know that the robotic limbs were an idea to compensate for limb loss,but I cannot say as to how complex the tech will be in Kenshi. (Or its limits) It is too early for me to tell, but if Kenshi takes that road your idea does have potential.(It is nicely calculated)

toaster Assassin wrote:Would be interesting, but currently there is not a set level as to how far Chris wants the future tech to go. I know that the robotic limbs were an idea to compensate for limb loss,but I cannot say as to how complex the tech will be in Kenshi. (Or its limits) It is too early for me to tell, but if Kenshi takes that road your idea does have potential.(It is nicely calculated)

Thank you! I figured that since the game has robotics and robotic limbs, one should be able to assume that the robotic technology is even more advanced than today's standards. Then again, going by that one could assume guns, planes, electricity and all sorts of other things should exist, as well. Maybe they have a future in Kenshi? Who knows. I'm a bit concerned with the desert environment being the only environment, however, as much of the technology might be located in other appropriate locations on whatever planet this is.

It's got to be hard enough being a single programmer let alone a designer, so I guess throwing ideas out there isn't so bad.

UltimaVirus wrote: I'm a bit concerned with the desert environment being the only environment

The desert is just one of many biomes, the game will be absolutely huge once they're all added..

vurt wrote:

UltimaVirus wrote: I'm a bit concerned with the desert environment being the only environment

The desert is just one of many biomes, the game will be absolutely huge once they're all added..

Reference?
I know we have a fraction of the map, but i know the current full map is just more desert and i have not read of plans to make other environments.

SilentHill wrote:

vurt wrote:

UltimaVirus wrote: I'm a bit concerned with the desert environment being the only environment

The desert is just one of many biomes, the game will be absolutely huge once they're all added..

Reference?
I know we have a fraction of the map, but i know the current full map is just more desert and i have not read of plans to make other environments.

i dont think chris has said one way or the other.

there are NPCs that have the tri-corner hats that signal to me at least, that somewhere they will be water.

SilentHill wrote: Reference?

Chris, we talked about it when i did the flora for the current biome, but he's talked about it here on the forums too.

vurt wrote:

UltimaVirus wrote: I'm a bit concerned with the desert environment being the only environment

The desert is just one of many biomes, the game will be absolutely huge once they're all added..

Wha!? - Mind blown from all the awesomeness.

Seriously I thought the map was huge as it was (however I would never complain about and would rather enjoy an even bigger map )

I like the ideas though, especially the severed head one. I know noone is special but my first merc will always be the leader of my group and must live on at all costs.

killerx243 wrote: I know noone is special but my first merc will always be the leader of my group and must live on at all costs.

feel the same way about my first character.

if he dies or gets captured my whole operation will fizzle away...

When robotics are implemented I will try my best to get my main guy hacked up and made as much cyborg as possible. A black helmet, raspy breathy voice and a lightsaber shall complete the transformation.

and he will unknowingly have a son who rises up to eventually defeat him.

Blxz wrote:When robotics are implemented I will try my best to get my main guy hacked up and made as much cyborg as possible. A black helmet, raspy breathy voice and a lightsaber shall complete the transformation.

Under the idea, it would be perfectly possible to transfer your brain WITHOUT being hacked up by an enemy as long as you have the proper equipment and training.

txfirefighter wrote:and he will unknowingly have a son who rises up to eventually defeat him.

Who will one day be another dark knight's nemesis.

You may need to make sure that only living legends will be able to successfully do these things, especially bringing someone back to life, as resurruction is one thing he promised not to add.

Oh, and are you sure that a loyalty chip is a good idea?

aattss wrote:You may need to make sure that only living legends will be able to successfully do these things, especially bringing someone back to life, as resurruction is one thing he promised not to add.

Oh, and are you sure that a loyalty chip is a good idea?

Absolutely. You'd need to be in the top 20% or a supremely high rank to use these sorts of functions with the associated gear. Of course, they'd have other lower level functions such as growing organic limbs for restoration if you dislike the idea of being a cyborg.

As for the loyalty chip. I figured it'd be a interesting idea to basically enthrall any enemy you wish to become part of your army. Saves you time training him. You might be concerned that someone could take advantage and install one on you during your brain transplantation process, but one can simply rule out that the process of creating a loyalty chip is very complex and that each chip is design for a specific brain during the transfer process by a skilled professional. Unless such professionals are scheming around and/or common, I wouldn't be too concerned.

Later on in development, brain transplantation might be the "restart" you get regardless of if you own a transplantation facility or not. For example, you're fighting and you "die". The game goes black, you appear at the nearest transplantation facility (of whom you already paid a significant sum for the procedure) and you're in a new body with lowered stats in some areas. You might be concerned THEN of a loyalty chip, but perhaps some sort of honor system, committee or law prevents usage of the chips during regular procedures OR perhaps you CAN have them installed on you preventing you from attacking that particular faction if you so happen to have one installed during the process.

Just throwing ideas out there.

Exactly. The idea is that if you die, you die, so be careful.

http://www.lofigames.com/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=55

aattss wrote:Exactly. The idea is that if you die, you die, so be careful.

http://www.lofigames.com/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=55

I agree with a dead-is-dead feature. I think it would be kind of cool to have to really pay out of the ass for a "save", so to speak. A balanced way to do it. Something that really costs a lot and would HOPEFULLY not happen EVER. So prohibitively expensive that even when you have it you still fear death because the penalties are horrifying.

This, of course, only works if you don't have a save/load system. Otherwise the whole idea can get dropped. Dying in a save/load system, regardless of the game, is not scary. Take Minecraft for example, though. You die and you lose all your stuff, end of story... but you still live. You CANT reload (easily) as it auto-saves constantly.

You can do it X3 style dead-is-dead mode. You die, you die. Every decision you make could be your last. What a scary game that would be! I might be afraid just to leave the nearest town!

txfirefighter wrote:and he will unknowingly have a son who rises up to eventually defeat him.

Should this ever happen I can safely say Chris has succeeded with his vision of a persistent world that is open ended and freely evolving.

I think that Robotics is an interesting idea. Chris hasn't said when Kenshi takes place so for all we know it could be in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. As for planes and automobiles it could be that we have no gasoline left. Our technology could be advanced enough to clone and make robotic warriors. Out of all your ideas, Cloning is by far the best one because that would still mean that dying has a consequence. Say when the game has a grasp on how time works it would take you a ridiculously long amount of time for your clone to be done. Or maybe you can let him/her grow in a water tank for a while, or take him/her out when they're a kid and train them from scratch. Like a month in game time to regrow your fallen comrade. Or half that to take them out when they're a kid.

Idenno I think if this were to be implemented, it should probably be a mod instead of a permanent game feature.

Ah the kid thing. Yes, check out the family thread to understand why you likely wont be seeing it.

About robotics. I would expect a kind of steam punk- clockwork kind of implementation. I think the OP may get his wish though, because my party gets limbs reduced to -75 quite often. I could easily imagine some swords men more machine than man (especially the left arm, silly one armed armor).