Cyberjacking
- Thread starter Savar
- Start date
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
IIRC TNE touched on it in FF&S1 and when I've considered using it I tend to want to borrow CyberPunk or ShadowRun but it's not come up yet in a game so I have nothing worked out. That was helpful
In Shadowrun it is called "Rigging" and is a major part of the game; it actually allows the Rigger to "be one" with her vehicle, by overriding her sensory nerves and reading from her motor areas of the lower brain.
I don't know how this will be represented in Traveller as it could quite radically change the way vehicles operate, though...
I don't know how this will be represented in Traveller as it could quite radically change the way vehicles operate, though...
What with the way computers are sized and seem to operate in Traveller I've told my group to accept the fact that computer technology in Traveller is about where it was in the original Star Trek. Big mainframes and whatnot, almost punch card technology as far as I can tell.
Not the sort of thing you'd want to jack into I think, hehheh.
Not the sort of thing you'd want to jack into I think, hehheh.
What about Cyborg interfacing?
archhealer
SOC-12
I think Traveller computing has come a BIT further than punch cards, but yeah, I agree that for the most part, direct neural interface with an entire computer system I have ruled isn't feasable. I do, however, allow minor implants such as a built-in HUD wired directly to the optic nerve, as utilizing a large, simple nerve is probably easier than full-neural interface VR, which is what people usually mean by 'jacking in'.
“What with the way computers are sized and seem to operate in Traveller I've told my group to accept the fact that computer technology in Traveller is about where it was in the original Star Trek. Big mainframes and whatnot, almost punch card technology as far as I can tell.”
Not true at all. Traveller is way beyond punched cards and way into magnetic tape. Some computers are only as big as a refrigerator.
Seriously, you could allow cyberjacking but at a very high price. It could change your personality being all wired up, other changes could crop up down the road problems like monomania and other mental issues could make for fun. Add to it the cyborg-as-property issue on some worlds and that spells big fun.
Not true at all. Traveller is way beyond punched cards and way into magnetic tape. Some computers are only as big as a refrigerator.
Seriously, you could allow cyberjacking but at a very high price. It could change your personality being all wired up, other changes could crop up down the road problems like monomania and other mental issues could make for fun. Add to it the cyborg-as-property issue on some worlds and that spells big fun.
My personal evangalising (that computers in traveller aren't all that big compared to modern hardware) doesn't seem to go anywhere.
PC equivalent hardware disappears into things such as perscomms, where reliability and robustness aren't as important. Ship computers on the other hand are needed NOT to fail, especially in Jump, or landing, or any other critical time when loss of control and power can be fatal. You can only do this reliably with massive amounts of redundancy all throughout your control chain. Not only multiple computers, but multiple network paths, multiple routers, multiple power supplies, multiple environment controls and so on, as well as an overarching framework to keep track of everything and constantly test everything. In traveller this is lumped as "computer" rather then going into explicit detail.
Big mainframes still exist these days. They still have uses. With a couple of million dollars you can go out and buy one tommorow. Unless you have a use for that kind of computing power it isn't going to be cost effective for you, but the times that it is that investment can be quite worthwhile. Mag tape is still used, data density is enormous on Mag tape compared to hard drives, and a terrabyte stored on Mag Tape is incredibly cheap compared to reliable drives of that size.
Maybe I should just use a #standard_computing_rant instead.
IMTU both the Navy and Marines use jacks as the primary interface for pilots, with stick controls for those pilots that haven't been upgraded.
PC equivalent hardware disappears into things such as perscomms, where reliability and robustness aren't as important. Ship computers on the other hand are needed NOT to fail, especially in Jump, or landing, or any other critical time when loss of control and power can be fatal. You can only do this reliably with massive amounts of redundancy all throughout your control chain. Not only multiple computers, but multiple network paths, multiple routers, multiple power supplies, multiple environment controls and so on, as well as an overarching framework to keep track of everything and constantly test everything. In traveller this is lumped as "computer" rather then going into explicit detail.
Big mainframes still exist these days. They still have uses. With a couple of million dollars you can go out and buy one tommorow. Unless you have a use for that kind of computing power it isn't going to be cost effective for you, but the times that it is that investment can be quite worthwhile. Mag tape is still used, data density is enormous on Mag tape compared to hard drives, and a terrabyte stored on Mag Tape is incredibly cheap compared to reliable drives of that size.
Maybe I should just use a #standard_computing_rant instead.
IMTU both the Navy and Marines use jacks as the primary interface for pilots, with stick controls for those pilots that haven't been upgraded.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
If you haven't already done so, go and download the T4 rulebook from Drivrthru while it's free and have a look in the Equipment section at the Computers and Personal Electronics.
Jeff M. Hopper
SOC-14 1K
Honestly, I use the rules for the VRNet on WotC for netrunning in T20. Its a serviceable system and its already d20 friendly. The goofy thing is that it was left out of d20 Future and it was the best thing about the book, IMHO. It can be found and downloaded here:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/we/20040914a
"The computer is too big" arguement dates back from Classic Traveller and I'm afraid that it will never go away. It hasn't seemed to interfere with game play though, at least not for me in the past 23 years since I started playing Traveller.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/we/20040914a
"The computer is too big" arguement dates back from Classic Traveller and I'm afraid that it will never go away. It hasn't seemed to interfere with game play though, at least not for me in the past 23 years since I started playing Traveller.
