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I notice a distinct lack of Bots and Droids

bots are pretty darn ubiquitous in OTU

and MTU.
And they're just that, bots. adding the info from the Robots supplement to your campaign isn't vital but it sure helps.
a starport, for example might have a living groundcrew, augmented by as many bots as the local economy can support. likewise, there's almost surely at least one living mook on duty, all hours, in the 'Janitorial Services' office/shop. probably at least three cleaners running on "off peak local hours".
how good they are, how well maintained, that's the Refs opening for fluff/flavor/plotfodder.
sure a local populace might be prejudiced against bots {them 'bots took our jobs!}, but will that stop their use? maybe not.
as for the inevitable "bot becomes sentient" fun? again, more grist for the mill.
I like to think that the faint tracings of 'true' A.I. are emergent all the time, and 'routine maintenance' kills them dead like Raid on roaches.
as for Star Wars? Droids are slaves. near sentient or not, property, not people. as it should be. oh, and C3P0? not sentient, just a very good example of "more human than human" emulation.
 
I've always considered the use of Bots and Droids a given in the Traveller universe if for nothing more than freeing up crew from routine maintenance or handling high-risk tasks that might endanger or kill such.

Mind I'm picturing the drones from the SF film Silent Running or the ubiquitous astro-mechs from the Star Wars films as being 'members' of the engineering staff on vessels of any size. Even a 100 Ton starship with a sole engineer aboard would be well-suited to having a mechanical assistant or two at his disposal.

As to Droids, more those of the C3PO-type, such would likely be good candidates for a ship's steward and possibly serve as a ship's medical 'officer' too.

I tend to see citizens of High Passage status having mechanical valets accompany them in their travels, a gentleman's gentleman or lady's handmaiden as it be.

One might even gauge the 'wealth' or affluence of a starport or like facility by how many of it's staff or services are provided my droids or drones. Inversely, some locations might flaunt that such needs-duties are met by an entirely non-mechanical retinue of biological labor.
 
My solo player has a Rashush early model valet/steward he found in a storage locker he bought...you get your ideas where you can sometimes...

For engineering help he has that general purpose bot from the traveller issue of Dragon magazine...it had the mistwasps/skitterbuggers in it if that helps...just enough skill points/slots for eng/elec/mech at level 1.

For the rebuilt hunter scout thats about all he needs for a one man crew.
 
Now I do feel old, I recall buying that particular issue of Dragon magazine in a now-defunct bookstore, that said I do remember it having a particularly nice cover.

687745.jpg
 
I have Dragon magazines earleir than that, but I don't think I bought that one. I was a part-time janitor back then... had to pick and choose what I purchased.
 
My copy was swiped by a friend of a friend of a friend.....took me 4 years but I finally cornered him at a local con...

All I got back was the front cover and a photo copy of the adventure...

Vengeance was finally mine!!!

Just ran that for my solo gamer...he got to claim shared discovery rights for the discovery of the Mist Wasps...with my math geek who got the little droid...just knew that robotics 3 skill would be handy some day!
 
aramis said:
[m;]Image in first post reduced in presented size so that people with smaller screens can actually read the posts.[/m;]

When I have to pan L-R-L-R to read it, it's too * wide. use the [imgw=400]url[/imgw] tag for big images.
Click to expand...

Thanks -- I read this from my phone A LOT.
 
For CT, I like the Robot rules in JTAS #2-#4 better than Book 8 (which was a development of them IIRC), though they too suffer from a moderate over-abundance of paperwork compared to 'proper' CT LBBs 1-3 and their, say, ship design system.

I'm even considering writing simple CT robot rules which are more in line with LBB 3 vehicles (for descriptions) and animals (for combat purposes) than with the much more detail-oriented JTAS and Book 8 rules.

Or just simplify the JTAS rules. The parts of the JTAS rules I dislike are the use of power point calculations (which is contrary to Book 2 intuition - you should simply match power plant with locomotion on one table and that's it rather than start calculating point back and forth) and the over-detailed sensor and appendages rules.
 
Another big problem with the JTAS robot rules is the expense of brains - robots are CHEAP, EXCEPT for their brains, which start off at Cr100,000. So you have, say, a Cr5,000 or Cr10,000 robot plus a Cr100,000 brain. But these brains are said to be "intelligent". Maybe one should house-rule additional lower-tech brains, which aren't fully intelligent per se, and thus cost less. Maybe even down to 5,000 or less.
 
Golan2072 said:
Another big problem with the JTAS robot rules is the expense of brains - robots are CHEAP, EXCEPT for their brains, which start off at Cr100,000. So you have, say, a Cr5,000 or Cr10,000 robot plus a Cr100,000 brain. But these brains are said to be "intelligent". Maybe one should house-rule additional lower-tech brains, which aren't fully intelligent per se, and thus cost less. Maybe even down to 5,000 or less.
Click to expand...

Seems like the brain cost is a bit high. I think it should be cr50,000 total for both brain and body for an obvious robot. A cyberized person, cr100,000+.

That way you can have your robot, and use it to.
 
Right now I'm trying to build a Ghost in the Shell cyborg in T5. You build a robot body and choose an organic brain.
 
This one is a Bodyguard/Lover for my Vicount. She does have an extra body that she runs by remote.

In her Dorsai Uniform
amanda2755_by_kaeto1-d7g4bsb.jpg


Carrying a Plasma Rifle.
amanda2783_by_kaeto1-d7g4bpi.jpg


With her duplicate body that she runs by remote.
amanda2760_by_kaeto1-d7g4bt3.jpg
 
One of them is his personal bodyguard. She guards his body personally. The other one is his impersonal bodyguard.


Hans
 
The one in black is the cyborg. The other one is the remote body. It's used when she needs to be in two places at once. ( It took a while but she learned to multi-task her bodies. )

In my Traveller universe I've added a few extra human offshoot races. The race she was before the major accident that required she become a full body cyborg is one of them. I call them New Britannians.
 
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