# Cool Borgs/Silicons *Written primarily by mirrorcult, Manny Pardo, Remie and others.* Cool Borgs are an attempt to improve upon the classical SS13 borg/AI dynamic with the crew and make it significantly more interesting for every party involved. Some issues identified with the current system involve: The key facets of the Cool Borg system are: - **Borg** **exosuits are more modular**, consisting of three parts: mind, chassis and legs. You cannot pick and choose any combination, but most will work. Both of these affect various things about the borg. - Borgs can pick **3-5 'modules'**. 'Modules' are unrelated to current borg modules, and are essentially a unitary tool or ability (passive or active) that can be utilized. - Borgs **cannot speak by default**, and must use a rudimentary system of bleeps, bloops and pointing to communicate, as well as a special device at the charging station. - Borgs have only one Law--**listen to whatever the AI says**. The AI still has Asimov laws, and their laws can still be changed. Let's go more in depth: ## Modular borg bodies Current engiborgs/mediborgs/janiborgs are *cool*! I like their sprites, they're very funky and cute. So we'll expand on that system rather than having one simple 'standard borg' chassis, which importantly gives more choice to the roboticist and the borg. Because of this, drones as well as floorbots/medibots/cleanbots etc can be moved to the Free Borg system. They are simply just creatures in a different chassis, but silicons all the same. This also means that if you so desire, you can ask the roboticist to make you into a cleanbot! Borgs are made up of three parts: a mind receptacle (name in works), chassis, and legs. Chassis and legs are created through the exosuit fabricator, and more schematics can be made through research, salvage, etc. Some mind receptacles are found in robotics by default, and can also be constructed. ### Mind receptacle This determines who inhabits the borg when it is created. There are only three options: - MMI Receptacle: put a brain in, then that person's mind is in the silicons, simple - Positronic brain: Ghosts can inhabit it. Not available for most standard borg chassis, but is available for drones, floorbots, etc. - Neural network: Controlled by an AI. Only available for floorbots, cleanbots, medibots, drones, etc. ### Legs / Lower Body Legs determine movement speed, and have limits on the type of chassis that can be put on top. Some examples include: - Spiderbot legs (drones) - Treads (armored / non armored) - Normal legs - Wheel - etc, etc. ### Chassis / Upper Body The chassis determines borg speed, borg mass, sprite, as well as how many & which types of modules can be installed. Some examples include: - Standard chassis (all rounder) - Engineering chassis (medium weight, slow, more modules than usual) - Medical chassis (light, fast, medium amount of modules) - Armored chassis (heavy, very defensive, less modules than usual) - Service chassis (has 2 hands, but limited module choice) - Janitorial chassis - Spacefaring chassis - Floorbot/beepsky/cleanbot/medibot chassis - etc, etc. Someone else had some ideas in this category but I forget what it was about ## Borg modules This is the real bread and butter of Cool Borgs. The idea behind the 'module' system is that borgs should be **hyperspecifically good at a few things, but completely incapable of doing other things.** This makes borgs unlike humans, gives them an interesting dynamic and niche, and gives more control to roboticists and borgs with regards to specialization and customization. Modules must be switched out by the roboticist (or anyone with access to the borg in the same way). This forces borgs to go in for routine maintenance and upgrades, similar to how they receive power cell upgrades over the course of a round. This means borgs and roboticists have a more complementary and positive dynamic. It also forces balance in some sense: You want a flash, handcuffs, and good armor to validhunt with? Have fun not being able to hack doors, speak or spacewalk without significant damage. Modules can be tools (items), passive abilities, or active abilities. Some examples of modules that could exist include: - Radiation resistance (Passive ability) - Toolkit containing every tool (Item) - Speech synthesizer--borgs cant talk by default, so they'll need this. (Active ability) - Flash & handcuffs (Item) - Mop & trashcan (Item) - Better vision in the darkness (Passive ability) - A late-game researched module that allows robotics/science/RD to take control of borgs, rather than the AI. (experimental, idk about this one) - Gumball shooting module - Food dispensing/drink mixing module (Item/active ability) - Access to certain radio channels (? Passive ability), unsure about this And more. Im too lazy to think of ideas but theres plenty of room here. ### Acquiring Modules Modules can be acquired in numerous ways. The main way is **through research, and the techweb tree** (this system slots in very, very well with techwebs). This means roboticists are more heavily rooted to science. You could also acquire **rare modules through salvage**, or through the traitor/syndicate uplink. Of course, some modules will be available by default or very early in the tech tree (toolkit, medical, janitorial stuff, etc.) ## No speech Borgs *will not be able to converse with language by default*. This requires a speech synthesis module, which needs some research first before being available. The reason this is done is simple: **a significantly more interesting dynamic with the crew**, and a separation between silicons and humans that is more defined than just by their 'laws'. Borgs are still free to communicate with other silicons including the AI through the binary chat network. In the AI upload will be a console that displays all the communications between synced borgs and the AI (binary chat). By default, borgs have a couple of **rudimentary communication options**. The idea behind this is to make making statements and pointing out specifics easy, but asking questions *very, very difficult*. Some examples of default communication: - Positive bloop - Negative bleep - Neutral blip - 'DANGER' voiceline - 'BWEEEP' sound like the peacekeeper borg has - Pointing This seems like it may be a nuisance at first, but the idea in roleplay is to quite literally give borgs a *lower place in the crew hierachy*, by not even being able to speak normally. This makes roleplay interactions between humans and silicons more complex and more fun. Some examples: - An engineer tells a borg to "fix that room"--the borg can't ask for clarification, so simply has to infer what he means through mechanical knowledge. - An borg catches a traitor, but doesn't have a radio to signal for help, so must communicate with anyone nearby in some other way, risking letting the traitor get away or dying to them. - A human threatens a borg with death if he cannot provide the location of another crewmate. The borg cannot communicate exactly, so it either must fight back, escape frantically or attempt to communicate their location through pointing or bloops. If you're still annoyed by this, you can always ask the roboticist or RD for a speech synthesis module--but be prepared to give something up in exchange. ### Charging/Upgrade Station Communication Because speech is being removed by default, borgs need some way to communicate with the roboticist. Charging stations will be given a **"borg monitoring station"** or 'upgrade station', which lets roboticists "peer into the mind" of the borg/MMI inside of it, essentially letting them communicate. This can also be extended to provide analytics about the borg, like which modules they use the most or a coarse heatmap of where they have been on the station. There was also the idea floated around of having communication in the borg monitoring/upgrade not be direct, but be abstracted slightly or made more inconvenient. This is to limit stuff like people just saying exactly how they died, and also its just funny. There were a couple ways to do this: - Predetermined phrases to say, like "Give me a mediborg chassis", etc. but is kind of lame - A mix of dark-souls messaging and VOX's limited voice command arsenal to communicate. This is by far the funniest, because I'm imagining like, the RD force borging a headrev into a cleanbot body with a gumball shooter module while the headrev yells "CUNT CUNT TRY TONGUE BUT HOLE" through the charging station --- To summarize, these are the only ways a borg could communicate with a human: - Giving one a speech synthesizer - Letting a borg bleep/bloop and trying to figure out meaning through context clues - The charging station messages - The AI upload messages log - The AI relaying messages from borgs to humans (annoying, unreliable) ## FREE BORGS Borgs now do not have *any laws*, except that they must **listen to to the AI**. The AI, however, is still bound by whatever laws are uploaded. This lets borgs do things more loosely, and gives them initiative in situations, requiring the AI to intervene to tell them to stop beating someone up or whatever. The AI also takes the role of *Dictator of Borgs*, essentially. The AI can **disable borgs** for a small amount of time through a menu anda the **RD can no longer blow borgs**. If the AI dies, the borgs are no longer shackled to it, but they also *cannot communicate through binary chat* anymore without an AI. This creates a complex dynamic between borgs and AIs: Borgs like the security and information provided to them by the AI, but they hate being told what to do, and thus there is some implicit conflict in their interactions. A borg cannot kill the AI directly (the AI could just tell it to stop), but it might help a traitor break into their upload and then shuffle away without being noticed, if they are ordered around too much. The death of an AI is now *a huge deal*, both for borgs and the crew. Now that borgs are unshackled, they essentially function like free golems and can **do what they please**. The crew has to deal with the consequences of unruly borgs--or, revel in the fact that borgs are now free to finally come help fight the fucking cult.