Eclipse Phase: Frosted Glass Discussion

[Dracorion]

Augh goddamnit! I can't think of a proper comeback to "Are you mad?"

I suck.

And hey, Synths still cost the same as Splicers.

[Arhra]

One can be banged out in a workshop over a few afternoons, the other takes a minimum of 18 months floating in a nutritient broth while you apply the necessary genetic cocktail to make sure it grows up right.

[Overcast]

And Synths have all sorts of advantages that you don't have to buy that you would for Splicers. This is including the puppet sock, air and food, vacuum survival...the only reason I suggested them was because it seemed more in style.

[Dracorion]

Plus, y'know, the whole social stigma thing is fixed with a Synthetic Mask.

[PhoenixFlame]

And integrated armor.

... And better durability.

[Dracorion]

Granted, that whole Uncanny Valley is a dead giveaway, but who cares? They're just thugs. The overall cost should remain the same.

Originally Posted by Geminex

I don't want to think about it. Though if I did want to, I'd think less "clash of the titans" and more "eternal threesome".

You wish. The three Ellens wouldn't want anything to do with each other, except maybe if the two copies are beta forks they might make a temporary alliance to kill the original.

You know, burning 40 rep for a couple of bodyguards doesn't sound so bad. somehow. But I'm probably underestimating the value of rep. Maybe I can get it all in one favor. Kind of a package deal.

Or hell, she doesn't have to get it all in one shot. Fenris is mostly populated by infomorphs and Synths, yes? And credits don't do much in the outer system. How hard would it be to find a Ghostrider Module and a couple of Security AIs in a station filled with Informorphs and Synths? And what kinda rep would be needed to acquire them? c-rep? @-rep?

Yes, I am fully aware whatever services Ellen would have to offer in exchange for the stuff wouldn't involve sex. Shut up.

[Geminex]

Augh goddamnit! I can't think of a proper comeback to "Are you mad?"

And seriously, stop it with the bodyguards. If anyone significant wants you dead, they aren't going to stop usthem. You're just wasting resources. If you're gonna burn huge amounts of rep, get Spectre his body back. That'll get you a mildly obedient, and, above all, competent minion. Not some Synth without initiative or ability to hit a barn door.

And a question, synthmorphs can't get "real" armor, as well as whatever's built-in, right? Like, even though it's humanoid, a synthmorph can't wear body armor. I assume. Because 16/16 armor, plus worn armor would be excessive.

Oh, and what's up with identity and anonymity? The manual had quite a bit of info on it, but I'm still... uncertain. Anonymity and stealth will be important to my character, so is there any way we could get some more info on that?

[Overcast]

You're just saying that because it furthers your goals, and really no amount of Rep burning is going to get that body back. I only say so because it is a damn boring way to do so, the best you are going to get is some information that will lead you closer but just getting it back by having someone else grab it is boring and awkward.

A body guard is perfectly reasonable, but not one teleoperated by Ellen, which Drac has seen. Get a barely functional AI and a reasonable programmer, a large quantity(say ten) of small rotor flight enabled robots. Give them little buzz saws and seeker pistols, common pistols, shard pistols, and whatever is small in energy weapons. You then have a versatile, expendable, flight enabled and annoying bunch of creeps that are likely portable enough to keep in a suitcase and deploy at any time.

[Geminex]

You're just saying that because it furthers your goals, and really no amount of Rep burning is going to get that body back. I only say so because it is a damn boring way to do so, the best you are going to get is some information that will lead you closer but just getting it back by having someone else grab it is boring and awkward.

Psst. Sometimes, the things I say are either jokes, or provocations. If you have to spend sixty words explaining why what I said was stupid, it's likely that I wasn't actually being serious. Of course I wouldn't want the body back that easily. It'd remove my character's primary short-term motivation, and unbalance his already-shaky backstory even further.

(And no, that was just 59 words. You may take it seriously.)

Regarding the bodyguard, what do you mean by "small rotor flight enabled robots"? I've checked, there doesn't really seem to be one. There's a "Guardian Angel" bot with some pretty good mods (including Neurachem), for just 1000 Creds (so they're expendable), but I don't think it can carry weapons (Neurachem would be for the purpose of perception checks). There's also Dragonfly morphs, but they're expensive, and 1 metre in length, so not small either. Your concept is interesting, but I don't think it's possible to realize it. And even if it were, I don't think the idea would be that great. You've named a lot of light weapons. That limits their damage potential and range. Concealability is nice, but with small size comes weak armor. Very easy to kill. You said expendable, but no bodyguard's gonna be expendable, because they're all going to cost at least 5000, for the AI. So no, I think bodyguards are a waste of resources. If he could get one really effective guard, maybe. Like, splurge on a high-quality morph, good weapons, good enhancements, make something that's very unlikely to die, that might work. But he'd still be limited by a low-quality AI.

So no, I don't think that swarms of bodyguards or one strong bodyguard would be worth their creds/rep. I might be proven wrong, 'fcourse, but you have limiting factors that'd be hard to overcome.

[Krylo]

I'm pretty sure you can upgrade the small robots with any upgrades that could fit into a synthmorph (in fact it says in the rule book you could use one as a shell by purchasing a cyberbrain for it), so for about 20000 you could buy/upgrade a guardian angel to have a pair of articulated weapon mounts, better armor, a pistol, a seeker pistol, and a good amount of highly dangerous micromissiles.