Re: [HOE] calling all junkers!

["Christopher Merrill" <fuzyn9feet@earthlink.net>]

> Any gadget that can walk needs legs, and those legs need to be bought as
> described under Locomotion. Any gadget that walks on two legs needs
Agility to
> stay upright, unless it is worn by a human; the Agility power
automatically
> includes arms and such as well, if you want them. This part seems a little
> iffy--it's odd that you have to specifically build legs, but not arms--but
I'm
> willing to rationalize it as needing better hydraulics, stronger, more
deeply
> attached supports, etc. to allow actual walking.

This has been one of my pet-peeves. I like Agility for arms cuz it keeps the
slot cost down and for easier math. I don't like it cuz it makes for
something lacking, after all you have Locomotion take care of the legs but
there's nothing for arms. Now using the Familiar with it's automatic Agility
they only need Locomotion (or VTOL) to walk. Assuming form is more of a
matter of style than function one could have a rat, monkey or raccoon. Each
of these have some (although miner) hand-eye manipulation.

> My house rule was on the subject of the engine. For walker vehicles *with
> Agility*, you only need to buy the engine under Locomotion if you want the
full
> speed it provides. With legs and Agility but no engine, the gadget moves
like a
> character, that is, its Nimbleness yards per round. It only seems fair
that a
> gizmo with legs like a human and muscles like a human should be able to
move
> like a human. Bear in mind that a d12 Nimbleness moves you at about 5 mph,
while
> the smallest walker engine can do 10 mph and has the same slot size as a
single
> d12 in Agility.

I like this because I has some similar thoughts about making a Hover-board.
Using the Hover part of Locomotion but leaving out the power-plant because
the power for forward motion would come from the person using it. So it
would jive IMNSHO that a walking bot wouldn't need the power-plant but
Agility...

> This just makes it a little easier to design small humanoid robots. What
with
> Agility, Brains, Commo, Locomotion, and Sensor needed at a bare minimum,
and
> stuff like AI, Reflexes and Super Strength pretty desireable as well, it
can get
> awful hard to cram enough stuff into a Size 5 frame to be useful.

Humans are Frame size 6, 5 would be a small person.

Christopher Merrill
A W.H.A.T.T. Member