Robotic Brains
When a robot is created, obviously a computer brain is required. Typically, a brain is purchased from the equipment list. If one needs to be fabricated either a 1st stage technician or a 1st stage physicist is required.
Skills
Creating a robot involves an investment by it's creator, so often they are not released into a dangerous situation without any skill. There are numerous ways a new robot can gain their initial stages.
Basic Training
In this case, the robot is enrolled in a training program similar to what would be used for biological personel.
Accellerated Training
The memories of someone who earned the skills desired are recorded and fed into the robot at high speed. This technique emulates the robot actually having the experiences recorded so that they earn the skill from them. Typically the memories can be transferred at x10 speed, so the robot earns the skill in a tenth the time of the original recording.
One wouldn't be able to grab someone off the street and record their memories for this purpose. An enhanced recording device must be incorporated into the subject to get a detailed record of their experiences.
The robot would have rolled occupation bonuses and stamina, adjusted by any leader training in the memories. The results of the rolls may be different from the results the source of the memories had.
Imprinting
Instead of training, an imprint of an occupation can be directly downloaded to the robotic brain giving them the stage instantly. This is a significantly more complex process than getting them to re-experience other peoples memories and requires a mathematician to perform.
Imprint Quality
- Minimal - the occuption bonuses and stamina are automatically the minimum possible roll.
- Basic - the occupation bonuses and stamina are rolled normally.
- Maximum - the occupation bonuses and stamina are automatically the maximum possible roll.
A minimal imprint only requires a 1st stage mathematician to install. A basic imprint requires a 2nd stage mathematician and a maximum imprint requires a 3rd. The absolute stage being imprinted also affects difficulty - requiring an equal stage of mathematician. So, if you are imprinting a robot's 4th stage, you need a 4th stage mathematician to perform the imprint.
Obtaining Imprints
An imprint is obtained from a being with the desired occupation. A minimal or basic imprint can be obtained from anyone with that stage, but a maximum imprint must be obtained from someone who has the maximum bonuses and stamina for that occupation (ie: trained by a Leader). The stage of occupation must match up as well. To imprint a robot with 2 stages of Infantry, for example, the second stage must be an imprint from someone who had a second stage of infantry. You couldn't use the first stage of infantry and imprint it twice.
Obtaining an imprint from someone is not pleasent for the doner. The easiest method is for a psionic plate to be used to extract the skill for the imprint. For each point of skill extracted, there is a 1 in 6 chance that the skill is destroyed in the doner. Also, for each point the doner must roll two dice and get under their will power or they suffer a stress point from the pain. There are more advanced techniques that reduce the skill destruction risk to just a 1 in 36 chance (12 on 2D6), however these are rare.
In many cases, the doner for an imprint is not a willing participant.
Buying Imprints
NastiDyne sells 1 use only imprints for the following prices:
1st Stage Occupations:
- Minimal - 100
- Basic - 500
- Maximum - 2000
2nd Stage Occupations:
- Minimal - 200
- Basic - 1000
- Maximum - 4000
Imprints acquired privately can be used as many times as the owner wants and can be quite valuable.