 March 22, 2009 - 1:19pm | cannon rules say a PC can carry 1/2 or less of his STR in kg in 1g of gravity and still make a full move is it specified anywhere what a robot can carry? presumably hvy duty robot bodies can carry a lot since they're used for construction and mining I wanted to create a mule bot (lvl 1 or 2) with a binary based remote control to help the party lug stuff (decided against that as the whole thing about wandering the desert of Volturnus is about what can be carried and the decisions made as to what can be left) STILL suppose we had a "Big Dog" robot like whats being tested for the US army: http://i.gizmodo.com/5160863/big-dogs-us-army-antics-keep-freaking-us-out You'd only need a lvl 1 or 2 robot with very simple mission: Remain in proximity of team and follow recognized commands. function 1: would define team function 2 would define proximity function 3 would define what are the recognized commands. further functions would define those commands. it would be able to gallop like a horse and be very comfortable in rough terrain (being a quadruped) I'd say that it could hold 4 back pack/ side in saddle bag fashion and could even be ridden with a saddle or drag a traviolis behind it. I suspect it could haul a lot anyone with ideas? what if this robot design was built on a hvy duty robot chassis as a quadruped? it be like a elephant with a howdah walking through the jungle- maybe even give it a trunk like extra limb for uprooting trees in the way. I could easily see a jungle installation patrolled and guarded by this kind of robot with men riding in the howdah with a heavy weapon mounted as well. that could come as a big surprise to unsuspecting PCs I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 22, 2009 - 4:14pm | I could easily see a jungle installation patrolled and guarded by this kind of robot with men riding in the howdah with a heavy weapon mounted as well. that could come as a big surprise to unsuspecting PCs The SF version of the AT-TE. I like. I like a lot. In answer, there's no hard and fast rule on robot carrying capacities anywhere in the AD rules, ZEB's neither, I don't think. "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
 March 22, 2009 - 4:49pm | I know Zeb's doesnt have anything about robots. Pretty certain that AD doesnt have much to say about it. I would say a bot could easily carry a load equal to its STR. Throw in a "special design" rule and a Mule class bot could carry twice that with room left over for a travios Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
 March 22, 2009 - 10:37pm | As an added twist, you could even make it a hover bot, dragging a hover trailer behind it. Metallic tentacles could be added for the elephant trunk equivalent, and they could be multiple and retractable, so as to stay out of the way when not needed. In any case, the idea sounds good to me. Seems like a good low cost and low maintenance way for PCs to lug around more stuff. |
March 22, 2009 - 10:52pm | i was first thinking that robots should follow the rule for characters but living muscle fatigues and enough strain and the muscle just fails- I learned this very dramatically in a 40' free rapel which turned into a hand over hand descent with no safety measures when one of my hands just failled and I found out what ground felt like from 25' up (college stupidness)! I dont think robots should be limited to 1/2 STR but at their STR in kg they drop to half and at say 1.5 x their STR they start to burn out and do damage or at 2x their STR. I would think that a hvy duty robot chassis would pretty much run out of space to carry stuff before it ran out of weight capacity. Actually Rum rogue is onto something- a quadruped robot would be spreading the weight load over 4 legs not 2 so it would be able to take the strain of more weight than a std. upright robot. @Will: I was thinking more of a mechanical version of a Carthaginian war elephant or something you'd see in south east asia - I was looking at the robot safari adventure from an old Space gamer magazine and tinkering with a version of my own for that. Basically the hunting resort has the pacaderm bot with a howdah that tenderfoot thrill seekers can ride in comfort and out of danger while on safari. these could be used on a robot safari resort or a live animal hunting preserve- they're cheap and simple enough. if the pacaderm bot was built to lvl 5 or 6 it would be smart enough to carry on conversation and act as a hunting guide though the rental cost would be higher than the simple minded binary imput controlled bot with a limited sellection of commands. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 23, 2009 - 6:43am | I dont think robots should be limited to 1/2 STR but at their STR in kg they drop to half and at say 1.5 x their STR they start to burn out and do damage or at 2x their STR. I like this. I think its a good start. I have a copy of the Traveller robotic booklet on a harddrive somewhere... I wonder what that says... But there would have to be some safety protocols that would keep the robot from damaging itself unless under extreme duress. There is a sufficient monetary factor that is involved with these things. Besides, a Mule is strong and can work all day, but it knows its limitations, and when it can go no further it will stop and not move until its ready. A horse can easily be worked or ridden to death, but a Mule knows when to say nay. Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
March 23, 2009 - 6:01pm | @Will: I was thinking more of a mechanical version of a Carthaginian war elephant or something you'd see in south east asia Hopefully without any half-naked aneorexic crackwho—I mean Top Model wannabes—hanging from the trunk.  Seriously, good idea, and I think Lucas did draw inspiration from Hannibal's use of elephants during the Punic Wars. - I was looking at the robot safari adventure from an old Space gamer magazine and tinkering with a version of my own for that. Basically the hunting resort has the pacaderm bot with a howdah that tenderfoot thrill seekers can ride in comfort and out of danger while on safari. these could be used on a robot safari resort or a live animal hunting preserve- they're cheap and simple enough. if the pacaderm bot was built to lvl 5 or 6 it would be smart enough to carry on conversation and act as a hunting guide though the rental cost would be higher than the simple minded binary imput controlled bot with a limited sellection of commands. Cool either way. Bill wrote an article for a robotic horse in SFMan#8...a robotic elephant, especially one build for combat, tho...would definitely add new meaning to the words "It's stompin' time!" "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
March 24, 2009 - 11:16am | @ Will without a doubt a hvy duty combat robot is hard to handle but I was originally thinking of a robot designed for use on vacation resorts: it's big, it moves through the jungle safely and lets rich tourist enjoy the flavor of a jungle hunt in comfort and style from the back of an "elephant" then people being people they always find a way to twist things to better kill their fellow man so some evil potting scientist saw this robot and thought cool I can put guards on that with a hvy weapon to patrol my hidden lab deep in the jungle. First you run a robot safari scenario - PCs get use to the pacaderm being part of the environment then then encounter one on guard duty. the robot is potentially dangerous but the real danger is in the guards and their heavy weapon. depends on the strength of the party- whether you'd want a combat version of this robot. though if I was assualting on I'd have every Yazerian in the party up a tree along its patrol path and use the glide ability to get aboard. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 24, 2009 - 2:58pm | Get aboard or drop grenades on it from above? "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
 March 24, 2009 - 3:55pm | So if a robot does overload, are you talking structural damage to its frame or the hydrolics blow? I've seen critticle hit/damage charts for players. Anybody made up a hit table for bots? |
March 24, 2009 - 4:20pm | So if a robot does overload, are you talking structural damage to its frame or the hydrolics blow? I've seen critticle hit/damage charts for players. Anybody made up a hit table for bots? Dragon Magazine article Shot in the Arm. Critical hit system for SF. Includes robots and meat sacks Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
 March 25, 2009 - 5:44am | Here's your mulebot --- |
March 25, 2009 - 8:51am | Here's your mulebot --- I like that. So a lvl 1 robot, std body, and a chronocom? to text binary commands to it via party chronocoms plus the mission and functions I described above as a Zine submission? plus the solar cell spray coating for robots in the energizer bunny thread? could even include the bulky fragile energy collector describe with a d10 mechanic for energy collect just make it cheaper than the coating. so that it represent older tech and the coating is more cutting edge. then a work up of the pacaderm robot and you have a well rounded submission for the next Frontiersman? I might even scratch build a mini like I did with this one: http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff83/jedion357/?action=view¤t=Robochassisscale02-1.jpg http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff83/jedion357/?action=view¤t=RobotGunarm004.jpg http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff83/jedion357/?action=view¤t=RobotHeadshots001.jpg http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff83/jedion357/?action=view¤t=RobotHeadshots004-1.jpg http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff83/jedion357/?action=view¤t=RobotHeadshots005-1.jpg I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 25, 2009 - 12:30pm | Thanks, I used the cybot chit as a base for that minus the rear legs and organic torso... One other suggestion: have the legs detach and fit in the storage compartments, allowing it to be more compact for vehicle transport (such as in a lifeboat or explorer etc). |
March 25, 2009 - 5:57pm | I see that there are so many talented and industrious individuals in this community. Ever think about creating a Robotics Omnibus? Sort of like a bestiary of bots? It could explain (and expound on) all the programs available as well as explanations of hardware and rules about how many programs and how much hardware a bot can handle. It wold need to divide bots into all their categories (Maintenance, Heavy Duty, Combat, Security, Service, Cybernetic, Warbot, Robot Brain) and give detailed examples from each (with cool illustrations, of course). There should be plenty of technical data regarding the bots like limit-switches, actuators, servos, sensors, wireless communications abilities, data recording ability...Where would a medical bot fit in and what exactly would it be capable of? I was wondering about the zero G void travel. Looking at my kids stuck in the house for 4 or 5 days (pre-jump) and then wondered where all that crap they had out would land when gravity returned during deceleration. I would kill for a robotic maid. How would it know where things went? The appropriate place for each and every thing would need to be programed into it. (still working on that with the kids). I was amazed with the detail and variety that was put into the Fighters and thought that it would be cool if the same thing were done for Robots, and have it all in one book....Now that I have typed this, it dawns on me to ask..."or has something like that already been done?" |
June 19, 2009 - 6:33am | Just found- In Polygon issue 19 page 32 - http://www.starfrontiers.com/rules/Polyhedron/dp_19.jpg a standard robot body could carry 150kg at normal speed and up to double that at half speed. Also a robot could travel 10 km on 10 SEU I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 June 20, 2009 - 8:06pm | I like the idea behind the design, and think it would certainly work well in many situations. One of the big problems with a legged mule-bot is balance. This is due to the need to have long legs to give decent mobility and thus a high center of gravity. Remove a single pack from one side and it could become unstable, especially on rough terrain. Another problem is soft ground. The bot would need to have special wide soled shoes to be attached to cross soft terrain like sand or mud. When I designed a mule bot 20-odd years ago, I used a tracked design. It looked like the German half-track motorbikes from WWII, without the front wheel. Tracks offer better weight distribution, a low center of gravity, and excellent all terrain mobility, including soft ground. It offered plenty of space to carry backpacks for a party of six plus plenty of other survival supplies. IMHO, this type of arrangement would offer greater carrying capacity and better performance over a legged robot. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of
the strong. * Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi |
June 20, 2009 - 8:33pm | I see that there are so many talented and industrious individuals in this community. Ever think about creating a Robotics Omnibus? Sort of like a bestiary of bots? It could explain (and expound on) all the programs available as well as explanations of hardware and rules about how many programs and how much hardware a bot can handle. It wold need to divide bots into all their categories (Maintenance, Heavy Duty, Combat, Security, Service, Cybernetic, Warbot, Robot Brain) and give detailed examples from each (with cool illustrations, of course). There should be plenty of technical data regarding the bots like limit-switches, actuators, servos, sensors, wireless communications abilities, data recording ability...Where would a medical bot fit in and what exactly would it be capable of? I was wondering about the zero G void travel. Looking at my kids stuck in the house for 4 or 5 days (pre-jump) and then wondered where all that crap they had out would land when gravity returned during deceleration. I would kill for a robotic maid. How would it know where things went? The appropriate place for each and every thing would need to be programed into it. (still working on that with the kids). I was amazed with the detail and variety that was put into the Fighters and thought that it would be cool if the same thing were done for Robots, and have it all in one book....Now that I have typed this, it dawns on me to ask..."or has something like that already been done?" Regarding the Medical Bot, I designed one that was located in an auxilary med-bay in the engineering section of a HS 14 freighter / passenger liner - a couple hundred meters from the main sick bay. It was basically a level 3, self propelled auto-surgeon remotely operated by the med-tech on duty in the sick bay on the passenger deck. Robot Maids are best handled with a level 4 service robot. It is sufficiently independent enough to handle figuring out what needs to be done and where things go. They are what I use in hotels and passenger liners. ;) I can't do the art, but I've written down many of my robot designs in my House Rules document, including at least one of each level, to help me keep the capabilities straight in my head. I might put something together to submit to the Frontiersman some day. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of
the strong. * Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi |
