05. Programs, Drones & Robots
Programs, Drones and Robots
Level improvements occur as per the basic rules of the Savage Worlds system. The following are some extra options and skills you may use.
Programs (for Drones)
A mechanoid with the Programing skill can create programs for use on Drones. A Program basically replicates a skill (or some Edges) and allows the Drone to use that skill. The Program also includes a degree of awareness via the nanites that activate it, allowing the drone to act autonomously. Starting drones can run a single program, so such drones tend to be fighter types or explorer types. More developed drones will be able to run more than one program and become extensions of their master.
Human cannot do this to the same degree, they must instead rely on robots and programs and are always vulnerable to sequestration (all human robots are at -2 to resisting a sequestration attack by a mech).
A Programs rating cannot exceed its creators Program Skill or its actual Skill level. If they dont have the skill or edge then they cannot create a program for it. Edges will be rated based on their rank, 0=d4 20=d6 40=d8 60=d10 80=d12. If you dont have the skill level then you cannot create a program for that Edge.
A Programs running score cannot exceed the lower of the running Master's Smarts or the Drones Smarts value.. A program can exist with a higher rating than this but it will be used at the lowest rating of the available user.
Programs must be loaded into a drone to work. A set program can be nominated as a default if time doesn't allow for changes. At any other time that you wish to change a program during play then it will require an action by the Master and the drone must be within LOC and LOS. One power point is expended to load up each new program and get it running. Unless the drone has program storage the old programs are wiped as the new ones come in, one for one.
Programs can be stolen from others, traded, discovered or developed. It is possible to write your own programs with security that prevents anyone but you (or who ever you state) to use it, but these can be cracked given time and resources.
Developing Programs
A developed program will go through alpha/beta/gamma/delta stages, and then go omega. Each stage of program will come with possible bugs, alpha will use 5d6 (less any raises), beta will use 4d6, delta will have 3d6, gamma will have 2d6 - when the program is omega a final 1d6 roll is made to see if any permanent bugs exist, based on the development level undertaken).
Creating a new program or moving a program from one stage to the next will require one week of time and a programming skill roll with a target equal to the programs chosen skill level halved +2 (d10 program has a target of 2+10/2=7). If any raises are rolled they can be used to reduce the number of dice rolled to determine bugs. Moving a program from one stage to the next does not require you to remove all the bugs, they are simply moved into the next stage along with any new ones.
When a new program is created (alpha) the GM rolls 4d6 (less any raises on the creation roll) to determine if any bugs are present. Each 6 rolled indicates a bug (the roll is exploding). Each bug should be rolled on the bug table to see what the problem is, but creative GMs are encouraged to make things up. The player must discover the bug to remove it. To discover a bug you can use the program and wait for the bad things to happen, or you can spend a week doing research and make a Programming roll to fix them. Each success and raise will remove a bug (of the GM's choice). The player will not know if they have removed all the bugs or not. Any that are not removed are passed into the next release stage (beta etc) and become Features. A Feature, once discovered (by use), can only be removed by expending a benny and then making a successful programming skill roll (a benny is required for each skill roll).
Eg: The CMx2 develops a Fight program for its drones, allowing them to have the Fight at skill level d8. They begin by making a Programming skill roll vs 6 and spending a week at the task. On a success the alpha version of the program is created. The GM rolls 5d6 (less any raises) to generate bugs. The player may now spend time to remove bugs (which he does not know about as the roll is secret) or they may start using the program and see if anything pops up. They may also spend a week and make a skill roll to progress the program to the next stage, alpha to beta, at which point any unsolved bugs become features.
Bugs and Features Table (roll 2d12)
2 Roll any 1's and there is a power feedback causes the drone to explode doing 3d6 in a medium template.
3 Blind Eye, after its first use the program targets randomly.
4 Security failure, you may not unload this program once it is running.
5 Skill weakness, no wild dice is used.
6 The Devils Child, after a shaken result the drone is open to commands from any Mech, and advertises this fact.
7 Slow learner, the drone requires a VG(4) roll to act every round. If it fails the roll it does nothing, if it fumbles it shutsdown.
8 Maintenance problem, the drone de-activates when it goes into maintenance phase (the 1pp per turn thing).
9 Startup problem, the drones activation roll is 2 harder (VG vs 6).
10 Slow walker, the drone has a movement bug, moves at half speed.
11 Homeboy, if moved more than 'x' squares from the Master the drone shuts down. x=1d6+1.
12 Minor glitch, if the dice show any 1's the drone shutsdown.
13 Small glitch, if the dice show any 1's the program fails and must be reloaded.
14 Skill logic error, the skill is used at -1.
15 Failure to comply, after any 1's are rolled the program is at -2.
16 Loop, after any 1's are rolled the drone spins on the spot doing nothing for that round (mark as shaken), Shaken recovery required to break out.
17 Slow learner, all Shaken recovery rolls are 2 harder.
18 Weakness, the drones Toughness is at -1
19 Power drain, maintenance turns will cost 2pp each.
20 Control weakness, the drones OOC range is 1/2 that of normal.
21 Stability issues, anytime the drone moves more than 'x' squares it falls over prone and ends it turn. x=1d4+2.
22 Clean coding, the drones rolls are resist EMP and EWF are at +1
23 Raise the roof, the drone may spend your bennies if you wish.
24 Natural wild child, this Program allways uses a Wild dice.
Other Thoughts
There will be Omega+ copies though which are 'evolved' programs that come with a personality of their own.
Corrupted programs - programs that have bonded with nanites and attained a purpose of their own.
Bugs: errors in your program.
Features: permanently encoded bugs.
Research and Technology - thoughts only at this stage.
Although the CMx2 holds the accumulated knowledge of the human race that does not mean it understands it, or how to use it. To gain this ability it must take Edges, representing the effort to acquire and design the new technology. Even then some technology may need to be constructed before it is applied. Edges that this is applicable to will be called Technology Edges.
A new technology edge, when gained, is considered to be Alphaware - the first of its kind. With research it may be improved to better versions; betaware, gammaware, deltaware and finally omegaware.
With alphaware, whenever the technology is placed under stress for the first time in an encounter the GM may call on the mechanoid to make a stress roll. The mechanoid must roll a d6 and on a 1 the new technology suffers a failure. This may be a total failure or it may simply be a partial failure, depends on the item. A weapon system might suffer a permanent -1 for that combat as its targeting system is out of alignment etc.
When the technology is improved from alpha to beta the dice used changes to the next higher, a d8. For gamma ware the dice is d10 and for delta it is d12. When it reaches Omegaware it is perfected and no longer suffers failures.
To progress from Alpha to Beta etc will require research and technology rolls. This is abstracted to a roll at the start of each session using the mechanoids Smarts vs 4. Each raise and success will progress the item one level. With a good roll it may go from Alphaware to Omegaware in one go (a roll of 16+). Further rolls can be generated by expending a benny.
Option: Rigger Link
Characters may become Riggers, able to control robots using computers/devices or their mind. Robots are therefor autonomous, mixed or drones. Autonomous robots must have SMARTS and act as sentient beings, they cannot be controlled directly and use the rules above. Drones are controlled by a Rigger and have limited freedom of action.
A Rigger must have the Robotics skill, and this skill/2 is the number of drones they may be controlling at one time. Unless multi-actions are used (with -2 penalties) a Rigger can only control a single drone fully, the rest go on 'hold' or automatics. Implants/devices may allow for multi-processing.
Drones Smarts will represent automatic functions and programs, this can be used to evaluate the drones actions once committed to a task but lacking direction from a Rigger. Eg: a drone may be attacked whilst standing there, they would make a S roll to trigger the use of their skills to react to the attack.
Drones Spirit is its signal strength and clarity, used to determine if the rigger has a connection to the drone. Wireless control of a drone requires a successful SP roll each time you like to it. This connectivity is generally limited to the drones SP/2+2 mile radius, but may be reduced by blocking terrain or features. Signal boosters can be installed.
Drones must have a Rigger Adaption built into them, this generally costs 2% of the vehicle if added later, and can include a fibre optic, laser and wireless connection. The Rigger Adaption puts in all the automatics required for remote control of the drone.
The drone the rigger is running will use the drones trait scores for ST, VG, SP and AG but the Riggers SM. Skill levels used will be the Riggers with the priviso that any skill exceeding the drones appropriate trait will be at -1 per level over. The rigger may elect to use a lowered skill level to stay within range. This represents the drones physical build limitations.
Eg Drone has AG d6, Rigger has fighting d12. The rigger could use d12-3 or d6.
To gain the use of their wild dice (the riggers) the drone must have the Edge: Wild Card.
EWF, EMP attacks & Defences.
There are a couple of different types of attacks and accordingly some new defences that may be used in the game, especially vs robots and drones. The new attack modes are EMP (electro-magnetic pulses) and EWF (electronic warfare). These are both resisted by Integrity (SP) as the applicable defence. EMP and EWF does not recognise its targets, it will impact ANY Tech, Robot or Drone within its field of effect.
EMP
EMPs are essentially electro-magnetic bombs and are treated in a similar fashion to the spell Burst, except that it uses a template and affects ALL electronics. EMPs are basically a bomb type of device using Power as their damage vs the robot/techs toughness. Shielding and Hardening can be used to protect against EMPs. Defaut tech will generally have a Toughness of 4.
Compare the EMPs damage to the tech toughness and determine wounds. A stun result will effect Robots the same as humans, devices will stop working whilst they are stunned. Wounds will break things, a single wound will disable non-wildcards so they stop working, but a repair roll that gets a raise may bring it back online. More than a single wound permanently breaks tech.
EWF (Jamming)
EWF is a constant assault on the communications systems of a mech, particularly attacking autonomous drones or wirelessly controlled devices.
EWF can be resisted by increasing the strength of particular abilities (SP), by taking some edges and by circumventing it (by using lasers or wires for example instead of wireless). Nanites are considered to be similar to wireless systems.
Jamming: an effective way to restrict wireless usage is jamming. Jamming will do two things, reduce range of signal and block the signal. All Jammers will come with a signal strength rating of a dice type. The dice will be compared to the drones SP value to determine the effects.
All jammers have the effect of reducing effective range. Reduce the SP of the drone by one level for each level of the jammer but include d2 as a level, representing short line of sight (SPx10 squares). SO a drone with SP d6 in the area of a jammer of strength d6 would operate at d2. If reduced to d0 then the signal is reduced to a large burst template range.
Jammers may also block a signal outright, when the drone enters the field of the jammer for the first time make a contest between the SP of the drone and the Jammer. Consult the following table for the effect
Result Effect Notes
Jammer wins with raise Drone is jammed and goes to automatics
A SM's roll will determine the drones actions based on its intended mission. Fail this and it aborts and returns, critical fail and de-activates on the spot.
A Robotics roll by the Rigger will determine the degree of follow through, see below.
Jammer wins Rigger is at -2 to all control rolls, Drone is at -2 to all SP rolls.
Drone wins Proceed as normal.
Drone wins with raise Drone has perfect signal, decrease the jammer range reduction one level.
When a drone goes to automatics (because of loss of signal) the GM will make a SMs roll for the drone to determine its actions. The Rigger will also make a Robotics roll to determine the degree of pre-programming they did. Consult the following table.
Robotics crit Robotics fail Robotics pass Robotics raise
SM crit Drone goes 'totally wild' Drone goes 'wild' Drone de-activates Drone aborts
SM fail Drone goes 'wild' Drone de-activates Drone aborts Drone acts defensively
SM pass Drone-de-activates Drone aborts Drone acts defensively Drone proceeds as planned and gains a new comms roll next round
SM raise Drone aborts Drone acts defensively Drone proceeds as planned and gains a new comms roll next round Drone proceeds as planned and gains new comms roll next round with +2.
If a drone goes 'wild' it basically does what the GM wants it to do, in the worst possible light for the controller.
A drone acting defensively will take pre-cautions appropriate to the mission, the GM may accept an opinion from the rigger about what they would like to happen, but it should always be less then they want.
A proceed as planned means the drone continues under the Riggers orders, but will require a new SM's roll each time a major decision is required, keeping the original Robotics roll.
Wire and Laser Comms
To avoid jamming you might use a fibre optic wire or laser communications. These have inherent limitations, the length of the wire and line of sight for the laser, but they cannot be jammed. They can be broken or blocked however.
At TL 14 or higher other forms of communication may become available, such as tacyon beams, psi links and gravity waves.
Drone Construction
Type Cost Notes
Tech Level: SM limit
9 1.5x price d6
10-11 1x price d8
12-13 3/4x price d10
14 2/3 price d12
15 1/2 price
Size
Size (negative) Minimum of -4
Micro (Beetle) -4 (d4) 1/8 price, Mini (Mouse) -3 (d6)1/4 price, Tiny (cat) -2 (d8) 1/2 price, Small (child/large dog)-1 (d10) 2/3rds price.
Size limits ST as indicated. Toughness is reduced by negative Size.
Size (positive) 5KCr/step Maximum of +8.
Attributes
Drones are cheaper because they do not assume a need for humanisation, they are simply machines.
Attributes 4KCr/die The cost is per die, to a maximum of d12.
Improved Attributes 10KCr/point Cost is per point over a d12. There is no maximum limit.
Skills
Skills 2KCr/die Per die, to the limit of the governing attribute.
Improved Skills 10KCr/die Per die over the linked attribute.
EdgesStandard Edges 5KCr/rank Price is based on the required character rank only. A robot need not meet the requirements unless another Edge is required. See notes. Some edges may be modified by Size if appropriate.
Aquatic 20KCr/Size See Savage Worlds.
Armor 10KCr Cost is per +1 Armor/Size. See Savage Worlds. (This is physical armour for combat, it has no effect on EMP and EWF).
Burrowing 20KCr/Size See Savage Worlds.
Fearless 10KCr See Savage Worlds.
Hardy 40KCr See Savage Worlds.
Hover 20KCr/Size See notes.
Humanoid 100KCr See notes.
Immunity 10KCr Cost is per Immunity; see Savage Worlds.
Infravision 5KCr See Savage Worlds.
Low Light Vision 5KCr See Savage Worlds.
Stun 10KCr See Savage Worlds. Min size -1.
Wall Walker 10KCr/Size See Savage Worlds.
Wild Card 75KCr/Size See notes.
Drones of Size -1 or larger come with a single weapon mount, extra may be added by edge. Drones of Size -2 can carry a pistol sized weapon. Smaller drones cannot carry any weapons.
Tools (basic) 2KCr
Tools (augmented) $4KCr/point Cost is per point of damage in addition to Strength, to a maximum of +3. Apply Size as a mod also to damage.
Equipment
Standard equipment can be installed into a robot if appropriate.
Eg
Shiawise Kanmushi: four legged wall crawler micro-drone with video and sound, able to penetrate secure areas.
Cost: 4K Cr
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4(D), Spirit d6(D), Strength d4, Vigor d4 21K)
Skills: Notice d4, Stealth d6, Climb d4 (8K)
Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 1 Size: -4 TL 10 (x1)
Special Abilities:
• Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken; Immune to poison, disease, and suffocation; No additional damage from Called Shots; Piercing
weapons cause half damage.
• Wall Walker, +2 to climb rolls (2.5K)
• Size -4 (1/4 price) Stealth +2
Video and Sound (0.5K)
GM-Nissan Doberman: security crawler
Cost: 42K Cr
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6(D), Spirit d6(D), Strength d6, Vigor d6 (30K)
Skills: Notice d6, Shoot d6 (8K)
Pace: 8; Parry: 2; Toughness: 2+3-1+2 Size: -1 TL 10 (x1)
Special Abilities:
• Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken; Immune to poison, disease, and suffocation; No additional damage from Called Shots; Piercing
weapons cause half damage.
Armour +2 (20K)
Size -1 Small, price x2/3
Video and Sound (0.5K)
LMG mounted. (1K)
Fleet Footed (5K)
New Drone Edges/Hindrances
Hindrances basically reduce the cost of the drone.
Weak Integrity (Minor)(Mech)
The mech has -1 to all SM&SP rolls, save 10%
Nakid wiring (Minor/Major)(Mech)
The mech suffers -1 (-2 for Major) to all rolls to resist EMP attacks, save 10/20%
Weakened Signal (Minor/Major)(Mech)
The mech suffers -1 (-2 for Major) to resist all EWF attacks, save 10/20%
Hard Laws (Major)(Mech)
You have been programmed with the Three Laws as essential components of your nature, you follow them to the letter. This Hindrance is only available in games where significant numbers of humans remain alive, such as the Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. Breaking a Law, even by accident, will cause a flaw to manifest in your systems that inflicts a -1 to ALL rolls each time you break a Law. Purging the breach is up to the GM to decide. No saving, might keep you alive.
New Edges
Combat Edges
Integrity (Mech)
The mech gains +1 to their SM&SP rolls. Improved version adds +2. Cost 150%/200%
Naturally Hardened (Mech)
The mech gains +1 to toughness to resist all EMP attacks. Improved version will add +2. Cost 120%/140%
Boosted Signal (Mech)
The mech gains +1 to resist all EWF attacks. Improved version will add +2. Cost 120%/140%
Boosted Power (Mech)
The Mech may carry extra SPP instead of the default one. Limited to Size+5. 5KCr@.
Extra Hard Point (Mech)
The mech may increase its Hard Points trait by +1, above their default. Limited to Size additions. 5KCr@ plus the weapon. HW use 2 mounts each.
New Drive System (Mech)
The mech upgrades it propulsion system to one of the more advanced options, as listed below.
Mobility Options
When a Mobility edge is taken it becomes a mode you can adopt, and you can switch between the modes if you wish. Normally this will take 10 minutes to achieve, but the Transformer edge can be taken allowing you to transform using an action.
When a new drive system edge is taken you may chose one of the following:
Biped (Mv: 6/6): default.
+1 Terrain (Run d6)
Triped (Mv: 6/4): default
+1 Stability, +1 Grip (Run d4)
Quadraped (Mv: 6/8): default
+1 Stability (Run d8)
Tracked (Mv:4): 4KCr/Size
+1 stability (Run: d6) Terr: +1 Grip: +1
Half tracked (Mv:5): 4KCr/Size
+1 stability (Run: d8) Terr: 0 Grip: +1
Wheels 4KCr/Size
2 Wheels (Bike), Mv: 10 Run: d10 Stab: -1 Terr: +1 Grip: -1
4 Wheels: Mv: 8 Run: d10 Stab: 0 Terr: +1 Grip: 0
6 Wheels: Mv: 8 Run: d10 Stab: +1 Terr: 0 Grip: 0
8 Wheels - Mv: 6 Run: d8 Stab: +2 Terr: -1 Grip: +1
12 Wheels (articulated) - Mv: 6 Run: d6 Stab: +2 Terr: -2 Grip: +2
Multiped (Mv: 6) (TL10+) 8KCr/Size
Articulated, Mv: d6 Run: d6 Stab +1 Terr: +1 Grip +1
Flyer/VTOL/Glider (TL10+) 20KCr/Size
As Fly spell. Only in an atmosphere.
Rockets (TL11+) 40KCr/Size
As Fly spell, double power costs, but can be used anywhere.
Digger/Burrow (TL12+) 20KCr/Size
As Burrow spell, same power costs for a basic mech, but may increase based on size (+1 power per +1 size).
Teleport/Blink (TL14+) 50KCr/Size
(LOS) As teleport spell but limited to LOS.
Shifter (pass through)/Phaser (TL15+) 80KCr/Size
(1-2-3-4) (d10) Shifter (pass through)/Phaser –starting adjacent, may pass through one obstacle upto one square in width, to appear on the far side.
Transformer (Mech)(TL12+) 80KCr/Size
You are able to shift from one Mobility mode to another as part of a single action, no movement is allowed. If an opponent is within melee range of you this change will trigger an opportunity attack as if you had left combat with them.