Cybernetic Phones
CyberEar thinger

Why isn't there a cyberware to combat that?

Seems like there is a whole economy among buying stolen phones and reselling them.

To which I have a sideline question, why don't folks just stop buying them? Take the demand away and then hopefully it stops?

But in a world of shots that can make you the incredible hulk, I think having a cybernetci unstealable phone would be totally possible.

Maybe with an ear alone it acts somewhere between a 7 and a 9 (redial but no caller ID) and with the addition of a HUD it acts somewhere between a 9 and an 11, with contacts but no texting. That might also drive an uptick in HUDs which I think would be good.

It would need to be expensive, though. Maybe around the price of an 11? Then you're choosing between more features and no PDS load vs PDS load and less features.

I'd also have to imagine that it'd be pretty damn expensive to balance out the reduction in risk.

Would the phone use something like a think emote to talk into? Or would you just be mumbling to yourself in the corner like some crazy person? Also, there should totally be a light or something on your ear showing when you're on a call.

Cybernetic phones/radios could use the Shadowrun model and have an option for a subvocal mic, otherwise it'd be full audible to reply.

l wick

Jack Wick is a tall, dark and handsome man, with a rugged face, inky black and slightly greasy hair, and a scrubby beard on his face and neck. He looks like he's seen some shit. Behind Jack's ear, you can see a red light blinking once every few seconds.

He's holding a whisky.

He is in mindblowing condition. He looks haggard, like he could use a fix. His outfit is impeccable, he's dressed to kill.

Potential gameplay balance issues aside, rule of cool would get so many people using this. Hell, I could easily see this as potentially people's first cyberware they'd install after coming into the city. Who doesn't

Do you not add things that would codedly make sense, just because they could make something harder for someone who could just type grapple homeboy and drag him into the sewers?

Again, I haven't touched combat much, but it appears you make it super easy for someone to fuck up another character, but want to make it super hard for a character to have foresight and plan for ways around it. (Bags, Phone Holsters etc to combat theft) (No cyberphone because it -could- in the instance someone grabs you make it harder to escape unnoticed)

So I'm totally not trying to argue but put forth what I feel is counterpoint and something that was mentioned to me various times. I've been told, that you guys are totally fine with non-combat characters and that many have existed/do exist and thrive. But I would counter that to say that literally everything is against them. You got dip characters stealing their phones, wallets and everything constantly and making a little black market on sell phone, buy stolen phone, resell phone.

So I guess the question is, if I could buy an item that makes it harder for dips to steal from me, phone case, bag, etc and it costs me money to do so from a fixer/building a relationship, why is that a bad thing? It seems like it would be the smart play to attempt to protect your property more than just walking around with things in your hands constantly and pumping PCP till you get to the point you can't get stolen from as much?

So I see that it increases the difficulty on the "bad guy" side, but I guess the comment to that is, "So?"

It's not a bad thing in real life, but it is a bad thing for game balance. What comes next? Cyber cred chips? Or maybe cred chips that use the SIC? These things make sense for sure. Cybernetic radios. Cybernetic wallets that keep your money inside you. All reasonable things.

The problem is, what is the point of 'thievery' at that point? If no one has anything to steal.

Sindome is a game, and as such, we don't just balance things or make things because they make sense in real life... in real life, a clone would cost a 100,000 chyen. But that kind of realism isn't fun. No one would take risks if they had to pay 100k for a clone.

The same goes for a lot of things we do not add to the game. Why not a chain wallet for example? Because again, in part, thievery would serve no purpose.

We add things to the game because they increase roleplay. Does having a cyber phone increase roleplay?

Does having a cybernetic wallet?

Does having a 100,000 chyen clone?

Those are the questions we gotta ask ourselves when we propose things. And how will this affect the balance, playability, fun, of other classes or skills in the game?

I'm not completely against this idea, however, what I am proposing is that throwing something like this into the game without considering the game breaking implications for certain archetypes or generalized plots is a non-starter for me. There would need to be work put into making cyber easier to disable, making phones have 'signal' that can be disrupted similar to sic, and things of that nature, before I would consider something like this.

It does seem odd that the SIC can fall out like crazy all over red but the phones work anywhere. Someone joked on SIC once that they even work in space.