Do wafers overwhelm the task system?

[Wol]

Given the relatively cheap cost of wafers, and that a standad wafer at T l 13 gives 13 skill and 6 knowledge, and that these takes days to weeks to degrade, they seem to overwhelm the task system. Add a characteristic of say 8, you are looking at a target of 27. This makes even the most difficult tasks fairly easy. Side effects of sanity seem treatable with drugs, and you get a genuine supra genius for a while.

Have I misunderstood the way these work?

regards

 

[SpaceBadger]

Given the relatively cheap cost of wafers, and that a standad wafer at T l 13 gives 13 skill and 6 knowledge, and that these takes days to weeks to degrade, they seem to overwhelm the task system. Add a characteristic of say 8, you are looking at a target of 27. This makes even the most difficult tasks fairly easy. Side effects of sanity seem treatable with drugs, and you get a genuine supra genius for a while.

Have I misunderstood the way these work?

No, I think you are correct, and I share your discomfort. Unfortunately, like many things in T5 that probably sounded good in the writing, these may not have been exposed to much playtesting.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Given the relatively cheap cost of wafers, and that a standad wafer at T l 13 gives 13 skill and 6 knowledge, ...

I'm not sure I would call them cheap at kCr ~150-200 per skill.

Cheap for the Imperial Navy perhaps, but not for an individual.

...and that these takes days to weeks to degrade, they seem to overwhelm the task system. Add a characteristic of say 8, you are looking at a target of 27. This makes even the most difficult tasks fairly easy. Side effects of sanity seem treatable with drugs, and you get a genuine supra genius for a while.

Agreed.

Note that C+S+K = 27 is only for knowledge-based skills, regular skills have to make do with C+S = 21.

Have I misunderstood the way these work?

No, I don't think so.

 

[The Pakkrat]

Hop Task v. Astrogation Wafer

There are some Tasks that even Single Skill Wafers or Emergency Personality Wafers cannot overcome. For example, consider Hop Drive scale of Astrogation.

Ten Dice up against Intelligence + Astrogation even if the Dice are increased due to This Is Hard! or decreased by Stellar Density, the Task is still 10-60 or 11-66 or less Dice rolled underneath Intelligence + Astrogation.

 

[Wol]

Some things are indeed still hard.

Some not so...

"Hacking the Goldilocks reserve bank with your intrusion software, Hopeless"

No worries - I'll pop in my wafer and transfer 6 Giga credits to my account. What shall we do for the rest of the days to utilize my stats?"


"One man, One weapon, One wafer, You don't assign him, You unleash him! - start your world domination today!"

Just kidding Skill 5 or Knowledge 6 maybe but thes given values are eye watering. Better than a TL 27 console!

I think I will just have to nerf them.

I also suggest the Imp Navy would just clone a bunch of high characteristic peasants for its ships and then install wafers into them at combat time and the Wafer-bearers would slaughter the enemy fleets.

 

[Garnfellow]

I think the sanity loss is probably fairly prohibitive within the OTU. Wafers are something to be used in emergencies, but not for everyday stuff. I would also assume that Imperial law does not allow wafers to, for example, overcome crew requirements for starships.

"I don't care if you have a whole cargo hold full of skill wafers. This ship is required to carry two engineers, minimum, and your crew manifest only shows one. You can hire someone, buy a robot, or upload a program, I don't care which. But otherwise, you're grounded, space-jockey."

It would be interesting to compare labor rates and program costs against wafer costs. My guess is it should be cheaper to hire an engineer or astrogater, or buy a program.

 

[ThornPlutonius]

I think the sanity loss is probably fairly prohibitive within the OTU. Wafers are something to be used in emergencies, but not for everyday stuff. I would also assume that Imperial law does not allow wafers to, for example, overcome crew requirements for starships.

"I don't care if you have a whole cargo hold full of skill wafers. This ship is required to carry two engineers, minimum, and your crew manifest only shows one. You can hire someone, buy a robot, or upload a program, I don't care which. But otherwise, you're grounded, space-jockey."

It would be interesting to compare labor rates and program costs against wafer costs. My guess is it should be cheaper to hire an engineer or astrogater, or buy a program.

One can certainly make hiring someone more economical than stocking up on wafers. Or, implement cultural/religious/philosophical biases against wafer technology.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

I think the sanity loss is probably fairly prohibitive within the OTU.

Nothing a decent Councellor can't fix:

Counteracting Losses Of Sanity. Sessions with a Counsellor may increase or restore Sanity.

To Restore Sanity (one hour)
Difficult (3D) < Int + Counsellor
Uncertain (2D)
Success increases the subjects San +1 (not to exceed
original San).