Just what is the base TL for robots and how does staging affect them? At the very least I would expect the same design robot to be smaller and/or lighter as TL improved...
T5.09 Robots and Tech level staging
- Thread starter Spartan159
- Start date
Lycanorukke
SOC-13
Unfortunately it doesn't say, and there is no mention of staging in the robot section. However using a few rough 'rules of thumb' from canon...
It's mentioned in the books the first 'True' autonomous robots were used by the Soli's during/after the war with the Vilani - they were nominally TL 12 at the time. The positronic brain and F+ robot power also become available at TL 12.
So using TL 12 as the baseline (standard). You can have 'ultimate' model robots at TL 16 an Experimental robots at TL 9 (roughly where we are now) which covers most of the 'Golden Age' traveller setting.
Now you can use vehicle maker/thing maker to adjust for staging - the big one being -4 Bulk, which you could translate into being smaller (or the same size but stronger/faster due to more actuators being put in). Another is Reliability - add more time till you roll for the robot going decon or onwee.
Excellent, thanks for the heads up on the canon especially.
Don't forget that robots appear at around TL7 in terms of control systems and mechanical capability. The two don't necessarily have to go hand-in-hand, so you could have some fairly autonomous systems by TL9. Expert systems would be built at the TL8-9 interface, which would allow for seeming independence.
Just started considering this so I'm re-animating this thread for T5.10.
The TL Stage Effects Table (one of a bazillion throughout the rules) in Bk 2, pg. 226 is different from most in that it includes a ThingMaker Mass adjustment column, which I think might be appropriate for Robots. So, Stage can adjust the Cost and Units required for components. (Units being volume, and indirectly, Mass)
Interestingly, this ThingMaker Mass adjustment due to Stage does NOT appear anywhere in the ThingMaker rules. In ThingMaker, this is left to the designer as hand-wavium.
Base technologies for robot components can be gleaned from Bk 2, pages 231, 250, and 263. Photonic and Fluidic Brain TL are taken from the model 1 computers of those types on pg. 250.
TL
9 Electronic Brain
11 Semi-Organic Clone Brain, Fusion Plus
12 Photonic Brain, Positronic Brain, Personality Recording And Editing
13 Fluidic Brain, Robots, Robot Solid State Structural Muscle. Cloning. Forced Growth. Wafer Technology
14 Self-Aware, Geneering
15
16 Artificial Intelligence
So the base TL for Robots is TL 13 with components not mentioned adjusted via Stage from that base. Components explicitly mentioned would be adjusted via Stage from their own base using the Cost and Mass adjustments from pg. 226.
Whadya think?
The TL Stage Effects Table (one of a bazillion throughout the rules) in Bk 2, pg. 226 is different from most in that it includes a ThingMaker Mass adjustment column, which I think might be appropriate for Robots. So, Stage can adjust the Cost and Units required for components. (Units being volume, and indirectly, Mass)
Interestingly, this ThingMaker Mass adjustment due to Stage does NOT appear anywhere in the ThingMaker rules. In ThingMaker, this is left to the designer as hand-wavium.
Base technologies for robot components can be gleaned from Bk 2, pages 231, 250, and 263. Photonic and Fluidic Brain TL are taken from the model 1 computers of those types on pg. 250.
TL
9 Electronic Brain
11 Semi-Organic Clone Brain, Fusion Plus
12 Photonic Brain, Positronic Brain, Personality Recording And Editing
13 Fluidic Brain, Robots, Robot Solid State Structural Muscle. Cloning. Forced Growth. Wafer Technology
14 Self-Aware, Geneering
15
16 Artificial Intelligence
So the base TL for Robots is TL 13 with components not mentioned adjusted via Stage from that base. Components explicitly mentioned would be adjusted via Stage from their own base using the Cost and Mass adjustments from pg. 226.
Whadya think?
Yoink! 
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