[Old Lab Removal] Repurpose Broken+Prototype Cyborg

[Procyonae]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

With the new CBM lore mon_broken_cyborg and mon_prototype_cyborg don't make much sense in labs

Solution you would like.

mon_broken_cyborg and mon_prototype_cyborg should be repurposed, for example as a reverse engineered cyborg or malfunctioned lost old exodii or something idk

From fairyarmadillo

The prototype cyborg enemy likewise needs a new home. It'd probably do better as another faction's attempts to reverse-engineer the exodii. I could see the Hell's Raiders testing cybernetics on their prisoners. Hub-01 too, though I don't think they have the means, and they also don't come across as pointlessly cruel, more just cold and calculating.

Describe alternatives you have considered.

No response

Additional context

Monster definitions:

Cataclysm-DDA/data/json/monsters/cyborgs.json

Lines 2 to 90 in eaa25f5

	{
	"id": "mon_broken_cyborg",
	"type": "MONSTER",
	"name": { "str": "broken cyborg" },
	"description": "A robot body with the head of a human. All kinds of electronic wires and devices are implanted in its head. The remaining patches of skin look diseased or rotting. This cyborg moves erratically and has a confused and deranged look in its eyes. Any personality or humanity it once had is clearly gone for good.",
	"default_faction": "science",
	"bodytype": "human",
	"species": [ "ROBOT" ],
	"volume": "62500 ml",
	"weight": "81500 g",
	"hp": 60,
	"speed": 90,
	"material": [ "steel" ],
	"symbol": "@",
	"color": "dark_gray",
	"aggression": 100,
	"morale": 100,
	"melee_skill": 2,
	"melee_dice": 2,
	"melee_dice_sides": 2,
	"melee_damage": [ { "damage_type": "cut", "amount": 0 } ],
	"dodge": 5,
	"vision_day": 50,
	"revert_to_itype": "bot_broken_cyborg",
	"special_attacks": [ [ "PARROT", 100 ] ],
	"weakpoint_sets": [ "wps_cyborg_body" ],
	"families": [ "prof_intro_biology", "prof_physiology", "prof_wp_cyborg" ],
	"harvest": "mon_broken_cyborg",
	"dissect": "dissect_mon_broken_cyborg",
	"flags": [
	"SEES",
	"HEARS",
	"BASHES",
	"PUSH_MON",
	"ELECTRONIC",
	"NO_BREATHE",
	"REVIVES",
	"WARM",
	"STUMBLES",
	"HUMAN",
	"NO_NECRO"
	],
	"armor": { "bash": 14, "cut": 10, "bullet": 8 }
	},
	{
	"id": "mon_prototype_cyborg",
	"type": "MONSTER",
	"name": { "str": "prototype cyborg" },
	"description": "A human fused with a mess of metal parts and wires. While their eyes are empty, the flashes of pain that occasionally cross their face remind you that, deep down, there is a person just like you trapped in this grotesque body. Someone with enough surgical skills might be able to restore some of their humanity. If only anyone cared…",
	"default_faction": "science",
	"bodytype": "human",
	"species": [ "ROBOT" ],
	"volume": "62500 ml",
	"weight": "81500 g",
	"hp": 60,
	"speed": 90,
	"material": [ "steel" ],
	"symbol": "@",
	"color": "light_gray",
	"aggression": 100,
	"morale": 100,
	"melee_skill": 2,
	"melee_dice": 2,
	"melee_dice_sides": 2,
	"melee_damage": [ { "damage_type": "cut", "amount": 1 } ],
	"dodge": 2,
	"vision_day": 50,
	"path_settings": { "avoid_traps": true, "avoid_sharp": true },
	"revert_to_itype": "bot_prototype_cyborg",
	"special_attacks": [ [ "PARROT", 100 ] ],
	"weakpoint_sets": [ "wps_cyborg_body" ],
	"families": [ "prof_intro_biology", "prof_physiology", "prof_wp_cyborg" ],
	"harvest": "mon_broken_cyborg",
	"dissect": "dissect_mon_broken_cyborg",
	"flags": [
	"SEES",
	"HEARS",
	"BASHES",
	"HAS_MIND",
	"PUSH_MON",
	"ELECTRONIC",
	"WARM",
	"STUMBLES",
	"HUMAN",
	"PATH_AVOID_DANGER_1",
	"PRIORITIZE_TARGETS"
	],
	"armor": { "bash": 10, "cut": 6, "bullet": 5 }
	},

[PatrikLundell]

I agree the cyborgs no longer make sense.

I guess the mi-go might capture an Exodii (in which case you'd also have an opportunity for an Exodii mission), and you might also be able to find them in the wild (out on missions), but then you'd probably also find more of them in the Exodii facility.

Since the blob can take over Exodii quads, they might do the same with Exodii and Exodii workers, assuming there's enough meat left to operate.

Neither of the current cyborgs makes any sense (and didn't make much sense previously either). I sure could imagine a program where minor capabilities were implanted to test out the concept (but not one using the Exodii format), but malfunction ought to be restricted to not functioning at all, unless there's a very specific reason for why it could malfunction while still doing something: the sadistic failures makes no sense except from a game scenario decoupled from the rest of the game's logic perspective.

[worm-girl]

There are already plans for prototype cyborgs, it's pending some map work, which is the most difficult part of the process.

@I-am-Erk has suggested they ought to be either hangers-on from the Exodii's last world or Hub-01's attempts to jailbreak Exodii hardware. I think the latter is much, much more viable for our purposes, since such a person could conceivably speak English when you rescued them, and we don't have support for learning languages or recruitable NPCs who don't speak English.

There's an issue about it somewhere. My idea at present is to implement a Hub-01 chop shop where Hub-01 mercs and a doctor or two are attempting to take apart zomborgs and reverse-engineer the borging process using patients who may or may not have signed up for the procedure. The kind of "oh well this is a crime against humanity but it's an emergency" thing that rapidly spirals out of control in settings like The Walking Dead, except a bit more sci fi. Exodii hardware has built-in failsafes to make sure they don't lose control of it (and some other things), and between this and the Hub scientists not quite knowing what they're doing, the result of the reverse-engineering is the prototype borg. I want to implement a whole mission related to this where you can kind of pick a side or not.

Broken cyborgs don't really feel substantially different from zomborgs, except maybe as a reskin.

The benefit of making it a Hub-01 thing is that it advances the Hub-01 vs Exodii plot, pushes the player to pick a side, reveals that neither side is the good guys, develops the notion of Hub-01 reverse engineering Exodii tech (and thus gaining access to CBMs, if in a more limited way), and helps both factions feel like they have a footprint in the world rather than just being a discrete place to go get quests and loot.

[worm-girl]

#66483 Here's the issue in question.

My current mapping project is a lab, unrelated to this stuff, and it's about 50% done. Three levels are fully mapped out, I just need to do two more and then fuss with the item and monster spawns. I'll hop to it once I'm through with gliding, and after that I'll be ready to get going on this.

[John-Candlebury]

My suggestion here is that Hub 01 side of this quest should also be killing them because:

"Because we no longer expect the research to produce practical results and the normal avenues of diplomacy and negotiation have broken down"

With some remote option of talking the mercs down that isnt actually necessary.

[worm-girl]

My suggestion here is that Hub 01 side of this quest should also be killing them because:

"Because we no longer expect the research to produce practical results and the normal avenues of diplomacy and negotiation have broken down"

With some remote option of talking the mercs down that isnt actually necessary.

Do you mean killing the exodii? Or do you mean killing the mercs?

My rough sketch is that if you take the job from Rubik, it's mercs you have to deal with through stealth, violence, or diplomacy. If it's the intercom that sends you up there, the Exodii have already swept the place and maybe left a quad or something behind to take out whoever else the Hub sends. Either way it is sort of a powder keg moment that shifts relations from suspicion to quiet hostility, though the hub can claim the personnel/mercs on site acted alone. The player is not forced to pick a side, but can choose to. So it's sorta like a New Vegas quest.

The prototype borgs would be left over inside the place in any event because nobody had time or inclination to deal with them yet.

That's all a rough sketch. It'd also work to have the mercs be present no matter who you get the quest from, and rather than having two versions of it it's the same encounter with different goals.

[John-Candlebury]

I was thinking of Hub actually wanting to kill its own mercenaries if they refuse to bend the knee immediately.

They can frame it as "opposing human experimentation" but what they really care about is that Melchior told them the group is endangering Hub and that they refused to stop when told so.

Mostly because

1. Its something Hub would do in fiction.
2. Its way easier to build the quest if both sides of it consist of: Deal with the Mercenaries (violently or otherwise) and confront the envoy from the other faction (violently or otherwise). As you'd only have to design a single interaction chain there and mostly adjust for what is being said and how you unlock the speech options. Also makes adding depth to the mission simpler later on too.

Either side might have a preferred outcome based on violence or the lack of it, too. My suggestion is that Hub preferably wants the mercenaries dead dead tho.

[Maleclypse]

I actually would love to have the cyborg autodoc lab rooms in microlabs in Xedra Evolved. Xedra Evolved was hunting Exodii for parts for about 10 years ahead of the cataclysm and so have plenty of cyborgs that Exodii kill on sight.

[worm-girl]

Either side might have a preferred outcome based on violence or the lack of it, too. My suggestion is that Hub preferably wants the mercenaries dead dead tho.

That's definitely workable, especially if the mercenaries are confused should you choose to give them the intercom's side of the story. It leaves the Hub guys with room to deny everything, but they only look like the good guys in the situation if the player takes the most naive interpretation possible.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions. Please do not bump or comment on this issue unless you are actively working on it. Stale issues, and stale issues that are closed are still considered.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions. Please do not bump or comment on this issue unless you are actively working on it. Stale issues, and stale issues that are closed are still considered.