<br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=163921.msg7738840#msg7738840">Quote from: ReijiTabibito on 17-02-2013, 19:04:12</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">EDIT: Also, can someone tell me what the size of a SolArchive is?  There really isn't one given in Gatecrashing, but it's cost Low and according to the description, they are small and portable data storage units. <br/><br/>Also also, do you <em>need</em> a Blue Box in order to work a Gate Interface?<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>A SolArchive is a small portable focused knowledge-base on a limited topic. It's not specified that it is of a specific dimension, size-wise, so the normal size rules probably apply just fine. Bear in mind that an Ecto can run one infomorph if need be (though it's probably not 'comfortable' for them) and is roughly the size of a credit card. By looking at p.297 of EP (the gear size table) and p.156 of Gatecrashing ("these are SMALL data storage units") we can infer that it's about the size of an iPod or walkman or other pocketable electronic device. Consider that devices in EP often don't have buttons (you use your PAN to access them) or displays (you view any output using your AR), so they tend to be somewhat minimalist. Similarly, 'decent' tools (as opposed to primitive junk) often consist of smartmetal and memory plastics which compact into a nice small size until needed, then expand into the necessary tool form when gripped and activated (one bonus of having Skinlink, it makes this quick and easy even with complex tools that normally you wouldn't want to access via a wireless connection, like, say...Your pistol. Do you REALLY want to be communicating with your pistol using the wireless network?).<br/><br/>The future is weird.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=163921.msg7739662#msg7739662">Quote from: ReijiTabibito on 17-02-2013, 21:56:17</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">I know it's <em><strong>technically circumventing the rules</strong></em>, but by doing things this way, the game is basically discouraging you from buying a spare body unless you gimp yourself at least 30 CP (because let's face it, unless you're from the Junta, no one plays as a Flat or a Splicer), 1/10th of your remaining CP after you buy all your required skill points, you get the <em>one</em> body to start with.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>I love phrases like<strong><em>"technically circumventing the rules." </em></strong>Also phrases like "slightly pregnant," or "a bit dead." "Technically" in these cases is pretty much a null-word, used as an introduction to "I am going to try to make an exception."<br/><br/>Anyway...Players are way too hung up on spare bodies in startup. Having even one is unusual. For a starting character, Molotov Cocktease is completely off the scale of 'bizarrely well equipped', and I don't mean his techno-progressive schlong.<br/><br/>Part of the game is having to deal with a setting where your physical body is not necessarily something you can count on having available to you. I played in one campaign where my NON-INFOMORPH who started out in a Fury ended up losing her body in the first hour and spent most of the rest of the game crudely trying to jam a robot while stored in another character's spare ecto (the ecto had more effective 'RAM' than the robot, so she couldn't download her ego into the 'bot).<br/><br/>And I HAD A FUCKING BLAST with it. It was an interesting challenge and playing the way the character dealt with it was interesting. That kind of setback means that every little thing you accomplish is suddenly an AWESOME ACHIEVEMENT. I tested a module-adventure for publication in The Eye where the players ALL start out in Spare morphs and have to hijack a ship. They had one portable bridge, but none of the ship's crew were synths, so resleeving would've taken time that they could otherwise use to work on ship systems, etc. In the end run, we only had one character resleeve, and he ended up missing out on several interesting things (although he later was able to talk his way into a locked room with another crew member, meaning we didn't have to break in the hard way).<br/><br/>The older I get the more I find that the exciting roleplay moments are the ones where your character has LESS control, and is operating out of their depth. Not many people seem to get that. Sure, it's risky. It's also where the really cool stories all come from.<br/><br/>In EP, death of the body isn't death. You're fussing over the body and you might as well be fussing over 'why can't I afford one more pistol'? Because they are effectively the same...Tools. Sure, it's easier to get attached to one's body (Chaser is<del>almost psychotic</del>psychotic about it) but many transhumans have been recovered from dead-storage data and are happy to have anything at all. Even server cycles to run their personality on. Anything except nonexistence.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=163921.msg7739662#msg7739662">Quote from: ReijiTabibito on 17-02-2013, 21:56:17</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Take my example.  I'm currently sitting on 80 CP leftover, which I wanted to spend on boosting my various Skills (I'm pretty sure I've got enough Moxie, Rep, and Credits).  If I want a spare body, I need to spend around half that, at least, meaning that's 30-40 skill points I can't have <em>now</em>.<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>No, no, no! Spares (Gatecrashing p.151) are cheap! Only 5CP!<br/><br/>Skills are forever. Sleeved into somebody's spare ecto, you still have those skills. Stuffed into a Case with a missing leg, you still have those skills. Re-awakened in an Aquarium Pet, you still have those skills. Aptitude get modified by your morph, knowledge of recent events can come and go as your brain gets hacked or you end up being restored from backup (It's VERY important to keep track of what your backup doesn't know in this game!) but skills, skills are forever.