Need Help Creating A Computer And A Communication System

[JCR]

Greetings!

I used the Hero System 6e to create the following Communication System and I would like to know if I got it right. I will be installing it in my Power Armor. I am also wracking my brain creating a computer to integrate into the PA. I will post what I have so far and I just need to know if I built it correctly. Additional details: can I create the comms system as part of the computer so I don't have to pay for it as much as it would cost me to make a computer (maybe as if giving the computer the power or perhaps i can create the com system as a computer itself?). So many possibilities, I just want to make it w/o breaking any rules, but as point cost effective as possible. I appreciate any and all suggestions, thank you!

Also, any links to guides related to this are greatly appreciated. I am currently in the process of slowly collecting the Champions Books (and some of hero system too).

COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Ultimate Communications Suite: High Range Radio Perception (Radio Group), Invisible Power Effects (Fully Invisible; +1/2), Usable Simultaneously (up to 8 people at once; +1) (30 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Affected As Sight And Hearing Group [very common Sense] (-1/2) Computer Versions Below:

Onboard Computer (Light).HTML (Full Version) Onboard Computer.HTML

[JCR]

Can anyone at least gimme a heads up if am going in the right direction please :)?

[Doc Democracy]

You have what is known as a problem that is less than fascinating to the forum! 🙂  I remember looking and thinking, too much thinking, not enough to tickle my imagination.

 

When I have time I will go and look at my books.  I think that you have something that allows you to see (but not transmit?) radio group.  I need to look at your use simultaneously as to whether those folk would need access to the focus, a focus of their own and how far they can be from you when using it.  I would be up for allowing you to buy it through the computer but I think you would find the GM making more difficulty for you to use (you did after all pay fewer points).

[JCR]

Any and all help is appreciated. I believe what I will try and do will be to create the computer for the base and just have everyone get 'computer link' and make the comm's system apart, but I still would like to know if I created each correctly. Any improvements and /or suggestions are always welcome.

[Doc Democracy]

Just so we are straight, as far as the characters are concerned here, we have a character, or the computer, able to give up to eight people wristbands that allow them to hear and transmit in the radio sense group?

 

I think those people will be in control of the power once they have the band and will be able to give the band to others. The users will also be able to travel away from the owner of the power but will need to be within reach to acquire the power?

[JCR]

13 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

Just so we are straight, as far as the characters are concerned here, we have a character, or the computer, able to give up to eight people wristbands that allow them to hear and transmit in the radio sense group?

 

I think those people will be in control of the power once they have the band and will be able to give the band to others. The users will also be able to travel away from the owner of the power but will need to be within reach to acquire the power?

Yes, but reach would be whatever standard is for a communication radio (my guess it should work across the city w/o a problem, even further?). Also, is there a way to make it a audio visual system to transmit both voice and some visual. The reason is to link one of these to the computer so the computer can 'see' as well as hear, thus giving it the ability to scan text and images into its database.

[Doc Democracy]

well, your ability to percieve radio is essentially the same as your ability to see light. A dim light source may be effectively invisible to most people but visible to a sharp eyed individual. You would have to make perception rolls to 'see' individual signals. I would charge an adder to make signals transmit images as well as sound.

 

You can buy levels with PER and levels to offset range penalties for folk listening to you (you shout loud).

[JmOz]

My recommendation would be this

 

High Range Radio

Mind Link, works as radio not mental

 

Now here is where it gets WEIRD.  A mind does not need to be a mind (If your GM is a stickler spend a point on a computer).  We will call this non corporeal mind "The channel" 

Now every mind that links to the "Channel" is able to communicate (Think of it as a party line)

The special effect of having to "link up" is to get the access codes (so if the power is ever "Turned off" you need to return to base)...by the way, at least 20 years ago this is how some encrypted radio's actually work...

[JCR]

16 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

well, your ability to percieve radio is essentially the same as your ability to see light. A dim light source may be effectively invisible to most people but visible to a sharp eyed individual. You would have to make perception rolls to 'see' individual signals. I would charge an adder to make signals transmit images as well as sound.

 

You can buy levels with PER and levels to offset range penalties for folk listening to you (you shout loud).

I am confused... Does this means that this radio system excerpted directly from the hero system guide section Sensory and Communications Systems page 301 doesn't carry further than really loud shout distance?

"Ultimate Encrypted Radio Handsets: Radio Perception/Transmission (Radio Group), Invisible To Tracing (+¼), Usable Simultaneously (up to eight persons at once; +1) (22 Active Points); OAF (-1), Affected As Hearing Group As Well As Radio Group (-¼), 1 Continuing Fuel Charge (battery, Easy to obtain; 6 Hours; -0). Total cost: 10 points."

But if actually it works like a radio and has an actual radio range what I want to do is make it OIF and see if there's a way to add sight to basically transmit both voice and audio (dunno if the power in designer gives me the choice and I usually assume if the software doesn't give an option its because its not available). Also, I will get rid of the battery and I plan on giving/linking one to the base computer so it can record video and audio fed thru the ones the characters have in use into its database as well as be able to read/scan/store text and pictures into its database.
 

11 hours ago, JmOz said:

My recommendation would be this

 

High Range Radio

Mind Link, works as radio not mental

 

Now here is where it gets WEIRD.  A mind does not need to be a mind (If your GM is a stickler spend a point on a computer).  We will call this non corporeal mind "The channel" 

Now every mind that links to the "Channel" is able to communicate (Think of it as a party line)

The special effect of having to "link up" is to get the access codes (so if the power is ever "Turned off" you need to return to base)...by the way, at least 20 years ago this is how some encrypted radio's actually work...

Its a great idea and I tried for a bit playing w/ this but the costs always ended up being higher that trying to use radio, plus I fear the possible repercussions of having a mind link later in the campaign.

P.S.: Why do some computers, like the ones from Champions HQ for example, have KS: Everything -30? That seems ridiculously overpowered to me since I could theoretically just by KS: Everything -30 w/ Edietic Memory and basically know...well, everything! And why -30; isn't -20 more than enough? Still so much to learn. I am convinced its all this lack of knowledge of the game mechanics that I have which has also seriously limited my character creation potential atm.

P.S.S.: I am really glad to be part of these forums for its a far better community that most I seen in games I tried over the years. Just wanna express my thanks again for all the ideas, suggestions, and opinions.

[JmOz]

The wider the KS base is (Everything is pretty huge) the more penalties get put on for specific information.  So if you wan John Smith's address it might be a -20 penalty, bringing the roll to 10

 

[JCR]

Gotcha, makes sense now, thank you.

[Doc Democracy]

I didn't mean to confuse. If you think in real life, small walkie talkies have a much lower range than bigger more powerful ones. I reckon talking over radio would carry further than talking in sound waves do and would have the advantage of few folk being able to listen in.

 

Those handsets allow you to listen to powerful enough signals generated 100s or 1000s of miles away, I would not give them more than a few miles range to transmit. 

 

It is something not truly covered in comms stuff.

[JCR]

I get what you mean now, thanks for the clarification.

[JCR]

Thanks everyone for their opinions and suggestions. This is what we finally ended up going w/ for now:

Secure Communication System:  High Range Radio Perception (Radio Group), Invisible Power Effects (Fully Invisible; +1/2), Usable Simultaneously (up to 8 people at once; +1) (30 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Affected As Hearing Group As Well As Radio Group (-1/4), Nonpersistent (-1/4) = 15 Points.

Below our basic base computer:

Onboard Computer (Light).hdc

[archer]

On 7/10/2019 at 4:50 AM, Jayzon said:

Can anyone at least gimme a heads up if am going in the right direction please :)?

 

After some bad experiences elsewhere, I just don't click randomly on things in forums that I have to download...even when it looks perfectly innocent and is almost certainly perfectly innocent.

[JCR]

On 7/25/2019 at 9:19 PM, archer said:

 

After some bad experiences elsewhere, I just don't click randomly on things in forums that I have to download...even when it looks perfectly innocent and is almost certainly perfectly innocent.

 

That's a great SOP to follow. let me see if I can get it in a viewable format in here (the hero designer is not allowing me to save as pdf for some reason).

Took a pic w/ the windows snipping tool.

[archer]

I'm a fan of buying Extra Limbs for an onboard armor computer to allow it to manipulate the armor if you become unconscious (or to call it to you) and to manifest small "self-repair" limbs as a SFX. Of course if you go that route, you might want a Defend Self talent. And you open up the possibility of your armor going rogue or being taken over but that's the price you pay for letting your AI control your armor.

 

I'm not sure how useful Lightsleep is since there's not a real need for a modern computer to sleep. Our IT department has instructed us to NEVER turn our work computers off.

 

When your computer scans and enters data, does it notify you when something significant happens? Like if it picks up Channel 12's broadcast that aliens invaded downtown Santa Monica, does it just store the data or does it pass it along to you? (I honestly don't know how specific you have to be in your description but it's probably a good idea to talk to the GM about how the computer is supposed to work so there's no misunderstandings.)

 

If you are looking for ideas of extra things to buy for your onboard computer, you could get it :

 

various languages so the computer could translate for you.

Mimicry so the computer can sound like anybody whether you in your superhero identity or someone else

Transport Familiarity

PS: Superhero so the armor has some idea what to do when it has no instructions (like call you if aliens invade Santa Monica and find you if you don't answer the call)

Cramming: so the computer starts off the adventure with some skill its been studying like Tracking, Ventriloquism, Security Systems, Mechanics, Electronics, a Science skill

 

If you want the onboard computer to have a personality, you could get it perks like the right to perform marriage ceremonies ( a right which anyone can apply for online). Or membership in MENSA. Or Gambling.  Having a computer who is addicted to online poker, or who has won a fortune doing online poker, could be amusing. Or a computer who has booked your armor to perform a wedding. Or who wants to take your armor to smoke cigars with the guys after a MENSA meeting.

 

 

Your bases' computer eventually needs at least French, German, Russian, and Chinese languages in order to monitor world events properly.

 

 

[IndianaJoe3]

13 hours ago, Jayzon said:

 

That's a great SOP to follow. let me see if I can get it in a viewable format in here (the hero designer is not allowing me to save as pdf for some reason).

Took a pic w/ the windows snipping tool.

 

I see that you have a Research program but no KS for it to act on. You probably want KS related to supervillains (and villainous agencies), local Area Knowledge, and KS: Current Events.

 

You have not bought any Senses for the computer. This means that it can't record data of its own, only upload data from another source.

[JCR]

2 hours ago, archer said:

I'm a fan of buying Extra Limbs for an onboard armor computer to allow it to manipulate the armor if you become unconscious (or to call it to you) and to manifest small "self-repair" limbs as a SFX. Of course if you go that route, you might want a Defend Self talent. And you open up the possibility of your armor going rogue or being taken over but that's the price you pay for letting your AI control your armor.

 

I'm not sure how useful Lightsleep is since there's not a real need for a modern computer to sleep. Our IT department has instructed us to NEVER turn our work computers off.

 

When your computer scans and enters data, does it notify you when something significant happens? Like if it picks up Channel 12's broadcast that aliens invaded downtown Santa Monica, does it just store the data or does it pass it along to you? (I honestly don't know how specific you have to be in your description but it's probably a good idea to talk to the GM about how the computer is supposed to work so there's no misunderstandings.)

 

If you are looking for ideas of extra things to buy for your onboard computer, you could get it :

 

various languages so the computer could translate for you.

Mimicry so the computer can sound like anybody whether you in your superhero identity or someone else

Transport Familiarity

PS: Superhero so the armor has some idea what to do when it has no instructions (like call you if aliens invade Santa Monica and find you if you don't answer the call)

Cramming: so the computer starts off the adventure with some skill its been studying like Tracking, Ventriloquism, Security Systems, Mechanics, Electronics, a Science skill

 

If you want the onboard computer to have a personality, you could get it perks like the right to perform marriage ceremonies ( a right which anyone can apply for online). Or membership in MENSA. Or Gambling.  Having a computer who is addicted to online poker, or who has won a fortune doing online poker, could be amusing. Or a computer who has booked your armor to perform a wedding. Or who wants to take your armor to smoke cigars with the guys after a MENSA meeting.

 

 

Your bases' computer eventually needs at least French, German, Russian, and Chinese languages in order to monitor world events properly.

 

 

 

Whoa that sounds super awesome and i will more than likely use the idea to make a new different character, as for the languages I am planning on getting it the Universal Translator Perk. Thanks!

 

1 hour ago, IndianaJoe3 said:

 

I see that you have a Research program but no KS for it to act on. You probably want KS related to supervillains (and villainous agencies), local Area Knowledge, and KS: Current Events.

 

You have not bought any Senses for the computer. This means that it can't record data of its own, only upload data from another source.

 

I don't know how it works ruleswise, but the initial idea is to just link it to our coms system and to our base computer terminal which does has KS: Everything 30-. Now what I am realizing as I type this, could I just invest the points instead on the computer base, link it to our coms system and just have the characters buy Computer Link Perk? Also, am I allowed to create the same com system in the base instead of on the character, thus reducing the amount of points it costs to create or is that not allowed ruleswise?