One of my favorite features in AD rules were the robot rules and one my most disappointing features of AD rules was... drum roll.... robots!<br />I loved rules for missions and functions as it just screamed to me to have robots do unexpected or extremely literal things as per their functions and mission. In fact very careful wording of a function by a GM could give rise to a situation that aggravates the PCs a little. What was disappointing was the near total lack of examples and missions (the rules gave some examples but they weren't really full examples of complete robots).<br /><br />As the impetus of this project was starting a small group through the Volturnus modules I thoughts a little robotic help might be called for to keep things from being to lethal early on. But since Streel's RAD division doesn't really want the expedition to succeed said robot would have some specialty programing.<br /><br />to outward appearance the security bot which was assigned to the team (after a last minute maintenance check of the 4 who are in cold storage with the drop buildings and vehicles turn up one with a malfunction- supposedly that one was pulled and since the team's equipment and supplies are already loaded the new robot is sent aboard with the other luggage to be stored in the internal cargo bays of the Serrena Dawn) is a level 4 or 5 robot with std body and hoverfan movement and a type 1 parabattery and a std. security lock bearing a plaque saying, "Property of Streel Corporation Only an authorized Streel Robotocist may remove."<br />Bot resists anyone not a Streel Robotocist from removing the security lock.<br /><br />The robot has a true mission, true functions, plus an "official mission" and "official" functions. any attempt to list functions or mission must exceed the target number to succeed by 20 to detect the presence of hidden functions or hidden mission. knowing the presence of hidden programing is not the same as know what it is and another attempt at list functions or mission at -20% is needed to reveal them. The robot is capable of verbal speech and will answer questions concerning its mission and functions but will not volunteer information like its default settings (ie. a command of sentry without a specified location will operate at the default setting of 4m diameter). <br />If the player look into what programs the robot has they will find Attack/defense program (expected), a Command Trigger Program & a Search and destroy program. it is aware of these to unexpected programs and cannot say why they are their in its memory or how they are to assist in its mission.<br /><br />The command trigger program is used, upon activation of a trigger (usually a code phrase), to overwrite or delete mission or functions or even programs. It can be used to partition the robot's brain and allow for higher priority mission and functions to operate in the background with the consequence that the "official" persona of the robot will function at one level lower mentally. A robotocist can often detect the presence of a command trigger program by noticing that what is an appearent lvl 5 robot is functioning like a lvl 4 for some reason though this would only be detectable by long hours of interaction with the bot.<br /><br />In the case of this security bot it is actually a lvl 5 warbot capable of search and destroy operations.<br />Its true mission is: "Remain in proximity of Volturnus Survey Expedition 2 and destroy them upon receipt of command trigger."<br />Function 1: Defines VSE2 with personnel records of the team members<br />Function 2: Defines proximity as within 100m of the majority of the VSE2.<br />Function 3: Defines the command trigger as the verbal phrase, "Orchid hates you"<br />Function 4: Directs the robot to prevent tampering with security lock by any that are not a Streel Robotocist.<br /><br />The official persona of the robot is that of a lvl 4 security bot<br />The "Official" mission is: "Follow VSE2 and obey their recognized Commands"<br />Function 1: is identical to function 1 above and will work as a back up file for that function even if it is destroyed or corrupted<br />Function 2: Defines recognized commands as: Follow, Sentry, Defend, Attack<br />Function 3: Defines follow as remain within 20m of majority of VSE2 (default) or 3m of specifed VSE2 member<br />Function 4: Defines Sentry as to watch a Sentry Location and alert VSE2 of any intrusion (will not attack intruder unless Sentry command is give with Defend or Guard commands)<br />Function 5: Defines Sentry location as 4m diameter for default or as specified area by VSE2 member. (camp is to vague of a specified area and the robot will revert to default setting for this which means an intruder could enter the camp but if it remained outside of 2m of the robot the bot will not take any action)<br />Function 6: Attack Defend commands follow std. definitions in Attack/Defense program but require a specific target for the command. The default for defend is the entirety of VSE2 and triggers when any are attacked.<br /><br />a proper use of the sentry command would entail a specific description of the area to be sentried and the robot would then report any intrusion. Pairing defend command with sentry would cause the robot to report intrusion and attack the minute a VSE2 member is harmed. A pairing of sentry with attack would cause the bot to report intrusion and attack immediately.<br />
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