Something I just cooked up:<br /><br />Zebulon's Guide left us with just the beginnings of so many things that were to be fleshed out later. Alas, it was not to be. One of those things was the introduction of artificial or “bionic” body parts. Zeb mentions the Bionics skill (regarding the design of bionic body parts), the Bio-Center progit, for controlling those body parts, and some vague references to what all kinds of parts might have bionic replacements, which were virtually any of them.<br /><br />At the same time, the Star Frontiers game already had the concept of Regeneration. One has to ask then why bionics? Well, for one thing cost. Regrowing a finger or toe was a 30-day process and cost 50,000 credits. Regrowing a whole limb was a 90 day process with a whopping 200,000 credit bill. Organs were not mentioned for some reason.<br /><br />My guess is that Regen was the favorite of the well-to-do, who simply shuddered at the thought of being part-machine and would pay handsomely to get their “meat” back. For everyone else, there's bionics.<br /><br />In the absence of anything more official, here's my stab at actual artificial limbs and organs:<br /><br /><b>PROCEDURE</b><br />Bionic implants take 1/3 the amount of time Regeneration does. 10 days for a simple organ like a heart, kidneys, etc, and 30 days for a whole limb replacement (to account for system tuning and patient training). <br /><br />The specifics of each type of bionics are:<br /><br /><b>COMMON HARDWARE/SOFTWARE</b><br />Nearly all bionics need the same basic control hardware/software: a Type B processor pack, the Bio-Center interface implants, and a powersupply. Due to the limitation of available space, the power supply can't really be more than a Sixpack. These three combined cost 2,450 credits.<br /><br /><b>SIMPLE ORGAN</b><br />Simple bionic organs include the heart, kidneys, lungs, etc. The cost is 6,000 credits, which includes the hospital stay (1,500 credits), the common hardware/software, and the organ itself (2,050 credits). The power supply is equivalent to that of a body comp Sixpack (10 SEU), but has a 2 year duration before needing recharging.<br /><br />Note that one Bio-Center implant can control up to 4 simple organs, so additional organs would be only 3,200 credits each (up to three additional).<br /><br /><b>LIMB/BASIC</b><br />A basic bionic limb gets the job done functionally, but no one is ever going to mistake it for a real body part. It is obviously mechanical in appearance, cold to the touch and physically unyeilding. It may or may not make audible mechanical noises (clicks and whirrs) as it operates. By limb, it is understood that the definition means the entire limb all the way to the shoulder, as the mechanics are not sophisticated enough to permit anything less.<br /><br />Basic bionic limbs cost 13,500 credits each. This includes the hospital stay (4,500 credits), the common hardware/software, and the rest is for the limb (6,550 credits). The hardware to control the limb is incorporated into the limb itself, so only the Bio-Center implant is placed within the main part of the body. Controlling limbs is more difficult than controlling simple autonomic functions, so limbs may not share an implant (each arm is full cost). The power supply is good for 1 year.<br /><br /><b>LIMB/HIGH-QUALITY</b><br />A high-quality bionic limb is functionally the same as a basic limb, but appears and feels entirely natural. The mechanical gears, rods, etc of a basic limb are replaced with artificial tendons and sinew. Provision is made to match the appearance of the rest of the patient's body, and the limb even maintains an approximation of the body's average temperature.<br /><br />High-quality bionic limbs cost 25,000 credits (4,500 for the hospital, the common hardware/software, and 18,050 for the limb). As with basic limbs, each limb requires it's own operating package, and is full price. Again, the power supply is good for 1 year.<br /><br /><b>EYE/EAR</b><br />Bionic eyes and ears are marvels of Frontier technical development, and their cost reflects that. A bionic eye/ear costs 35,000 credits each. They are powered directly from, and interface directly with the patients natural bio-electric energy to obtain energy to function. The extremely miniaturized nature of the components and the much more complex nero-surgery required to safely implant them explains the very high relative cost. <br /><br /><b>LIMITATIONS</b><br />Despite what the public sees in popular entertainments and hears on conspiracy holo-programs, bionics cannot turn ordinary individuals into super-human juggernauts or flawless infiltrators. The capabilities of bionic replacements are limited to what the remaining organic parts are capable of supporting, in addition to the limitation of mechanical engineering.<br /><br />It would be possible, for example, to build a bionic arm that could lift tons. The shoulder joint simply would not support it, nor likely would the rest of the skeletal system. You could program bionic legs to run at 100 km/hour, but the stress and heat-build up at the hip socket would cause a great deal of damage (not to mention be very painful. There simply isn't room in the head to implant the needed amplifiers and boosters to let artificial eyes see in the dark, or zoom in like electro-binoculars or ears to act as super-mikes that could hear whispers at 100 paces.<br /><br />Not yet, in any event...<br /><br /><b>NOTE TO GMs</b><br />Given the abstracted nature of the Star Frontiers damage system, most games won't really need these rules, much like they won't need the Regeneration rules. That said, they make for good story-telling options/adventure seeds (the character has to earn the money to get his missing bits back), or simply a cash-sink if you feel your players are too flush.<br /><br />
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