On 13/1/24 01:05, Jeff Zeitlin - editor at freelancetraveller.com (via
tml list) wrote:
> <snip>
>
> It's not clearly stated anywhere I can find, but if Traveller wafer tech
> becomes 'better' over time, and allows both the wafer personality and the
> host personality to co-exist for the duration of the wafer activation, then
> it becomes possible for 'Sector General Junior' to exist in the Traveller
> universe: On worlds that have a high likelihood of other-species visitors,
> hospitals at major business and tourism nexi would have wafers "on file"
> for the most common other-species - for example, Vegans in the Solomani
> Rim, Vargr along the coreward frontier, Aslan in the rim-spinward areas and
> Behind the Claw, and any minor races in the areas near their respective
> homeworlds. Naturally, any nexus worlds that are majority-nonhuman would
> also have human wafers on file. In this case, the wafer personality could
> be either "for the duration" (i.e., until specifically removed/erased) or
> for a limited time.
>
> Hospitals that have a wafer bank are also likely to be teaching and
> research hospitals affiliated with major Imperial-level universities. While
> the various Imperial services are likely to make units single-species, some
> medical facilities such as Naval hospital ships and hospitals at major
> Naval and military bases will also have wafer banks.
>
> Question for discussion/comment: Is it worthwhile and useful to work up
> rules for determining whether a particular world has one or more hospitals
> that have wafer banks to allow them to serve "aliens"?
>
Jeff,

GURPS 4th ed has the "Modular Abilities" advantage, to address the
underlying mechanics.  I agree with Collision that it's worthwhile
working up rules as you suggested.

You mentioning the "teaching and research" bit has me wondering if
you're asking specifically about _using_ an existing wafer/chip/whatever
library, or _able to make new/update existing_ ones?

How much does the source character's species affect wafer/chip use? 
Does a Surgery (Vargr) chip recorded off a Vargr surgeon work
differently, to the user, to one recorded off a Droyne surgeon?  Does
the user have to be same species as the source?

As for the actual gubbins, I'm using the following take on Modular
Abilities in a G4-powered early-ish cyberpunk game with The Usual
Suspects (Herr Sweep, Eddles, Easy Frag, and Wombat) as chip slots,
adapting it to Trav:

1 - Chips _extend_ existing skill, they don't _replace_ it.

(I'm waving my hands about prerequisite skills here for sake of example)

Surgery (given species) is listed as a Very Hard skill, where 1 point in
it gives skill at IQ -3, 2 points gives IQ -2, 4 points gives IQ -1, 8
points gives IQ + 0, and every 4 points beyond gives additional +1.

If (say) an 8 point Surgery (Hiver) chip is slotted in a medic with no
underlying Surgery skill whatsoever (we'll call him Tim Collinson) and
no favourable defaults, then they would have Surgery (Hiver) at IQ + 0. 
Beats the pants off having nothing.

However, if BERT HOGMAN (let's not worry about 3700 years or so between
friends, nor a TPK-ing starship crash) gets wired up and gets his mitts
on that chip, all his existing talents (Healer Talent 4, High Manual
Dexterity, off top of head) and Surgery (Human) at IQ + 9 as a result
carry across.  From his Healer Talent and basic default, Bert would slot
the chip and get Surgery (Hiver) at IQ + 4.  However, his Surgery
(Human) skill allows (for sake of argument) a default at -6 due to Hiver
physiology being so alien to ugly bags of mostly water, giving Bert a
favourable default of IQ + 3, which the chip would boost to IQ + 5.  A
fair chunk of data is placed at the beck and call of an expert who knows
exactly how to make use of it.

2 - Chips _permit_ learning of their skill.

Both Tim and Bert are still able to pick up actual, non-chipped, skill
in Surgery (Hiver) while chipped. Learning on the job normally lets you
count 1/4 of your job time as study time towards skills, and I'd be
inclined to double that for the _first half_ of whatever chipped skill
you've currently slotted.  Self-study normally lets you count 1/2 of the
time spent as study time, and formal instruction lets you count the full
lot - doubled under the same conditions.  Boot-camp style intensive
instruction doesn't get any benefit.  A skill point ordinarily takes 200
hours of _study time_ - Bert's level 4 talent knocks that down by 40%
for applicable skills, to 120 hours of study time per point.

They may _work_ longer (probably do, in Bert's case), but they can only
_learn_ from the first 40 hours worked in a week, without techgubbins
like sleep learning.  20 hours per week of study time under chip means
Tim takes 10 weeks per point, and Bert takes 6.  In a little under 6
months (24 weeks), Bert accumulates 4 points in Surgery (Hiver), giving
him 12 points with the chip on top, and an effective skill of IQ + 6
under chip, IQ +4 without.  Tim has accumulated, by now, 2 natural
points in Surgery (Hiver), giving him 10 points with chip on top - he
hasn't learned enough to move the needle while under chip (still IQ +0),
but now has IQ -2 unchipped.

After 40 weeks total, Tim accumulates his 4th natural point in Surgery
(Hiver), giving him IQ + 1 under chip and IQ -1 without.  In those 16
weeks, Bert has accumulated his 5th natural point in Surgery (Hiver), at
10 hours of study time per week and is working on his 6th.

3 - Chips can muck up critical successes.

If you have more chipped than natural points in a skill, when the chip
is active, you get the benefit of the extra skill (as above), but you
treat critical successes (even natural 3s, in GURPS) as regular
successes.  In the example above, Bert would have his crit successes
capped until the 72nd week (24 weeks at doubled rate, and 48 weeks at
regular), although I'm not sure if mere mortal medics could even tell,
and Tim until the 120th week (40 weeks at doubled rate, 80 at regular).

4 - Chips don't _quite_ integrate perfectly into their user's skill
circuits.

In my early-cyberpunk game, I apply a -2 penalty to chipped skill use
while under significant stress (GM call), with a floor of the
character's unchipped skill level.

In a golden-age Trav game, I'd dial that penalty back to -1.  Chips
still give some help, but not as much as learning the skill the hard way.

In a more transhuman game, where PCs are themselves infomorphs, any sort
of such penalty would be ridiculous.

Alex