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Wil McCullough, on 26 August 2018 - 04:37 AM, said:
i saw the emotiv headset. it's pretty primitive in that you can't control where the toy car goes. it's a simple on/off kinda trigger. if you focus, it moves the car. if you stop focusing, it stops. focusing on making it go left or right doesn't do jack. it just goes forward.
there is some current research on gear that interprets more detailed mental commands, but it's kinda iffy and slow af.
Edit: This was written on a phone during a break -- fixing the autocorrect nonsense.
Honestly, that's about as complex as the neuro helms are in terms of Battletech.
There's the "on/off" as to whether the mech should try to maintain or ignore its balance.
And there's the "intention" of what's more important: Avoiding self-harm, or accomplishing the task.
(Example, I want to shoot this guy on the other side of the building with the weapon on my mech's arm. I'm so close that if the arm attempts to align and fire on the enemy as I want, it must breach the building causing damage to it as well as the arm. Where's the priority? Self-preservation [on], or complete task [off].)
As the TechManual states under cockpit, most of the mech's complex functions are autonomous and controlled by the DI computer, which combines inputs with the "intention" of the pilot (which can be simplified as an 'on/off') in order to achieve its many tasks such as avoiding crushing things and evading light poles while running down a street (after all, there's the priority of avoiding risks of self-harm, or focus more on going faster and more directly to the destination...another on/off of intent).
The DI is stated to refuse to act without pilot intent, however. This is why the "To hit" check encompasses the possibility of self-defense and evasion (and thus leaves 'where' you are hit to chance), meanwhile if the pilot is unconscious (or the mech is shutdown or in a compromised position where evasion is difficult such as prone or hull down), one can land "aimed shots". It isn't so much that any other shot isn't aimed, but the fact that the machine cannot automatically react to the incoming threat. (This is also why arms are so prone to being hit, when protecting your body from harm, what do you do? Raise your arms to try and block the danger. This is what the mechs supposedly do.)
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Now in Solaris VII (the oldest version), there's a bit in the lore about a far more complex helm, based on some old data that never got very far into active use. That allowed total control of the mech. But the user eventually goes crazy, feels pain when the machine is hit, gradually gets dumber and eventually needs to be put down.
Similarly, the E.I. implants allow for similar abilities...with similar issues though the effects are across a decade or so rather than months. Also remote control mechs by standing within 30 meters...and focusing so hard said Clanner with EI is completely unable to react to the world around him in a gameplay perspective.
Edited by Koniving, 27 August 2018 - 08:10 AM.
