Imperial Robots, Have they been written out of fluff? Options

[Dono1979]

Hi all,

Just wondering whether Imperial Robots have been written out of current fluff or is that just no codex uses an Imperial Robot?

I would have thought that Robots would have been an awesome unit option for certain armies, maybe Inquisitor or IG? Requiring a Tech Preist to field them or suchlike.

-Dono

[Reunion-Round]

Servitors.

[Dono1979]

I thought servitors were still based off a human source whilst Robots had an AI cortex? My knolwedge in this area is a little low though.

-Dono

[Tom]

Fluffwise AI has been more or less taboo since before the Dark Age of Technology, Machine-Spirit notwithstanding. There's vague references in the fluff to an AI uprising, and since then they've only used servitors and limited AI.

Ruleswise, Imperial War Robots were usable in Rogue Trader, but you iirc you had to preprogram all their actions before the battle.

[YogoZuno]

There's vague references in the fluff to an AI uprising

'Men of Iron' = robots
'Men of Stone' = sillicon-chip-based intelligence = AI

I gather they were borrowing from the Dune restrictions against machine intelligences. Ignoring logic engines and machine spirits, as you say...

[Spakka]

There were the Legio Cybernetica used by Mechanicum. They were amongst the most advanced small scale weapons available to the mechanicum, and as such, were only loaned to the space marine legions and the most elite non-marine imperial forces during the great crusade.

They possessed a limited AI which made them semi autonomous. Each bot would have a battle program installed before combat, and they would follow it exactly during battle, even if this lead them into bizarre or unusual situations.

They seem to disappear during the heresy era though, so either the technology was lost during that period along with many other wonders of technology, or the more likely event is that any surviving robots after the heresy were recovered by the mechanicum and put into storage or under their exclusive use.

This post has been edited by Spakka: Oct 11 2011, 02:28 PM

[rat of vengence]

I don't recall any mention of them past the Rogue Trader collection I have stashed away somewhere. I think they just stopped writing them into anything, as opposed to finishing them off.

RoV

[BorisBC]

I don't recall any mention of them past the Rogue Trader collection I have stashed away somewhere. I think they just stopped writing them into anything, as opposed to finishing them off.

RoV

yeah I'm looking at my Compendium now that has the rules, it's like writing basic code to get the things to function in a game. Cool idea though.

[peidarn]

Hi all,

Just wondering whether Imperial Robots have been written out of current fluff or is that just no codex uses an Imperial Robot?

I would have thought that Robots would have been an awesome unit option for certain armies, maybe Inquisitor or IG? Requiring a Tech Preist to field them or suchlike.

-Dono

I think it's still fluff as some of the Horus Heresy novels talk about robots serving alongside marines. After that I think they're almost herectical in 40k due to the lack of a soul from 'human' components.

[chromedog]

yeah I'm looking at my Compendium now that has the rules, it's like writing basic code to get the things to function in a game. Cool idea though.

More like LOGO than BASIC.

Used to program a turtle in school with that stuff.

[Ehsteve]

I think it's still fluff as some of the Horus Heresy novels talk about robots serving alongside marines. After that I think they're almost herectical in 40k due to the lack of a soul from 'human' components.

It's nothing to do with humanity or anything of the sort. Cherubs and other Imperial familiars use animal brains. There must be some form of biological intelligence behind each piece of technology unlike Tau Gun Drones which are considered the opitome of heretek technology.

It is easy to assume that the technology to create them was either lost during the heresy as many of the forgeworlds were cut off from the imperium by the Chaos Legions or simply stolen by the Dark Magi. No one honestly cared what each legion utilized during the pre-heresy Crusades.

[chromedog]

The robots in RT weren't AI.
They were less organic than servitors, but still more than Tau drones.

[munch]

I thought servitors were still based off a human source whilst Robots had an AI cortex? My knolwedge in this area is a little low though.

-Dono

this is my understanding I see two possibilities one is that they are still only used by Rogue traders in which case they wont have rules the other is they are only used by the mecinicem same thing

[Master Aarott]

Worth mentioning that smart, decision making servitors are pretty taboo too.

In Dark Heresy (40k roleplay), there is a faction, that makes extensive use of 'false men', aka robots. They are the followers of a renegade mechanicus levelist, called Nomen Ryne. Still not imperial if they get caught, though they are humans operating covertly within the imperium who utilise robot intelligences. Their ideaology is such that they are not arrayed against the imperium, but rather are trying to save it, and they do engage xeno and melefic forces, and of course the mechanicus who are against the levelist notion of making technology free for all.

[Borzag]

If we're talking gaming fluff...

=][= has rules for a Robotic Brain cybernetic upgrade. Simple (I'm assuming a squirrel in a cage, or a Speak&Spell), Standard (human standard) and Advanced (Logicae unit). So artificial intellegence is okay in that respect.

And we all know that a cybernetic body is acceptable as long as it's driven by a brain of some sort (dreadnoughts, high ranking Mechanicum etc). So that's also hunky dory.

So based on that, let's see if I have this right:

>> Meat Body + Metal Brain = OK

>> Metal Body + Meat Brain = OK

>> Metal Body + Metal Brain = ???

[chromedog]

Hey Borzag, for the benefit of the 'younger' members ...

What is a 'speak and spell'?

And how is it any smarter/dumber than an iDeViCE?

[Shadow Fox]

Hey Borzag, for the benefit of the 'younger' members ...

What is a 'speak and spell'?

And how is it any smarter/dumber than an iDeViCE?

Ok, Speak & Spell is a toy which was sold during the 1980's. The general concept is that you imput a command the the thing will voice what is written into it by just reading the normal letter sounds. A good modern example is the frog that in the Simpsons episode in which Maggie is believed to be a genius, Homer uses to say he is sick for work with the phrase "Hello, this is Ho-Me-E-R-S doc-Ter". ET also uses one to speak to the kid but that's ancient.

[Borzag]

Okay, semantics aside that doesn't answer the quetion... given that we KNOW that you can have a form of AI in a human body, and that we KNOW that cybernetic body replacement isn't just known but accepted and encouraged, why is combining the two an issue? Do Mechanicum ranking priests with cyber brains become exempt from further bodywork, for example?

[Kargan DaemonClaw]

I don't think that a "autonomous thinking" metal brain or chrystalline brain is OK under Imperial technology laws.

The inquisition has somewhat of an exemption being somewhat of the motto the end justifies the means and having absolute authority.

The machine spirits of titans and imperial warships are not intelligent per say. Titans need a human conciousness to be complete and function.

It's probably a bit like the BSG series where they have computers but not networked to prevent the ships being taken over. Imperial technology doesn't use thinking machines without a biological control component. Its described in the HH books as being prohibited by the Emperor.

[munch]

Titians and such don’t really have intelligence but they do have semi sentience soulhunter talks a bit about this