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Message: <blockquote data-quote="s/LaSH" data-source="post: 1673532" data-attributes="member: 6929">Yeah, if there's a giant robot shooting at you it's rarely a good idea to stop and think about morphology and actuator tech, so why does it matter?More seriously:Nanocolonies could be made by nanotech or microbiotech, because at a certain point those technologies come together - it's all about molecular processes. Nevertheless, biotech can produce things without having to deal with microbiology - the earliest historical 'robots', used up until the 1800s in Western society and still in use in the Third World today, were humans born of humans, no science required. Field effects are entirely different; build a robot out of lightning and nothing more solid. You don't want nano or biotech for that; you want quantum physics, and lots of 'em.The Transformers are mechanoids. They might be bordering on psychodroids (they seem to act like beings with souls), but (at least in the cartoons) they don't heal, they need repairs, etc, so I'll say their principles are generally understood. Their shape is Transformer; their principle is Mechanoid (maybe with a Psychodroid brain).But I stand by my classifications. If you shoot a hole in a robot, it will look very different with each Operating Principle, and some may be vulnerable in ways that others aren't. Cross-reference these with all the shapes I could come up with, and you'll find a great deal of diversity.Operating Principles and DamageOr, What Happens When You Shoot It- Mechanoids: Spit sparks and oil. Cogs and wires may fly about. Robot is disadvantaged/disabled until it can reach a repair facility.- Psychodroids: Spit sparks or shatter like ceramic tiles. Their systems are, by definition, beyond our understanding and probably work on a molecular level. Robot probably screams in pain, but may be able to heal itself with time.- Biologicals: Bleed, haemmorhage, possibly suffer internal damage and/or broken bones. If the wound isn't serious, or they get medical attention, they'll recover. Just like us, really.- Syntho-biologicals: As biologicals, but the blood is a freaky colour and there may be stranger-looking organs in places you don't expect them.- Nanocolonies: Big, wet hole; globs of liquid metal or similar stuff go flying. If the nanocolony is particularly intramobile, the gobs crawl back and the wound seals itself up almost instantly.- Field effects: Difficult to say. What happens when you shoot lightning? The lightning tends to melt your bullets. If you do manage to put a hole in one of these, chances are it'll explode in a traditional ball of fire and be utterly destroyed. But chances are also good it'll laugh at you and reform like an intramobile nanocolony.- Virtuals: Your computer spits sparks and becomes useless. If the virtual robot wasn't stored on your hard drive, it's just fine - it simply had an internet connection failure.By comparison, the Shape category simply defines how it falls down after you shoot it.</blockquote>

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