a general request for some weird, low and medium power CBMs

[I-am-Erk]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

With #73247 I am finally adding a netherum dungeon where you can go loot CBMs, a long awaited feature. As I balance out loot, I am realizing right away that the early phases of the dungeon are going to feel boring unless we get a little bit of new content, particularly CBM content, that can be made unique to the dungeon. The lower tier CBMs we currently have tend to be simple and practical, and those things should be available there, but I don't want any of those things to be unique to the labyrinth. To that end, we need a few weird, unique things.

Solution you would like.

We already have a few powerful cbms that would make sense to be unique to, or at least rare outside of, the dungeon. However there is a huge design space here for cbms of all tiers, but especially low and medium tier, that would not have made sense before because nobody would ever have designed or produced something like this. Now, these are strange netherum copies and don't have to make a ton of logical sense, as long as they obey the basic laws of physics.

Some examples of what I mean could include:

• a CBM that replaces one of your arms with a doc-ock style metal tentacle with graspers
• an arm-mounted water gun that can be reloaded with and fires liquids at a range of several tiles
• a CBM that slowly increases your charge during a portal storm, slightly faster if you're outside or in a portal dungeon
• a CBM that decreases the amount of iron you get from food but occasionally outputs a lump of scrap metal (it could be steel or iron)
• a CBM that can be activated to briefly make a single hostile netherum creature neutral or friendly, with success chance probably based on that monster's difficulty or something like that
• a CBM that replaces your hair with metal wires, activate to change the length and style of the wires
• a "trance state" CBM: when activated you gain no XP from any source, cannot talk, and cannot take actions except to turn off the CBM or pass your turn.

https://gist.github.com/I-am-Erk/ce0ae886e2745845e045376c133112a9 this gist, which is a very rough draft of eventual design doc stuff, goes into some detail on how netherum copies work and might give some inspiration.

Ultimately, I am a bit short on ideas here and would love to crowdsource this. The basic theme should be stuff that you might use, but it wouldn't be all that useful, just kinda neat or fun. It might have niche or weird uses, or it might be something to sell to Rubik for them to part out.

It would also be fine to have some straight up bad cbms with no benefits, but I don't want too much of that.

Describe alternatives you have considered.

I considered a system to make random weird cbms procedurally but it's a lot of work.

We could just use what we have, and that's what I'll be doing if nobody bites for this because I don't have time to add every piece of content I want and still do the dungeon itself.

Additional context

No response

[IdleSol]

1. Do they have to have a specific name? NCBM, NBM, or something similar? That is, should the player realize at a glance that this thing is not from here?
2. Should they stand out in color like artifacts?
3. If the new CBMs are based on meaning/perception/memory... an informational reflection of a real object that is embodied into reality. Is it worth adding the accuracy of embodiment?

Example. There is a CBM battery +100 energy. Its exact copy, gives +100 energy. A less accurate one gives +100 +/- 10 (for example). An even less accurate copy, may not add, but take away 100 energy. Or produce energy. Or something else related to energy.

Conditional:

• Level 1 accuracy, embodies the item without any modifications. An exact replica
• Level 2 accuracy, is not an exact embodiment. But the inaccuracy is related to the parameters of the object. It accomplishes what it should, but either a little better or a little worse.
• Level 3 accuracy, is an embodiment based on the intended purpose or one of the characteristics. So we have a CBM for energy storage. Concentrate on storage and we get a number of new items that relate to storage in one way or another. Concentrate on energy and we get something that has something to do with energy.
• Level 4 accuracy, this is accuracy based on the fact that it's CBM. Strange combinations of different incompatible properties? Something along the lines of a stomach that sees. Eyes that give energy.
• Perhaps level 5, is it a level on the idea of improving oneself? Or change? Add mutations?

This is a rough draft that needs to be finalized. I'm not sure on the need for 3-4-5 levels, maybe they should be combined into one.

Reflection, curved reflection and distortion?

[O1OOO1O]

Are there any CBMs that do mental effects? Ex. a brainwave emitter that can send out a mood-boosting effects (about as similar to listening to music) or a brainwave to make you sleepy/help you sleep, (mimics sleeping pill), other wave forms could mimic other drug effects.

[I-am-Erk]

Idlesol: for the moment I'm not thinking about anything very complex. imagining imperfect copies might be a good way to get inspiration, but I don't think we need to create "imperfect copy of power supply" cbms, these would just be unusual normal cbms

Binary person: there is a CBM to help you sleep already so yes. Other mind effects would be fine though, especially if mixed with downsides

[Icantthinkofanameforthis]

hmm do we actually have a cbm that acts like an mp3 player yet?

[Icantthinkofanameforthis]

how about a cbm that acts like an analysis kit like stick finger in solution and gives a readout for the substance

could have something similar for a multimeter if a cbm lets you touch electrical points safely and tell you if power is running through it or could go with an emf detector cbm sensing the power that way

another one im thinking of is finger pen like celebrities using them to sign autographs or something before the cataclysm

[Icantthinkofanameforthis]

hmm cbms that simulate the various effects of drugs on the brain would be a fun one like could claim they were for recovering addicts but later finding out giving addicts the ability to experience the effect of whatever drug theyre addicted to whenever they wanted didnt help with their recovery

[fairyarmadillo]

• CBM that pulls power from an alternate dimension, dealing 10d6 unblockable damage to your torso and instantly charging your bionic power to full. It has a 50% chance to break and become a faulty bionic when activated.

• CBM that cures the cold or a flu by irradiating the shit out of you. Doesn't always work.

• CBM that charges your bionic power when in the presence of radiation. Might be hard to balance around the Radioactive mutation and Radiation Scrubber CBM.

• CBM that splints any broken limbs when activated, using the same skill as an autodoc and requiring no supplies. Might make sense for this to require titanium skeletal bracing.

• CBM that can be activated to tourniquet a bleeding limb, but does some damage to it in the process and hurts like hell.

• CBM that charges your bionic power whenever you acquire any amount of teleglow.

• CBM that prevents nightmares by suppressing dreams entirely. This makes you need more sleep (essentially duplicating the sleepy trait).

• CBM that generates positive dreams if it's on when you go to sleep, sometimes giving you a morale buff on waking.

• CBM that prevents one skill from rusting. There's a version for every skill but you can only have one in at a time.

• CBM that acts like the Camouflage Skin mutation, but only against nether critters.

• CBM that gives you the LEVITATION flag while it's active, allowing you to walk around in midair (this is a MoM power, copying it would be easy). It should last like 6 seconds at most if you have max power.

Some of these might make more sense as proper CBMs. The nether camo one could have a proper version that only works against robots.

[Bone-blood-moss]

Cbm Integrated Joint Armor. Ranging from Light to heavy Increasing in Both Thickness and joint coverage

Cbm bionic Pelvis, Rib cage, Shoulder blades. Ranging from Commercial To Warped. Pelvis should be for Balance and Terrain Movement. Rib cage should help Protect And help with breathing. Shoulder blades should help with recovery from attacking and attack speed. Commercial should be alright. Warped should have Increased Bonuses and probably add negatives That increase With levels of warping think of stages.

Cbm scrap mesh. grows a steel mesh with in your skin Increase iron intake requirement. gives you a nice machine man look and Some armor.

Cbm Secondary circulatory system. It should have a Health minus, double The blood volume, increased water need, increase all
Vitamin intake requirement And lower bleed rate.

Cbm Synthetic arms/limbs. Artificial limbs mimicking Biological Limbs. 3 types, one completely artificial, one that's combined And one thats inverse Organic mimicking Machine. All Should bleed. Bonuses like Little Crafting speed Increase, A little stronger and No pain. malice like no pain, Slow healing, Increased calorie Intake and vitamins requirement. Each should excel in something.

Cbm Cheap/Crude Super alloy Plating. Some just Cover shoulder and forearm, Some are just made from weaker material and Some weirdly growing And expanding.

[natsirt721]

I second the integrated multimeter suggestion, it seems to fit right in with the finger tools CBMs.

• Composite Foot Blades: Replace the feet and part of the lower leg with a pair of carbon composite running blades. Penalties to climbing and moving on rough terrain, but reduced stamina costs for sprinting and maybe a sprint speed buff.
• SD Card Reader: integrated SD card reader for working with SD cards. I'll admit this doesn't sound super useful due to the ubiquity of cellphones, but might be neat for other starts. Maybe just make an integrated cellphone/computer instead.
• Drug Synthesizer: passively convert nutrients in the bloodstream into a drug that is stored for later consumption. Basically a tailored version of the Intravenous Needletip that makes the drug for you. The unit is only good for one kind (or a subset) of drug(s), so this would be a whole family of CBMs with varying rarities. Ideally you'd have a reservoir of doses that trickle-charge over time but can be used in quick succession - not sure if that is possible. In approximate order of rarity:
  • Recreational: Alcohol, nicotine, THC, CBD, caffeine
  • Pharmacological: antidepressant, antipsychotic, low level painkillers, insulin, cholesterol meds - anything chronic.
  • Military: stimulant cocktail, painkiller cocktail, antihemmoragic
  • Hard(er) Drugs: LSD, meth, heroin, cocaine, etc. I see these as black-market mods to the pharma ones, and should be exceedingly rare
• Antihemorrhagic Blood: Blood production centers are modified, or an synthetic gland is added that causes your blood to congeal much quicker. Bonus to clot speed, but penalty to, er, stroke risk? Maybe make this one togglable with no downsides.
• Jet Boots. Need I say more?
• Joywire/Droud-esque brain stimulant: Mood and focus stabilizer. Should be worse off than properly managing mood and focus.
• Or just a straight-up Droud. Not sure how to balance it though.
• Deployable Umbrella: don't get wet in the rain, as long as you're not wearing a hat.
• Floaty Limbs: Increased natural buoyancy.
• Mircoservo Fingers: Significantly improved manual dexterity, with the goal being to improve crafting speed.
• Enhanced Olfactory Receptors: Better smelling. Not sure exactly how this information gets displayed to the player.

[I-am-Erk]

I should make it clear, I'm not asking for ideas for new cbms. This is a feature request, I'm hoping for someone to implement some new cbms.

Not that it's bad to have a few ideas for inspiration but I don't want it to overwhelm the core goal.

[natsirt721]

I'm gonna take a crack at the multimeter one, that seems like a good starting place.

[Cenness]

I should make it clear, I'm not asking for ideas for new cbms

Right after gist link you wrote this:

Ultimately, I am a bit short on ideas here and would love to crowdsource this.

[I-am-Erk]

I should make it clear, I'm not asking for ideas for new cbms

Right after gist link you wrote this:

Ultimately, I am a bit short on ideas here and would love to crowdsource this.

I realized that later, but it's partly why I clarified. It's fine that folks put in some ideas, that's good, I just don't want ten more pages of ideas... It can tend to get overwhelming and drown out or overwhelm someone talking about doing the actual addition. I don't mean to imply that folks were wrong to post some, that stuff is great