Cyberoptics

Cyberoptic Options

As a cyberoptic option affects your perception directly, characters only loose the idenity loss once (having the option in one eye, or both makes no difference to IL). However, it is recommended that wearers double up on anti-dazzle, light amplifiers or other such enhancements so that the optics perform in a similar fashion.

CYBEROPTICS

Example: Garfunkle decided he only wants one cyberoptic. After installation and having the eye tailored to that of his flesh eye, he has ight amps, targeting scope and vision enhancement on his list. The Referee informs Garfunkle's player that having vision enhancement would cause vision clashes because his meat eye would not produce a similar input to his brain, causing headaches and disorientation sometimes, so his player crosses it off his list. The Referee also points out that during a near dark situation when using his light amp, that he would not have any depth of vision because only one eye is producing a signal. He could have the targeting scope fitted as that would not affect his vision.

Such systems installed in a single optic which would cause a clash include anti-dazzle (as the eye would appear to dim up and down, varying while the normal flesh eye lagged in response time), microvision, telescopic vision and vision enhancement. Systems which would deprive the user their depth of vision when the flesh eye could not provide a view include IR & UV vision, light amp and thermograph.

Artifical Eyes: "Natural Look": this style of cyberoptic looks just like a biological eye. It has a soft outer shell and a flexible inner core that contains the implant. The iris is available in many colours, including natural shades and weird fashion colours. From the fashion range, violet, brushed steel, black, polychrome and copper remain ever popular. It is possible to get the whole eye as a single colour, although many users opt for the FX option to allow them easy colour changes. A cybereye does not have a blood vessel pattern at the rear, so for security scans a unique serial number is microscopically etteched around the iris.

Because the natural look optic is slightly smaller it holds less options. It starts at a base of 3 options and has a maximum of 10 options. Each extra option space, costing $100 each, must be bought prior to surgery as you are buying a more compact optic to fit the extra vision options. A user cannot buy extra space to an existing optic, he must have the old one surgically removed and the new model installed.

Artifical Eyes: "Cyber Look": the cyber look eye dispenses with the natural looking eye and eyelids. The screen covers the area which would normally be covered with the lower and upper eyelids. The screen is a made of a similar material to that of a natural cyberoptic although many people opt for a chrome or coloured composite covering (such as polychrome, black, white or royal blue for example). Because the unit is slightly larger it has more space for extra visual enhancements. These optics start off with 3 options but can go to a maximum of 11! Each extra option slot costs the same as before, ($100 each) and must also be purchased before the optic is installed.

Bio-optics: These are O-type bioware implants with extra functions gene-mapped into them. More information can be found in the bioware chapter.

Cybervisor: This appears to be a wrap-around visor but is radically different. During surgery bridge of the nose, eye tissue and upper and lower eye lids are removed. A bar-like array is then fitted replacing the upper part of the nose and fits into the eye sockets. The visor is fairly wide and tapers stylisly at the edge of the eyes. This gives a much wider field of vision and grants a +1 perception bonus.

In addition to the amount of option space found in high quality cyber-look optics, the visor has enough space for another eight options. The visor's cost does not include cyberoptics, but it does include the surgery for having both the visor and optics installed. As the unit is a sealed system, the wearer must have two cyberoptics.

Wrap-around Explant: If the user has both eyes done then for an additional $400 they could have a wrap-around visor installed. This appears as a pair of very close fitting glasses, those often worn by sportsman and cyclists. The visor is available in almost any colour - black, grey or silver are very popular. . The visor is fixed to the brow, nose and surrounding skin and protects the wearer from eye irritants. The implant comes with anti-dazzle is built in at no extra option cost.

CYBEROPTIC OPTIONS

Anti-Dazzle: this is an light auto-compensator which automatically dampens the intensity of the light so that the user is never dazzled by sunlight, car lights during the night, flash bombs or stunned by strobe effects, and you'll never need sunglasses again making it popular with highriders so they don't need the heavy glare protectors in helmets.

Banner: creates a moving banner of information at the upper or lower limits or at the sides of the users vision. The banner is normally one colour against another, popular choices include red or white on a black background, or yellow or white against a blue background (although a variety of shades are available), for better clarity. The banner outputs information, which can only be read by the wearer and the output is not visible from the outside, from skill chips, smart guns, cyberaudio, system monitors or from any other text based output system. The banner can also be switched on or off at will as can the cybersystems which output to it, or certain outputs can have their priority set higher so that systems can have more attention while others made to wait (a function which is useful when you are monitoring an output and don't want to ignore the other systems).

Camera: this takes 50 digital pictures in full quality colours (B/W options are not available). The pictures can be downloaded to the user's neural computer, as still frames to the user's internal video (taking up 2 seconds of film) or out through the user's data plug. More memory can be bought at $100 per extra 50 pictures (or extra level) up to a maximum level of 10. This option is useful for spying (and copying records) or for surveillance work (so pictures of a target committing a crime or other task can be taken).

Clock: just what is says, a clock. The clock is user definable (even after installation), either digital or analogue. The clock option comes in three levels, with each level costing $100.

• The first level is basic digital clock with countdown, stop watch, alarm and 24 hour option.
• The second level also has the ability to switch between digital or analogue and has a date, month & year function. It will also display times in five cities from different time zones.
• The top level, level 3, has all of these functions but it has a built in calendar function (a sort of cybertech filofax) which keeps the user's appointments with times, dates and a small note of about 10-100 characters in length for up to two years in advance (entries can be made via a link to a computer or via a neural computer mentally). Level 3 also has an built in audio (if cyberaudio is present) or visual alarm which bleeps or flashes when the alarm time is reached. On top of all that, the level three calendar function is also compatible with the neural computer and it's personal organizer program so even more information can be accessed at the flick of a mental switch.

Dart Gun: this is a simple weapon holding two darts (which can hold poison or otherwise) which fire one at a time. The dart gun loads from the front of the optic so it is easy to use and the dart is propelled by a compresses air (the canister will need changing every 20 shots). The dart gun is only really effective against unarmored foes as it does not even penetrate light armours well. Its weapon details are:

The dart gun doesn't have a long range and is accurate to only about a metre or so, so use it as a back up if you are captured but not in a fire fight unless you are real close and your foes unarmored.

Fish Eye: This option is an image processing mod that grants the wearer better underwater vision. The users vision is twice that of a normal person underwater and a weak active sonar system helps the user see in almost pitch black conditions (the sonar is only good for detecting large objects at a 5 metre range and is useless for detailed vision).

FX (fashion fx): this graphic display can cope with any graphics done on a standard computer. Popular designs include flames or targeting scopes when the user desires, usually when they get mad, or colour changing irises which change to match your mood or your outfit. More expensive versions work in parallel with the other eye allowing graphics to scroll from eye to eye (a favourite here is a fish swimming from eye to eye every now and again). For an extra $200 you can output data from an internal source. So the only limit to the effects possible is your imagination and the Ref's mood.

Heat Colour Mix: HCM is a specially designed thermographic camera with a heat pattern specifier. This allows the user to specify which heat frequencies he / she wants to see and the processor ignores the other frequencies replacing them with any of the users other vision options. When the HCM is switched on then the non-specified ranges are translated into black and white while any subject which is in the specified temperature band then it shows up in full colour. Alternatively the unit can turn everything to colour and overlay the thermograph on the subject temperatures.

The advantages of this option over thermograph is that you can see contours and corners much more easily because the majority of your vision will be "normal" and not a series of colour fractal patterns. Having the HCM in black & white will allow you to see the subject in greater clarity because the subject will be in normal vision and not a heat pattern but the surrounding view will be in black and white. If you switch the HCM to the overlay mode then the surroundings will be normal while your subject will be a series of fuzzy heat patterns. Each mode has its own advantages.

Infrared: IR allows you to see in total darkness using heat emissions. The only disadvantage of IR vision is that is does not have such a brilliant colour depth, so the wearer's vision will appear in a deep red monochrome. If the IR camera can be accessed by a neural computer, the computer can cycle the camera for specific frequencies. To this end, it is possible to spot IR emissions from wireless devices and laser sights (this requires a difficult cybertech roll).

Laser Microphone: this option can only be used if the wearer also has cyberaudio or an overlay processor. It allows the wearer to listen in to conversation if it is behind or reasonably close to a glass window (not bricks or any material which has a vacuum between it's layers). The system works by emitting a laser beam (typically IR but always out of the visible spectrum) which bounces off the glass and can be received by the optic. As the beam hits the glass the sound waves are causing the glass to wobble slightly. This movement will affect the beam and by using some fancy computer processing, the amount by which the beam varies, the sounds from behind the glass can be picked up. The sound quality will not be perfect, as the laser mike could home in on sounds like the human ear can, and it would be made worse if there where other sources of sound in the room (especially rhythmic vibrations from machinery or speaker which would create a interference by rippling the glass.

Light Amplifier: this option is allows the user to see in normally in up to near darkness conditions (a low light amp will not work in absolute darkness which is why IR is often used). The user will be able to see into the darkest shadows so long as there is a light source which would be visible to the naked eye. However, sudden bright illumination, someone turning the light on or a car's headlights can blind the system for D4 rounds (the anti-dazzle unit will half this period but NOT negate it totally). The light amp's biggest advantage is that the user can see in almost the same colours as in ideal light conditions (only a -2 penalty to colour related perception rolls).

Microvision: gives the user better detailed close ups of an item. Microvision comes in levels of augmentation, starting at level 1, with each successive level being x100 magnification, (so level 4 would be x400 and as each level costs $200 each the price would be $800). Microvision is useful for people who have to perform detailed repairs or examinations on small items, so microvision is useful for technicians, technically minded runners and also detectives who can scan an object for finger prints or other clues. Microvision also has a numerical read out so the user knows what magnification setting they are using.

The windows can be positioned and shut on/off mentally. They can be set for various inputs, except that when shut off, any incoming data will prompt a message (such as "Cyberaudio - incoming message" for example). The window bar can run up, down or along the sides of the user's vision in a similar way to banner, except that each device window has a one word title and the word would flash when there is a signal to it. How the pointer is controller is up to the user: a thumb stick, or VR implant could do it. For an extra $200 the user could have a look and bite option which would work just like the point and click function on a computer.

Poison rain has a short range of 1 metre (short range bonus of +1) and a medium range of 2 metres (medium range bonus of -1) and any ranges after that are considered long range (up to 4 metres where the range bonus is -3). Each gas capsule has a capacity for six gas sprays, fires once a round and each spray would cover the target's face. A biotoxin would be possible choice or maybe a biological weapon tailored to the target's genes - whatever is loaded, the wearer should have an antidote for themselves in case of "blow back ".

Remote Link: This option allows the user to communicate with wireless devices via a low power laser emitter. This is a useful option to have if the wearer has a neural computer or clock option as calendar information and telephone numbers can be transferred easily. In addition to this, the weaer can send signals to household devices such as holoscreens, microwaves, etc. The system lacks the power of the dataplug interface and could not be used to pilot cars or run smartguns to the same degree of accuracy.

Whatever their appearance they all help the user aim accurately at a target, granting a +1 to hit when using smartguns at all ranges, and produce a signal for a smartgun link, whose details can be found in the neuralware section. Targeting scopes have other options such as ammo remaining readout, range, barrel temperature and other such firearm related details.

Telescopic Vision: allows the user to focus at much larger distances than before. The system starts at x2 range and goes up by x1 for each extra level installed (each new level costs $200). Telescopic vision is ideal if you have a cam-optic fitted, as you can get those hold-the-front-page exclusive close ups, or if you need to fire accurately at greater distances (+1 bonus to long / extreme ranges).

Telescopic vision also has a range read out like microvision. For an additional sum of $50, this system can have a zoom screen can be fitted so the area inside the screen contains the zoomed in area. The advantage of this is that the user knows when they are switched on to telescopic mode and will also be able to see some of the area in normal focus.

Thermograph: a useful gadget to have in your optics. Different people and different races all emit heat at different levels. Cyberware is always cooler than the surrounding flesh and shows up as cold spots (often dark blue for example). Thermograph can also be used to see in the dark with, although it does take some getting used to because the user is seeing heat patterns and the edge of a heat pattern is not always the edge of an object or person. For a more advanced thermograph then check out the HCM option (above). As a help to what colours match which temperatures, a simple guide is provided below but wearer's with neural computers or picture-in-picture can set the tempreature values to their own settings.

Ultra Violet: allows the user to see using the ultra violet spectrum. It is useful for seeing during the night and also for seeing UV reflecting tags or paint, so people, vehicles and objects can be marked and easily followed. If the user is using this system to see in darkness then they will need to use a UV torch as a light source.

Video: this unit sends a copy of what the user sees to any system hooked up to the wearer's dataplugs, or to an internal storage device. This option is popular with reporters, because they are not weighed down with camera equipment. The security services find video implant useful, although the use of "helmet cams" wired to HQ have replaced many.

This system is compatible with banner and windows so either of the two could print subtitles or print up pictures or other sources- allowing a reporter to compile and transmit, (if he has a video transmitter), very detailed reports with extra features including close ups, subtitles, titling and other features without the use of a major studio!