"For a game...how to make the Terminator Salvation work" Topic

I have been stuck at home with a serious stomach bug…in between the voiding efforts I have caught Terminator Salvation twice.

Now there are huge vast sinkholes in the form and function of the Terminator movies, but that is ok…they were meant to entertain.

But to make them work for a game, I have a couple ideas and I am looking for input:

if I were the big machine and wanted all the organics dead I would just release a virus…designer virus…all people dead…easy peazy.

so how to work around this…well if the machines needed people somehow for some reason, to survive, then we could continue with a game ideal…so why?

it would have to be something that is nearly impossible to make..it would have to be collected…maybe that spark of life?

if there was a break through and that spark, we will call it a soul just to give it a name :), and this is applied to the process of AI…imparting the soul/consciousness of humanity upon the machine…this starts the movie history that we know…the machine mind gains the spark and decides to eliminate the competition for control…

the spark must be replenished, perhaps to stave off insanity or because it degrades without the human shell, like a plant without water/sunlight…so new sparks must be collected, maintained, and assigned…perhaps certain sparks are easier to align than others?

with this there is a reason to keep man available…even better if the common man does not know that this is the machines plan, just that people are taken..

*****

Now onto the next step, how can the humans fight back?

If there is to be a serious science fantasy twist, then how about the machines trying to increase and refine the spark…unleashing that dormant concept of psi ability?

IF we can accept intelligent machines controlling the Earth, why not psi right?

Even better if the psi abilities are augmented by an element from the machines…that refined spark perhaps?

Better still if the recycled spark causes a poisoning of sorts…the more you use the more you lose…humanity slips away and the psi becomes more of an animal, a creature of passions rather than logic…so psi's that abuse the recycled spark take a risk based upon the "freshness" of the recycled spark…old spark is higher chance of insanity and loss of humanity…fresh spark is a huge boost to power and ability…becomes a drug…

an interesting ability would be the EMP cluster of power use…EMP touch, disrupting the machines on contact…EMP transmit, like a powerful radio…etc.

the same sort of efforts to refine the human spark could result in the alterations of the DNA…allows for minor superhero powers…low level but useful and better than just being a normal…

*****

I know it is much to take in, but the super element has been explored, so not that much of a stretch…not looking for four color heroes, just a touch of interesting abilities to help with the odds against the machines…

So is there potential with these added elements or would you prefer to play the basic man vs machine as is established…various versions of terminators and their machines vs normal humans with basically what we have now plus a little terminator technology added where possible?

so how to work around this…well if the machines needed people somehow for some reason, to survive, then we could continue with a game ideal…so why?

Simple: the Terminator and Matrix films take place in the same universe. Consider:

1) Terminators have red eyes. So do the Sentinels.
2) The aquatic terminator things in T:S look a bit like the bomb droid that the Sentinels use to destroy Morpheus's ship in Matrix Reloaded.
3) Both film series were dead by the time the third instalment came along…

So, obviously, Skynet wants to keep as many people alive as possible for later embedding into gooey pod things. (Actually this is all rather shaky and falls apart if you include The Animatrix shorts as canon, but T:S was so dull I started pondering this stuff instead of watching the film. It's been buggin' me for a while.)

What if skynet retains a basic core of its programming to protect humanity? So it didn't launch the war to wipe out humanity, but to protect itself so it could do its job of saving humanity from itself. Humans it takes and considers worthwhile get placed in a matrix like pod with vr, while worthless sorts get recycled for skinjob pseudo skin.
Could even end up with collaborators who want into the matrix for themselves or their family.
Another option would be that skynet lacks creativity and needs human designers to come up with new ideas or even cyborg generals for that tactical/strategic flair that skynet lacks. Would allow for psuedo religous fanatics who believe in skynets mission, maybe even worshipping skynet as the god in the machine.

I have thought about Terminator being early Matrix. In the early Terminator films it was always dark; they burnt the skys(I hate salvation btw and ingnor it) T1 & T2 mixed with the Matrix (not animatrix) is my fav.
:-)

There was a book about alien machine invasion (Bolo series) where the machines are driven by their programming to make most efficient use of all resources, including humans. So they use humans to reclaim waste materials and harvest them as needed to integrate biological parts with their machinery. Human brains are used to provide intuitive thinking processes. Bad news of course because the humans are thinking about revolt, which they do by subverting a bolo which had been reprogrammed by the alien machines. Usual problems of humans who are willing to serve the machines for extra privileges.

Drop Lawgiver an email, he was doing a T:S ruleset
jason at hometownboatsales dot com

What if Skynet, for all it's vast computational power, isn't capable of leaps of logic and deduction like humans are? That means it's not capable of creating new things, it's just capable of adapting existing ideas and concepts in existing ways.

Also, remember that Skynet was originally created to supplement the National Command Authority. It had the launch codes for the nukes, but who's to say it actually had the access codes for chemicals and bioweapons?

Both chem and bio have very different handling characteristics compared to nukes. nukes can simply remain on standby for long periods, while chem and bioweapons really can't do that.

So no nasty tailored super-virus to wipe out humanity.

Assuming that Skynet has a degrading 'Ghost' (hey, I'm a Shirow fan)…

Humans fight back by doing the one thing that machines can't: be unpredictable. Psi powers could certainly qualify as unpredictable, but…

I've always seen the Terminator franchise as a luddite commentary about how humanity is losing its humanity to the machines.

And a big enough microwave oven makes a passable EMP generator that's even directional.

"if I were the big machine and wanted all the organics dead I would just release a virus…designer virus…all people dead…easy peazy."

"mother nature" has been doing this for eons and still hasn't come up with the perfect bug to wipe us out, yet! Why would some brainy computer be able to do it sooner? Really, that's as big of a leap of faith as a Skynet using robotic weapons.

Honestly, I hear people taking all the time now about how robotic weapons are the 'wave' of the future in ground warfare. Skelebots might be a bit far fetched, but robotic AFVs and aircraft aren't.

And lets be honest, skelebots are lots of fun!

So let it go. Let Skynet have its skelebots and other mechs and get down to having fun. Unless the fluff you want is fun, in which case, have at it.