The basic idea is in that tinker post and the description piecewise gave to Xan when he woke up. It's a robot body that's supposed to be perfect for medicine, a medical battlesuit. It uses small arms for small stuff, big arms for movement and big stuff
and multiple small legs for kicking people to health in no time at all. It can rip off organs and limbs from itself and use them to heal people or it can take them from people and put it in itself for later. And it can presumably perform surgery, repair robobodies and do other things like he has an advanced kit and a surgeon kit, unless piecewise indicates that those tools have to be bought separately. And it should also be able to buy some of the upgrades available for robobodies for parts of its body (so it can put kinamps in one of its arms, for example, extra armour, or even an esdf if piecewise allows it). And if I'm lucky, it should also have some sensors that will make practising medicine easier.
The details and which of the above assumptions are true, I really do not know. Piecewise told me he'd give me "that thing or something very much like it", so it's not something I designed from the ground up. It's the ideas of Ozarck, Syv and me turned into a tinker concept and then mixed with piecewise's ideas. Xan'll have to ask piecewise for any details he wants, since he might have changed a few things. For example, it was originally supposed to be a suit, not a body.
What follows is everything I know about the history of the suit:
Ozarck was talking about a suit with various arms on it (an arm-y suit if you would forgive the pun):
4) Maybe have a powered exoskeleton and attach the robolimbs to the exterior, so you look like you're in an awkward, clingy relationship. And yes, they are meant as replacement limbs for broken robots. It sounds silly in my head, but I thought I'd throw it out there to see what stirred.
It does seem like having a dedicated medic is a potential waste of skills and resources. I don't think this game was built with the medic profession in mind, but I saw enough potential use for one on they gyromatria mission and with other missions I read that the idea appealed.
And I thought "Yeah, that does sound good. But buying the limbs piece by piece would be expensive or it would require an extra piece of equipment (the sharkmist vat). If I make it like a battlesuit, then I will be able to use the battlesuit discount to buy it cheaper AND I would be able to have its 'lost' limbs be 'repaired' at the end of a mission if piecewise allows that. And why not have them be usable, for extra fun? Why not have them be used to repair organics and cyborgs? That way, it makes sense to call it a battlesuit, since the arms would be an integral part of it with a certain function, not just useless add-ons that could be omitted." So I posted the following (which included the ripping out part):
Make a robot (or a centipede-like thing) that is a cockpit embedded in a ball of arms and legs it uses to move, interact with the world and perform surgery. The limbs (or small sacks in the body) have compartments with tools, equipment, consumable medical stuff and artificial organs in them. Or they can simply be held by the arms, but that would be harder to do, plus Kri's compact limbs means we can have normal sized limbs with hollow compartments in them. So whenever someone is injured, the thing rips out some of its limbs and uses them to heal the one that was injured. Maybe add some special limbs that can be used to cling to walls or defibrillate or stuff like that. Whenever a limb is removed the loss in strength is compensated by the loss in weight. It's like a battlesuit that trades armour and weapons for healing equipment, so the battlesuit discount should apply. With a few secondary sensors or mobility features (or the ability to put scalpels/defibrillators on each arm) it will be a good alternative to a battlesuit for fleshtechs.
And after that, syv responded and came up with the idea that you could also rip the arms off of dead (or still living people) as well as naming it an hekatonkheira suit.
@Paris
I like this idea, primarily because of how horrifying it is. A hekatonkheires which chases down wounded allies, and then tears its own limbs off and attaches them to the patient with seven other limbs working in concert. It would get even better if it can rip limbs off of (robotic) corpses and add them to itself, to later reattach to living robots.
So inspired and encouraged by Syv, I made this post in the Tinker thread, where I made the suit look like even more of a fleshhorror:
How about the following?
I call it the "Doctor Suit" (alternate name "The Cannibal"), both because it's meant to be a medical battlesuit and because it looks a bit twisted, like one of the Doctor's creations.
Imagine a suit the size of a battlesuit, but it is made out of various robotic arms, legs and skulls.
Those are connected with and supported by various organs (hearts pumping fluid to them, guts and lungs filtering it, eyballs providing sight, synthbones providing support, the wires and electronics that make everything work, etc) that surround the cockpit.
The suit is covered by a few thin, semi-transparent sections of synthskin instead of armour, through which the various pulsating organs can be made out.
Whenever the driver wants to heal someone (be they robot or human), he disconnects and rips out the necessary limbs/organs and then performs surgery to replace whatever is missing from the injured person, essentially cannibalizing himself for parts. But he can also work in reverse, taking the still usable parts of permadead teammates and adding them to his body to be used for spare parts later.
That's the basic idea. I can answer questions about how specific parts will work if you want. I'm just not posting everything to keep it simple.
I've got a few more questions for extra equipment it could have but I just want to see if the basic idea can work for now.
I realise it's not the most efficient design, especially since it gives up most armour, but I think it's fun and looks cool.
And later contacted piecewise about it and ended up selling my soul to him via abbradar and the mind of a medic to the infirmary in exchange for the suit.
03:21:25 <Parisbre56> Hello everyone. Can I interrupt your conversation about Heph politics for a moment? Just need a few quick questions before I go to sleep.
03:21:32 <Piecewise> Shoot
03:21:33 <Nikitian> Hi, Paris
03:22:08 <Parisbre56> First, are you going to look at the tinker thread sometime next week. I've posted a design there. Or is it better I tell you about it right now.
03:22:10 <Parisbre56> Hey nik
03:22:31 <Parisbre56> *add question marks to the above sentence*
03:23:44 <Piecewise> Hmm Well I can look at it tonight, but if you have time to wait a minute I can reply to you here
03:24:12 <Nikitian> Then I don't understand how it is different if they already can give us the readout on what they suppose inexcusable and unacceptable
03:24:38 <Piecewise> It might not be Nik, I don't pay much attention to the Heph OOC, so they might be doing it already
03:24:46 <Egan_BW> codename: monstrosity
03:25:20 <Parisbre56> Well, I can just copypaste the important bits.
03:25:34 <Piecewise> I've read it
03:25:39 <Piecewise> Interesting concept
03:25:56 <Piecewise> the medical station turned into a flesh golem sort of thing
03:26:04 <Piecewise> Well, flesh golem suit
03:26:30 <Parisbre56> Yeah. I was thinking about how a medical battlesuit would look like and what it would need. And I thought of that.
03:26:57 <Piecewise> Paris, I'll make you a deal
03:27:06 <Piecewise> One of the bargins I'm known for
03:27:30 <Parisbre56> *some saying about dealing with the devil I'm too sleepy to remember*
03:27:36 <Parisbre56> Shoot
03:28:20 <Piecewise> You can have that, or something very much like it. I just need you to bring me a good medic that will make use of it. Specifically the brain part of that good medic. Other parts optional. Concent also optional
03:28:26 <Piecewise> consent **
03:28:39 <Parisbre56> ...
03:28:44 <Parisbre56> *thinking music*
03:29:05 <Parisbre56> Yes, I think I can do that.
03:29:20 <Piecewise> Good good
03:29:20 <Parisbre56> You've got a deal. Where do I sign?
03:29:42 <Piecewise> Pretty sure lamba bot has got your soul already
03:29:55 <Piecewise> lambda**
03:30:17 <Piecewise> Just get a medic and bring them to the infirmary. The nurses should be able to get this together.
03:30:51 "darkmyst:syvarris" (!Mibbit@72.168.wtt.yr) joined.
03:31:01 <Nikitian> Hi, syvarris
03:31:02 <Parisbre56> Cool. Now to find a victim volunteer for my experiments
03:31:06 <syvarris> I am late, aren't I?
03:31:09 <Parisbre56> Hi syv
03:31:12 <Nikitian> We all are late
03:31:17 <renegade> ...what's Xans med skill st?
03:31:22 <renegade> *at
03:31:26 <Egan_BW> I vote for Nik
03:31:31 <Nikitian> Council pwned Hephaestus while we slept (well, I did)
03:32:05 <Nikitian> Egan_BW: Funny thing, but I was okay to consider volunteering, actually
03:32:16 <Nikitian> Maybe, maybe not
03:32:26 <Egan_BW> doooo iiiiit
03:32:36 <Nikitian> Depending on how this situation unfolds further
03:32:40 <Piecewise> His is pretty high
03:33:01 <Nikitian> Yeah, Xan's +4 Med, IIRC
03:33:10 <Nikitian> Then again, Maurice too~
03:33:12 <Egan_BW> too bad I have -1 Med
03:33:13 <Parisbre56> Would it also need aux? (or maybe will or charisma or some other stat?)
03:33:21 <Parisbre56> Or just a good medic?
03:33:27 <Piecewise> Med covers robot parts
03:33:41 <Piecewise> meditech remember
03:33:50 <Piecewise> as long as it's body parts
03:34:07 <syvarris> Okay, finished reading through the logs.
03:34:08 <Parisbre56> And I assume it will have the tools necessary to do its job?
03:34:39 <renegade> I would think it has the same Aux requirement as a regular battlesuit
03:34:40 <Nikitian> syvarris: Then can you explain to me, has the Councilapocalypse happened, or not really?
03:34:58 <syvarris> Not for me, I like the changes.
03:34:59 <Nikitian> Because I cannot think straight enough right now
03:35:33 <Nikitian> No, well - I meant, has the Tinker become their playground, or not?
03:35:55 <syvarris> Yes and no. From what PW... well, just said to you, he still has final word.
03:36:32 <Piecewise> I will never give up my power to grant or shater dreams
03:36:37 <Piecewise> shatter**
03:36:43 <syvarris> They'll have initial statting though. So when you ask 'how much does X cost' they will answer, and THEN you can complain to PW if you don't like it.
03:37:11 <syvarris> ...Although presumably we can still ask PW "Is material X cheap or expensive to manufacture?"
03:37:40 <Parisbre56> Thanks piecewise. That is all. Enjoy your press conference.
...
04:03:37 <Parisbre56> Oh, PIECEWISE, I just thought of something! Do I have any IC justification for doing what I'm doing? Did I get an idea, propose it to Heph and got a cryptic message telling me to bring a volunteer to the infirmary as a result? Or is it merely divine inspiration/Emar-i inspiring me/a strange/fell mood?
04:04:24 <Piecewise> I've got several people talking at me Sy
04:04:24 <Parisbre56> Or can I make up whatever stasis-dementia delusion I want?
04:04:26 <Piecewise> SOrry
04:04:42 <Egan_BW> Think of ARM as a kinda Metal
04:05:15 <syvarris> ...Council? Why can't they join the IRC under psuedonyms? "Ominous Councilman 1/2/3"
04:05:26 <Piecewise> Hmm Paris, any of those sound like viable reasons. You can assume whichever one you perfer, honestly
04:05:34 <Parisbre56> Cigarette smoking man
04:05:38 <Parisbre56> Cool thanks
And after Xan was rescued, we got this:
You wake up.
You are now an enormous mass of mechanical bodyparts, dozens of robotic arms, legs, various organs, and a framework of metal bones. A set of much larger mechanical limbs, all arms, sprouts off of what could be considered your back and seem to be used as your main method of locomotion, allowing you to walk and climb with ease, as well as manipulate larger, heavier things while the dozens of smaller arms allow you to do smaller, more precise manipulation.
You are now a walking medi-bot/organ depository. Go out there and start scavenging yourself some organs and keeping our troops alive.
So, as you can see, it should be a very good addition to any team, I simply don't know exactly how good and if I need to give him any extra tokens for him to buy extra equipment.