[DEVBLOG#86] Mechanoid lore (Patreon)

Hello and welcome everyone.

Todays devblog is more of a 'reading' one than 'watching' one. We assembled a large document of lore surrounding Mechanoids - from ingame backstories and descriptions, to cryptosleep survival briefing document AND personal insights I got from Tynan himself.

What's the point of doing all of that? Well, we want our mod to fit in vanilla rimworld perfectly, and part of it is lore. We wrote everything down to know what fits and what doesn't.

If you're interested in finding out what Mechanoids are, just read everything below. If not, just skip out on this devblog!

What do we know about Mechanoids?

“Mechanoids: Autonomous intelligent robots built for domestic, industrial or military purposes. Mechanoid design is complex, and the AI needed to make them effective is very advanced. They range in capability from simple domestic worker bots to mechanized assault machines, to human-passing negotiator and infiltrator units designed by archotechnological superintelligences.”

“Mechanites: Microscopic mechanoids. Most known for their use in medicine, they can be programmed to do many other things as well. Safe use of mechanites means strictly preventing them from reproducing.”

“Spacer Tech level:

Regular interstellar space travel is possible because of JT drive.

Stellarator fusion power, fusion rocket

Johnson-Tanaka drive

Pulse-charged projectile weapons

Human-usable laser weapons

Human-usable coilguns

Complex trait gene modification, customizable

Cryptosleep

Complex body/brain implants (joywire, motivator, painstopper)

Bionics (biogel nerve link, lattice-dust for self-healing)

Plasteel

Power armor (plasteel, neuro-memetic robotics)

Artificial meat

Subpersona-level AI

Simple mechanoids for companionship, combat and labor use

Synthread”

“Artificial intelligence is an important part of our world. Scientists divide AIs into four general categories: Classifiers, subpersonae, personae, and archotechs.”

“A classifier is an AI system that doesn’t even appear to have any personhood, nor is it broadly adaptable. Classifiers are designed for one task. Many classifiers can absorb data and learn from it, but none can communicate like a person would even a little bit.

Classifiers can do things like recognize images, predict criminality from statistics, guide aircraft trajectories, drive automatic vehicles, control characters is entertainment simulations, and so on.”

This is, in my eyes, the highest level of AI achievable by RimWorld crashlanded colonists.

Mechanoid descriptions:

Centipede

“Heavy combat mechanoids that glide on dozens of tiny legs. Their heavy armor and firepower makes them very effective against bunched-up static defenders. They are somewhat vulnerable to mobile hit-and-run tactics.”

Lancer

“Fast human-sized combat mechanoids built for medium and long-range combat. Their bodies are light, making them vulnerable targets at close range - especially in melee combat.”

Scyther

“Fast, spindly, human-sized combat mechanoids specializing in rapid approach and close-range combat. Their bodies are covered in points and blades, but they mostly use two arm blades to lop off limbs or gut their victims alive.”

Pikeman

“A clunky multi-legged combat mechanoid specialized as a long-range weapons platform. While effective at distance, it is weak in close-range fights and in melee combat.

Veterans of mechanoid wars know that often, the safest place to be around a pikeman is touching it.”

Defoliator

“An area-denial device which annihilates nearby plants without affecting animals.\n\nIn planetary wars, these weapons are scattered across farmlands or jungles to deny the enemy food or cover. They're usually associated with orbital-drop mechanoid swarms.”

Mini-slugger turret

“A self-powered defense turret mounted with a weak but long-ranged slug-thrower. May explode when damaged.”

Mechanoid related backstories:

“While other passengers pass the years between star systems in cryptosleep sarcophagi, [PAWN_nameDef] had to wake up at periodic intervals to perform inspections, check the navigation systems, and to oil the mechanoids.”

“[PAWN_nameDef] loved technology from the day [PAWN_pronoun] was born. [PAWN_pronoun] had a mechanoid companion which [PAWN_pronoun] tried to modify when [PAWN_pronoun] was 10.”

“The only son of a well respected mechanoid inventor, [PAWN_nameDef] had access to the materials to subvert and modify [PAWN_possessive] father's creations.”

“[PAWN_nameDef] grew up in an urbworld as the only child of a pair of mechanoid designers.

They encouraged [PAWN_possessive] interest in the machines. Eventually, [PAWN_pronoun] became obsessed with building [PAWN_possessive] own.”

“[PAWN_nameDef] was a cybernetic researcher. Studying a transcended world, [PAWN_pronoun] became too involved with [PAWN_possessive] subjects. Over time, the archotech machine core recruited [PAWN_objective] into its service, and used [PAWN_objective] as a spy.

When [PAWN_pronoun] later rebelled against [PAWN_possessive] non-human master, it sent mechanoids across space to hunt [PAWN_objective] down.”

“[PAWN_nameDef] became depressed and lost interest in life. [PAWN_pronoun] travelled from planet to planet, searching for psychic artifacts amid mechanoid ruins in the hope that they would cure the pain in [PAWN_possessive] soul.”

“[PAWN_nameDef] had received firearms training, but [PAWN_possessive] work was focused on technical adaption and manipulation of combat mechanoids on the battlefield.”

“[PAWN_nameDef] fought against swarms of rogue mechanoids since he was old enough to enlist. [PAWN_pronoun] has bled on half a dozen worlds and has lost more than he cares to recall. These experiences left him hardened, both mentally and physically.”

“[PAWN_pronoun] specialized in repairing and modifying mechanoids' tools. Sometimes [PAWN_pronoun] tested them [PAWN_objective]self.”

“[PAWN_nameDef] lived in a remote colony. When mechanoid centipedes attacked his home and killed his people, he was the last survivor.”

Mechanoids present in ancient dangers are remnants of old conflicts, simply following their previous directive after being locked out in a dark tomb without any new sensory data.

Mechanoids are present in normal life across the more civilised planets. They are used in variety of ways, filling almost every profession. Unlike robots, mechanoids have advanced programming and are created through nano-engineering, with nanites used to construct their bodies. This allows mechanoids to repair any damage done to them as long as resources are provided.

Some Mechanoids are even capable of reproducing themselves. Von Neumann probe is the best example of a mechanoid capable of going to another solar system, gathering resources and building copies of itself.

Whilst it’s a great trait for any mechanoid to be able to replicate itself, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for other directives - that’s why specialised but not-reproducing mechanoids are widely used. From combat mechanoids, capable of not only following orders but also generating those orders based on situational awareness, to building mechanoids, resource harvesting mechanoids and even social mechanoids that a person can have a conversation with, different kinds of constructs are used for different situations.

A number of different mechanoid types working together to achieve a common goal (bear in mind by working together I mean programmed to work together, they don’t have free will) create a swarm. 

Mechanoid swarms can be anything from three dozens of different machines tasked with constructing a skyscraper, to a few millions of mechanoids launching a ground invasion.

A lair is a centerpiece for any independent mechanoid swarm. All mechanoids work in tandem - harvesters harvest resources - usually different kinds of metal and rock, transporters carry it back into the assembler stations where new mechanoids are formed depending on what the situation requires.

Mechanoids are not created on a factory belt. Instead, they are made slowly on a molecular level, piece by piece assembled to fulfil their prime directive. This gives mechanoids their organic, almost insectoid appearance, as their creation is very similar to that of an actual organic being - organ by organ, piece by piece a mechanoid grows inside a specially designated pod.

Mechanoids can come in different sizes - from giganting harvesters the size of a large building, to small nanobots the size of an insect. Space-based mechanoids often resemble ships more than robots, but don’t let that fool you - there is no empty corridors inside of them, they are solid chunks of machinery carefully designed to fulfil its role, and in case any of its parts become damaged, it is more than likely it will slowly fix itself should the resources be provided.

Mechanoid swarms are used by many different cultures to wage war, obtain resources, exploit planets and transport goods and people. Mechanoids are often used to thicken out the space fleet with disposable vessels that are also capable of fighting and defending the capital ships.

Despite the thousands of different applications, mechanoids are still limited when it comes to processing power. They are not super-intelligences, they are simple robots following orders, even though those orders can be very complex. They are capable of analysing situational data and adjust their directives accordingly. 

Human commanders are always used to direct mechanoids - without the human creativity and imagination, mechanoids would just walk straight towards the enemy to fight them. This can be seen with Ancient mechanoids sleeping in various shelters and ruins across the rimworlds - their commanders are long dead, and mechanoids simply follow their prime directive, which is TO KILL.

Mechanoids are controlled through a series of uplinks, but usually from a single control room. This means that during battle, such control room is a concentrated target, and removing it from play will mean that mechanoids will only follow their last order patch.