Ren'Py The Fixer [v0.3.4.01] [Sam_Tail]

[HDussen]

Just a quick reminder that the actual code for picking skin colour was posted a couple of weeks ago, on the 23rd.

And that code shows a 33% chance of picking any colour (40% of which will be white), and a 67% chance of picking a white one. That is a combined chance of 80% (67+13) of picking a white NPC. Or, if we just count the lily-white, never-seen-the-sun ones, a 40% chance.

Which leaves us with three options:

1. The posted code was not the actual code, but something posted to hide that there is a Black Cock Invasion. Which is really, really silly, if nothing else then because anyone who cares enough could go dig through the code and check that they are the same.

2. The code is bugged somewhere, and does not work as it should.

3. The code works fine, and those reporting an abundance of black cocks are suffering from some combination of edge case RNG and confirmation bias.

 

[guims]

Basically there are 3 ways (that I have found) to reach the top level.

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Hey thank you very much.
I 'm not surprise about 1. I was a bout to dig deeper.
2. and 3. are making me realize, I'm not used to a porn game actually being a game, which you actually PLAY lol.

Another question if I may, Are the work objectives can be completed or they're just here to make you do it daily?
Thank you a lot. And sorry if my English doesn't sound native, since it's not

 

[me_irl666]

This game needs a sissy model. With wearable chastity

 

[Kateterpeter]

This game also needs a walkthrough so that you don't have to walk around not really knowing what you're doing at times

 

[dlL11]

This game needs some (optional) gender dysphoria content for the former man scenario. Why should the Institute experiment be necessarily success? The former man is already more likely to fail to adapt to a sudden new life in a different body with too different social expectations, especially given such a harsh new environment, and dysphoria can make it even worse. Always in stress, not capable to stand up for physically, and being always an object of attention and gaze... At first resisting, then trying to be as inconspicuous and unnoticeable as possible, then perhaps giving up after all the bullying, beating, etc, and obtaining "Mambi" perk in the end. Or trying at first living off scavenging as far as possible from a social contact, eventually having moved to Jaylee, and then slowly trying to explore and develop feminine mentality through a friendship with her.

It seems that you can roleplay somewhat along these lines even in current game, because you can become broken and derpessed after some events, but still PC is too often in a good mood by default, and accepts his fate very soon at least in words (already on a second day somewhat ok, not even hesitant). This probably can be tweaked relatively easy.

Next, it looks like the Institute already isn't benevolent at all, smoothly forcing you into the Fixer work by means of need and greed as if it were a pressure of circumstances (apparently they don't force you openly simply because it is unproductive). In this scenario described above the Institute could also try to prevent possible suicide and fix body/mind misalignment with pharma and some psychotherapy. No way out, once trapped in this petite vulnerable body. They invested in you a lot, after all.

On a side note, there is a psychotherapist already in game, but she appears too late even given the current scenarios, I guess PC needs some heavy brainwashing or intermediate missions to go into Haven unless she is already a whore or something.

Also would be nice to have an option to be suspicious of Emile, she is really too enthusiastic about all of this, that does not go unnoticed for PC. It seems very natural for PC becoming paranoid at some point, especially since the game allows PC to be pretty skeptical at the beginning.

All in all, a great and very enjoyable game. I also enjoy how Sammy has the agency on her own and she is somewhat consistent in her views and approaches (unless you have a "Wildcard" perk I guess).

 

[Craudiao]

This game also needs a walkthrough so that you don't have to walk around not really knowing what you're doing at times

I agree about the missable events, but not about the ones that only require conversation and exploration. That's exactly what makes it more of a game than a novel. You really need to play it, almost like a novel/RPG. I think this is a great differentiator for this game. After all, it's already hard to find a novel where choices make a significant difference. In addition to the differences, we still need to really search and explore. I think this is the best point of this game...

As examples, Mira and Haven's missions are much more fun to do "blindly" than with a step-by-step guide.

Of course, an option wouldn't stop anyone who wants to play, they just need to not use it...

 

[BigAlzBub]

This game needs some (optional) gender dysphoria content for the former man scenario. Why should the Institute experiment be necessarily success? The former man is already more likely to fail to adapt to a sudden new life in a different body with too different social expectations, especially given such a harsh new environment, and dysphoria can make it even worse. Always in stress, not capable to stand up for physically, and being always an object of attention and gaze... At first resisting, then trying to be as inconspicuous and unnoticeable as possible, then perhaps giving up after all the bullying, beating, etc, and obtaining "Mambi" perk in the end. Or trying at first living off scavenging as far as possible from a social contact, eventually having moved to Jaylee, and then slowly trying to explore and develop feminine mentality through a friendship with her.

It seems that you can roleplay somewhat along these lines even in current game, because you can become broken and derpessed after some events, but still PC is too often in a good mood by default, and accepts his fate very soon at least in words (already on a second day somewhat ok, not even hesitant). This probably can be tweaked relatively easy.

Next, it looks like the Institute already isn't benevolent at all, smoothly forcing you into the Fixer work by means of need and greed as if it were a pressure of circumstances (apparently they don't force you openly simply because it is unproductive). In this scenario described above the Institute could also try to prevent possible suicide and fix body/mind misalignment with pharma and some psychotherapy. No way out, once trapped in this petite vulnerable body. They invested in you a lot, after all.

On a side note, there is a psychotherapist already in game, but she appears too late even given the current scenarios, I guess PC needs some heavy brainwashing or intermediate missions to go into Haven unless she is already a whore or something.

Also would be nice to have an option to be suspicious of Emile, she is really too enthusiastic about all of this, that does not go unnoticed for PC. It seems very natural for PC becoming paranoid at some point, especially since the game allows PC to be pretty skeptical at the beginning.

All in all, a great and very enjoyable game. I also enjoy how Sammy has the agency on her own and she is somewhat consistent in her views and approaches (unless you have a "Wildcard" perk I guess).

Dysphoria probably would occur for both males and female (although it would certainly be worse for males waking up in a female body), as Dysphoria is just feeling like the body you are in "isn't yours" or doesn't feel right. So as a female, you could easily suffer from it as well. What you have to ask is, would this be fun? After being abused and getting broken, there is a decent chance that all you would be good for is curl up in a corner and cry endlessly, is that fun? Doesn't sound great, so you are allowed to continue as you are with some minor effects, like you can't say no to sex. Not in the slightest bit realistic, but do you want to sit through several game months (or years) of attending therapy to get back to some sembalance of normality. Got to be honest, doesn't sounds great to me.

While the Insitute is definately not "the good guys", they are pretty reasonable to be honest, they put you in the only body they have left, when the only other option was death, they could easily just have made a token effort to patch you up and let you live or die based solely on your own ability to do so. You are not forced to become the Fixer, they offer, and if you don't take them up on the offer, they don't take any action against you, it is just that if you don't pursue their questline then you lose a massive chunk of the current content to the point it is barely worth playing, but that is just what happens with any narrative driven experience in which you aren't forced to follow the plot, all you can do is load up the world with lots of extra content and let the player go nuts, which appears to be what the author is doing, it is just that they haven't gotten round to fleshing out all the extra bits yet, however if you check the roadmap, you will see that the next institute plot is quite a few major updates away, and everything is focused on the world and what is happening. Without a ton of resources, the author can only produce so much content and when you are doing everything yourself, things will tend to move at a snails pace, particularly if you don't have an overall goal, and you are just going where the wind leads.

 

[dlL11]

You are not forced to become the Fixer, they offer, and if you don't take them up on the offer, they don't take any action against you, it is just that if you don't pursue their questline then you lose a massive chunk of the current content to the point it is barely worth playing

I understand, but I think for this work they need a very loyal agent, and if they force PC, then they can't anymore rely on PC. So they don't take the action because economic coercion is the only way to make Sammy work for them and not blame them for anything, less risk of betrayal later. The Fixer work is the only well-paid work in game, unless you found out about not-so-obvious ways to make money and still maintain dignity.

For me the story about femme fatale spy with the ability to drastically change appearance fast and easily is much more thrilling than other in-game content (although I like other stuff too, of course), so I hope the main quest will be much more complex and huge eventually.

After being abused and getting broken, there is a decent chance that all you would be good for is curl up in a corner and cry endlessly, is that fun?

Well, you still have to eat somehow, and there are no one willing to help you in this dystopian world, the Institute doesn't provide shelter for free. Assuming suicide isn't chosen, you need to find out how to survive. This theme is already touched with "bambi"/"meek" perks and related mechanics anyway, so I'd say fun is possible albeit in a very twisted way.

 

[BigAlzBub]

I understand, but I think for this work they need a very loyal agent, and if they force PC, then they can't anymore rely on PC. So they don't take the action because economic coercion is the only way to make Sammy work for them and not blame them for anything, less risk of betrayal later. The Fixer work is the only well-paid work in game, unless you found out about not-so-obvious ways to make money and still maintain dignity.

For me the story about femme fatale spy with the ability to drastically change appearance fast and easily is much more thrilling than other in-game content (although I like other stuff too, of course), so I hope the main quest will be much more complex and huge eventually.



Well, you still have to eat somehow, and there are no one willing to help you in this dystopian world, the Institute doesn't provide shelter for free. Assuming suicide isn't chosen, you need to find out how to survive. This theme is already touched with "bambi"/"meek" perks and related mechanics anyway, so I'd say fun is possible albeit in a very twisted way.

While it would be a wreched existance, you do get free food at school (unless you eat outside of lunch time, in which case it is a nominal fee). Rachel survives by sleeping in bushes, if you were evicted, you could do the same, also don't forget that Emily is asked by the Insitute to stay away from you, so you don't become dependant on her and potentially turn to the insitute, however if you sunk into a deep enough pit, there is always the possiblity (although not explored in the game) that she would take pity on you and look after you, if you refused point blank to work for the insitute.

While some insitute tasks give a healthy chunk of change, it isn't really a paid gig, it is more like contract/mercenary work. If they really wanted to control you, they would let you live in Oscars place for a while, then move you into the lap of luxury, so that wouldn't want to go back to paying rent and living in a slum. The insitute is certainly a very shady organisation, although so far they haven't really showed themselves to be terrible people, they just want to protect themselves, and stay in power, while these are not noble ambitions, when Mia gets kidnapped, the director just sends his tac team out to rescue her without asking for anything from you, other than to talk to the headshrinker, it is highly likely they are just doing this to buy some brownie points with you, but still they help without asking for any additional favours, even future considerations.

 

[dlL11]

While it would be a wreched existance, you do get free food at school (unless you eat outside of lunch time, in which case it is a nominal fee). Rachel survives by sleeping in bushes, if you were evicted, you could do the same

Don't forget that the argument was about would it be interesting experience or not. Whether you go to school or live on the streets, you would be forced to contact people, and you will be exposed to even greater danger and risks than if you lived at home. You'd need to cooperate, search for the relatively reliable company and some security, and at school you need to study anyway (although you technically simply can visit it to eat, but I guess it is implied they would then kick you out soon). So the point still holds, I don't see how it could be less engaging gameplay-wise. In some sense even more!

I'm actually ok with current "bambi"/"meek" idea (although it needs some rebalance), not calling for anything that much more radical, but I would prefer non-broken PC be less cheerful and more depressed, perhaps with mood cap about ~50, less confident, etc in the scenario I described.

If they really wanted to control you, they would let you live in Oscars place for a while, then move you into the lap of luxury, so that wouldn't want to go back to paying rent and living in a slum.

I actually expect exactly this to happen later. If I understand correctly, currently there is only one big mission in the Institute (visit to Haven), so it's all just beginning. But I also didn't explore all the available quests (and didn't complete Haven yet), so I may have an incomplete picture. Anyway, Sammy is apparently an absolutely unique asset, so demand for her services is guaranteed and it seems natural to expect the Institute or the govenment to offer her a good contract some day, if she proves her worth.

I agree that the Institute doesn't show themselves to be terrible people. Now I see that my initial statement gave different flavor, so this was a bad wording on my side, I'm not trying to prove that they are bad guys. I rather wanted to say that there is a room to interpret the story this way, especially given how corrupted Emile is and she's working for the Institute.

I wouldn't want to play for an openly nefarious organization myself. But I would prefer the complete truth to remain rather unsaid. Some uncertainty behind their intentions and some subtle hints about the possible understatements or lies would keep thing more intriguing and spicy.

PS Frankly speaking Haven mission looks like something preemptive from the middle/late stage of story, considering how risky and extreme this task is, and how absurdly it looks that potentially virgin Sammy finds herself on the verge of prostitution. It seems that developer plans to add more (side) missions preceding Haven with police dept at least, which is a good thing.

 

[BigAlzBub]

Don't forget that the argument was about would it be interesting experience or not. Whether you go to school or live on the streets, you would be forced to contact people, and you will be exposed to even greater danger and risks than if you lived at home. You'd need to cooperate, search for the relatively reliable company and some security, and at school you need to study anyway (although you technically simply can visit it to eat, but I guess it is implied they would then kick you out soon). So the point still holds, I don't see how it could be less engaging gameplay-wise. In some sense even more!

I'm actually ok with current "bambi"/"meek" idea (although it needs some rebalance), not calling for anything that much more radical, but I would prefer non-broken PC be less cheerful and more depressed, perhaps with mood cap about ~50, less confident, etc in the scenario I described.



I actually expect exactly this to happen later. If I understand correctly, currently there is only one big mission in the Institute (visit to Haven), so it's all just beginning. But I also didn't explore all the available quests (and didn't complete Haven yet), so I may have an incomplete picture. Anyway, Sammy is apparently an absolutely unique asset, so demand for her services is guaranteed and it seems natural to expect the Institute or the govenment to offer her a good contract some day, if she proves her worth.

I agree that the Institute doesn't show themselves to be terrible people. Now I see that my initial statement gave different flavor, so this was a bad wording on my side, I'm not trying to prove that they are bad guys. I rather wanted to say that there is a room to interpret the story this way, especially given how corrupted Emile is and she's working for the Institute.

I wouldn't want to play for an openly nefarious organization myself. But I would prefer the complete truth to remain rather unsaid. Some uncertainty behind their intentions and some subtle hints about the possible understatements or lies would keep thing more intriguing and spicy.

PS Frankly speaking Haven mission looks like something preemptive from the middle/late stage of story, considering how risky and extreme this task is, and how absurdly it looks that potentially virgin Sammy finds herself on the verge of prostitution. It seems that developer plans to add more (side) missions preceding Haven with police dept at least, which is a good thing.

There is some risk in haven if you want to maintain your virginity. There are a few routes to complete Haven, I won't spoil them for you, although I have writen details about them elsewhere in the thread, if you want to look, but there is one way which carries only minimal risk, at the end of the day you aren't robbing the place, kidnapping someone, it is just an information gathering exercise. Some perverts may squirt their jizz over you, and you might get felt up, but being raped there is relatively rare as long as you listen to the instructions on when each sex can use the facilities at which time, and don't deviate from that.

Rescuing Mira while maintaining your virginity is more tricky, and even that isn't that hard, even without savescumming, which makes it SUPER easy.

 

[Penitensary]

I think the starting point makes perfect sense though.

At the start, the Institute's main goal is to monitor Sammy. Sure, they could have put her in an apartment complex in the better part of town with security where their bigwigs live, but if she wouldn't have gone on missions she might potentially be downgraded to Oskar's, which she would likely have interpreted as being discarded.

Now on the other hand, they start her at Oskar's. Not the best living conditions, but it's got the basics and allows her to live enough of a life to provide them with good research data. She might end up raped, but then again, pregnancy and any kids she plops out are all very valuable research data as well (imagine cloned bodies having kids in-setting!) and, if she proves useful enough during missions, she might end up earning upgrades such as the rent-free apartment in the earlier example. It's part of a carrot approach where the Institute shows how much they can do for her if she helps them in return.

While you CAN completely ignore them (for the moment) and they'd still help you, that could be interpreted as them trying to have Sammy 'owe' her to get her to do their missions, and if you did their missions it'd be Sammy calling in a favor she's built up. Honestly, keep the Institute's approach as-is because it makes a good amount of sense.

 

[BigAlzBub]

I think the starting point makes perfect sense though.

At the start, the Institute's main goal is to monitor Sammy. Sure, they could have put her in an apartment complex in the better part of town with security where their bigwigs live, but if she wouldn't have gone on missions she might potentially be downgraded to Oskar's, which she would likely have interpreted as being discarded.

Now on the other hand, they start her at Oskar's. Not the best living conditions, but it's got the basics and allows her to live enough of a life to provide them with good research data. She might end up raped, but then again, pregnancy and any kids she plops out are all very valuable research data as well (imagine cloned bodies having kids in-setting!) and, if she proves useful enough during missions, she might end up earning upgrades such as the rent-free apartment in the earlier example. It's part of a carrot approach where the Institute shows how much they can do for her if she helps them in return.

While you CAN completely ignore them (for the moment) and they'd still help you, that could be interpreted as them trying to have Sammy 'owe' her to get her to do their missions, and if you did their missions it'd be Sammy calling in a favor she's built up. Honestly, keep the Institute's approach as-is because it makes a good amount of sense.

Definately a possibility. There is also a possibility that all they wanted to know was, can a person survive being placed into a cloned body. It has some SERIOUS implications if it works, like for instance effective immortality. If they can find a way to store brainstates then it gets even more scarey as you can have something like the clone armies from the Star Wars prequals, and actual immortality for people who are in your good graces. It is quite the closing pitch when you come out with, "oh, by the way, if you join us, you can live forever..."
Getting a single agent regardless of how useful they may be, is pretty small beer compared to that.

 

[dlL11]

Definately a possibility. There is also a possibility that all they wanted to know was, can a person survive being placed into a cloned body. It has some SERIOUS implications if it works, like for instance effective immortality. If they can find a way to store brainstates then it gets even more scarey as you can have something like the clone armies from the Star Wars prequals, and actual immortality for people who are in your good graces. It is quite the closing pitch when you come out with, "oh, by the way, if you join us, you can live forever..."
Getting a single agent regardless of how useful they may be, is pretty small beer compared to that.

That is true. There are many ways to develop this story, and the game lore provides great flexibility in this regard. For example, immortality plot can be eventually relegated to the background if it is supposed to be a very expensive one-off project, with justification that experiments like that are extremely resource-intensive/not viable in this post-pandemic world/very rarely successful. Especially since the current in-game world fails even to resume mass production of basic goods.

Also, it is not entirely clear what exactly they did at the Institute, they just provide "simple" explanation for a lay-man. It is interesting that Sammy can inherit some attributes from a past life (athleticism, etc), and in my opinion this hints that there is more left from the past body than just memory and consciousness.

Either way, it seems pretty reasonable that simple observation is the main priority for the Institute, exactly as stated at the beginning of the game. This justifies a slow-burn beginning in my view, with a strong initial focus on school and general re-socialization. Since they have no reason to expect from Sammy any professionalism at all, they don't consider the Fixer work too seriously at first. But if Sammy completes the tasks unexpectedly good, the spy plot may evolve into the main roleplay scenario (or one of them). Otherwise the Institute simply continues to observe, with which they are completely satisfied too.

 

[Sam_Tail]

On this topic, I'll only mention things in game, not any secret dev knowledge. A lot is obviously left open to personal interpretation.

Immortality. Sammy mentions something along the lines of "wasn't there a book about this?". The book she is talking about is

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, Where the rich back up their brains every 24 hours and if they die, they download in a new body. It obviously has very large implications and if the world didn't turn to shit, who knows what might happen in the near future.

After you complete Haven, Emile mentioned The Institute specifically forbade her from spending too much time with you. They wanted you to find your way on your own and not be helped/coddled by Emile. Although you only have her word on that.

Tucker points out their main goal is seeing how the body works in the real world. They never actually mention if they want you to live a good life or if they even care about you. You are pretty much a science experiment. Any data you give them, good or bad, is very valuable. It's a fair guess to assume that seeing how you recover from unimaginable horrors is, for them, good data.

As a Fixer, Tucker mentions it's his own personal project and not the goal of The Institute as a whole. He claims if you reject being the Fixer, he doesn't care. If you believe him though, that is up to you.

Also for fun, I will mention a few conspiracy theories that I have seen mentioned elsewhere.

Emile is not your sister, or the person claiming to be Emile is not the real Emile

The Govt babies are actually taken by the institute to use as ingredients for new bodies.

Sammy wasn't actually anyone prior to the game

On the topic of dysphoria. It's something I want to add a bit more of, but it's also something I don't understand so struggle to come up with ideas to tackle it. I have asked around a bit for info, but much of what I receive is vague and "it's kinda hard to explain" or just isn't fitting with the style of story/game. I also do not want to add negativity or angst like I have seen in many other gender swap games. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but the choice between death or a new body for me seems an easy choice to make. And considering I am not a teenager anymore, I might even take the new body without the death alternative.

 

[Random Number Generator]

I also do not want to add negativity or angst like I have seen in many other gender swap games. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but the choice between death or a new body for me seems an easy choice to make. And considering I am not a teenager anymore, I might even take the new body without the death alternative.

For what it's worth, I'm entirely with you on that.

 

[dlL11]

I also do not want to add negativity or angst like I have seen in many other gender swap games. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but the choice between death or a new body for me seems an easy choice to make. And considering I am not a teenager anymore, I might even take the new body without the death alternative.

You can be glad with another chance to live in principle, yet it may be not that easy and comfortable day-to-day. Just like you may wish to quit smoking, but can't. There are already some light elements of how PC gets used to new body (Sammy struggles to control her new body, stumbling, "too short legs" comments), can be expanded a bit with accompanying frustration added that simply make her mood worse or something. Maybe consider it as a harder difficulty level for the first two game weeks (player already can choose some negative feedback 1st day, a good way to modify difficulty), until PC acclimates and player chooses different origin perk. Then player can choose whether Sammy would fail and be afraid of the world or acclimates herself with relevant perks. No matter if too fast and "unrealistic", after all, nobody knows how this experimental body works, perhaps it simply "overrides" previous consciousness after some time with new desires, affects and personality ultimately, open to interpretation again.

 

[Penitensary]

That is true. There are many ways to develop this story, and the game lore provides great flexibility in this regard. For example, immortality plot can be eventually relegated to the background if it is supposed to be a very expensive one-off project, with justification that experiments like that are extremely resource-intensive/not viable in this post-pandemic world/very rarely successful. Especially since the current in-game world fails even to resume mass production of basic goods.

That depends. EVERYTHING started off as an expensive one-off. The first CD-Rom recorders cost around 10k, and at some point that price dropped to what amounts to a carton of milk in comparison. So as the process is automated, some unnecessary features removed and the rough edges shaved off future Sammies should be much cheaper to make. Most of the monitoring would be focused around her health and lifespan and they're on the right track given that Sammy has a cycle and can get pregnant. That alone means you could have an 'empty' clone be used as an artificial womb to ramp up the birth rate if Sammy's kids are shown to have no genetic birth defects or developmental irregularities due to their mother being a clone. And they wanted childbirth to be part of the research, no doubt about it -- men and women aren't that different for it to be impossible to make a fully functional male body when they can create a fully functional female body.

So yeah, on a large enough scale and assuming resources aren't an issue you could totally create an army of Clone Troopers by loading the same mental preset into a number of different bodies. Hell, if the process is economical enough they could clone cows and feed the entire city population filet mignon every other week.

As a Fixer, Tucker mentions it's his own personal project and not the goal of The Institute as a whole. He claims if you reject being the Fixer, he doesn't care. If you believe him though, that is up to you.

Also for fun, I will mention a few conspiracy theories that I have seen mentioned elsewhere.

Emile is not your sister, or the person claiming to be Emile is not the real Emile

The Govt babies are actually taken by the institute to use as ingredients for new bodies.

Sammy wasn't actually anyone prior to the game

On the topic of dysphoria. It's something I want to add a bit more of, but it's also something I don't understand so struggle to come up with ideas to tackle it. I have asked around a bit for info, but much of what I receive is vague and "it's kinda hard to explain" or just isn't fitting with the style of story/game. I also do not want to add negativity or angst like I have seen in many other gender swap games. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but the choice between death or a new body for me seems an easy choice to make. And considering I am not a teenager anymore, I might even take the new body without the death alternative.

Personally, i'm not buying it that this is Tucker's pet project. For me, that feels too much like a "If anything goes wrong, we're making sure it can't be traced back to the Institute" precaution than Tucker expending considerable resources into saving a random stranger out of the goodness of his heart. Ultimately, he would have bosses to justify those expenses to and he isn't Tucker from Fullmetal Alchemist where people are expected to do whatever to takes to keep their license or there'd be some outright Silent Hill-grade mutants walking the streets of the city.

As for dysphoria... For me, it's not the angst, what i like about Former Man is that it increases the 'getting used to a new body' theme, there are some unique responses Sammy gives with it active, and it's not even that much compared to having to get used to the world having gone to hell, their parents (i believe) dying in the car accident and people running up to her to rip her shirt off her body. It's a -40 to Confidence i believe and that should be fine as it is, without having to write additional scenes about how she's breaking down crying -- at least, none that wouldn't already apply at low Confidence in general. I think there was a similar something where she runs into the school bathroom to cry?

 

[dlL11]

EVERYTHING started off as an expensive one-off. The first CD-Rom recorders cost around 10k, and at some point that price dropped to what amounts to a carton of milk in comparison. So as the process is automated, some unnecessary features removed and the rough edges shaved off future Sammies should be much cheaper to make.

You're right, but again, this project was started before the pandemic with generous government funding, if I understand correctly. Even if this project follows typical cost curve over time, it is highly likely there would be no resources enough not only to scale the production, but even simply to replicate the same thing. This is the world where there is no steady petrol supply anymore and no one can fix the roads. It looks like the Institute is simply operating on its previous accumulated resource (two bodies were already produced earlier in good times), probably even getting worse and poorer over time. So you can advance the story either way and it will make sense all the same.

Next, is there any point to create cloned people or cows? Natural birth is much cheaper still, the only advantage perhaps is that the clone is already adult or teenager, but you have to wait probably unacceptably long to get this technology cheap enough. If they would like simply to repopulate the Earth, they need to invest into social safety net, infrastructure and agriculture. So I think at worst they simply plan transmigration into other bodies for a select few. Even this can be problematic, if Sammy forgets her past and become a totally new person - which seems to be close to the truth, because she barely remembers her past life, and her previous personality tend to erase pretty fast.

I'm not buying Tucker's pet project either. Seems more coherent if it is a side initiative of the Institute, since this body change technology has pretty obvious implications how to use it to their advantage, at least if they can train Sammy and put her to work for them.