History Headscratchers / Prey2017

** The primary glaring flaw? ''There is no rapid transit system!'' To get to the engineering wing, you have to walk through the executive conference room. To get to and from the crew quarters, you have to walk through the arboretum. The only access to the cargo bay is via a microgravity maintenance tunnel!

* Talos I makes no sense as a work of architecture. The primary glaring flaw? ''There is no rapid transit system!'' To get to the engineering wing, you have to walk through the executive conference room. To get to and from the crew quarters, you have to walk through the arboretum.

** Most glaringly; how the hell do shuttles get into the shuttle bay? Where are the shuttle bay doors, and how is the rest of the area not depressurized when they open?

* The major downside to neuromods is the amnesia induced when one is removed. You can find emails and notes in the Sales department lamenting this, saying that it can't even be mentioned to buyers because "no one is going to risk losing years of their life just to speak French". However, the game never addresses ''why'' a neuromod would need to be removed from an ordinary customer (as opposed to one of the test subjects). Why not just keep them installed forever, keeping both your new skills ''and'' your memories? If, for whatever reason, neuromod removal was necessary on a regular basis, the word on the amnesia would eventually get out to other consumers, and neuromod sales would crash regardless.

* The major downside to neuromods is the amnesia induced when one is removed. You can find emails and notes in the Sales department lamenting this, saying that it can't even be mentioned to buyers because "no one is going to risk losing years of their life just to speak French". However, the game never addresses ''why'' a neuromod would need to be removed from an ordinary customer (as opposed to one of the test subjects). Why not just keep them installed forever, keeping both your new skills ''and'' your memories?

* The major downside to neuromods is the amnesia induced when one is removed. You can find emails and notes in the Sales department lamenting this, saying that it can't even be mentioned to buyers because "no one is going to risk losing years of their life just to speak French". However, the game never addresses why an ordinary consumer (as opposed to the Talos personnel testing them) would ever ''need'' to remove a neuromod. Why not just keep them installed forever, keeping both your new skills ''and'' your memories?

** Chances are there are operators for that, but as to the why, the simulation room probably doubles as Morgan's containment cell or else not realizing the neuromods was blank, they probably thought Morgan would not remember the test and containment breach and that it would be better if he woke up in a familiar room.

* During the opening sequence, everything goes south during Morgan's test, and s/he is sedated and wakes up back in the apartment. What, did someone take the time to drag Morgan back? Or were there Operators which automatically took care of that once someone hit the 'end test' button?

** Well first and foremost, the Transtar company appears to be worth somewhere upwards of "more money than God" amounts of dollars, perhaps even "bought out God, paved over heaven, and built a quaint summer home in its place" territory going by the fact that they were able to build Talos I on the skeleton of basically a floating septic tank, comparatively. Secondly, in Mooncrash there's documents detailing how once you join a company like Transtar or KASMA, they basically have you over a barrel until you pay them back for the pleasure of having employed you at all, so maybe she joined for the money, and then learned she was working for jerks later?

* Why does Danielle Sho work for [=TranStar=] when she hates the owners so much?

** Notes you can find indicate that among the powers that Morgan was testing was the incredibly lethal Kinetic Blast. In the intro, the scientists seem concerned that the glass might break, and you're only throwing a chair around. Presumably, the Yu brothers didn't trust anybody else with this kind of power. A pissed-off human guinea pig on death row who can kill people with his mind is a recipe for disaster.

** [[spoiler:You are a typhon made to think you are Morgan. The neuromods make it so you remember that you have superhuman strength and Typhon powers.]]

* When TranStar has hundreds of "volunteers" to run tests on, why would they use one of their top researchers and the vice president of the company as a test subject in a way that involved deleting years of invaluable memories? Morgan invented the psychoscope in his/her early 30s at the latest. That's a multi-billion dollar mind they are messing with. In fact, the practice of routinely wiping researchers memories by pulling neuromods is just ignorant of the way science works. Research is cumulative, and you would constantly have learning curve problems. I can understand the dystopian aspects and need for keeping the Typhon secret, but it breaks willing suspension of disbelief that they would have any progress given these needless self-limiting factors.

** [[spoiler:Actually it works for 2 reasons. !. You are a typhon made to think you are morgan Yu. The neuromods make it so you remember that you have superhuman strength and typhon powers. Reason 2. You are in a simulation and anything goes when reality is not real]]

** The latter point is specifically called out as a problem in an email to Alex. Even with backups of the work they've done, constantly resetting the entire research staff at the same time is showing signs of impacting progress. The author of the email suggests reevaluating a staggered schedule of wipes at the next meeting in an attempt to alleviate the problem.

** [[spoiler:The game takes place within a simulation based off of Morgan's memories. We, the players, have no idea how much of the simulation diverges from what Morgan actually experienced; the real Morgan may have only tried one or two neuromods before quitting for all we know.]]

** From what it sounds like in the dialogue, Morgan volunteered to test the neuromods on himself. Considering he's the second most influential person on the station next to Alex, it's not like there's anybody who's going to say no to him.

* When TranStar has hundreds of "volunteers" to run tests on, why would they use one of their top researchers and the vice president of the company as a test subject in a way that involved deleting years of invaluable memories? Morgan invented the psychoscope in his/her early 30s at the latest. That's a multi-billion dollar mind they are messing with. In fact, the practice of routinely wiping researchers memories by pulling neuromods is just ignorant of the way science works. Research is cumulative, and you would constantly have learning curve problems. I can understand the dystopian aspects and need for keeping the Typhon secret, but it breaks willing suspension of disbelief that they would have any progress given these needless self-limiting factors.

* When TranStar has hundreds of "volunteers" to run tests on, why would they use one of their top researchers and the vice president of the company as a test subject in a way that involved deleting years of invaluable memories? Morgan invented the psychoscope in his/her early 30s at the latest. That's a multi-billion dollar mind they are messing with. In fact, the practice of routinely wiping researchers memories by pulling neuromods is just ignorant of the way science works. Research is cumulative, and you would constantly have learning curve problems. I can understand the dystopian aspects and need for keeping the Typhon secrect, but it breaks willing suspension of disbelief that they would have any progress given these needless self-limiting factors.

** The placebo effect works because the brain has more control over the condition of the body than it consciously or subconsciously believes. Neuromods could take advantage of that fact and change how the brain handles injury and aging, such as preventing you from going into shock (which can be more fatal than the injury itself), or otherwise stopping the brain from overreacting to something otherwise non-lethal, such as the death of a partner. Increasing the time the brain is in its prime health will also increase natural lifespan on the whole.

** [[spoiler:Seeing as how neuromods are actually made out of shapeshifting alien matter, there's nothing stopping it from consuming and then creating a modified form of the rest of your body, just like what nueromods do to your brain.]]

** Note that the strength power is called "Leverage" -- you're not developing more muscle power, just understanding how best to use it. Likewise, the power for more health is "Conditioning" -- you gain a better understanding of how your body works and how best to use it, allowing you to cope with injury more effectively.

** [[spoiler:Seeing as how neuromods are actually made out of shapeshifting alien matter, there's nothing stopping it from consuming and then creating a modified form of the rest of your body, just like what nueromods do to your brain.]]

** [[spoiler:Seeing as how you're actually playing as a shapeshifting alien, as long as you gain the knowledge of how to enhance your physical form, there's nothing to stop you from doing so.]]

** For strength, it could be the old sci-fi fallback - UninhibitedMusclePower - taking a person's mental blocks will give them super strength.

** For strength, it could be the old sci-fi fallback - UninhibitedMusclePower.

* So exactly how does Neuromods work to give you increased strength or extended life by rewriting the neurons in your brain?