I’m very interested in using an improved version of bacta for my scientist to be working on. Bacta is already synthetic and comes in all types- a tank, a suit, spray, bandage etc and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t go bad. In the story my scientist is up for a Star Wars equivalent of a Nobel Prize for his work in improving bacta. What could his “super” bacta be?

Limb regrowth maybe?

Either the limb regrowth as the previous postrr said, or an extended shelf life. Most medicines go bad over time or need to be stored in certain conditions, having a form of Bacta that doesn't go bad would be quite valuable.

It could work like a drug - the user gains +1 Brawn +1 Agility (or even +2?), for a limited time and afterwards he falls into a coma-like sleep, length depending on a Resilience check. Of course, there might be other side effects for using the super-bacta ...

I made an all-natural healing substance in my game called sanavi. Sanavi works exactly like bacta, but with a slight boost. When making a Resilience check to heal a critical injury, the check is upgraded once.

I introduced sanavi through a plot hook in which the PCs discovered a group of Twi'lek "businessmen" having indentured a primitive culture and forcing them to churn out the stuff. They sold the product at a bit over the price of bacta, and the market was mostly in the Outer Rim along the Corellian Run. They were making a pretty good profit considering the forced labor. It was their success that eventually led to their downfall, of course.

On 3/30/2019 at 9:45 PM, Leia Hourglass said:

I’m very interested in using an improved version of bacta for my scientist to be working on. Bacta is already synthetic and comes in all types- a tank, a suit, spray, bandage etc and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t go bad. In the story my scientist is up for a Star Wars equivalent of a Nobel Prize for his work in improving bacta. What could his “super” bacta be?

How about introducing a lingering restorative effect. You inject someone with it, and they get temporary, low-key regeneration - the next time they're injured, their flesh will automatically knit itself together again. Rules-wise, treat it as making a medicine check, but save its effect until the next time the target is wounded. You'll have to figure out how to set the difficulty of the check and some other things, maybe.

Rather than improving the effectiveness of bacta, maybe your scientist found a way to synthesize bacta on the cheap. This might translate to cheaper prices in the long run, but in the short term, this new process translates to narrative hooks rather than game mechanics. So you've got your Nobel—but now what? Do you sell the secret to Big Pharma and make a fortune in royalties? Do you give the secret away so that all those hardscrabble settlements out there can finally supply their medical clinics—but in the process, you tick off Big Pharma?

This is the approach I'd take, personally. Cheaper bacta that opens up a bevy of moral quandaries.

Or... recycled bacta! Yes, those are someone else's scabs floating in the broth. No, we won't charge you extra for those... this time.

Before bacta the galaxy had another healing agent, there was also a bacta war. The other healing agent eventually fell through the cracks in use as Bacta was superior. Perhaps a new version of the old stuff has made it's appearance.

11 minutes ago, doktor grym said:

Before bacta the galaxy had another healing agent, there was also a bacta war. The other healing agent eventually fell through the cracks in use as Bacta was superior. Perhaps a new version of the old stuff has made it's appearance.

The stuff you’re referring to is Kolto which was harvested from the depths of Manaan’s oceans.

Yep, thats it, i had read about it in the star wars comics if i recall.

A "Super" Bacta worth the equivalent of a Nobel prize could theoretically be something as "simple" as a more efficient way to manufacture it, leading to a lower cost product. Or a synthetic version that also allows for cheaper production (is Bacta based on a natural product? Or is it 100% synthetic in nature already?). It could also be a way of creating or diluting the substance, so that it becomes "thinner" and more watery in substance, eliminating some of the discomfort/disconcerting feelings associated with of being engulfed in the stuff (see the description on Bacta here ). Or it could be an invention that will make it easier to incorporate into some other product (which already exists).

My point is that you can have the scientist working on something Nobel worthy, without needing to come up with a changed game mechanic for the Bacta, and hence risk messing with game balance in any way.

How about you carry some of your research data (stored on a datapad) that allows you to prepare a standard bacta tank to be more effective (in game terms, grants one rank in Bacta Specialist?)

Your work on bacta formula could be published by a major research journal, which still doesn't mean that every doctor has access to it (only those who buy your paper, which is published by the Galaxy's equivalent of Elsevier)