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Dumpshock Forums _ General Gaming _ Ok, Now I'm Impressed
Posted by: Tiralee Dec 13 2003, 03:32 AM
This little bit of code had me addicted for 14 fragging hours!
Kudos to the guys who did this,
-Game Design, Art, and Programming – Shawn Overcash?
-Sound Effects – Aaron Smith
For really making my 14-hour shifts that much more unworkable, when I'd finally figured out some of the ground rules.
Sigh.
Linkage-
http://www.caro.net/dsi/decker/
And after you get the hang of things, make sure you've got some time free.
L.
Posted by: Cheese Emperor Dec 13 2003, 04:31 AM
I haven't played that in ages...
Posted by: Cheese Emperor Dec 13 2003, 05:51 AM
Does anyone remember how to crash systems. I know you have to make it to the CPU, but from there how?
Posted by: moosegod Dec 13 2003, 08:37 AM
Crash all gaurdian IC. Then you can do it.
Posted by: Tiralee Dec 14 2003, 02:11 AM
Whoops! Looks like I'm going to have to upgrade my attack skill (2) somewhat, as I tend to do the "sneaky-sneaky" act (Hide, Decieve, Cloak 15)
Hell. I only upgraded to a low lifestyle only very recently.
Out of interest, I'm assuming the skill cap is 20?
Thanks for the tip though. (HAck, hack, hack.)
Posted by: CirclMastr Dec 14 2003, 04:05 AM
I always go for some Virus attack program for system crashing (it may take a few uses to crash the IC, but with 15 stealth you'll rarely get detected).
Am I the only one who never upgrades his lifestyle? I'd rather spend the money buying firmware. With the lowest lifestyle, level 7 chips do show up, which is plenty for the systems you encounter, and you can bump up your Stealth and Programming skills in the meantime. By the time you're ready to upgrade your lifestyle, you're set for the rest of the game.
Posted by: Ancient History Dec 14 2003, 05:35 AM
I upgraded it after getting my deck, proggies and skillz up to snuff.
Posted by: Voorhees Dec 15 2003, 05:23 AM
Damn thats hard. On top of that, I don't even know where the hell I'm supposed to go, to complete my missions...
Posted by: Fortune Dec 15 2003, 05:35 AM
| QUOTE (Voorhees @ Dec 15 2003, 04:23 PM) |
| Damn thats hard. On top of that, I don't even know where the hell I'm supposed to go, to complete my missions... |
Yep. We need a 'Decker for Dummies' article.
Posted by: lorg Dec 15 2003, 10:34 AM
What is it you want to know? There are enough of us here that spend waaay to many hours on that game so we should probably be able to help you out.
Posted by: DV8 Dec 15 2003, 12:06 PM
That reminds me, Shawn gave me permission to host a copy of the game...
Posted by: lorg Dec 16 2003, 08:01 AM
Now if we could only do something about that hideous homepage of his ... :/
Posted by: Tiralee Dec 16 2003, 02:50 PM
Whoa whoa whoa!
| QUOTE |
| I'd rather spend the money buying firmware. With the lowest lifestyle, level 7 chips do show up, |
You mean...people actually BUY chips? I thought - "Ok, L33t Mad Programming Sk1llz, fast burner, design assist, Hidi-Ho! And awaaaaaaaay!"
Am regretting the upgrade a little though. I mean, it's nice having some skill points again, but the sheer number of runs you have to do in a day, not to mention the paydata being a tenth of what the "Valuable Files" are, means that my Mad Prog Skillz are slowly being eroded by the high cost of living.
Figures.
LAnd I did infect a few ICE wandering about with a Level 15 virus (level, what, 5? Host?) and it did sweet FA. Of course, that's with my w33k Attack skill of 2.
Out of interest, I assume the program grade and the actual base skills as used roughly like they are in matrix? Say, attack 2 in conjunction with a Piercing Attack of 15? or is it a Vs test, where the l33t3r your system "stable" is, the harder it is to make even a single dent in your huge, bloated with paydata, deck?
Oh, And upgrading to a faster I/O is beyond a lifesaver.
Posted by: CirclMastr Dec 16 2003, 05:36 PM
| QUOTE | ||
Whoa whoa whoa!
You mean...people actually BUY chips? I thought - "Ok, L33t Mad Programming Sk1llz, fast burner, design assist, Hidi-Ho! And awaaaaaaaay!" |
On the contrary, I always buy chips and never buy software. Programming software takes significantly less time that designing and burning a chip, and you're more likely to find programs and program source code than firmware code during a 'run'. I'm still in the bottom lifestyle, and I've got a suite of programs at 10 and every chip but Attack and Defense at 7.
| QUOTE |
| [...]my Mad Prog Skillz are slowly being eroded by the high cost of living. Figures. |
500 per month is a high cost of living? As long as you have some upgrades and the max reputation at the bottom lifestyle, you can make that in a single run.
| QUOTE |
| And I did infect a few ICE wandering about with a Level 15 virus (level, what, 5? Host?) and it did sweet FA. Of course, that's with my w33k Attack skill of 2. |
As long as you've got some huge Stealth, you don't need a high Attack (for now). Just keep in mind that you'll likely have to infect something several times to kill it.
| QUOTE |
| Out of interest, I assume the program grade and the actual base skills as used roughly like they are in matrix? Say, attack 2 in conjunction with a Piercing Attack of 15? or is it a Vs test, where the l33t3r your system "stable" is, the harder it is to make even a single dent in your huge, bloated with paydata, deck? |
From the Decker FAQ:
| QUOTE |
| Q: How do the skill level, program rating, and the firmware level influence the dice rolls? A: Basically whenever you run a program, you are making a test of your skill versus the system and ICE that are the target. The formula is usually something like this: Target # = Base Target # + (2*System Rating) + Ice Rating - (Program Rating + Chip Rating + Skill) The target number is the number you have to roll on a d20 (20 sided die) in order for the program to function. A 1 is always a failure, and a 20 is always a success. The base target number is usually 10, giving 50% chance of success. In effect, each level of program/skill/firmware gives +5% chance of success. However, each roll also has a success level which determines how effective the program was, which is measured by how high above the target number you rolled: +0..3 = 1 +4..7 = 2 +8..11 = 3 +12..15 = 4 +16..19 = 5 So, if the target number is a 10 (which is average), and you rolled a 15 (which is 5 over), you would have a success level of 2. For an attack program, this would mean 4 points of damage, because damage is success level squared. Some programs have target numbers below 10 because they are basically easier to use. |
As you can see, your program rating, skill rating, and chip rating are all equally valued in tests. Having a Stealth skill of 8 and a Stealth chip of 7 is the same as a Stealth skill of 14 and a Stealth chip of 1.
| QUOTE |
| Oh, And upgrading to a faster I/O is beyond a lifesaver. |
Since I tend to opt for Stealth above all else, I usually just find it a timesaver, not a lifesaver. Of course that doesn't mean I didn't special order the max rating High Speed Bandwidth as soon as I could afford it
Posted by: Fortune Dec 16 2003, 10:55 PM
| QUOTE (lorg) |
| What is it you want to know? There are enough of us here that spend waaay to many hours on that game so we should probably be able to help you out. |
Everything. Just starting out daunts me, as I don't know what to do first.
Posted by: moosegod Dec 16 2003, 11:03 PM
Saving up to special order a rating 8 CPU. Then programming goes wild.
Get a biomonitor with the Auto-Dump utility! It'll freaking save your life so many times...
Right now, deactivating I/O in the Cross Applied Technologies...
Posted by: lorg Dec 30 2003, 11:23 AM
OK so I spent a few hours durring the X-Mas holiday to start writing a 'decker for dummies'. Download, read and comment. Something missing? What to add? Something to cut and so on ...
http://litbo.org/lorg.decker.for.dummies.v1.0.pdf (pdf, ~50kb)
Posted by: Fortune Dec 30 2003, 10:27 PM
And there was much rejoicing. Thanks lorg.
Posted by: Grey Dec 30 2003, 10:37 PM
You guys suck. I saw this thread a week or so back and I've been playing this game non-stop. Oh, and just so you know, skills don't cap at 20 (my current Stealth, Programming, and Design are all 25).
Posted by: Buzzed Dec 31 2003, 12:53 AM
lorg, Thankyou for writing DfD. It helped clearify alot of things for me. Yes, I am a matrix dummy, but less of one now, slightly.
1 thing in there that I didn't find. How the heck do I download or edit a file that is being protected by a worm?
Posted by: Cheese Emperor Dec 31 2003, 02:15 AM
Decrypt it using the appropriate utility.
Posted by: Buzzed Dec 31 2003, 02:24 AM
Ok I programmed a virus 2 utility, that seems to work on tapeworms, eventually.
Now I just used my decrypt program, that is a much faster then virus. Thanks for the tip.
Posted by: hobgoblin Jan 2 2004, 05:50 PM
hmm, im capped as matrix god, i have the top lifestyle, i have software and hardware about 10 higher then any host i encounter, any job is doable, i have no life 
its atleast 2-3 ago that i walked into this game. at first i had a bad habbit of burning out but after some trial and error i got to what im describing above 
Posted by: simonw2000 Jan 5 2004, 10:00 PM
I hope that they do an level editor!
Posted by: Grey Jan 5 2004, 10:25 PM
Yeah, and it would also be nice to see hosts that are higher than 20. Maybe they could have some new tricks up their sleves too. I've got everything at 25 and a stealth of 30 now and there isn't much left for me to do. I walk all over level 20 hosts.
Posted by: Lindt Jan 5 2004, 11:04 PM
Bah... Bah I say. I just crashed Disney! Its lovely having a R16 hide program...
Posted by: Buzzed Jan 6 2004, 01:42 AM
When a trace is completed, there should be a gun battle in your apartment, if you can call it one. Spending money ofn security drones and muscle would be nice.
Then make the city of seattle to walk around in and do Johnson work.
And then.. wait a sec, this is called decker, not a full shadowrun game.
Posted by: Tiralee Jan 9 2004, 11:13 AM
Heh - I admit having +10 levels over the host is a great way to get in and out right neatly.
Oh - and I crashed my first system! Virus 17 on a level 5 (!). I felt so ashamed afterwards
Hacked the TransSys Neruonet hard though, damn all ice access...
L:
Posted by: hobgoblin Jan 9 2004, 07:41 PM
a high snaek and your ghost in the machine
can walk up to a cpu in a 20 host, virus the gaurdian and trash the system without being querryed ones
Posted by: moosegod Feb 27 2004, 05:57 PM
game... still... stealing... life...
Posted by: Panzergeist Mar 8 2004, 04:00 AM
Wasn't there another decker program that is based on Shadowrun 3rd edition?
Posted by: TheScamp Mar 11 2004, 01:30 PM
Ok, how the hell do you deal with files that are protected by Boa Constrictor and other 'crash and delete' type ICE?
Posted by: Lindt Mar 11 2004, 02:36 PM
decript baby, nice big decript.
Posted by: CirclMastr Mar 11 2004, 04:00 PM
A nice Virus program also does the trick, if your Decrypt utility isn't up to snuff.
Posted by: ShadowPhoenix Mar 11 2004, 10:49 PM
Wondering where I can get that PDF, since the posted one I get a Page not found err 
Posted by: CirclMastr Mar 11 2004, 11:06 PM
Who needs a PDF when you've got this thread?
Posted by: lorg Mar 12 2004, 08:17 AM
How sneaky of me, I moved it without telling.. New url;
http://dev.litbo.org/lorg.decker.for.dummies.v1.0.pdf (pdf, ~50kb)
Does it need updating in any way? Send me a PM or post here.
Posted by: Mimick Mar 14 2004, 12:03 PM
Nifty game.
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=761
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