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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Quick hint to a DM that needs to know

Posted by: Tiralee Jun 16 2006, 01:45 PM

Ok, We've finally got enough people to "support" a stand-alone Decker PC, but it's been about 6 years since I did this, badly.

Apart from the hottest deck money can buy and the cyber (I figured that out reasonably ok) what would be a "must have" sort list of programs to use?

Thanks -
Useful stats - Rath the munchkinator

Int 8 (Starting character, you know:))
Will 6
Computer 6
Computer B/R 6
Hacking Pool 7
Task 2
A whole pile of computer-related background skills, programming, etc.

And a maxed-out MPCP Level 7 deck....which, on checking, is rather flimsy... Crap, evasion and masking of 1? Whoa, even I know that's painful. Revision starting right about NOW.

MPCP 7
Hardening 4
BOD Rating 1
Evasion Rating 1
Masking Rating 1
Sensor Rating 1
I/O Speed 700
Response Increase 1

If I lose the deck, which is looking like a rather good idea right about now, I'll have about 670K to blow on the goodness.
Stuff it, I'll lose the program list and go on what's suggested here. Previously I had:

Analyze Rating [5] (75)
Armor Rating [5] (75)
Attack Deadly Rating [5] (125)
Black Hammer Rating [3] (180)
Browse Rating [5] (25)
Cloak Rating [7] (147)
Commlink Rating [3] (9)
Deception Rating [7] (98)
Defuse Rating [5] (50)
Evaluate Rating [5] (50)
Medic Rating [5] (100)
Read/Write Rating [5] (50)
Relocate Rating [5] (50)
Shield Rating [5] (100)
Spoof Rating [5] (75)
Validate Rating [5] (100)

*Hmm, rereading the Deck for dummies thread, should lose the medic, get Relocate at least.

Also, I'm reading the rules for the Matrix in the Core 3rd, Matrix and Target Matrix, soonish Right after finishing the "Decking for Dummies" thread.
Hints, tips, flames? Please.

-Thanks, Tir

Posted by: Toptomcat Jun 16 2006, 01:47 PM

Sleaze and Masking are your A-1, numero uno priority. All else is secondary.
Enceplalions, Cerebral Boosters, and Math CPUs help quite a bit, too.

Posted by: 2bit Jun 16 2006, 02:32 PM

The horror of matrix runs makes me want to kiss the developer at FanPro that pitched the SR4 incarnation of hacking.

Posted by: Platinum Jun 16 2006, 03:18 PM

Horror??? if you find it a horror then you are not experiencing how it should be done properly.

if I were you, I would put some sneaky options on analyse, browse and spoof.

Make sure you take the cracker edge for control tests(as that is the one you use the most)

I would drop blackhammer, unless you take it at a high rating, and are really going after deckers, it is just wasting space. put a crashguard on your attack program, as that is the most common target of a tar pit. (not the only one, but most common)

I would also bump up the values of
Analyze, Browse, Cloak,Read/Write,Spoof,Validate to 6. get an eccm filter.

If you can ... try and get the Renraku Kraftwerk, a much better deck.
the additional response increase is also worth it.
If you are staying with the current deck ... bump evasion to 6, so you can get the extra point of DF.

Posted by: Rajaat99 Jun 16 2006, 04:25 PM

QUOTE (2bit)

The horror of matrix runs makes me want to kiss the developer at FanPro that pitched the SR4 incarnation of hacking.

I love how people look at obvious SR3 related topics just to bash it. Moron.

Sleaze is the most important utility you can get in my humble opinion.
And get a new deck.

Posted by: X-Kalibur Jun 16 2006, 04:41 PM

QUOTE (2bit)

The horror of matrix runs makes me want to kiss the developer at FanPro that pitched the SR4 incarnation of hacking.

I never got a chance to deck in PnP, however, I did do quite a bit of decking back in the Genesis incarnation of Shadowrun, and I must say its nowhere near as bad as you'd like to think it is. The only problem with it is that it requires almost an entirely seperate run JUST for the decking. Aside from that however I always liked how it was set up.

Posted by: Platinum Jun 16 2006, 05:23 PM

QUOTE (X-Kalibur @ Jun 16 2006, 12:41 PM)

QUOTE (2bit @ Jun 16 2006, 09:32 AM)

The horror of matrix runs makes me want to kiss the developer at FanPro that pitched the SR4 incarnation of hacking.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!

You do not need a separate run, pizza time is not mandatory, that is only if you have a lazy GM that cannot pull the team and run together.

A decker is a HUGE asset, that can be used to crack the security systems as you encounter them.

example 1
A team is going to try and infiltrate a facility.

they have 1 decker, 1 street sam, 1 mage. the site is surrounded by a wired fence, the building has pressure plates, and cameras. The mage casts invis on imp the decker, and levitates him over themonowire fence. the decker sees lands and goes over to the fence control box, and patches in. the camera and security guard need like a 10 tn to see the decker slid the over open an inch and patch his interface module into the slave node, and runs edit slave to shut down the fence. he runs a locate slave to find the camera then an edit slave on the camera to create an infinite loop, where the team will cut the fence and enter. he uses his internal radio to let the team know it is down. the sammy slice the fence and they roll though. the decker jacks out and they move to the door. the decker pry's the cover off the maglock, and jacks in again... he performs an edit slave to force the maglock to flip open, and a locate slave to find the camera he knows is inside, he triggers some probe ic, and uses the account that he setup on a recon run (10 minutes to create a validate account - same amount of time the mage gets to do astral surveillance and face gets for legwork.), probe is happy and goes back to reactive mode. his sec tally stays but he doesn't have to fight and suppress. he then edits the camera slave. team continues inside.
they move down the hall and the decker uses a passkey to slot through the janitor's store room, low sec rating. the decker stays in the room, and jacks into the telecom switch. and the run continues with the decker running overwatch.

What does all this do? keeps the decker with the group. lowers his security tally because he doesn't have to deck (x)tg's, and saves him control actions and additional tally. pretty simple huh? he can communicate with the group through the radio tranciever on his deck port, so he doesn't have to spend extra essence/money.

Posted by: 2bit Jun 16 2006, 05:28 PM

Nothing so integral to the game world should be such a pain in the butt for the gaming group. There's a reason you're discouraged from rolling a decker at convention games. I realize I was inadvertantly trolling; sorry for derailing your thread.

Posted by: Platinum Jun 16 2006, 05:30 PM

Do you play one, or are you in the camp that read 2 paragraphs, said I can never figure this out and just jumped on the bandwagon? admittedly, you need to know the rules, but after reading the idiots guide, you realize how very simple and how much colour it adds.

Posted by: 2bit Jun 16 2006, 05:41 PM

Topic for another thread - Look I'm sure dumpshock is full of centuries-old flamewars about decking, I'm not here to stoke the coals, or get painted as some anti-decker.

Posted by: Toptomcat Jun 16 2006, 05:55 PM

Wow. And I thought my contribution was useless.

Posted by: Tiralee Jun 16 2006, 11:22 PM

<Sigh>

I have a new player, who is interested in the fun and games of hacking for profit. New player = NEW CHARACTER = Availability 8, no cultured bioware and no bloody Fairlight wonder-boxes. Oh, and I DON'T do the "Low-end/High-End" runners (MJBB)" as the low ends tend to die real easy in the games I run and the high end, sheesh, for the love of the gods, I'm not Emo.

Yes, the deck is a hunk of steaming streamings, thanks for the tip about the Renraku Kraftwerk, Platinum.

Ok, simple, simple question - I know that masking/evasion/sensor are vital for smooth entry/extraction of data from various nodes, bigger = mucho better.

Here's a list of what I WAS thinking of putting on the deck, now revised. (min deck MPCP =7)

Attack Deadly Rating [5] (125) Sadly, crashguard will have to wait
Analyze Rating [5] -> 5
Browse Rating [5] ->6
Commlink Rating [3] (9)
Deception Rating [6] (98)
Defuse Rating [5] (50)
Evaluate Rating [5] ->6
Read/Write Rating [5] ->6
Relocate Rating [5] ->6
Spoof Rating [5] ->6
Validate Rating [5] ->6
Armor Rating [5] (75) x - not any more!
Cloak Rating [7] (147)
Medic Rating [5] (100) <-Removed
Shield Rating [5] (100) x- removed
Black Hammer Rating [3] (180) Tempting, but costly. I think I'll wait and get a bigger hammer later on.

Thoughts, flames, etc?