Not needed... The suite operates as a single program. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Rating 1 Scan, Actually. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Rating 0 programs won't do you much good. And yes, the basic suites, as program suites, act as one program and hence, take up one slot.

Maybe I should rephrase it. Jack is now also Eliohan.

It's crazy, but Jack getting wierd began after the anonymous poster began showing up, and there's been a few hints that the anonymous guy might be Eliohan/Cerberus. It seems possible. I'd rather Fastjack is just getting old, because it's such a great end to his story. I'm just saying, if this is right, I called it.

As someone on the tail end of that "physical prime" of 25-27, I'd very much rather revert to 21 (or younger; hell, 17 should do) and retain more adult faculty.

... who couldn't so much as type on a cellphone before Transys played with his brain. Makes no sense, given that Jack was a top-end hacker (decker) with a long history of computer crime in 2050.


Hints? Where? The Editing-Error-to-Feature poster is a Dawkins operative.

I think what ggodo is implying is that Eliohan just did a (partial) mind possession on ol' Jack.

Brainhacks? That's more plausible. They'll be in 5E anyway.

you kidding me? brainhacks have been in the game in some form or other for quite a while. i never played 2nd edition, but i'm pretty sure a few of the published adventures from that time included the possibility (there was one that involved people using personafixes that were so powerful the users stopped being themselves while they ran the personafix... i could be wrong and that was SR3, but then again i could be wrong and that was SR1).

the PAB has been around at least since 3rd edition. and psychotropic IC has been around for quite a while too, i suspect since 1st edition actually.

brainhacks are nothing new. the only new thing would be calling it brainhacking.

Brainhacks are neither. Brainhacks are instantaneous hacks of the brain. Like hardware hacks in SR4, only it's the brain.

The only thing that comes close is a patient technomancer with a blackout CF who threads themselves a new psychotropic action every time they hit a victim (who probably is unconscous).

no, not really. the only difference is that the technomancer can choose a different hack each time. a regular hacker can brainhack in an instant as well. if you give said hacker sufficient resources to store a crudload of programs, the hacker can also change the hack each time.

this really isn't new.

also, i find it a bit silly that you're suddenly moving the goal posts around, "oh, brainhacks have to be instant, or they're not brainhacks".

ummm... sure. if you say so. [sarcasm] because nothing in hacking computers is *ever* an extended test, or takes hours to do. nope. nothing at all. absolutely not a single thing. definitely not hacking into a system, or trying to track down specific data, or anything else like that. [/sarcasm]

Sure, if you cluster 100 DR6 commlinks you might just do if you have half your programs with ergonomic options. That's about as plausible as a nuclear powered aircraft (which has never been built due to being an overexpensive and useless design). But anything to feel like you're right, right?


A hack CAN be instantaneous. Sure, you can probe and prod and if your target isn't moving and you need to re-establish connection every few seconds, you might do. That is not the nature of hacking as SR4 wants to present it; that would be brute force hacking without excessive probing.


So everything with an extended test is a hack, and everything else isn't? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Let's not be snarky.

PAB has been around since 1st Edition, as have Personafixes (Shadowbeat). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

But that is not brainhacking. It's nothing someone can do to you just over the Matrix. PAB is a poor man's memory manipulation spell - it never worked as well, took hours and hours and required the victim physically present in the PAB machine. Similarily, personafixes hae to be physically present in someone's datajack (at least in 1-3, in 4 you might be able to run one in case you hack someone's commlink for an Admin account).

Neither is brain hacking as displayed in, say, Ghost in the shell.

And yet a Personafix is an instantaneous "Hack" when applied; it just requires access. *shrug*
Have to go back and watch Ghost in the Shell... Been a while. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

If you bust open a computer case and take the HDD, you also got all the data on it. Doesn't make you a hacker. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

With Ghost in the Shell, I am referring to the Standalone complex series; should have stated that clearer. The first season is all about brainhacks.

4th edition Personafixes, like all BTLs, can be administered over the Matrix as long as the subject has a sim module.

GitS has pretty much EVERYONE with cranial commlinks with sim modules.

Hm. Hack a guard's commlink, and if he has a sim module attached, upload "Hello New Friend" personafix. Nasty.




-k

Yup. Or thread the "new friend" option as a mancer.

Needs a HOTsim sim module, which is illegal and that most guards probably won't have.
It will work on hackers and chipheads but not on the majority of the population.

Technomancers can force people with no commlinks into hot-sim VR... Now imagine a TM running around hugging guards uploading "new friend" in the process...
*blinks*
Holy shit, I've invented the ultimate hippie

Yeah, though I hazard a guess that a number of regular folks you might run across modify their sim modules for "hot" use since it's easy to do.

Much like folks today jailbreak their smartphones for increased functionality.


There's reasons why folks fear Technomancers. And not all of those reasons are irrational.


-k

I'm going with sundowners. Although I suppose we'd have to check the timestamps on his out of character posts and compare the times. But really, at his age, with that much expose to the matrix and IC over the years, who knows what sort of number has been done on his brain?

Indeed... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Ahh... Have yet to watch that one. It is on my list. Thanks (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Works for Mungo, and he's pretty awesome.