i was thinking. for non hacker characters, should you run an IC program on your comlink for some manner of protection from all those evil hackers out there?

I usually just set my node to run a rotating Analyze on the newest icon in the node. It basically gives you a second chance to detect if the hacker gets in your comm and a chance to detect multiple times if the hacker stays for a while.

Databombs, databombs, databombs. The damage they do is huge, plus they can be programmed with biofeedback and psychotropic behavior modification.

24 hour encryption.

And yes, IC is a wonderful idea. You should always have a solid Analyze and a mook can do double duty as IC and search bot. Even non-hackers should know how to write up an agent script.

BUT... running a 24 hour encryption scheme kills Hacker Archtypes... it is totally contrary to the flavor of the Shadowrun/Cyberpunk fluff... and yes, I know that the rules for this are in Unwired as Optional Rules...

And yes, IC in a comlink is a good idea if you can afford the system resources...

If you have the system for it, run as much IC as you can fit. You'll always want analyze running, so you get a chance to detect hackers as they come in, and you'll most likely have scan running most of the time so you can see nodes in your area. Unless you are using another other programs, the rest of your programs should be IC. A basic analyze IC will greatly increase your chance of detecting intruders. Set is to quarry every new icon that enters the node(forcing an opposed test as opposed to a test with their stealth as a threshold), and if there are no new icons have it scan each icon in the system, starting with the one scaned further away. That means that even if they don't get them the first go around, then you might get them later if they stay long enough.

Unless you are a hacker(and thus allready have the programs) and have extra system resources, you should avoid making combat or tracking IC. Your best defense against an intruder is to simply turn the damn thing off. Sure you might lose your smart-link, but there are worse things.

Real quick, I can't remember and I don't have the book handy, but if you have analyze running on your 'link, and you set an IC running analyze, does that count as three programs or two?

Three...

Standard Analyze (1)
Ic (2)
with its own Analyze (3)

Not really. Just get the node to restart somehow and you're in. Encryption isn't game breaking, just adds an extra step for clever players to overcome.

Problem is if you are trying to hack the node, YOU MUST break the encryption first... if you are in a position to pull the plug, you do not really need to hack now do you...

And I do agree that Encrypotion is just a speedbump, but if you have to accumulate 12 successes to Decrypt and you can only roll once every 24 hours, then you have effectively been neutralized... now imagine that EVERYONE does this... Makes the hacker pretty useless doesn't it...

Yes, run as much IC as possible provided that you don't need the responce, hell, buy extra responce and run lower rated IC to gangrape any would be Deckers.

And run some more IC on the betagrade+ Datajack you are using as yoiur sole DNI link to the outside world.

Who said anything about pulling the plug? Hacking the node that handles the environmentals in a building might be easier than hacking the security node. You tell it to turn on all the systems it cans and it blows a circuit, cutting off power to the sec node. The folks on site get things back up to see what happened and you start a standard hack. Of course having every node run 24 hour encryption would be an option, but in real life you can think of any number of reasons why that wouldn't work. I'm an IT professional, the idea of waiting 24 hours after turning a system on before I can use it is ridiculous.

Alternatively you could handle it as a slow hack. That's classic legwork. Take the time to break the encryption, slowly exploit the node, then head on site with the team and hack away. As a GM I would reward a hacker for taking that route.

Things like 24 hour encryption are there to make the narrative of play interesting. Nothing is a dead end. If it seems that way, that's just a plot device the GM has set because they want you to go in a different direction. You should focus more on the play aspects of a rule, and less on the mechanics. That might sound like RAI over RAW, but really it's just putting fun in front of semantics.

Working in the industry myself, I am in agreement with the feasability of actual 24 hour encryption... no-one wants to wait for a full day to be able to use the equipment once it has been turned on... that is just ludicrous... the lost money/resources on wasted and non-productive Man-Hours is excessive...

As for Slow Hacks, we do indeed do it that way already (when we have the time to do so), we just do not have to contend with 24 hours encryption schemes... if we are not intended to discover certain information through certain actions, then we do not discover that information, regardless of how the mechanics would dictate otherwise... Our Table's GM is pretty damn good at what he does, and I have never been at a lack for a good time...

My focus IS on playing (the Play Aspects as you put it) and not on the mechanics, unfortunately, sometimes mechanics intrude upon the acting that is going on... And I have a great time every Friday when I play, even if I never rolled dice for the night... Please do not assume that I am a RAWdog... the Rules provide the framework from which the world is generated... the World is more important than the Mechanics of the Rules, but you must still have rules to adjudicate, unless you prefer Freefrom... which is a whole different ball of wax...

Thanks for the discussion though Otakusensei... it is enjoyable...

Right back at you.

And for the record I do consider myself a RAWdag in so far as I refer to the rules and limit house rules to an absolutely minimum. Having fun with the game is the absolute goal though, and if you are, you're doing it right by all accounts.

Also, do we get karma for not getting into a huge flame war on Dumpshock?

That would be awesome wouldn't it... alas, I do not think my GM would approve the Karma ... He would give me an "attaboy," however...

Keep the Faith...

I'm GMing right now or else I'd ask.

Lucky You, My game is not until tomorrow night...

I run a game over Skype every other Thursday night and get to play in a game on the opposing weeks. It's the best of both worlds really.

Good luck tomorrow, have fun. I have to wrap this run up before midnight or work tomorrow is going to be a nightmare.

Naw, you LOSE roleplaying Karma for not being In Character as Dumpshockers. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smokin.gif)

Aw man, you're right. I need to act quick...


I think the rules for Krieger Strain HMHVV are fair and balanced!


Goodnight Dumpshock!

Wait wait I can do one better, I think RAW should always be in effect. GMs who change rules shouldn't be allowed. Not only that, but how can a character be considered competent without at least 40 dice for his primary action.

Naw, only works if someone engages your arguments. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/silly.gif)

*EDIT*

And perferably spawns a monster of a thread that spans several hundred posts and draws the attention of at least two different mods.

I am pleasantly surprised to see that on returning to DS this afternoon there are no bodies.

Now what kind of runners would we be if you found the bodies.

hmmm, unless we wanted you to find the bodies, and it looked like Mitsuhama killed them, or the Yaks, which is about the same thing.

I'm NOT an IT professional, I am however an independent business man. I'd observe that having every system running all that would get expensive pretty quick. Corps are out for profit, so everything is a cost-benefit analysis to them. That should suffice for any needed setting justification for any GM who needs it. If the corps blow all their money on making every facility impossible to infiltrate in every way, they won't make much money.

It's true. Not telling where I work, but if I followed every best practice to the letter and had the same security fanaticism as my previous boss I most likely would not be with the company either. Besides, Shadowruns happen, that's what insurance is for.

From a PC perspective though, you should be taking every mad opertunity to make your own equipment the very bleeding edge of security. Remember that like any system in the world, the systems of Shadowrun can never be completely secure. If someone really wants in, they get in. You just have to make sure they have to try hard enough, weed out the ones who can't hack it, and prep to personally resist the ones that do.

To that extent running IC on a personal link is vital, but not the end of the road. Security is a journey, not a destination.

Now I have to go troubleshoot a network printer as penance for typing that phrase.