Okay, I'm a hacker looking to boost some of my programs beyond rating 6. I want to make sure I understand what's involved. I'm primarily looking at the Optimization Code option from Unwired. As I understand it:
I have to code it myself (makes sense)
I can buy the option Optimization at rating 6 (it's described as an add-on) or any other option (like ergonomics) as long as it's not better than rating 6.
That means I can create up to a rating 12 program and then just add on the options that I bought.
I have to keep patching it myself or get someone I trust to do it.
Also:
I can code my own Firewall (I'm not sure what limit this obeys. I don't see it tied to Response or System, so can I upgrade it to whatever I can code, because I don't think I can optimize it)
I can code my own OS System but it's limited by Response so it'll max out at 6.
I can build my own Hardware beyond rating 6 but there's no cost listed so it's DM's call.
Thank you for your help.

Technically, you can write your own Nexus System, which isn't capped by the node's Response Rating. However there are no specific rules for doing so.

Understand that yes, you can do all those things.

But given the thresholds and intervals you're basically talking about dropping out of what ever game you're in for the foreseeable future.

Lets say you wanted to write a Nexus System 12

Your TN is going to be 24
Your Interval is going to be 6 months. (of 8 hours a day work)

Lets say you're a superhacker
Logic 11 (genetherapy for 7 Max natural, +4 from cyber augmentations)
Software 7
+6 Programing Suite

That's 24 Dice
We'll assume that you roll average across the board and buy our hits at 3:1
First Roll: 8 hits - 6 months pass
Second Roll: 23 Dice - 7 hits - 6 more months pass
Third Roll: 22 Dice - 7 Hits - 6 more months pass
4th Roll: 21 Dice - 7 hits - 6 more months pass.. you're done!

It just took you 2 years of 8 hours a day coding to write your system 12 program. Which, your GM should start degrading once a month.

And that's if you're a superhacker.

If you're a more realistic hacker and you've got
Logic 7, Software 5(6), and a programing suite of 4 it's going to take even longer.

Theoretically, you can halve that twice (Environment and Rushing), but the Environment costs money/effort to steal, and Rushing can causes bugs (which take more time to remove).

Do you really want to be using a SOtA self coded Rating 12 system that's been rushed and has unknown errors?

In terms of time:
Common Use programs will be Threshold 12, 1 month
Rolling about twenty die, I should get about six successes a month.
Using a home Nexi with Processor Limit of 10 and Persona Limit of 1 with maxed attributes (roughly $6,000 by my count) cuts that time in half.
So in one month I should be able to code some very useful programs, like Analyze and Browse.
Double that time for Hacking Programs.
Seems difficult but reasonable. The biggest problem seems to be patching 3-4 programs, running, and still finding the time to run.

If you were the super hacker, had an environment that halved the time, and spent edge to reroll failed dice, your first batch of successes would be 13. You would reach the threshold on the second roll and be done in six months.

Mesh

The degradation rules are stupid. That's why there's errata that says that self-coded programs don't degrade.

Also: System, Response, and Firewall never degrade anyway.

Perhaps it's because I never run a Hacker (and am too lazy to finish the one I started rolling), but why would I need a rating 12 Browse program?

uh you don't spend edge to reroll failed dice and keep the successes.
You reroll all the dice and hope for a better success. Now you could pre-emptively roll edge. But it would on average only give you an extra 3 or 4 hits.

in order to be done in 6 months, you would have to rush the job, and use a programing environment.

This causes your glitch dice to go from 1's to 1 and 2. This significantly increases your chances of glitching.

And then you still need to build your program options into it.

And that is why Fastjack is a matrix god (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) .

Fastjack is known for having written (a few really awesome) programs of his own. Specifically his BlackHammer program.
It's not clear he wrote a full suite (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

The consensus is that Edge is 'reroll non-hit dice'.

The errata does not say that self-coded programs don't degrade. It says that they don't have planned-obsolescence degradation.

Obviously, there's no real reason to spend our time on System anyway. You want rating 12 Spoof or something useful. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

While this is hardly the first time this has come up, can't we just be satisfied with rating 6? You already get huge DPs as a hacker essentially for free. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

"You may re-roll all of the dice on a single test that did not score a hit." -p74 SR4a

Yes, you do.

Mesh

It's cause technomancers can fairly easily get 12s

I admit if I was a hacker, the first one I'd try to code up would be stealth. Because it's mostly a TN for other people, it's really useful.

And if (generic) you wish to debate that particular rule any farther, you can go use an old thread on just that topic.

We'll just say that it's a rule that is defnitely up to GM interpretation and that many interpretations are valid :0

Its not immediately obviously possible, but a TM can make a a -really- good business making old-school code programs.

For a minimal investment in linking a machine sprite for a year, you can have it automatically turn out a good deal of code. Due to stability, it can rush job constantly and never glitch, and either make stuf on its own or help the technomancer's Software tests. Just give it the software autosoft, tell it to use diagnostics, and stick it in a nexus/software Shop, and you're good to go.

I dunno if I'd let a Sprite code *or* rush anyway, but Technomancers are crazy magic. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'm pretty sure the shadowtalk in one book (Shadowtech, maybe) had him mentioning his custom built deck. It still had bits from an Apple IIc in it (running as some trivial sub-component that governed the power supply or some such). The original decking book (Virtual Realites, with the "House on the Edge of the Matrix" story in the back) had rules for non-portable cyberdecks- that's probab ly what he had, because they took less time (and used cheaper parts) to build and would fit the image of a custom built multi-component system.
Obviously, in an age when pretty much anything can run any OS, such rules aren't relevant... but Fastkjack probably has kept his system up to date, nyeh?

Think about it: Technomancers are backwards compatable. They have to be, to get on the matrix.
Sure, they may go about manipulating it a bit differently, but they can drop their Software dice on any software test just like any other user.

Otherwise, you're assuming that TM's -can't- access, manipulate and change 'plain' matrix systems. The entire core concept of a technomancer is to mess with computers with their mind, so....Saying they can't do stuff regular user can is like segregating them at the back of the bus.

A technomancer can code programs and they do work for other people. But any attempt to analyze their code is pointless as it looks like gibberish.

I think I said Sprites, with the Software autosoft. Let me check back. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

What? No, either a TM can't make regular programs (Because their software skill is threading, not actual software) or their code is perfectly readable by anyone (Because there is nothing that says any different).

There is a single instance of the things that TMs make being different from anyone else's, and that is one particular paragon that specifically says that hardware they mess with operates on TM magic, and is thus difficult for anyone else to work with.

As for the OP, I've always thought it was beyond stupid to code programs beyond 6 like it is nothing. The core book only offers programs of rating up to 6 as existing. Unwired mentions that cutting edge military software that is monitored, encrypted, set up with viruses, etc is above rating 6. It mentions that obtaining this sort of software should be an entire adventure of its own. The idea that a single person, working on their own, can, in a few months, make something that is superior to the latest cutting edge software of corps that have billions invested in software development, is just absurd.

The argument "Well, TMs can do it 'easily'" also seems absurd to me. Yes, a TM can thread a CF up to rating 12, providing they have the CF at 6 in the first place (6 BP) and then can manage 6 hits on a Software + Resonance test, which is exceedingly high, as a TM will generally have around 10 dice for that roll. Even with an edge expenditure, it isn't a sure thing. And then they need to resist 6P drain with Willpower + Resonance, once again around 10 dice. And then they have a -2 sustaining penalty for everything that isn't that one particular CF. So, through excessive effort a TM can maybe get, for a few minutes or less most likely, a single CF at 12. Yes, the Hacker has to put in a fair bit of effort, but that is all front end, it has no disadvantages during the run. The Hacker doesn't risk damage, doesn't have to expend edge, and basically negates one of the only two advantages a TM has over a hacker, higher grade programs.

The other reason I feel the argument is silly, is that you are comparing the abilities of a hacker to those of a TM. That's like comparing a sammy to a mage, and saying "Well, a mage can cast a F12 powerbolt, so my sammy should be able to mod her pistol so that it fires 12P bullets."

If you have the dicepool to make them come up fairly rarely? Sure. For one thing, you can negate a glitch via Edge, so there's one down, and by the RAW your GM may simply use glitches to remove some hits from your pool rather than introduce weaknesses into the code. Besides, buggy 'ware builds character.