The Idiot's Guide To The Matrix Thread, Support for the Matrix-challenged Options

[Pavlov]

Roll dice equal to program rating.

Wound Level TN
Light 4
Moderate 5
Serious 6

Each success heals one box of damage. The program degrades one Rating Point each time it's used, regardless of success or failure. I don't have Matrix on hand, but it looks like you can use your hacking pool here (no mention of not being able to).

[Shockwave_IIc]

As a side note, as an Otaku's living persona's icon takes damage (which can be healed by medic as i understand it) does the Stun conidition moniter heal as well? Only one or two answers please as im not wanting to grag this totally OT.

[Kurukami]

Which means, of course, that you have to eventually reload it to continue gaining its benefits. Makes sense...

In that case, I'll roll the five dice provided by the utility. The result: 17, 8, 7, 1, 1. Eeeeex-cellent, Mr. Smithers... that removes all the damage boxes from the condition track of Cheng's icon. And, of course, the copy which is in active memory degrades to 4. (The copy of the utility which is in storage remains intact, ready to be reloaded when needed.)

Cheng sighs in relief as the utility works its way through her operating code, eliminating errors and reassembling the structure where fragments had snuck in. As it proceeds, her movements smooth out once again and her perception (which had been "blocking up" in certain areas, like the visual censor edited in by the more puritanical of broadcasters, and not refreshing as she acted or moved through the virtual environment) cleared.

(I'll write more later, Synner...)

[Synner]

Kurukami - Actually, I've got an issue or two with Medic:
a) The way it is written Medic operates using its own Rating rather than the decker's Computer skill which suggests it works independently (and so brings into doubt whether or not Hacking Pool is appropriate).
b) On the other hand, assuming it isn't independent of the decker and Hacking Pool is appropriate, wouldn't those target numbers be subject to the decker's Wound Modifiers just like any other Test?

Shockwave IIc - A strict interpretation is that Medic rebuilds the damaged code and restores your Matrix Persona. Personally I would rule that it can't affect the physical and mental stress/damage resulting from Persona damage in an Otaku because I simply can't see how a program designed to restore code could do so. You might be able to design a program that might generate psychotropic and psychosomatic healing effects, but I don't think Medic is it.

[Kurukami]

I was kind of presuming the Medic utility was rather like the code for Attack programs -- in that it was automated (you rolled the utility's value rather than your Computer skill), but you could use Hacking pool to make its use more effective. Do any utilities but the operational ones actually use Computer? I'm thinking specifically of:

Attack
Killjoy
Black Hammer
Erosion
Steamroller
Hog
Track
Medic

Arguably, Cloak and Lock-on might fall into this category too, since they only modify the rolls for your Persona chips during cyberspace Combat Maneuvers.

[Synner]

[Kurukami]

That's certainly an unpleasant thought. Any way we can get a ruling from the FAQ gurus one way or the other? :D

*imagining trying to hit a TN of 9 (book 6, +3 for wound level) for a Serious icon-wound*

[Pavlov]

Hmmm.....I may have been wrong in my previous post re: Hacking Pool.

SR pg. 207 states that the Hacking Pool can be used for

[Synner]

I tend to agree with Pavlov's new interpretation. Under this assumption the Medic would act independently of the Decker (unaided by Hacking Pool) but would also be immune to Wound Modifiers. If you're okay with this approach Kurukami, adjust the post above accordingly and we'll go on from here (I'll be mailing FanPro some of the questions brought up in this thread after we've finished this run).

[Kurukami]

OK, I've updated the original post. As always, my luck with the dice is... just weird. :]

[Kurukami]

As the error-correction routines of the Medic utility take effect and smooth out the performance of her deck, Cheng takes a deep breath and tries to let the tension leak out of her shoulders. Now, where was I...? Ah, yes -- locating the controls for the pressure sensors on the side of the compound where the rest of the team is waiting.

The acupuncture needles, their work completed, drift into the hand of Cheng's icon, and she absentmindedly stores them back in their pocket as she generates the incense-smoke that symbolizes her Analyze utility. A handful of bold strokes limn the necessary kanji in midair, and she waits nervously to see how the host might respond.

Since the host blocked Cheng's search before (which triggered the popup of the arachnoid Blaster IC), she still needs to get this operation past the host and discover the location of the resources she'll need to control. I'll roll Cheng's seven Decking dice, and add three dice from my Hacking Pool, to try and push this through the host before many more things can get fragged up. Another possibility which makes me twitchy is that, with the release of the Blaster IC, the host may have jumped from normal status into a passive alert, in which case things will be much more difficult for me to affect. I roll: 11, 7, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1. Tentatively, that's four successes at what I think was the old Index TN of 11, as modified by my Analyze-6.

And, as always with my Analyze utility, it's sneaky, making my DF 11.

With those digital locales firmly set in her thoughts, she moves to the controls for the perimeter cameras and prepares to loop a cycle of video for each that is near the potential entry point for the others. From the displays she can make out, it should be easy to determine whether the cameras are static or panning. It'll be somewhat more difficult, but still possible, to digitally loop the inputs to display an "all-remains-well" image even as her teammates are approaching.

At the same time, she decides to keep one eye on the whatever video surveillance might be observing security posts. On the off chance that some guard tries to make a call out in response to events in the compound, she hopes to be prepared to block and/or deceive it.

I will update this further once I get home and can reference my SR3 book for the needed operations.

[Kurukami]

In case anyone was curious, this is what I've deduced about the Host and its security sheaf so far:

Yamatetsu Research Host:
* Orange-10
* A/C/I/F/S: .../14 - 15/11/11 - 13/...

Sheaf:
4: ......... Probe-9.
8: ......... Scout-10.
11: ....... Tar Pit-8
13: ....... Blaster-8

Cheng's security tally currently sits at 13 (pending response regarding the success of my roll to locate the system controls for the outdoors pressure sensors), so we'll have to wait a bit to see what other nastiness Synner's got in store. :) As soon as I try to manipulate the various Slaves via the host, I'll get a better sense of what the Slave rating might be. The main difficulty I foresee is that, being foolish and shortsighted, Cheng didn't have a particularly good Spoof program loaded into her memory before setting off on this quest.

A base Slave TN somewhere between 11 and 16, combined with the really wimpy Spoof-3 that Cheng's got, is going to make for some viciously difficult rolls. And this just goes to show how important it is to tailor your program load to the job at hand (while carrying backup utilities in your storage memory "sideboard" for potential surprises).

[Synner]

Pretty good guess so far. I've had people tell me I've gone light on the IC but I've been comparing with some of the official Sheafs in Target:Matrix and they're not far off.

Matrix Overwatch Walkthrough
Back to the host...

Cheng's compass indicates the reference board for the pressure sensors which includes the simple toggle on/off switch for sections being actively patrolled. There are 4 sensors located on the team's planned approach route.

The host rolls no successes in its Security Value roll against Cheng's analyze meaning she gets her way with the system.

A moment's glance at the camera feeds reveals that the external ones are all mounted and panning across the manicured lawn. Additionally there are cameras on elevated poles at each corner of the compound's protective fence. Fortunately the system seems to be set up for only 9 camera feeds at any given time which means the system has a 10-second blind spot when certain feeds are not on the air, and then they switch. As always in such situations Cheng gets a chill, she is intimately aware that someone somewhere is looking at these feeds, looking right through her. As if she wasn't there...

Only one security cam covers the guardhouse on the main driveway where two guards are camped out inside away drinking coffee and safely away from the freezing rain. A third guard patrols the driveway outside in a full body security armor and an smg hanging from a sling on his shoulder. Barrier and tire spikes are visible in the rain under the stark searchlights mounted on the roof of the guardhouse.

Cheng's headware radio crackles somewhere else, "Pan to Jolly Roger, we're 2 minutes out and approaching the fence at position 1."

[Kurukami]

Two minutes is an eternity is the slowed time of cyberspace, but nevertheless having all the pieces in place beforehand will make the job much easier. The first thing to do, though, is check that the surveillance cameras on the path the outside runners hope to take is, and will be, clear of any roving security guards.

Next, she begins to set up video loops on the two exterior cameras nearest the runner's insertion point. (This presumes that they'll be going in directly between two of them, as per the plan the runner team discussed earlier. :D I only hope that the segment we checked is out of line-of-sight of the main guard shack?) That'll give them a broad corridor through which they might get past the exterior fence unobserved. Presumably, each camera has about a ten-second pan cycle, so to properly deceive any watcher she'll need to capture ten seconds of relatively anonymous video (that is, without any distinguishing characteristics like a bird flying through). Nighttime in the rain, though, should be fairly straightforward to counterfeit assuming she can gain control of the cameras.

From there, things will likely progress quickly. She will need to disable any alarms on the exterior fence which might indicate a breach, as well as negate the current which normally would flow through it. That entails futzing with the feedback from it to show everything status quo. From there, the pressure sensors beneath the lawn will need to be be bollixed temporarily, then released back into the normal queue. At the same time, she'll need to temporarily loop the cameras inside the perimeter to show no signs of intrusion.

Once the team reaches the target building for the run, Cheng knows she'll likely need to pick any maglocks that might block access. At the same time, paranoid employers tend to place security cameras just inside such doors to record any usage, so not only will she need to open the lock she will also find it necessary to block any record of the door opening and provide faked video of the door at that period of time.

Continuing tasks will include the monitoring of interior surveillance to provide a heads-up of any potential security guard patrols; identification and bypass of any "trap" security measures like laser detection beams, pressure pads, or motion sensors; negation of security measures like knockout gas to be used against intruders (at least, unless she can turn such measures against the defenders); and so forth and so on.

I'll update this post later with the operations and rolls required.

[Synner]

Don't get too far ahead in case something goes wrong... not saying that it will, just saying that it might.

Also note the plan calls for an intrusion from one of the lateral fences and breaking the external maglock on the lateral cargo bay access door.

[Kurukami]

Oh, I'm not actually DOING that yet... just laying out for myself and others the course that I hope the run will take.

[gknoy]

(Off Topic Slightly)
I'm curious -- how far ahead is Kurukami's character from a starting character?? She's got things that are way out of the league of anything I could afford -- which leads me to believe that a starting decker would have a slim chance in hell of completing this run.

Also, Kurukami -- What is the programming option you are using on your attack utility? I think you mention "sneaky", but I don't see it in VR2. VR2 (Matrix 2.0 rules) lists a "Stealth" or "Skulk" option (which I think are the same thing - I need to check the Errata to be sure), but it adds to the program's effective rating -- which means that a rating 6 utility with stealth added is actually considered a rating 7+ utility (and only helps to reduce the tally count when you don't suppress a crashed IC -- and therefore is (IMO) both practically useless and almost offlimits to starting characters).

Is there a list someplace of more of these program options? The add-to-detection-factor thing you mention seems like it's a wiz thing to have; but does it add to the program's effective rating?

(Back on topic)
Thank you both (and the original decker too) for this thread - it's helped me see some of the nuances of matrix running that I had not notiuced when I read the rules. (No dodge? Simple action attacks? ouch! Sounds like Body is almost useless, and DF/Evasion/Sensors seem to take precedence.)

A question for Synner -- how far advanced should a decker be before he tackles a matrix-overwatch like mission? What sorts of runs should a starting character decker be able to do (even if they're a challenge)? Would Kurukami's decker have been able to avoid a lot of this IC and such if she'd been able to deck in earlier and plant a false set of authentication credentials (and therefore be a legit user this run)? How likely is it that would she have been able to make such a plant at an earlier date?

All these questions make me realize that it's an extremely good idea for deckers to do legwork beforehand, and even mini-runs to plant such. It also seems like it's almost impossible to make a non-otaku decker who can do anything useful without taking the million nuyen. (ick, million, :( )

[hobgoblin]

you have 2 options, one is called stealth and are used on attack utils to make ice lesslikely to trigger nasty stuff on "death" whiel the sneak on is used for tils like analyze and this one adds to detection factor when the util is used.

oh and i think cheng is running a bit above what a starting char will be able to do as she is walking tru a pltg to get to her target and so on but she is not a ghost in the machine like fastjack or the smiling bandit :)

matrix overwatch is a staple, it all depends on the target. a basic labsystem may run green-hard or orange-easy for a starter and be hooked straight to the matrix, thereby makeing the life of the decker easyer. he will just have to do some matrix legwork to locate it and when in will have to mess with the slaves (and maybe do a sweep of the files stored to look for some paydata if he feels lucky or crasy :vegm: )

and takeing the mill is a baseline for the decker, you will want hte most hot deck the GM allow you to start with and utils to fill it with, mutch the sameway a samurai will burn the mill on cyber and weapons...

[gknoy]

[Kurukami]

[Synner]

[gknoy]

Thanks, guys =-D Last I had heard, the SR3 version of Matrix rules hadn't been published, I guess, and VR2 was the latest -- which means I was /wrong/. Now to go buy that book as soon as I possibly can, hehe!

[Kurukami]

[Synner]

[Kurukami]