Matrix Topography Options

[Smash]

I have to say that I’m becoming a massive fan of the new matrix rules. As the majority of my SR4 experience was with toons outside the matrix, I just couldn’t really grasp the rules. They seemed incomprehensible to me. That’s not to say that they were, but when it come to the matrix, what I poured into my eyeballs tended to bleed straight out my ears.

I am a little bit confused about Matrix topography now so I thought it merited discussion. How do we all see the matrix?

I’m starting to picture it a bit like the astral plain in as much as it seems to be something that overlaps the real world. I imagine grids like elemental planes that overlap but also mimic meat space.

Where I get confused is with hosts and devices. The book states that hosts don’t have to inhabit the same space that they do in the the real world (although their icons have to representative in some way). How is this supposed to work? If I’m sitting outside a bank in a car and then go into AR I assume that I’ll get information regarding the bank (opening hours, interest rates, etc) but then in VR where is the host? If it’s not within 100m, how do I find it? Data-search? Why wouldn’t it be there (Benefits to it)?

Then there’s the distribution of hosts. Firstly, thank god for the death of nested nodes! Anyway, if I’m outside a corporate facility and then enter their grid will I see a host for this facility of will they have everything for the whole city/country/world in one host? If each branch/chapter has it’s own host, how are the connected. Can I leave one straight into another or do I have to leave one host, get on the grid, search for the next, and then enter it with noise modifiers?

What if I’m looking to hack some corp shlubs comlink and I’m following him down the street? I assume that If I look at him in AR or the matric that he appears to be in the same place but what happens if he enters a host. The book says that his icon will be in the host. Does this mean I can’t hack him unless I enter the same host. Can I find and icon from knowing where the hardware is? Or do I just have to wwait for him to come back? That would seem weird as I could almost physically palm the comlink which is transmitting, receiving and not hidden.

Some of this is probably covered in the book. Infact I hope it all is. That would be a testament to 5th ed 