Th3 T3chn0manc3r thr34d, Lets start one. Options

[Knot_E_Coyote]

I by no means claim to be an expert but I think it would be a great learning experience if we started a Technomancer specific thread with helpful hints for the L337 uber-hackers we play. Spew forth your thought forms my fellow cyber-divers! Technomancers rock but they are often under valued in groups and I don't see why.

What should we cover in the thread? Neat tricks you have thought up, things you have done, any questions you might have about techno and things you would suggest for people making a Technomancer. Lets get the ball rolling. :)

My word of advice is: Make your starting forms the programs you will use most/those that will save your life. As a Technomancer you do not have negatives for running multiple forms at one time. Your brain is capable of much more processing than any deck so you don't have that limitation that hackers have. So take Armor, stealth and protective forms that will save your life. Also a high charisma is a must as that is your bio-feedback filter which you roll vs. dump shock.

[krayola red]

It's "t3h," dammit!

[LilithTaveril]

Helpful hint #1: Don't use leet. It doesn't make you look elite. It makes you look like the kind of "hacker" who relies on trids and badly-written matrix games for your knowledge of hacking.

Helpful Hint #2: The reason technomancers are often undervalued is the same reason the otaku were in some cases and in others it's the fact they're basically magicians who affect the Matrix instead of cast spells.

Helpful Hint #3: Remember, you have the same limitations as a normal hacker does. Except, in your case, your ratings are based on you, not a machine and some programming.

Helpful Hint #4: Max Resonance. I don't care how much you sacrifice from other areas. Max it. You'll be thankful for this.

Helpful Hint #5: Take a look at all of the hints for magicians. I know you're not a magician according to the rules, but you operate like one so much that much of the advice for magicians also applies to you.

Helpful Hint #6: Get a dummy commlink. If someone's gun starts firing without them wanting it to, the first person they're going to shoot is the one without a commlink.

Helpful Hint #7: Skinlinks are your friend. While you are fully capable of hacking someone's commlink and replacing the OS with a Disney simflick before hacking their assault rifle and playing around with the smartlink, keep in mind hackers can do the same to your equipment.

Helpful Hint #8: If you see someone on an enemy team without a commlink, shoot them. They're probably a technomancer.

Helpful Hint #9: Don't bother with drones. Frankly, by the time you're done spending BP, you probably can't afford them. Besides, you can always hack drones.

[Knot_E_Coyote]

I just used L337 to make a joke. I know it's lame.

So very, very lame...

[Samaels Ghost]

[Knot_E_Coyote]

I always shoot at the people with least amount of armor first because the guy with an auto-cannon won't be throwing grenades. We have a troll for soaking bullets but very few trolls can soak more than one grenade. Also the lightly armored people may be mages.

[LilithTaveril]

Samael, that's why you always have someone running a search for commlinks on the enemies. The moment they find an absense of evidence is the moment you know who to shoot.

Besides, you need someone focused on counter-hacking on the team anyway. If you don't have them, you're not paranoid enough.

[Knot_E_Coyote]

Ok, so that brings up a good point. Should a techno carry a comlink? I'm thinking yes because if you store the data in your head and you die your mission is a wipe. However, if you store it in a comlink the info is less under your control. Do you use a comlink as a data storage device? I think it's a good idea to put your data on a comlink with a good firewall and a better databomb.

Also, is it rude to hack your fixer? We just met a fixer for the first time and I just pinged his comlink to see if he was a moron and left it wide open. If he can't keep his stuff in order we're not working for him. Fortunately for him my cursory examination it proved not to be a pathetic attempt at security.

[Samaels Ghost]

Credsticks have Device ratings of 6, I'd use one of those :D

But seriously folks. A data stick or online storage site is sufficient. No need to blow your hard earned cred on a comm if you're never gonna use it.

[FanGirl]

Plus, when your enemies catch you, they'll take the dummy comm away and think they've put you at a disadvantage. This will cause them to let their guard down around you, meaning you'll be able to escape relatively easily and gain a reputation as an unstoppable super-hacker to boot.

[Samaels Ghost]

If they've caught you, you had bettter be MacGyver to get away.

[thejadedgm]

It really depends on how your GM runs it. Personally, "pinging" your fixer could be consider very rude - be thankful of stealth. Hacking enemy weapons, while this seems cool, should only be done if you have nothing better to do. Hackers can very effectively funnel enemy movement (through control of a building's node if it has a matrix controlled security system) and are crucial to the tactical advantage (if one is to be had). Hacking weapons... well just hope they are smartlinked.

As far as a commlink goes, to me they are as obvious as a cell phone. Everyone assumes you have one - whether they see it or not.

Technomancers are a rarity, not everyone assumes the guy without an external commlink is one.

A technomancer's best friend is his stealth. This goes for hacking in general. It's a real bear, to hack a system in active alert mode, that +4 dice can really kill ya. Technomancer's can't take damage well, so its best to avoid the fight whenever possible.

Data-Search versus Browse, you are not going to data-search the entire matrix for bulletin boards for your legwork. That's what browse is for. If you happen to have a particular node in mind to do the searching... that is another story.

Just remmeber its ultimately up to the GM, ask him/her how it works if there is any confusion.

As far as being under-valued, any hacker is worth his weight in gold if he can A) get the info B) get the access and C) get control of the enemy nodes/devices/drones.

[Knot_E_Coyote]

I'm all about the stealth when my friends aren't drawing down on people. *lol*

I was reading over the book and Jaded is right. As a techno you can run browse in the back of your mind just like a com-link can be left scanning for data while you do the laundry. Which I think rocks. I'm not sure how that would work in game, so that brings me to the next subject. What are Complex Forms IC?

I'm picturing them as a kind of post hypnotic suggestion you teach yourself with a lot of practice until you are so familiar with you can trigger and use them. Where as making it up on the fly you have to put a lot of effort into. The forms you know are already in there patterned into your neural network. The stuff you thread makes your brain do things it isn't accustom to, at least until you learn the complex form. (AKA: spend karma on it.)

[Conskill]

[Lazerface]

[LilithTaveril]

The same way some computers do. It can lodge inside hidden sections of the OS. That's part of a new discovery for spyware that allows it to get around anti-spyware programs. I think the discovery is a couple of years old...

[thejadedgm]

So what OS does a technomancer run?

No I disagree, I do not believe they can get spyware.

They can however be flooded by AR Spam. In fact if you have most sophisticated security, availible a 6/6 commlink and a 6/6 firewall/os, you should be able to protect yourself from spyware. AR Spamming though would depend in what mode you are running, not on your security.

The idea that there is nothing you can do against spyware is ridiculous. If Spyware is a problem for you its usually because you are running windows without enough protection. Given the rarity of TM's and how little about them is understood, I think its quite a leap to say they can get "Spyware".

[LilithTaveril]

[cx2]

A guy seemingly without a commlink could be:

Someone with commlink off, esp if they don't use smartlink or are expecting heavy hacker activity.
Similarly someone set up for skinlinked smartlink
Someone with commlink in hidden mode that the enemy just happened to miss.

Any of these could mean the enemy doesn't notice a commlink.

[thejadedgm]

That's a good point, but thats not what you originally said. You said

[Knot_E_Coyote]

TM have brains not hard drives so it would be difficult to put a virus in there. After all your brain doesn't just instantly learn a behavior and rewire its neural network creating new pathways and neural associations. They would need to be exposed many times to stimuli which would implant the thought form that they must report everything they do online to X ip-address. It would be more of a mind control technique setting up a compulsive subconscious need associated with some need for security or some other emotion. So just catching a virus from being on the net would be unlikely.. However if you are a TM who uses BTL sims a lot someone could very easily associate the pleasure you get from the sim with a function your brain uses. So every time you run your addiction your brain sends email to someone alerting them to where you are for example.

It would be less a virus and more of a sustained hypnotic command that would have to be reinforced often. So BTL sims would be your best bet for compromising and tracking the TM population at large.

I’ve never played a Technocracy agent in WoD… No, not at all.

[thejadedgm]

Its called psychotropic IC and it's nasty. VERY nasty and it goes alot further than that...

[Valentinew]

Despite the fact that the TM in the BBB is not carrying a commlink, I seem to recall that we established (& Bull confirmed, IIRC) that TMS almost HAVE to carry a commlink. This is for two primary reasons, data storage & broadcasting your info so you can actually get around. Unless a TM NEVER enters an area where it is required that your SIN be broadcast, a commlink is an essential piece of equipment...plus it always helps others to underestimate you, if they think you're "just" a hacker....

How hard would it be for a TM to create a hidden data storage cell in the Matrix? This is just a random thought I just had.......

[Lagomorph]

yeah, I had always assumed that if commlinks were akin to windows os, then TM's were like linux. Very little crossover or compatibility between the two, yet both access the internet very well.

[LilithTaveril]

Thejadedgm, okay, I'm shocked. I have absolutely nothing in your post I can disagree with or argue with.

That aside, Knot, there's actually already something from SR3 that can affect the brain. As mentioned previously, the psychotropic IC.

Now, as a person who is not a computer expert (keep this in mind for what comes next), I must say that an OS is primarily a user interface and system for which to launch and run programs. Primarily, acting as an interpreter between several different portions of the computer. Thus, many programs today are written to function on certain OS's and not others. For TMs, their OS is their brain. This means anything that does damage to the OS itself damages their neural functions, which is why they do not have separate condition bars while using the Matrix. Thus, a virus or program that would cause a crippling electrical surge in a commlink would cause a TM to undergo a stroke. Only difference is, while a hacker can replace an OS or commlink that is completely destroyed, a TM is left braindead.

Now, after my post earlier today, I came up with an idea for a piece of fluff based on it that affects TMs and may actually explain why they operate like magicians. It occured to me that essense and resonance would be tied because of the brain. Programs intended to created interfaces between the brain and cyberwear simply add more distractions to the brain. Since resonance is measured in whole dice (like magic is), this would cause it to drop whole numbers. Essense would therefor be a measure of how distracted the brain is (6 = no distraction, 0 = so much distraction the brain overloads and shuts down). Bioware adds to this distraction by adding items not native to the body that the brain must keep additional track of. All of this distraction interferes not only with a person's magical ability, but with a technomancer's ability to focus their brain on interfacing with the Matrix. It didn't affect otakus because they never had a direct interface.