 technomancers, agents? |
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 Jul 1 2007, 02:00 AM
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#1
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Moving Target  Group: Members Posts: 410 Joined: 5-April 07 From: Vancouver, BC Member No.: 11,383  |
So can the technos run agents? How about write them or write other hacking programs?
I know the book says the techno skills are different from the actual skills as the technos are all not magic magic and they just get the computers to do what they want but can the end effects be the same? So can your techno make some extra nuyen writing code for hackers using the techno skills? I was thinking for a group of runners, could the techno help code firewalls or programs for the rest of the group? The agents I was just wondering about cause the techno's can subscribe drones or things like that and that is basically what an agent is. It would help augment his army of sprites and wouldn't waste services on things like tapping a node or something like that. |
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Jul 1 2007, 02:48 AM
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#2
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 906 Joined: 16-October 06 Member No.: 9,630 |
No they can't agents are the drones of the matrix. A technomancer's skills can't be used to write any kind of program usable by others. What a technomancer can do is create sprites which serve a similar function to agents but are more like the spirits of the matrix. |
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Jul 1 2007, 02:48 AM
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#3
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Cybernetic Blood Mage Group: Members Posts: 3,472 Joined: 11-March 06 From: Northeastern Wyoming Member No.: 8,361 |
Personally I would allow Technomancers to do anything that a Decker could do with their skills, except teach another Decker.
Also as long as they have a commlink they can use any program that a Decker could, including Agents, but they have to command them just like a Decker would. |
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Jul 1 2007, 03:17 AM
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#4
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 410 Joined: 5-April 07 From: Vancouver, BC Member No.: 11,383 |
I was kinda thinking that they should be able to have the same effects with their skills as the deckers. The book only says that they are different in the way they are used so the end results should be the same. As for the agents I figured that they couldn't be loaded into the techno's living persona as the techno can't load regular programs but if you had a datajack or something that provided storage you could load an agent into it and then load it onto the matrix when you were online. It would just be subscribed to you like anything else you can control. |
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Jul 1 2007, 11:36 AM
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#5
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,251 Joined: 11-September 04 From: GA Member No.: 6,651 |
Yes. They have to have a regular commlink and load them onto the persona program for the non-Living Persona. This could also be done by a non-hacker, non-TM.
They would require a non-TM version of the Software skill to do this. Losing one point of resonance for skillwires and internal commlink would be my choice of how to go about it. Note, however, that Resonance is GOLDEN so any implants at all make you a worse TM albeit skillwires/internal commlink give the TM much more versatility.
They could use Instruction skill to teach CF's to other TM's. To write code for hackers requires the non-TM version of the skills. |
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Jul 1 2007, 01:37 PM
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#6
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
Actually it is usable by anyone - others just don't understand how it works, nor the way the TM wrote it. |
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Jul 1 2007, 03:53 PM
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#7
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 7,089 Joined: 4-October 05 Member No.: 7,813 |
seriously, do you people rule that non-technomancers can't use stuff the TM builds with their hardware skill, too?
i wouldn't even say it's necessarily impossible to understand for a normal hacker... though many hackers would build it differently, the code would indeed work normally, as the program is just a normal program, and runs just fine on normal devices. |
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Jul 1 2007, 03:56 PM
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#8
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
True. The 'how it works' part gets silly when having deterministic systems... so basically, the only thing remaining is indeed the 'how he did it' part.
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Jul 1 2007, 05:11 PM
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#9
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 410 Joined: 5-April 07 From: Vancouver, BC Member No.: 11,383 |
I was looking and I can't find anything that would suggest that the techno couldn't load an agent into his living persona. Would you have a page reference you could point me to? |
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Jul 1 2007, 05:18 PM
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#10
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
A TM has no storage capabilities himself, and the Living Persona originates from himself.
So he can't load anything into it... |
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Jul 1 2007, 05:33 PM
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#11
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Moving Target Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 587 Joined: 27-January 07 From: United States Member No.: 10,812 |
Buy the TM a few RFID tags. Then they have a place to store data.
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Jul 1 2007, 05:50 PM
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#12
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
RFID tags are preitty much WORM media.
On the other hand, the poor TM owns clothes, doesn't he? |
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Jul 1 2007, 08:12 PM
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#13
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,246 Joined: 8-June 07 Member No.: 11,869 |
Also, the TM doesn't need to store the agents or any other data on his person. He should have a datastash somewhere on the net where he hides that kind of stuff. He would just pull it off the net when he needs it.
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Jul 1 2007, 08:29 PM
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#14
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Moving Target Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 587 Joined: 27-January 07 From: United States Member No.: 10,812 |
Page 381 says "RFID Tag data is often fixed, but in some cases is reprogrammable." I've always read that as allowing some tags that are rewritable. The GM may decide they are more expensive (double perhaps), but they still seem to be available. Having a commlink to store things on would work just as well for storing the agents or programs.
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Jul 1 2007, 08:38 PM
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#15
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
A FPGA is reprogrammable, too - but you don't use it as a harddrive. ;) |
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Jul 1 2007, 08:50 PM
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#16
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Cybernetic Blood Mage Group: Members Posts: 3,472 Joined: 11-March 06 From: Northeastern Wyoming Member No.: 8,361 |
You know, I guess I don't really understand what the big deal is, a Technomancer who doesn't want to be found swinging from the nearest lightpole is going to want to have a working commlink anyways, so why not spend some of that cred that they really don't have another use for on a kickass commlink?
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Jul 1 2007, 09:35 PM
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#17
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,345 Joined: 31-December 06 Member No.: 10,502 |
As I understand it an Agent doesn't have to be loaded into your persona living or otherwise. You CAN, such as if you want to go hacking with it and don't want it to have to crack in on its own, but you don't have to. For example maybe the TM doesn't want to spend time searching for something, and they don't want to waste fading/sprite services either, so instead they just send out an agent that runs off a seperate comlink.
This also gives TMs a reason to want nuyen, and greed is always good (in SR :cyber: ) As for coding and all that I really really wish they had done things differently, so that would be more clear (and less BP intensive ideally). As a GM I think my solution would be "your time would be better spent building up sprite taskes and training your skills. Where do you think you have time for coding? Just buy they stuff after your next run or two." |
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Jul 1 2007, 10:27 PM
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#18
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 410 Joined: 5-April 07 From: Vancouver, BC Member No.: 11,383 |
Because you can be in 2 nodes at once can a techno hack into a site, then upload the agent that he has stored in his other node to that site so that said agent can sit around and do some spying and stuff? |
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Jul 1 2007, 10:33 PM
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#19
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 556 Joined: 28-May 04 From: Moorhead, MN, USA Member No.: 6,367 |
If the agent's in a secure node, all the techno needs to do is have the agent drop an icon into the target node. You don't need to upload it (though you can of course).
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Jul 1 2007, 10:56 PM
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#20
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 410 Joined: 5-April 07 From: Vancouver, BC Member No.: 11,383 |
right, cause the agent can be in two nodes at once as well. |
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Jul 2 2007, 01:11 AM
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#21
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,251 Joined: 11-September 04 From: GA Member No.: 6,651 |
p224 SR4: "Agents can be loaded into your persona like other programs" This means agents are loaded onto a Persona program which is mutually exclusive to a Living Persona. A TM could have a Persona Program but it wouldnt be his Living Persona. He would either need to have both be active (how my TM does it) or limit himself to one or the other. |
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Jul 2 2007, 04:18 AM
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#22
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,246 Joined: 8-June 07 Member No.: 11,869 |
Agents don't have to live in your persona, they can run in any node. They can even run in your datajack.
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Jul 2 2007, 04:23 AM
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#23
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,251 Joined: 11-September 04 From: GA Member No.: 6,651 |
I re-read it and you're right. They wouldn't have automatic access so they'd need to be let into a node or hack their own way in via Exploit, but yeah... my bad. Both conditions are valid for a hacker and the latter option only for TM's. |
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Jul 2 2007, 04:29 AM
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#24
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,246 Joined: 8-June 07 Member No.: 11,869 |
Come to think of it, if you stored your agent on your commlink persona, does it gain automatic access to your current node via your existing datastream? If so, maybe your external agent can do the same thing and piggyback on your datastream from outside the secure node. All it would need is access to your datastream which you can grant access.
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Jul 2 2007, 04:33 AM
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#25
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,251 Joined: 11-September 04 From: GA Member No.: 6,651 |
As a passcode, yes, although that could be stolen off your commlink. |
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