Technomancers [Outside the Box], If a Technomancer talks to electronics.. Options

[bardnoir]

First off - how do you guy handle a technomancer that keeps using certain equipment like a specific commlink or drones - do you make them roll each time for a new "access" and "command" roll or do you let the Technomancer have essential establish a line of communication with the device in question.

I was also thinking that if a Technomancer can talk to electronic devices, including the Street Samurai's cyberarm. And is basically walking around with a comlink in his head, where do you draw the line with what they can do? And how much can they focus on at the same time?
What do people think of the following NON matrix related activities.
Could it stand to reason that...
They can pick locks by taking control of the maglock and just telling it to open.
They would need a commlink to store ARE programs but they can interact with them without the need for a datajack.
They can watch simsense and play games on someone ELSEs commlink just by hacking into it.
They can jump into a comlink and get a list of phone numbers without leaving a trace that it was hacked (only another Technomancer would see the traces).
They could hack someone's commlink, tell it to display an ordered image on screen and make their own image on screen thus "Max Headroom"ing the person on the other side.
Send a command to a printer to just start printing whatever he's thinking (or visualizing).
They can command drone without the use of a rig (just send the order to the drone and let it go to work).
Hack a holoprojector to make a 3d image of himself (thus being able to interact with others and not having to actually BE on location).

So couldn't they also use smartgun? They just hack into the gun and call up the AR signal and use it in a similar fashion to everything else they do?

[Tarantula]

They have a built-in commlink/sim-module. Not a built in smartlink. Buy a pair of contacts.

[augurer]

[Moon-Hawk]

It wouldn't be a completely unreasonable house-rule, but one could also argue that the techno can't give the smartgun the eye-position data that the smartlink gives it and rule against the possibility just as easily.

[BishopMcQ]

I treat TMs very similarly to hackers in regards to the tests that you were talking about. Everything you listed from picking locks to the holoprojector could be done by a hacker.

The printer is one of the few exceptions. Text and such is easy, but there would be a Resonance + Edit test to properly visualize the image. In this, the TM is faster than the hacker, because his brain is in direct communication while the hacker effectively has to photoshop the world.

That said, a lot of these are applications of effectively what I label "stupid human tricks" or in this case, "stupid TM tricks." That's not to say that they are stupid, but that there is little practical purpose to them.

Once a TM has subscribed a drone or device, I don't make him make access attempts, just as I wouldn't make anyone else. The Command CF is to force devices to do something within their programming but outside of current settings. It is very different from issuing orders to your drones where they interpret the information and the Pilot enacts a course of actions.

[Jaid]

actually, the spoof program is for making stuff do things they wouldn't normally do (by making it think the order comes from an authorized source). either the drone acknowledges the command as legit and follows through on it, or it doesn't acknowledge the command as legit and ignores (and quite possibly reports) it, and that falls very firmly under the purview of spoof. (you honestly think there's a widely avalaible legal program requiring no special license that's specifically designed to steal rightful control of devices?)

the command program is for remote controlling stuff (not rigging, and not giving orders).

[bardnoir]

[Jaid]

there are 2 parts (3 if you include the image link) to a smartgun system. the technomancer can certainly install a smartgun system into a weapon of choice, just like everyone else, but technomancers *don't* have the smartgun link vision mod built in.

precisely what this vision mod does is unclear (one hypothesis is that it involves letting the smartgun system know the physical location of the eyes relative to the gun, iirc, but it's not specified in the books to my knowledge), but we do know that without it (and the TM doesn't explicitly have one built in) smartguns are no different from regular guns.

since we don't even really know all that much about why you need the smartgun link, we can't really say whether or not it's reasonable to let a TM use a smartgun to full effect without the link). the most reasonable solution, IMO, is to err on the side of caution and require the TM to get a smartgun link (implanted or external are both fine) just like everyone else.

[i101]

True Jaid. In my round a TM also couldnt emulate a Smartlink System. Smartlink is more then just a Programm that marks "only" the Chars Targets. Its a cooperation of hard - and software. Without the laser rangefinder that calculates and displays the distance to the target the Smartlink wouldnt even work.

[Irian]

It was more detailled in the old (SR3) Cyberware-Book (back when a smartlink was 0.5 essence). And yes, it contained something that calculated the position of the user relative to the gun...

I wouldn't allow TM to emulate a smartlink. They can read the output "Target is pointing at 123,456,789 - Distance 12 feet, etc." but they can't tell what this means compared to THEIR actual position, so they don't get any bonuses - ok, they could tell the smartlink to change the firing mode, etc.

[bardnoir]

[BishopMcQ]

[bardnoir]

[bardnoir]

[Lagomorph]

TM's don't even explicitly get AR from what I recall, they only get a commlink and SIM module. As such, they would need glasses and ear buds to interface with AR.

However, I rule that it's silly and give them AR anyway, but if you do that, you're basically giving them smartlink for free. Not that it's that expensive to start with though.

My understanding of the Eye portion of the smartlink was that it was a repository for gun ballistics data (which a TM can't store in his commlink), and an advanced software which would factor in environmental factors (wind, fog, distance), to show the exact path of the bullet. So a TM could do it if he had the ballistics data I guess

[Irian]

The eye part was...

- Connection to gun (inductive pad, in SR4 replaced by wireless or skinlink)
- Display Link
- minimal Simrig (determines the user's and the weapon's position)
- Ballistic Computer (calculates what to show)

So the TM doesn't have a Simrig, so he can't get enough information to determine the relative weapon position. And he doesn't have a ballistic computer, so he can't calculate anything correctly.

[bardnoir]

[bardnoir]

[Jaid]

we don't need anywhere that explicitly says TMs can't use a smartgun (as a smartgun) without the appropriate hardware, any more than we need some sort of special rule that says hackers need the appropriate hardware to use a smartgun.

the rules say that TMs can't (because TMs don't have the required hardware... a smartlink is separate from an image link). it's not a matter of spoofing commands to the gun, or anything like that. it's a matter of they don't have the hardware. now we don't really know exactly why you need that hardware. maybe if we knew exactly why you need the hardware, we could conclusively make a common sense ruling that a technomancer doesn't need a separate smartlink. but we don't know why, so we can't.

certainly, you could houserule it in (and i doubt you'll cause any major imbalances by doing that, either) but it would be a houserule, don't pretend otherwise. there's nothing wrong with houserules per se, but you should be aware (and make others aware too) when you're discussing from the perspective of houserules.

and for the record, (this is to someone else who commented -'m too lazy to check names - and is not directly related to the smartlink issue. sim modules can generate AR. this is explicitly stated in the rulebook. since technomancers effectively have a sim module, they can experience AR without any external devices)

[AngelisStorm]

Actually I really like this idea.

I think that the information presented so far doesn't conclusively prove the matter one way or another. Until something comes out that does, I think I'm going to go with it. As mentioned, we're talking about a few hundred nuyen. And it has so much style, that unless something completely broken comes along, I don't see a reason not to.

- Angel