[X] My Assistant

[Stahlseele]

probably just an implanted version of contact lense with image link built into it . . and probably skin-linked too . .
in SR3 before the lenses i allways thought of image link kinda like an internal version of the protective covers and some micro-lasers beaming the image onto them . .
or maybe it's just a fine clear see through plastic sheet with ruthenium-polymers on it so it can change it's colour to display things O.o
but i like the idea with the micro-lasers better, one would be able to see that from the outside and get the effect of some data filing before the eye of the person they are looking at ^^

[manimal]

Wow thanks a lot for all the help. I guess it seems kinda pointless to get the smartlink implanted with an image link if you can just get that all in the cybereyes. But I will take the advice of not thinking too much about it.

[KCKitsune]

Be wary of wireless, though. Get a skinlink for every piece of electronics that you want to connect to your PAN, unless you want the opposition ejecting your clips...

If you want to use the *active* elements of the smart link (clip eject, firing without pulling the trigger, fire mode changes etc) you'll probably need an DNI, so a datajack or 'Trodes.

What if you have an implanted Commlink? Would that be used instead of a datajack or 'Trodes?

[kigmatzomat]

Hmmm, good question. Normally you need a datajack or trodes to provide the direct neural interface but all cyber has DNI appropriate to the tech. I'd think the "cybercomm" chassis includes the same connection as a datajack. Of course, you've got to plug any chips or optical cables directly into your cybercomm.

[KCKitsune]

Hmmm, good question. Normally you need a datajack or trodes to provide the direct neural interface but all cyber has DNI appropriate to the tech. I'd think the "cybercomm" chassis includes the same connection as a datajack. Of course, you've got to plug any chips or optical cables directly into your cybercomm.

Unless you use Skinklinks to provide the connection

[Shiloh]

What if you have an implanted Commlink? Would that be used instead of a datajack or 'Trodes?

Implanted stuff already has DNI. You could argue that the 'link has to have a Sim Module to produce meaningful DNI feed to you and interpret the DNI commands you send it, same as a 'link that you have skinlinked to your Trodes would need (i.e. the implantation removes the need for a skinlink module). Or you could say the sim signal is part of the installation kit.

[KnightRunner]

Here is a question. If a PC buy an Ares Predator and a set of glasses with a smartlink enchantment..... how do they use the smartlink to eject clips? I do not see where their is a neural interface to send a mental signal.

[RunnerPaul]

Here is a question. If a PC buy an Ares Predator and a set of glasses with a smartlink enchantment..... how do they use the smartlink to eject clips? I do not see where their is a neural interface to send a mental signal.

I've always assumed that the smartlink enhancement for glasses contains a set of mini-trodes built into the temples of the earpieces to allow for DNI issued commands and for limited simsense playback to allow for some of the feedback that's been ascribed to smartlinks in the past, such as the ever popular "happiness is a warm gun".

For putting smartlink enhancement in a pair of contacts... I've always requried some other piece of gear to be included in the setup, such as a commlink connected through trodes/datajack, to be able to issue DNI commands.

[CanRay]

I've just said the mental command of Smartguns only applies to implanted forms. So far, noone in my group has objected.

In fact, few were even thinking heavily about them (Aside from the +2 Dice), until I pointed out it was based on a cross of the Targeting System from RoboCop and your typical First-Person Shooter. Then everyone was sold, mental commands or not.

[Fortune]

I rule that the capability is there, but some kind of DNI somewhere along the line (typically connected to the PAN) is needed to actually utilize it to its full effect.

[CanRay]

That's what I was refering to, sorry. So, if you're Datajack is hooked up to your CommLink (Or, adversely, directly to the gun itself), you're good.

But the people that aren't going to have it installed are likely to be the ones that don't have a datajack either. Trode Net works just as well, I guess.

[ShadeRavnos]

I'd consider allowing someone to skip the image link if they were using Trodes and a Sim module

Personally, I always wanted an ARE Program that simulated a laser sight. Since its AR, it wouldn't be limited to 50m range (or whatever). I'm sure there's a Miracle Shooter "unlock" somewhere that does this.

-paws

Just random question... How are you viewing AR with out a visual display?? Trodes and Sim Modules do nothing for visual unless you go full VR and maybe not even then. Are you using the commlinks holo projector? I'd think that to be akward in a fire fight...

-Shade

[Cthulhudreams]

It's been written directly by the trodes onto the part of your brain that processes optical input.

[RunnerPaul]

Trodes and Sim Modules do nothing for visual unless you go full VR and maybe not even then.

Acording to the SR4 rulebook, this is entirely incorrect.

"The easiest and most common way to get your AR fix, though, is through simsense. You need a sim module for your commlink to interpret the signals and feed you the data via a cyberware simrig, worn simrig, trode net, or datajack." Shadowrun 4th Edition Core Rules, p.209.

In short, simsense can be piped into the brain without first blanking out the recipient's normal senses or cutting off voluntary motor control, allowing for AR overlay just as easily as putting on a pair of display glasses. Easier, in fact.

[Arrgg]

Out of curiosity what bonuses does a smartlink give you in game?

[Stahlseele]

in 3rd Ed, -2 to shooting stuff,
in 4th ed +2 to your dice pool for shooting stuff . .
while we're close to simsense . . there's something called a touch link that lets you manipulate and interact with AR Stuff as though it were real . . could one hack it and make it so you could hit other people with virtual hammers and they feel as if they were being hit with a REAL sledgehammer? O.o

[RunnerPaul]

while we're close to simsense . . there's something called a touch link that lets you manipulate and interact with AR Stuff as though it were real . . could one hack it and make it so you could hit other people with virtual hammers and they feel as if they were being hit with a REAL sledgehammer?

While I'm sure there are limits to the dynamic range of the force that can be generated by force-feedback clothing, anyone who is experiencing their AR with the assitance of the Touch Link Implant, or via a sim-module that hasn't been configured to disable the tactile sense tracks, is certainly vulnerable to this kind of input should their AR be compromised. And it wouldn't even have to be a real recording of someone really getting hit by a sledgehammer, the sensations could just as easily be computer generated.

(While the lesser quality of computer generated simsense vs. real recorded sensations is an issue for the Entertainment Simsense Industry, the purpose here is not to entertain, but to put some poor slag in a world of hurt, and either method does that job just fine.)

Where things really get fun is when you consider the sense-link functionality built into the Taste Booster implant, and the gustatory sense tracks provided by a sim-module. Have you ever been Goatse'd, Tubgirl'ed or 2Girls1Cup'ed? (If you haven't, be GLAD.) Now imagine a world where the same sort of thing can happen, but you get to taste it as well as see it.

[Dumori]

By the looks of it you just need a smart link look in friends or foes in the BBB. No image links for any of them.

[RunnerPaul]

By the looks of it you just need a smart link look in friends or foes in the BBB. No image links for any of them.

Actually, the Red Samurai Lieutenant is listed as having both an Image Link and Smart Link, and while the Red Samurai Detachment doesn't list image link specifically, it comes free with their cybereyes. As for the other three character types out of Friends and Foes that have the Smartlink implant, but no apparent corresponding Image Link, it may very well be a oversight. Wouldn't be the first time they had errors on a sample character.

One other possible loophole to consider: a character who has a commlink with a sim-module and a way to feed the simsense into their brain (trodes, datajack & cable, or direct implantation) gets the benefit of image link (as well as all the other senses) for free. The Tir Ghosts characters all have implant commlinks, and while simmodules aren't listed, at one point, there was a line in the book that sim-modules came free with implanted commlinks[*]. That leaves us with the Lone Star Lieutenant as the only character without an image link, cybereyes, or commlink listed along with their smartlink implant. However, given the fact that commlinks are supposed to be ubiquitous, it wouldn't surprise me if the policy were to not even list basic model commlinks and cheap accessories like image-linked glasses because it's assumed that every character is carrying at least that much.


[*: The developers have since said this is incorrect and that you have to get the implant sim module separately, but they've never actually flagged it in the errata, and depending on which printing of the hardcover you look at, it waffles back and forth. Odd numbered printings (1st, 3rd, and 5th) have the line, and even numbered printings (2nd & 4th) don't.]