Unwired Questions, Now with Merge-y Goodness Options

[RunnerPaul]

RunnerPaul looked at his copy of 5th printing and it states that a cyber commlink has a sim module. Please tell me what the final ruling is. Thank you

Correction: I looked at a copy on a store shelf. Didn't actually buy it.

[Cthulhudreams]

Incidentally, whats stopping me 'stealing' agents. As they move their .exe around, carn't I just create a honey pot, wait for agents to move into it, disconnect that node from the intertubes, and hack the agent until it follows my commands.

Also, can I not get other agents to do that?

[Ryu]

Incidentally, whats stopping me 'stealing' agents. As they move their .exe around, carn't I just create a honey pot, wait for agents to move into it, disconnect that node from the intertubes, and hack the agent until it follows my commands.

Also, can I not get other agents to do that?

Thats why a hard-coded controlling ID would have been more restricting for agent smith. Plus you might actually want to have that.
Instead of setting up a honey pot, you can wait for a probe with an agent ID, analyse (to avoid accidentially assaulting GridSec), take over the agent, then extract its botnet program and encryption codes. The agent is likely running on a low-powered system, and therefore easy prey.

[Muspellsheimr]

So that means that a cyber commlink comes with a integrated Sim Module?

RunnerPaul looked at his copy of 5th printing and it states that a cyber commlink has a sim module. Please tell me what the final ruling is. Thank you

Commlink: An implanted version of the commlink (see p.210), popular with hackers and salarymen in the go.

< >

Sim Module: An implanted version of the external sime modual (see p.318), popular with sim lovers and BTL users.

They are two separate implants.

[hobgoblin]

funny thing is that the implant comlink in the gear section have never stated that it came with a sim module.

that little entry only shows up in the matrix section, page 228, virtual reality, iirc...

[RunnerPaul]

That's all well and good, Muspellsheimr, but the text in question doesn't come from the gear chapter, it comes from p.228 in the Virtual Reality section of the Wireless World. Since you have a 5th printing handy, would you care to confirm for everyone what the second sentence in the second paragraph under the Virtual Reality header reads?

[hobgoblin]

Thats why a hard-coded controlling ID would have been more restricting for agent smith. Plus you might actually want to have that.
Instead of setting up a honey pot, you can wait for a probe with an agent ID, analyse (to avoid accidentially assaulting GridSec), take over the agent, then extract its botnet program and encryption codes. The agent is likely running on a low-powered system, and therefore easy prey.

and thats why you dont use agents to do a hackers job. who knows when it will show up on your (virtual) doorstep, bringing "gifts"?

[Ryu]

and thats why you dont use agents to do a hackers job. who knows when it will show up on your (virtual) doorstep, bringing "gifts"?

Word. Botnets are for hackers. The very idea of using them for a mass probe is... unnerving.



The German first printing has an internal sim-module for the cybercommlink mentioned in the gear chapter. Thats the only justification for the price IMO.

[Tycho]

Some questions that come up inn discussions about technomancer:

1. Does the Swap Echo reduce the overall Modification for sustained complex forms (e.g. you sustain 3 CF and only get -4 instead of -6) or for each sustained complex form (which means,you get no mod for sustaining any more)?

2. Can you thread a CF over and over again until you reach the max (Res*2) or can you only thread each complex form once?

3. Can you thread the emulated Skillsoft CF to get higher ratings (e.g. Skillsoft rating of 7 or more are possible)?


would like to get an official answer.

thx
Tycho

[Sweaty Hippo]

Wait, I don;t have unwired yet, so this may be total speculation, but agents can still log into a new mode and spawn copies of themselves?

Sounds like the sixth world equivalent to 4chan's Anonymous.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

The German first printing has an internal sim-module for the cybercommlink mentioned in the gear chapter.

The german printing is an abomination.

[Dashifen]

Going through Unwired a second time and I noticed this one: The Defragment echo that allows a TM to heal matrix damage done to their persona. But, SR4 tells us that TMs don't have a matrix condition monitor because there's no hardware, only wetware. Thus, all matrix damage is converted to stun damage for TMs. Does the Defragment echo allow a TM to "heal" stun damage assume that said damage is incurred as a result of a non-black-IC matrix attack?

[Aaron]

Matrix damage still causes technomancers damage. If you turn to page 233 in your hymnal, you'll find that Matrix damage is automatically treated as Stun damage for technomancers. So if you're a Defragmenting technomancer, and you get three hits, and you've taken two Stun damage from IC and four from a Stunbolt, you only heal two of those boxes: the ones incurred by Matrix damage.

That's my reading of it, anyway.

[Tarantula]

Some questions that come up inn discussions about technomancer:

1. Does the Swap Echo reduce the overall Modification for sustained complex forms (e.g. you sustain 3 CF and only get -4 instead of -6) or for each sustained complex form (which means,you get no mod for sustaining any more)?

2. Can you thread a CF over and over again until you reach the max (Res*2) or can you only thread each complex form once?

3. Can you thread the emulated Skillsoft CF to get higher ratings (e.g. Skillsoft rating of 7 or more are possible)?


would like to get an official answer.

thx
Tycho

Seconded.

[Dashifen]

Matrix damage still causes technomancers damage. If you turn to page 233 in your hymnal, you'll find that Matrix damage is automatically treated as Stun damage for technomancers. So if you're a Defragmenting technomancer, and you get three hits, and you've taken two Stun damage from IC and four from a Stunbolt, you only heal two of those boxes: the ones incurred by Matrix damage.

That's my reading of it, anyway.

I agree with this reading, too, it was just jarring to see it handled that way. I think I had conceived that TMs don't get matrix damage not having a matrix condition monitor.

[Bira]

I sort of skipped over the entire degradation debacle, but I think I have a pretty good idea of why it's there. It's purely a game balance issue, so looking for plausible in-character reasons for why all software degrades is futile.

Shadowrun (like most RPGs) is still very much tied to the "old school" paradigm for gear: it has to cost money, or it's "unfair". In other words, monetary cost is considered the main balancing factor for the benefit a given piece of gear gives you. Software breaks this expectation, since in the real world you can get it for free even if you stay away from warez: there's everything from shareware to Free and Open Source Software.

What happened is that the developers were more worried about keeping the game balanced according to the traditional paradigm than having it make real-world sense.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

I sort of skipped over the entire degradation debacle, but I think I have a pretty good idea of why it's there. It's purely a game balance issue, so looking for plausible in-character reasons for why all software degrades is futile.

Just the collateral damage is insane, especially for illegal gear and cyber. Or Activesoft chips becoming useless after 8 in the drawer.

[Jaid]

Going through Unwired a second time and I noticed this one: The Defragment echo that allows a TM to heal matrix damage done to their persona. But, SR4 tells us that TMs don't have a matrix condition monitor because there's no hardware, only wetware. Thus, all matrix damage is converted to stun damage for TMs. Does the Defragment echo allow a TM to "heal" stun damage assume that said damage is incurred as a result of a non-black-IC matrix attack?

it's still matrix damage, whether or not the TM has a matrix damage track. think of it as being like a medicine that treats burns and thus would heal fire damage; there is no 'fire damage' track, nevertheless this theoretical medicine (or whatever it is) would be able to help with fire damage, but not with, say, a stab wound.

[hermit]

What about a Techno with Defragmentation and Mesh Reality?

[Nightwalker450]

Matrix damage still causes technomancers damage. If you turn to page 233 in your hymnal, you'll find that Matrix damage is automatically treated as Stun damage for technomancers. So if you're a Defragmenting technomancer, and you get three hits, and you've taken two Stun damage from IC and four from a Stunbolt, you only heal two of those boxes: the ones incurred by Matrix damage.

That's my reading of it, anyway.

It specifically states it doesn't work for Black IC programs. So the Stun damage would have to come from an Attack program, not a Blackout program. So you'll have to keep track of what stun damage was caused by attack programs, vs blackout or stunball

[Dashifen]

Not really. You only have to track Attack and Not-Attack. What specifically caused the Not-Attack damage doesn't matter since it can't be defragged.

[Tarantula]

Databombs too.

[Aaron]

Standard ones, anyway.

[Dashifen]

Good point. Still, the point remains that you don't need to keep track of every possible source of stun damage if a TM has defrag at your table. No more problematic than having to remember what damage was from drain so that it cannot be healed.

[Tiger Eyes]

Good point. Still, the point remains that you don't need to keep track of every possible source of stun damage if a TM has defrag at your table. No more problematic than having to remember what damage was from drain so that it cannot be healed.

Bah. Avoid damage. Befriend a Paladin Sprite. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)