SOTA-rules in Unwired used by the archetype hacker, Sense? Streamlining? Fun? Options

[Rotbart van Dain...]

Meh ... I ignore skill training times since I tend to focus on an event that takes two/three weeks to fix. That way, characters can grow and change within the year or so of real time that we spend on the game, but that timespan isn't represented in-game.

Granted, if you take thhe time out f downtime, I see why you have no issues with degrading software.

Personally, I had characters traveling long distances by ship or even have send characters in hibernation to Mars and back. The very idea that when they reached their destination, their software already runs at aout half efficiency is just... wrong.

[Nightwalker450]

I'm trying to weigh this myself and here's what I'm coming up with.

Cracked vs. Registered vs. Price at Start

Registered Price to Start as Book - no Arguments there.

Cracked as Book - 100k (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) thats likely to be given to every member for free... The hacker is footing the bill for the entire group, not fair for him.

Cracked at 10% - 10k (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) the Hacker is already the cheapest build there is, and with 2 BP investment in gear he's even more likely to be at the top of his game coming out, as well as near top in somebody elses.


So I'm thinking he'll have to start with Registered Programs, and crack them in game. Or his other option is to only start with a few programs and then seek out more for the 10% price after game starts (only feasible for High or Luxury Lifestyle really where your Leftover (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) trades straight across or increases)

Going this way, he's actually having to invest some time, and if the whole group is going to get copies, they can share in the money to be spent to get the additional programs. Take it out of run expenses.

[Sombranox]

I'm trying to weigh this myself and here's what I'm coming up with.

Cracked vs. Registered vs. Price at Start

Registered Price to Start as Book - no Arguments there.

Cracked as Book - 100k (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) thats likely to be given to every member for free... The hacker is footing the bill for the entire group, not fair for him.

Cracked at 10% - 10k (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) the Hacker is already the cheapest build there is, and with 2 BP investment in gear he's even more likely to be at the top of his game coming out, as well as near top in somebody elses.


So I'm thinking he'll have to start with Registered Programs, and crack them in game. Or his other option is to only start with a few programs and then seek out more for the 10% price after game starts (only feasible for High or Luxury Lifestyle really where your Leftover (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) trades straight across or increases)

Going this way, he's actually having to invest some time, and if the whole group is going to get copies, they can share in the money to be spent to get the additional programs. Take it out of run expenses.

I still keep on wavering on the whole thing. I tried to modify my favorite decker adept build to use the cheap program cost and the result was a bit surprising by the time I was finished up. Instead of branching the character out into other major roles, the extra money ended up actually kind of crystalizing the concept. It let me afford some skillwires and an encephelon 1, which was out of range before for fitting in, it let me buy a bunch of toys that made him a better break-in artist sort, and it let him do things like harden all of his equipment so EMP's can't take him out. Just odd little things that all helped him be a better decker rather than becoming a decker-something else.

Of course, I went completely nuts with the DIMAP, Optimize 2, Rating 3 Activesofts, turning a former cliche couch potato hacker into a real runner, but I actually put that in the good column as it fits the character concept to have turned to tech for skills rather than skill for things not related to the matrix.


Edit to add:
Admittedly, when I now look at it and add it all up, he would have spent something like 350K just in programs, which is just horribly wrong of me, so maybe I agree that programs shouldn't be 10% at chargen, especially activesofts as I abused the hell out of that.

Maybe allow chargen characters to buy things at rating 4 or below for 10% off? That way, if the hacker wants real hacker-worthy progs, they have to foot the bill for it, otherwise they can get the cheapo progs at the start and use those to spend the time to get the high-end stuff.