Neighborhood/City security ratings, A question about security ratings and changes since published last Options

[Gerdofal]

Okay, so Runner's Companion just came out... and it mentions the same kind of security rating system as before (ex. "an area with security rating of B" on p 22). Unfortunately, these security ratings have never been explained or listed in any SR4 material. (That is, unless I missed it somewhere.)

The term is not even used in Runner Havens or the core rulebook, nor is it mentioned anywhere else in Runner's Companion. In fact, the last time I think it was published was in SR3 somewhere.

Was this an oversight then? Or did I miss an obvious list somewhere?

And, that being said, what I really want to know is have they changed any since SR3? This is especially applicable to Hong Kong, which could have seen considerable changes.

Thanks!

[coolgrafix]

Answer to your question: No, not in fourth. There are some other things that are the same way. =(

A Brief History of Security Ratings

The oldest reference I have is the first edition Seattle Sourcebook. On page 25 in the shadowtalk, referring to Downtown Seattle, SPD says...

I've dropped in an extra column below listing Lone Star's Security Ratings of the area, as per my sources. I would go more by the security rating listing than the guidebook's "Middle Class" etc. listings.

He then goes on to do it for the various other sections of town.

The first appearance of rules to interpret these ratings appears in New Seattle (an SR3 product I believe) on pages 108-111. A table is provided for Star response times to ratings. Also says that the ratings have become common parlance such that other companies/governments use the same rating scale.

New Seattle is available here.

[sunnyside]

In response to the OP I'd say the rating structure should be the same between the versions. What would change is what different areas get rated, and what sort of resources can/would be deployed.

For example in SR4 a spider should probably be deployed as a first responder (getting into the gridguide, Lonestar security camera system, or just some responders drone/car/comlink on order to try doing their thing against the likely wired criminals and at the least to try and keep tabs on them or prevent counter hacking.