Looking to play...or GM... Options

[Karoline]

Why is sat com a bad thing? I want to be able to hit the matrix when we're out to sea. I really don't see the point of having a Valkyrie Module when we have the med station which does virtually the same thing (only better).

Don't know if we should consider a Mesametric Beaver or two to help with carrying supplies and such.

I currently have about a dozen drones, some of which are largely for the sake of the ship, not sure if people would like those moved to the ship inventory or not (Things like a pair of ferrets to monitor the ship and a Manservant to keep everything tidy)

[CollateralDynamo]

You guys can dump the excess stuff its fine. Climbing gear to me still seems useful as you never know what roughing stuff we might have to do.

Most people who can dive seem to already have suits, and the chemsuits were just for my own paranoia, also I didn't know that all commlinks can be a gps, does that work even if out of range of the matrix though?

Sat Com is redundant on the ship because it is a relatively cheap upgrade which you should have for your normal commlink already.

I am fine with throwing more drones on the group tab if there is room for it. I am comfortable with the level of gear that got through, so I'm smiling and nodding at people. Ship name doesn't matter overmuch to me, so I'll go with the rest of the votes for Fedalla.

[Karoline]

Yes, it actually says it under the entry for GPS that commlinks act as GPS as long as they are in signal range (of the matrix I would imagine) and if everyone has satcom upgrade for their commlink, then they should always have GPS.

Umm, where is the satcom upgrade for commlinks?

[CollateralDynamo]

in SR4A it is in the table with all the other commlink upgrades (like AR gloves and stuff) I'm away from books right now, but its in the gear chapter with all that commlink mumbo jumbo.

[MusicMan]

We could always consider renting a ground vehical at our port of entry as we need one...

[CollateralDynamo]

Renting? Sounds far too traceable and out of our control for our clandestine dealings...

[Marwynn]

Steal it, then dump it.

Sorry I didn't see any med stations. Do we still need the Valkyrie Module? And if we're installing it onboard will it take up space?

[MusicMan]

Traceable? If we rent using a fake sin and they won't know what we took, and if we jam the GridLink, they won't know where. Or we could "rent" from a chop-shop.

[MusicMan]

Steal it, then dump it.

Sorry I didn't see any med stations. Do we still need the Valkyrie Module? And if we're installing it onboard will it take up space?

Valk mod takes 1 slot.



We are remembering that we'll need money for food and weather data? Right?

[CollateralDynamo]

VoG said that if we don't use the loan money on stuff, it is gone, no saving. Apparently Mr. J just wants to make sure he doesn't hand us 500K and we all walk off into the sunset...stupid Johnsons.

[Karoline]

We don't really need the Valk module with the medical station (Which doesn't take up slots and might even be mobile). This is even more true since I currently have a CrashCart drone which is an autonomous mobile version of the valk module.

We aren't saving money from the loan because any money we don't spend on stuff gets taken back.

As for the satellite uplink... it costs 500 for the commlink mod, which is the same price as for the ship mod... so why have all ten people pay 500 instead of just having a one time cost of 500 for everyone to get it?

Edit: P.S. I'm totally buying bombs, as in dropped from a plane... just an FYI

[Penta]

Oh, and Penta, is it possible to get actual real licences for stuff? Like would it be possible for my character to (as part of character creation) go out and get a weapons license? The book only talks about fake licenses at all, but I figure people occasionally have real ones.

It is possible. To get them you must: A. Have a SIN; B. Submit biometric data as appropriate (a photo for a drivers' license, for an RL example); C. Pay the necessary fees.

Fees

I'm flat-rating a lot of this.

Basic licenses (anything non-lethal): 50Y per license.
Firearms licenses (per weapon): 100Y per license per weapon.
Professional Qualifications: 200Y per license

Anything not fit under there? Ask me about it. You'll notice that in many cases this comes out cheaper than getting a fake license - that's because fake licenses include the cost of hacking into systems, not merely to set up the license, but also to maintain it.

It *is* possible to attach a real license to a fake SIN, but you test the SIN's validity against a rating 4 validity system when doing so.

[Marwynn]

Because we won't always be on the boat? I bet there'll be times when we're in the hellholes of the Caribbean and there isn't matrix access anywhere in sight. Honestly, I don't want to give SatCom up for the boat either. But I thought we wanted the Valk module.

It says Valkyrie Module 2 Slots on my Arsenal copy. It's not on the Errata either. If we can rip that out for a Med Station then that's okay.

How much is a weather subscription? And food enough for us all... It's 10-15 for Breakfast or Lunch, for each person. Let's say 50 for each person a day. 500 a day on food alone for 10 of us? 15,000 a month?

[Penta]

Marwynn: Look at post 374, on page 14 of this thread. Provisions costs, to be simplified, are for 10-15 people (I figure you save money by buying in bulk), in 14-day increments as noted.

Weather subscription with complete data, as listed on that post, are...priced there.

Careful, one of these days I'm going to slip something incredibly important in one of these posts, and you'll miss it, because it didn't have neon lights.

[Marwynn]

Ahh, see I thought I was missing them from the books somewhere. My bad.

I vote for the the fresh veggies and such, 5000 a month. Plus the top weather data, we'll need it.

Question: If weather data's getting sent to us and we're not currently being "us" what happens? Can we also be traced through our weather subscription?

[Karoline]

I don't know, haven't read through the entire thread, but so far your the only one who has mentioned getting the Valk, and like I keep saying, we have better and cheaper and less slot costing alternatives. As for being in a Caribbean hellhole... well I personally am good anywhere within 10 km of the ship if we have the satcom (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

My book also says 2 slots on the valk. Like I said, Med Station doesn't take up slots. It is basically an advanced medkit that is hooked into a wall. Not so impressive but it is enough to care of 2 people. Also the CrashCart is a bit more expensive, but is mobile and doesn't take up any slots.

I think I remember reading 1200 a month for weather subscription, (Which doesn't do us much good if the boat is out of matrix range which would happen all the time without a satcom) but we could also rely on the built-in Atmosphere Sensor, which is likely better for short term forecasts but worse for longterm.

As for food.. once again Penta mentioned some numbers for food. Personally I would think that since the books constantly mention things like "needs to eat twice as much food, so increase lifestyle cost by 10%" I'd imagine that food costs 200 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) a month per person for low quality food, and 500 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) a month for middle quality, and 1k a month for high quality.

I suggest we have at least a month supply of medium quality food, and perhaps a month supply of low quality (Emergency rations). If people want high quality food they can pay the difference.

Edit: Heh, cool, my numbers actually match up perfectly with what Penta posted earlier for food (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Marwynn]

I don't know, haven't read through the entire thread, but so far your the only one who has mentioned getting the Valk, and like I keep saying, we have better and cheaper and less slot costing alternatives. As for being in a Caribbean hellhole... well I personally am good anywhere within 10 km of the ship if we have the satcom (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

My book also says 2 slots on the valk. Like I said, Med Station doesn't take up slots. It is basically an advanced medkit that is hooked into a wall. Not so impressive but it is enough to care of 2 people. Also the CrashCart is a bit more expensive, but is mobile and doesn't take up any slots.

I think I remember reading 1200 a month for weather subscription, (Which doesn't do us much good if the boat is out of matrix range which would happen all the time without a satcom) but we could also rely on the built-in Atmosphere Sensor, which is likely better for short term forecasts but worse for longterm.

As for food.. once again Penta mentioned some numbers for food. Personally I would think that since the books constantly mention things like "needs to eat twice as much food, so increase lifestyle cost by 10%" I'd imagine that food costs 200 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) a month per person for low quality food, and 500 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) a month for middle quality, and 1k a month for high quality.

I suggest we have at least a month supply of medium quality food, and perhaps a month supply of low quality (Emergency rations). If people want high quality food they can pay the difference.

Me? I didn't even know about the Valk Module till someone mentioned it here. Yeah I missed those numbers, gonna reread those pages I missed.

We can rip that off, plug in the missing Sig Masking rating for the same cost and bring back the SatCom. And you're probably going to get jammed so also consider a SatLink for yourself. But that's up to us all.

[Karoline]

I'd imagine if my connection to the ship is jammed then my own satlink would be jammed too.

Anyway, adjusted the ship back to how it was, took out the chemsuits, survival kits, diving gear, and the large nanopaste disguises. I left the small ones for now, but does anyone have any opinion on getting latex masks instead? They'd be much more useful in the long run. Or perhaps just dumping disguises altogether? I mean this is like the diving gear in that people who can make real use of them will already have them.

Edit: Oh, and added a manservant, crashcart, and two beavers for ship drones.

[MusicMan]

Dump disguises, we're not going to be in AR-land where there will be cameras everywhere.

[Penta]

Ahh, see I thought I was missing them from the books somewhere. My bad.

I vote for the the fresh veggies and such, 5000 a month. Plus the top weather data, we'll need it.

Question: If weather data's getting sent to us and we're not currently being "us" what happens? Can we also be traced through our weather subscription?

No. How the weather broadcasts work:

Essentially, the CAS and/or UCAS NWS (I could actually see it being a joint agency; weather tends not to respect borders after all) sends their forecasts up to the commsats at X time UTC. The forecasts are then broadcast under fairly heavy encryption to all customers, who've received a client program (loaded onto the boat's computers) and their specific decryption key. It's a wide-footprint broadcast, not broadcast to a specific receiver.

It's a lot like how DirectTV or Sat radio work - only with heavier encryption. Much heavier.

(It makes sense: In 2072, those subscriptions are the main source of revenue for the (CAS/UCAS) NWS, aside from the always-tricky corporate donations-in-lieu-of-taxes and government funding - they'll take whatever means are necessary to protect the funding source.)

They also issue free forecasts for the layperson, but those are of the same detail as your TV weather forecast - useful for planning 'do I need to wear a coat', not so useful for 'how should I plan the day's sea or air activities'. The satellite broadcasts are meteorological-grade, usable for commercial activities. and even include the (often-conflicting) model data so you can see how they arrived at their conclusions.

[Karoline]

Oh, for the real licenses, how much would it be to own restricted drones and for those drones to have weapons?

Edit: I figure each would fall under one large license (Having restricted drones) and (Having drone mounted weapons)

Edit 2: Oh, and what about hacking programs (For use with my IC)

[Penta]

Oh, for the real licenses, how much would it be to own restricted drones and for those drones to have weapons?

Edit: I figure each would fall under one large license (Having restricted drones) and (Having drone mounted weapons)

Edit 2: Oh, and what about hacking programs (For use with my IC)

That'd be two lethal licenses per drone...200Y per drone. You need a reason for the bureaucracy, by the by..."I'm going out to the Carib to pirate" doesn't cut it.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Also, because my paralegal books are whispering at me...Sovereignty.

Each license is only valid for one country. (UCAS, CAS, Carib League, etc.)

Hacking programs are: 200Y per program, no lethal programs, and there must be audit trails.

[CollateralDynamo]

Karoline, it sounds rediculously risky for you to go with actual permits on your drones. They are very likely to get spotted. They will have serial numbers on them. They will be recorded in ERUs, they will get back to you. But thats just me...I want nobody to ever be quite sure who I am...

[Karoline]

Wow, 200 per program? That sounds like a lot.

My idea was to have my background be that of a security adviser/consultant/tester/similar and would make use of the programs to run tests with the system. Same thing for the drones (As well as, you know, personal protection).

I wouldn't be too worried about the drones getting traced to me, serial numbers are easy to change, as are any other things that identify a particular drone as being mine (And wasn't planning on doing it for all my drones, just one or two to take into town with me for protection, I have 8 combat drones at the moment)

Edit: Make that 9 if you count my hunter-killer.

[Penta]

Just because it's about 2000 EDT (actually, after that) here, I'm going to post a quick summary.

Ship stuff:

It *looks* like you guys have the Employer-Purchased Gear List (IE, what you're doing with the 500k) pretty well set. Am I wrong?

Try to get that settled by Saturday morning EDT, please.
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Ship name: By a vote of a decent majority of the group, it's the MY Fedallah.

Almost inspires me to search out Running Wild. Oh, if only I had money.

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Other related ship packet stuff: Your country of origin has been picked for you. I shouldn't have led you along like that - it didn't strike me until this morning that, hey, wait, other people might not get the significance of what country gets picked.

I'll let you guys keep discussing and putting forth ideas re the rest of the ship packet, that said.

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Generally speaking, I need 24-36 hours "turnaround time" for the first post, from when the ship packet is done and, more importantly, all characters are done.

I have one class tomorrow - I'm then free til Sunday night to focus on this. I can move very quickly in terms of evaluating backgrounds, sheets, etc., but you set the pace by how fast you respond to me. If you happen to still be unfinished (or want to do mods to your sheet and/or background for already posted characters), I'll be around tomorrow night EDT, basically all of Saturday, and then the better part of Sunday...Maniacally clicking on dumpshock for new stuff to read. If you want to get in touch with me faster than PMs - use AIM or Google chat.
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I can actually get started on the first post now-ish...Only thing I need to know:

What is your preferred posting formatting? Is there a Dumpshock standard (I generally don't read other campaigns' threads)?