alternative Hackers, Otherways to hack the matrix than with technomancers or Hot sim VR Options

[Valashar]

Doesn't matter. You're casting the spell on the commlink, and the spell is giving you a bonus to literally everything you do with the commlink (and the commlink is an integral part of every matrix (and rigging) action you perform).

Not when you are jumped in. Then it no longer becomes your persona taking the actions, but your own mind. If it were your persona, then damage to the drone would damage your persona, not you directly.

[Emy]

You're still using your commlink to send the signal from your meatbody to your drone, right? Oh look, that means that jumped in rigging uses your commlink.

[Emy]

And now we voyage into the realm of the theoretical...

[Udoshi]

Alright. More hijacking of -interesting- hacker Stereotypes. AI's are up this time.


Race: AI
110BP
Logic 4
Willpower 4
Intuition 4
Charisma 4
Edge: 4
AI Rating: 4
=150

Qualities:
Intuitive Hacking 5 (Emulate)
Intuitive Hacking 5 (Spawn)
Code Flux 5
Rootkit 10
Authority 10
OR Sapper 5
Or Exceptional Attribute to reach AI Rating 7, through the magic of rounding...eventually.
Heck, even Trust Fund to handwave away stupid AI lifestyle rules.

Skills:
Computer(Analyze+2)
Software(Emulate +2)
Hacking(Exploit+2)
EW(Decrypt+2)
Gunnery.
So, basically, the Cracking+Electronics skillgroups.

On first glance, Intuitive Hacking may seem to be useless. In fact, it pretty much is. Let's take a look at what it does.
Intuitive Hacking, 5bp(Unwired37) "A character with this qualitiy is highly intuitive about a single aspect of the Matrix. The character may perform one specific type of Matrix action without a program or Complex Form. The specific Matrix action is chosen when this quality is taken. For Example, a hacker with Intuitive Hacking(Detect Hidden Node) may perform that action in the Matrix without a Scan program, adding only the Electronic Warfare skill to the dice pool. This quality may be taken more than once, each time with a different Matrix Action."

So you waste five points to let you do one action without a program, at a gimped dice pool. Big whoop. Except, wait, it lets you -take- an action. If you look, there are many useful Actions. Threading is a matrix action. So is Compiling sprites. So while it -could- be like Spell Knack for the resonance, mechanically it kind of falls through - no drain stat, no list of sprites you have access to.

For AI's though. Well, the designers didnt put BP costs in the RC to all of the AI abilities in unwired. Only some. Which is really lame. Because Emulate, AI's version of drainless Threading, is worth far more than 5bp, but that's all it costs with Intuitive hacking. Ditto Spawn.

Emulate(UNW169) is actually pretty balanced - unlike TM's, they have no way to deal with the -2 sustaining, and they can't summon sprites at all, so the Assist Operation boost to insane levels is right out.
Spawn(UNW169) is the AI version of the Replicate Autosoft, and lets it copy its own programs for use by other users - it also has interesting synergy with Emulate, and an AI with both may create its own Agents - oh ho.


There's a neat little sidebar on page 121, about Technomancers and Malware. Basically, the resonance doesn't let regular TM's Thread or Complex Form malware, such as viruses, trojans, or worms, though Dissonant Tm's and Entropic sprites can. Which is great news. Because AI's dont give a devil rat's ass about the Resonance. An AI with Emulate is fully capable of whipping a baby Virus out of its virtual behind, letting it copy and infect itself over other programs, and then stop sustaining the threading - the original program vanishes, but any changes(such as a backdoor-creating trojan) or copies of viral code, well, they'd remain.

Back to Spawned Agents. Read unwired 110, about Copied Agent's and ID's. It's the nerf to Agent Smithing, in which only one copy of an agent with the same access ID may be in a node at once - the firewall simply blocks all further copies, even if hacked past. Even worse, it takes week long tests, with a threshold of 3xAgentRating to change that hardcoded access ID. For an AI, its almost as bad: Software+Spoof(AIRating, 1 day) test. For comparison, the average matrix user can make a spoof(2) test as a complex action to flat out change it on the fly. Unless you have the CodeFlux quality, which lets you automatically change your ID when you hop between two nodes. Excellent. Automatic AND instant. Quite useful for spawning Agents with different access IDs.

Put all of the above together, and you have a mean, nasty Viral(in every sense of the word) AI that is itself a malware-spewing Botnet. Ticked off that AI's are limited to 3 passes, and don't even get the hotsim bonus? That's okay. Bring a few copies of yourself along for the ride.

[Dumori]

Man my AI master mind was bad enough building his bot net from scratch. I'm stealing that for when it's needed.

[Udoshi]

Man my AI master mind was bad enough building his bot net from scratch. I'm stealing that for when it's needed.

Yeah, pretty much. I probably wouldn't allow something like this in one of my games, even if it IS possible, but the Viral Intelligence would probably make a pretty good NPC. A johnson, fixer, or even an antagonist.

[Dumori]

I'd alow it in one of my one-to-one games as power levels aren't a big deal with only one PC but in a group well the rest would have to be ok with it plus so would i

[Draco18s]

Oh man, that's going down in my book next to the Mind Fuck Mage (he casts Alter Memory on his party members, changing the details of the run as he sees fit--which I would have the GM run as the altered version of the run to mind fuck the other players*).

*Yes, I'm aware that the other players, when they find out, will promptly beat the shit out of me. It would be so worth it.