Rail Drones, Can sprites be used as a physical contact? Options

[Genericsammy]

In the group we have a player recently died and made a technomancer. Like many other GMs here I was unprepared for the ungodly hacking power they have. I am trying to educate myself on them but there are few grey areas for me.

Recently I used a Rail Drone (R Series from Arsenal) which was based on if the Runners wanted it, they would have to infiltrate him into the facility to physically hack it. However the technomancer insisted that he could send a registered sprite to the location to "touch" the node through hacking while staying well and truly out of the facility. As he demands a lot of time and attention anyway I just made some rolls vs his and got on with the story.

After the game I tried looking up where this information was and cannot find it. Was I suckered or am I looking in the wrong area.

I am not looking yet to punish a player for using his skills, I just have to get better at knowing the hacking rules systems. I just want to challenge him and give him something to do while giving some attention and challenges to the others.

[Jaid]

was the rail drone connected (via the matrix) to something else that the technomancer could reach? (such as, say, the main security system)

essentially, you *could* have that individual drone on a completely separate system. it seems rather unlikely, however. but yes, it could have been made completely separate, such that the technomancer would have to be present, and even such that the technomancer would have to physically create a connection to it, if it was important enough. but then you run into problems for the corp when the drone has a glitch and can't receive maintenance without getting a combat hacker in to dodge it's bullets while getting close, then bust out the electronics kit and physically splice in some new cables to hack it from.

in general, wireless signals in shadowrun can all act as repeaters. so if the hacker has some sort of means of getting the signal to the rest of the team, and the rest of the team has a means of getting a signal to the gun (which would also need to be able to reach back with a signal), including if the team has access to something that has access to the gun (ie the main security system for the building), then the technomancer can reach it.

what you *really* need, is a way to shut the facility off from the outside wireless. toss a jammer in that prevents their own signals from reaching out, and have regular scans performed for unfamiliar wireless nodes so that if the team does manage to get a repeater in that can beat the jammer, they'll be found out. you can't just isolate one thing, you have to pretty much isolate the entire facility.

[LurkerOutThere]

You got snowed nothing else to it. If the rail turrent system is hard wired, and lets face it there's very little reason it shouldn't be, then the only way for his sprite to hack the system is if he or someone ont he team creates a physical link to allow them access, if the wireless is off a techno or sprite is just as boned as any other hacker until some kind connection is established. Next time my advice is be mre firm with your players, remember you trump the rules.

[Drats]

You got snowed nothing else to it. If the rail turrent system is hard wired, and lets face it there's very little reason it shouldn't be, then the only way for his sprite to hack the system is if he or someone ont he team creates a physical link to allow them access, if the wireless is off a techno or sprite is just as boned as any other hacker until some kind connection is established. Next time my advice is be mre firm with your players, remember you trump the rules.

This. Rail Drones are basically skinlinked to the rail, so you've got to hack in through the node controlling the security.

*Technically* the player might be right: if the Techno can detect a wireless node that eventually connects to the rail system's node without setting foot in the facility, he's free to tell his sprite to start there and send if off on its merry way without ever putting himself in danger, but the Sprite is still going to have to make all the same rolls as any other hacker, and if it were me, I'd make him burn a task for each node the li'l guy had to hack through along the way. The odds are that, unless that's one impressive sprite, it's just not going to make it. Probably runs a decent risk of setting off an alert, too.

[DireRadiant]

p. 241 Sr4A

"Sprites can only
access other nodes if they are accompanying or called by the technomancer,
or if they are sent on a remote task."

Remote Tasks
"The sprite can only access
public nodes or private nodes for which it has the passcodes or that
it can hack with an Exploit complex form."


To Use the Exploit CF...
p. 235 SR4A
"In order to hack a node, you must either be within mutual Signal range of the target node’s
device or have an open subscription with the node through the Matrix."

Nothing to prevent "resonance Realm shortcut" so far in Sr4A, however,

Unwired. p. 154
"As creatures of resonance, sprites may travel to and from
the resonance realms as they please. This allows them a kind of
shortcut, taking a path from one node to another via the resonance
realms, rather than through the Matrix. This does not, however,
give them a free pass to bypass firewalls and system security. A
sprite may only use this shortcut to access a node in which the
technomancer to whom they are registered is present (i.e., the
technomancer calls them into the node), or in which they have
legitimate account or backdoor access. Otherwise, the sprite must
hack into the node, following the same rules as any other hacker
(p. 221, SR4)."

[Drats]

Nothing to prevent "resonance Realm shortcut" so far in Sr4A, however,

Unwired. p. 154
"As creatures of resonance, sprites may travel to and from
the resonance realms as they please. This allows them a kind of
shortcut, taking a path from one node to another via the resonance
realms, rather than through the Matrix. This does not, however,
give them a free pass to bypass firewalls and system security. A
sprite may only use this shortcut to access a node in which the
technomancer to whom they are registered is present (i.e., the
technomancer calls them into the node), or in which they have
legitimate account or backdoor access. Otherwise, the sprite must
hack into the node, following the same rules as any other hacker
(p. 221, SR4)."

The sprite would need to be an authorized user to access the node, though (or would require the Technomancer to know of a backdoor or to be present in the node himself, either of which would kind of render the whole exercise moot).

[LurkerOutThere]

Agreed, they cannot resonance shortcut into a node that they can't hack/get access to or that the techno isn't present so they can come when called.

[Sengir]

This. Rail Drones are basically skinlinked to the rail, so you've got to hack in through the node controlling the security.

Which should be accessible from outside*, but only after a serious virtual dungeon crawl through various layers of security.


*: Sure that is stupid from a security standpoint...just like having the C$ share open on every single system in the company or other everyday occurences (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Jaid]

This. Rail Drones are basically skinlinked to the rail, so you've got to hack in through the node controlling the security.

*Technically* the player might be right: if the Techno can detect a wireless node that eventually connects to the rail system's node without setting foot in the facility, he's free to tell his sprite to start there and send if off on its merry way without ever putting himself in danger, but the Sprite is still going to have to make all the same rolls as any other hacker, and if it were me, I'd make him burn a task for each node the li'l guy had to hack through along the way. The odds are that, unless that's one impressive sprite, it's just not going to make it. Probably runs a decent risk of setting off an alert, too.

admittedly, my previous post is based on the theory that the technomancer already had some sort of control via the main security system (and if the technomancer wasn't controlling the main security system, then why is he even on the team? the whole point in even having a hacker or technomancer is specifically to hack into the target's matrix systems).

but if we're talking about the technomancer having no connection of any sort to the facility and not already having established control of the security system (which, as i said, would presumably be connected to the gun), then yes, the technomancer should not have been able to directly reach the gun (he would have to first go through security).

but again, this is easily defended against by making sure the security system itself is separate from the matrix as a whole, which is easily done by not making the security system wireless, or at the very least by making it separate from the matrix as a whole (again, the use of jammers and wifi-inhibiting paint/wallpaper makes even a wireless network isolated if you use it properly)

[Karoline]

This. Rail Drones are basically skinlinked to the rail, so you've got to hack in through the node controlling the security.

*Technically* the player might be right: if the Techno can detect a wireless node that eventually connects to the rail system's node without setting foot in the facility, he's free to tell his sprite to start there and send if off on its merry way without ever putting himself in danger, but the Sprite is still going to have to make all the same rolls as any other hacker, and if it were me, I'd make him burn a task for each node the li'l guy had to hack through along the way. The odds are that, unless that's one impressive sprite, it's just not going to make it. Probably runs a decent risk of setting off an alert, too.

Yep.

Basically the rail drone is slaved, and the only way to hack a slaved device is to 1. take control of its master or 2. establish a phsycial link with a fiber optic cable (or skinlink if for some stupid reason the device is set up to be skinlinked or the techno has the skinlink echo) to the device itself.

What the TM did here was no different than a hacker sending an agent to go hack into the drone, which is no different from the hacker going in and hacking the drone herself.

[hobgoblin]

the thing about resonance realms is that while they sound about as magical as metaplanes, they cant reach a node that have no connection to the matrix what so ever.

what makes resonance realms special is that they exist outside of the normal node addressing system, in a way that only TMs, and their sprites, can locate. Think of it like a whole bunch of junk data happened to form the complete works of shakespeare or similar.

so when say the endless library is able to recreate a lost file, it may be digging it out of some memory cache or a collection of fragments for various sources. They are "random" VPNs, carried by the background traffic of the matrix. Much like how one can in theory skim millions from bank accounts without it being noticed, as the printouts only show the first two digits behind the decimal point.

[LurkerOutThere]

The resonance realms don't even come into this however, all the resonance realms will do for you is get your sprite to you if your somewhere.

[KarmaInferno]

Wait, the PLAYER died and then made a RPG character?

Do ghosts regularly attend your game sessions?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)



-np