Some questions after first games, PC Creation and Hacker gameplay Options

[IKerensky]

Hello, some questions :

1- The Street Sam buyed 2 upgraded obvious cyber arms, he need to up them a bit to raise up to his starting AGI.

- Does it use Arms capacity to raise the attribute to do so ?
- Does the raising account for the necessity to use a Cyber Torso ?
- He put some armor on both armor, does it add to global armor twice ?
- Does adding BOD to cyber arms have any effect ?

2- The Electronics, I got a bit lost about what exactly is needed to be buyed to access the Matrix, expecially in Software. I made every character buy a cheap comm-link, googles with visual interface and earbuds, is it enough ? What about a hacker character ?

3- During play the Hacker try to access commlinks of people to control/hack information. Is locating them automatic ? need a line of sight ? same for apparel nodes.

4- Did a Maglock have a Node ? I ruled that this is not the case.

[Dakka Dakka]

Hello, some questions :

1- The Street Sam buyed 2 upgraded obvious cyber arms, he need to up them a bit to raise up to his starting AGI.

- Does it use Arms capacity to raise the attribute to do so ?
It depends. Customized Cyberlimbs (see Arsenal) don't cost capacity but can only go up to the Natural maximum of the Character, Cyberlimb Enhancements (BBB) however do cost Capacity. They can raise the Attributes up to the Augmentend Maximum.

- Does the raising account for the necessity to use a Cyber Torso ?
Cyberlimb Enhancements above three need a Cyber Torso.

- He put some armor on both armor, does it add to global armor twice ?
I guess you meant, he put armor on both arms. Yes that stacks, no avareaging since Armor is not an Attribute.

- Does adding BOD to cyber arms have any effect ?
Of course, the augmented BOD is used in any BOD test that does not explicitly call for the natural BOD. Don't forget to average though, most of the time not only one limb is affected.

2- The Electronics, I got a bit lost about what exactly is needed to be buyed to access the Matrix, expecially in Software. I made every character buy a cheap comm-link, googles with visual interface and earbuds, is it enough ? What about a hacker character ?

A Sim Module and some form of DNI (Trodes, Nanopaste Trodes, Commlink Implant) will work like a charm. IMHO anyone should have a decent Analyze Program and possibly Browse and Encrypt. For the Hacker it depends on what he wants to do.

3- During play the Hacker try to access commlinks of people to control/hack information. Is locating them automatic ? need a line of sight ? same for apparel nodes.

LOS is irrelevant ther is the WiFi Scan Action in the BBB. It delineates what is needed to find nodes in the different modes.

4- Did a Maglock have a Node ? I ruled that this is not the case.

It should have a node but wireless is definitely turned off. So you could hacvk the lock but only with a cable connection. Getting this connection should be challenging in and off itself, since the housing of the maglock should be made "tamperproof".

[IKerensky]

Thanks, I only have SR4A right now (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

What is the BBB ?

[Heath Robinson]

1.

a. The cheap way to raise your agility consumes capacity, but he may have used the customisation option.
b. If your Sam used standard limbs, then an enhancement with a rating higher than 3 requires they have a cybertorso.
c. All cyberlimb armour counts at its full value, and it states it stacks with worn armour.
d. You should be averaging his Body over all his limbs when he takes damage, but if he decides to redline a limb then it may (it is not entirely clear) use that limbs Body over the character's Body.

2. You could have just told them to buy a Sim module and trodes. It allows you to run AR (and still be invulnerable to black IC). It would also let them run in VR if they have a VR meet. As a bonus, they get a DNI that lets them use their 'link without an independant interface device like AR Gloves.

3. If the commlinks in question are in Active or Passive mode then finding them is a Free action so long as they are within the hacker's Signal range. If they are in Hidden mode, then the hacker needs to succeed on an Electronic Warfare + Scan (4) test as a Complex Action. They need to be within the hacker's Signal range and the hacker needs to have a rough idea of where the node might be (i.e. look for the commlink of the guy in the suit). If they do not know where a particular hidden node might be, then they may try to find all Hidden nodes within mutual Signal range by succeeding on an Electronic Warfare + Scan (15, 1 combat turn) extended test.

4. Yes, all electronic devices have nodes. Some may have no wireless access, and not be wired into things, but according to RAW all electronics are peripheral devices capable of being remotely accessed so long as you could create a connection to them.

[Dakka Dakka]

BBB = Big Black/Blue Book = Main Rule Book. Nowadays that is mostly SR4A.

Without Arsenal Cyberlimbs are a really poor choice IMHO and even with it more a niche product than anything else.

BTW the Archetypes in the BBB are not really optimized. I'm sure you or your players can come up with more effective characters.