System maps with multiple nodes, No longer needed? Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Switch to: Outline Switch to: Standard Linear+

[PiXeL01]

I did search, due briefly, so please excuse me if this question has popped up before.

So I am a returnee to the SR universe. I used to be a huge fan of the setting and rules and I played SR2&3 for more than 15 years, totally skipping SR4 because I didnt like the direction the system took.

Now I am back though (Having played Shadowrun Returns and been eyeing my SR tattoo in the mirror a lot lately) so I bought SR5 and have been reading through the rules. I was especially surprised by the seemingly super simplified Matrix rules, a part of the system I have always avoided till now since it was so time consuming and focused too much on the efforts of a single player.

Having given the rules a quick once-over something struck me. As a relic of the past that I am I started to worry about Matrix system maps and the lack of nodes.
So if I understand the rules correctly everything is now connected to a single host. Once you have access to the host you have access to every single device on that host (except the achieves which are described as unhackable) as there arent any subdivision of the system anymore. So can you subdivide the host into more nodes (I can understand why you wouldnt though) or is everything just a "blob" within the host?

Another thing that struck me was hacking device without jacking in through AR, which is doable once you have sighted a device. After having spotted a device, you dont need to hack the host first, you can launch a direct attack on the device and if you succeed you have marked the host too.

Please inform me if I gotten it wrong and if this has been discussed before, please direct me to the posts.

[DMiller]

Nope, you got it right... Big blob theory and direct attacks on devices.... HOWEVER on the devices front... If you are attacking a device that is protected by a host you use the better attributes between the device and the host that is supporting/protecting it.

[RHat]

Things like chains of nodes were very specifically and intentionally removed, because that's a huge part of what causes hacking to take a long time in some groups. Node based structure, in and of itself, is basically gone.