The 200k Decker Options

[Ed_209a]

The Face in my game is thinking about becoming a light-duty decker as well. We can probably rearrange things (he has nearly 500k in contacts) for that purpose.

He obviously won't be doing hardcore decking, so what would be a good way to spend that nuyen?

[KosherPickle]

[Miststlkr]

I never got to read the newest set of decker rules, so this may have changed, but in general, get high computers skill, perhaps a spec. in coding and a high computers b/r skill.

as i remember it, the rules to upgrade a deck and to write your own utilities made it very beneficial to DIY then buy already done, but to build your own deck was insanely off balance (to put the MPCP in was something like a 2 year project :spin: so buy a middle-of-the-road deck and have deckmeister contacts that can hook you up with upgrade parts when possible and take downtime to write your own utils; or have a logical GM that is willing to let you add a little time to the overall required coding/upgrading time to say you code at night when you aren't working/running [like we do IRL] instead of requiring a solid block of downtime [vacation] to do it in.

[Zeel De Mort]

If he's only got 200k, and is looking for a quick fix, I'd go for a Novatech Hyperdeck-6. They're only 125k, very easy to get hold of, and that's about the bare minimum MPCP I'd want to use, even for light decking and the like.

Spend the remaining money on utils if time is short, or if not get a Math SPU implanted for the extra hacking pool.

Then, of course, put up that good old Computer skill as far as you like.

[Drain Brain]

A face character with only 200K you say?

Spend it on 'ware (Math SPU etc) and gear (Microtronics kit, chip burners) etc and max out computer and BR skills, with a good emphasis on programing.

Then go and con some hapless technoweenie™ out of their prized Cyberdeck

[Sphynx]

Agreed, even on a million starting resources don't start with your own Deck, steal the bastard. Spend the 200k on Math SPU and programs. You can buy some offline storage to store them in for 50+(5*MP). That let's you buy enough programs that when you do find your Deck, you can stock it up.

Sphynx

[sir fwank]

programs are what you really need to deck. since they directly modify the hosts Acess Control Index Files Slave ratings for what you are doing. the stock cyber decks lack adequate active & storage memory to run a decent amount of programs, so you may want to increase that.

for programs anything under rating 6 really isn't going to help you much on anything but the easy systems.

remember to buy VALIDATE at the highest rating you can. then all you need to do is succeed on your control test to get a super-user account and the host is yours.

[Kurukami]

Yours for a while, anyways. :ork Read "The Cuckoo's Egg", by Cliff Stoll... it's a bit dated, but still an interesting parallel to decking.

And, respectfully, if any "decker" was dumb enough not to buy a starting deck, I'd make him work damned hard to get his hands on one. Getting one in your first run just ain't gonna happen... unless, of course, you want the latest from Radio Shack that your impressive programs are too large to run on. :vegm:

[Sphynx]

Dumb enough not to buy a starting deck.... ???

Dude, have you ever even played a Decker? Seriously? The best you can get at CharGen is a Rating 6 which wouldn't get through anything short of a Blue field... Of COURSE you wait to steal a Deck, gotta have at LEAST an MPCP of 8. :P The dummy is the one buying it at Char Gen since he's gonna have to steal one anyways to do any real decking. ;)

Sphynx

[Kurukami]

Oh, I agree that any decker worth his salt is going to want something better than the Novatech Hyperdeck-6. (A small aside -- since the CMT Avatar is Availability 6, does that fall under the category of "available to starting characters", or does the MPCP rating of 7 disqualify it?) But my point is that a starting decker without any manner of deck is practically a non-entity, and that as a GM I wouldn't just have the character just stumble across a nice deck on his first run because the player wanted to save :nuyen: :nuyen: :nuyen: . Cyberdecks, unlike Chrysler-Nissan Jackrabbits, aren't everywhere... and unless you kill the poor shmoe you snagged the deck from, chances are he's going to go to a great deal of effort to get his 400,000+ :nuyen: investment back.

Additionally, if you'd expect to get a deck that way, I as a GM would occasionally roll to see whether some outside party decides that your deck is a valid target, and breaks in to either (a) steal it while you're out at the Stuffer Shack or (b) Narcoject you while you're jacked in, steal your deck, and leave you tied up naked in the Redmond Barrens.

Unless you've taken good precautions against that, turnabout is fair play.

[TinkerGnome]

[Miststlkr]

the rest of this debate set aside, a decker who doesn't diversify as a part-time sammy, especially if they didn't buy a starting deck, is a miserable creature. always make a character that is a combat decker if you are playing a decker. someone that can hold their own in a gun fight (or close combat if you prefer) at the very least since there will always be runs that don't need a decker. a full-on decker would be left home, a decker with some combat skill is at least that many more pieces of lead to pin the targets with.... so to say a decker without a starting deck is a non-entity would imply that you are playing with some rather weak deckers or your players aren't too logical :P

[Sphynx]

Actualy K, not starting with a Deck usually insures you have a character that interacts better with the team, since he's got to be really good at something other than just Decking. It's the ones that do start with a Deck that I actually worry about cause that tends to imply they're gonna be the type of character which goes off on his own to do Decking RPing while the non-deckers sit waiting.

Sphynx

[JonathanC]

I must have missed something when I read the decking rules (and even ran a game or two)...what's wrong with an MPCP 6 deck? WIth a program rated at 6, maxed computer skill, high intelligence, and a math SPU, you're likely to blow through any system you'd run into in an opening run. Hell, most of the matrix is your oyster, so long as you aren't trying to hack into Renraku or something.

[Synner]

I take it you haven't decked much JonathanC? I suggest you check out the Walkthrough we did for a starting decker's run on an Orange system (not even a particularly hard one) to see how many ways even the most basic decking run can get screwed up as compared to someone using a serious deck (starting on page 4 of the same thread) facing a Red-10.

[Adarael]

I've always been a big fan of the clunky wall-mounted deck; 10% of the price, yet utterly non-portable. Good if you can build it yourself and don't intend on taking it anywhere.

Beyond that, steal a deck. I've had and seen deckers get their ware shot up, stolen, fried, etc by a wide variety of ridiculous circumstances. The decker wants a new deck? Have 'em go on a run specifically for that purpose. If they need a deck, why should they 'stumble' upon one? One of my players specifically went looking for a guy to roll for his deck. Got him drunk, cracked his safe, stole the deck, killed him silently and then burned his house down and made it look like an electrical fire gone wrong.

Sure, it isn't nice, people will look at you funny and call you names, but it *does* get you what you want - a new deck.

[KosherPickle]

[Sphynx]

Yeah, but if you go by the archtypes, then you can get things up to an availability of 13, like the Vehicle Rigger and his Hughes WK-2 Stallion. ;)

Personally we House Rule that you can start with a rating 8 cyberdeck, but the 'team' encourages any wannabe Decker to let us steal one instead. However, our current Decker built his own Deck. Paid 15,000 for all the parts needed to build a Deck, 15,000 for a Shop, 5,550 for 1,100 MP of storage and 266,400 for his programs. Took a few weeks to build, but him and our Electronics/Computer expert built it.

Sphynx

[Suenert]

Has anyone tried to buy his programs as object code and then cracking them ?

[FritzZero]

just out of curiosity, how do all you steal-a-deck deckers justify your Computers 6 skills with coding specialization at chargen if you don't even own a deck?

[KosherPickle]

[KosherPickle]

[FritzZero]

[Drain Brain]

[Sphynx]

Stole, yes, or maybe (and more likely) the Deck you always used wasn't yours, but the Corp you used it for. If you're a basement hacker as your background, then valid point, but even the book says to build the background around the character, so don't have that kinda background. ;)

Sphynx