For a rating 6 Cyberware scanner it costs 450 nuyen. It detects standard cyberware with one hit. Rating 6 means you can simply buy one hit. A rating 6 cyberware scanner can automatically detect standard cyberware.

I think this has a huge impact for anyone with cyberware. It seems really easy to detect, and cheaply too!

To carry this further, if a rating 6 cyberware scanner is used against someone with 6 or more pieces of alpha grade cyberware, it's still automatically detected. You get 3 more dice for the 6 plus items to detect, and 9 dice you can buy 2 hits. 2 Hits to detect alphaware.

Does it mention anything about the size or transportability of the scanners when they've got that high a rating? Something like Shadowrun 3's ID scanners where it had to be rating three or less to be portable. If not then playing something like an adept, especially with masking, just became a whole hell of a lot more beneficial.

Cyberware scanner takes 1 capacity, not multiplied by rating.

Meaning it'll fit into a RFID Sensor Tag (..and I'm really hoping the Eyeware version in Augmention does not take more than [2]).
(Of course, the range would drop from the max 15m to 3m, but thats negligible.)

Oh, and far more evil:

Those things can detect weapons with one hit, too - and all other objects with two hits... though, actually knowing what function those recognized things have needs more hits.

lucky for street sams, much of the gear they want can be bioware.

on the downside, some of the best stuff is not... such as skillwires, for example.

Sure, but that stuff is mostly headware if you keep it sane - and most of the real good stuff is perfectly legal (or can appear so as long as they don't cut run real examinations).

Oh there's more evil in this. From the description it's a passive video processing system. This means you can't tell if you are being scanned covertly. It's not shining lights or lasers or radio waves at you, just "looking" at you. No handy bug scanner type counter measure for this.

Especially fun if you are an invisible mage trying to sneak through - being perfectly 'visible' in the millimeter spectrum.

well, time to start busting out lead-lined clothing i guess (would that even work?)



heh, all of a sudden i see people re-considering that strength of 1 if it does

The cyberware scanner is a "millimeter-wave scanner" - that means that it's pumping out a huge amount of radiation. It is nothing like a passive unit. I'm not sure how much difference that makes for characters who are passing through a security checkpoint, but there you go.

-Frank

Does wearing armor count as an "item" for the scanner? Which means mechanically wearng armor counts against concealing cyberware, since having armor on would add to the dice used in the scanner test

well, yeah, if you go through an airport or something...

i'm just talking about shadowrunners who don't want some average schmoe on the street knowing what kind of gear they're packing just 'cause said average schmoe had 450.25 nuyen to blow on a nifty toy.

i mean, if you're talking about something that's like 20k to buy, it's gonna be uncommon... if it's less than a mid-level commlink... well, that's another story...

[edit] and that's for a stealth RFID which should have a better range, should it not? [/edit]

I can see four responses to cyberware scanners. (1) Get your friendly neighborhood Hacker to handle them. (2) Rig up some kind of millimeter wave jamming system - maybe akin to the ultrasound emitter/detector since we're just making this crap up. (3) Be smooth - fast talk, dazzle and otherwise BS your way past the checkpoints. (4) Get rowdy.

Just google for "milimeter wave detection system" and you will find a whole bunch of articles and other things indicating, that even today, these scanners tend to be passive.