Hey. I looked everywhere for a post similar to this but just couldn't find what I was looking for, so here it is.
I am very new to SR4, as in downloaded it yesterday. I am wanting to make a rigger, but never have before. I understand how the commlink and control rig work, but what about the autosofts? Do I have to have autosofts and firewall programs for the control rig, each vehicle, and each drone? Or do the softs and firewall for my control rig handle all of that? Is firewall and control all that I need?
Will I need basic computer hacking skills in order to use drones and vehicles? Sorry, but SR4 "wireless world" section just all seems like a jumbled mess for me.
I read through this section in the book, but found almost no mention of riggers, except the 2 page section under Hackers. Someone please let me know what all is needed for a rigger to function.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Full Version: Riggers in SR4!
each drone and comlink will need a firewall. but only the drones need autosoft (its the drones skills).
for skills, focus on electronic warfare (for messing with other peoples drones), maybe a bit of hacking if you feel like taking drones over rather then just messing with them, and vehicle skills if you plan to drive them. remember that any vehicle with a pilot rating is potentialy a drone.
for skills, focus on electronic warfare (for messing with other peoples drones), maybe a bit of hacking if you feel like taking drones over rather then just messing with them, and vehicle skills if you plan to drive them. remember that any vehicle with a pilot rating is potentialy a drone.
If you can afford it, I'd say just go for skill groups that let you do both rigging and hacking. In a way, I find rigging and hacking to be a bit easier to get into that previous rigging/decking from SR3 and before. You no longer have to invest a large essence chunk to get rigger cybergear, nor spend as much to get a decent 'deck' in this case, comlink. Hell, you can cart around a handful or more of deck-like comlinks nowadays in SR4.
another thing is that you can in theory do more split roles to. given that you can go hot sim with trode, a mage or adept can moonlight as a hacker without the cost in essence.
im trying to get my players to use the data search skill and similar now to show that people dont need to be a dedicated hacker to find info online any more. hell, maybe i should just sell them a agent with search and have them use that
im trying to get my players to use the data search skill and similar now to show that people dont need to be a dedicated hacker to find info online any more. hell, maybe i should just sell them a agent with search and have them use that
I've found that a couple of snide remarks from the Johnson along the lines of "Uh, you're the guys being hired here, look it up," has encouraged my players to explore the wonders of the Matrix a little more. Pretty helpful tool, actually.
yep. and most likely they will hit the grid a bit more now that they have to get into a yaquza (or is it yacuza? nah, neither looks right) property 
and that reminds me to get hold of some maps. and maybe a bulding design program to trow together some quick floorplans for stuff like offices.
and that reminds me to get hold of some maps. and maybe a bulding design program to trow together some quick floorplans for stuff like offices.
Yakuza
Yakuza.
(Curse you James, and your superior type fu!)
(Curse you James, and your superior type fu!)
| QUOTE (James McMurray) |
| Yakuza |
Gesundheit.
figures. why is it that of all things that is a word that uses a sane spelling?
Because it's not an English word, just a phonetic representation of a Japanese one?
heh, what is realy a english word? many of them are taken from french, germanic offshots, and most likely lot of other sources 
Yeah, and they took the fragged spelling with each and every stolen word.
Drones themselves do not need firewall or system programs. Drones are devices that are subscribed to a commlink and make decisions using a special program (Pilot).
Your commlink is limited to a number of subscribed devices, I'm not sure the exact number but I think it has to do with your commlinks system attribute.
Your character will need a control link to access vehicles cybernetically.
Finally, I would strongly suggest a good firewall program for your commlink, along with encrypt and eccm. Several others could come in handy and I would read the matrix rules to figure out exactly what else you may need.
Your commlink is limited to a number of subscribed devices, I'm not sure the exact number but I think it has to do with your commlinks system attribute.
Your character will need a control link to access vehicles cybernetically.
Finally, I would strongly suggest a good firewall program for your commlink, along with encrypt and eccm. Several others could come in handy and I would read the matrix rules to figure out exactly what else you may need.
| QUOTE (CradleWorm) |
| Drones themselves do not need firewall or system programs. Drones are devices that are subscribed to a commlink and make decisions using a special program (Pilot). |
Actually, drones have firewall and system programs. They have a device rating of 3, and so have Firewall, Response, and Signal of 3. The pilot program also acts as the System. It's all on page 214.
Firewalling your drones is a really good idea. Nothing sucks quite so much as having one of them come back at you, all of a sudden...
| QUOTE (Shrike30 @ May 25 2006, 06:52 PM) |
| Firewalling your drones is a really good idea. Nothing sucks quite so much as having one of them come back at you, all of a sudden... |
I've actually had some experience attacking drones; I'm our team's official drone spoofer.
It turns out one's drones are relatively safe if you've properly subscribed them. An attacker would have to find the hidden node (your drones are running in hidden mode, aren't they?), decrypt the signal (you are running Encrypt, aren't you?), trace the signal to your commlink (you are running Spoof, aren't you?), successfully Analyze it (you are running Stealth, aren't you?) to get your ID, then spoof a command to the drone to change its subscription from your commlink to hers. Assuming the fastest possible attack (all tests are successful and all extended tests are successful in one roll), that'll take five action phases.
Of course, if she has direct access to your commlink (she's close enough to access your commlink and knows that you're the rigger), she can skip the trace and decrypt part, but if you're remote, you're actually pretty safe.
The scary thing is that according to the RAW you can intercept the signal of the drone, put a wireless tap on it and EDIT the signal.
This means that you can circumvent the spoof command rules and have preprogrammed commands that you just insert into the datastream back to the drone.
The most efficient way to do this is to send a datapackage with a new subscription list.
This means that you can circumvent the spoof command rules and have preprogrammed commands that you just insert into the datastream back to the drone.
The most efficient way to do this is to send a datapackage with a new subscription list.
You have to be in a node that is relaying the signal to edit it. The air the wireless signal is going through does NOT count as such a node.
| QUOTE (Serbitar) |
| You have to be in a node that is relaying the signal to edit it. The air the wireless signal is going through does NOT count as such a node. |
Nope, see "Intercept Wireless Signal" SR4 page 225. That tactic is different from "Intercepting Traffic" page 224. The latter needs a node the first does not.
You can only copy/record/forward with wirelss. For adding own or blocking or editing you need wired traffic through a node. Good rules in this case, I have to say.
edit: Should have red a little further. Your right. But do not ask me how you can alter radio waves going through the air . . . So I have to say: Bad rules . . . I dont like this one bit.
edit: Should have red a little further. Your right. But do not ask me how you can alter radio waves going through the air . . . So I have to say: Bad rules . . . I dont like this one bit.
| QUOTE (Serbitar) |
| You can only copy/record/forward with wirelss. For adding own or blocking or editing you need wired traffic through a node. Good rules in this case, I have to say. |
No, read carefully, you can do the exact same things.
| QUOTE |
| Page 225 To perform an Intercept Wireless Signal action, make an Electronic Warfare + Sniffer (3) Test. Once the signal is intercepted, you can monitor the traffic and even copy/record/forward it without making any more Intercept Wireless Signal actions. If you want to block out some parts of the traffic or add in your own, you must make an Edit action. |
Yeah, just edited my post . ..
| QUOTE (Serbitar @ May 26 2006, 02:56 PM) |
| Yeah, just edited my post . .. |
I can understand those rules in one way but they essentially removes the need for spoof since you can actually just kidnap the drone instead - I would like a clarification on that rule since you can basically do anything with it.
I smell gamebreaker here, in both directions, still, it's a form of electronic warfare...
I would just disallow to edit wireless trafic. I see no physical way of doing this.
Editing traffic is done by deleting the old traffic and inserting your own, which can be done in a node. But there is no way to delete the radio waves that are already in the air.
Solution: The "edit traffic" rule works only for "content" traffic (like text, voice comunications, pictures). If you want to edit traffic involving IDs, commands and pretty much "system" data, you have to use the old spoofing/hacking rules.
Editing traffic is done by deleting the old traffic and inserting your own, which can be done in a node. But there is no way to delete the radio waves that are already in the air.
Solution: The "edit traffic" rule works only for "content" traffic (like text, voice comunications, pictures). If you want to edit traffic involving IDs, commands and pretty much "system" data, you have to use the old spoofing/hacking rules.
Actually there is, I think. IANA RF engineer but basically you interject additional data into the wireless signal that causes the receiver to believe the data is corrupt (kind of a limited jamming or more like hearing 2 different radio channels at the same time so you can't tell what is noise vs. data); it will request another packet from the source and you corrupt *that* data. You then act as middle-man, restructuring the packets heading to each target.
Unfortunately, this simplistic system assumes neither device will recognize that the bandwidth and just became crap or that there is a slight lag in communications.
Unfortunately, this simplistic system assumes neither device will recognize that the bandwidth and just became crap or that there is a slight lag in communications.
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