But your Commlink itself is wireless right? You are open to receiving Commcalls, getting your email, surfing the Matrix for legwork info, etc. If you have turned off your Commlink's wireless then that's a different story, with its own set of difficulties (can't get calls, and Lone Star will be awefully suspicious). If your Commlink is on then it can be Hacked in to, period. After your Commlink has been breached anything connected, including skin-linked items are now available for tampering.

The sad part being, of course, that since that's what every Shadowrunner does, that's what all the opposition is looking for...

But running in Hidden mode (aka "Ghosting") takes 15+ hits to find, wouldn't that be enough to keep out most nosey pedestrians? If you concerned beyond that, a good Firewall, Encryption and IC would be paramount like any other node protecting its own paydata.

Looking back at SR3 a little, even those communication devices had Encryption in place and the tech to break was there, but the rules to do so make doing it on-the-fly impossible.

Pg 225. "Even if you know what you're looking for, you must still succed in an EW + Scan (4) Test." If you're just scanning for hidden nodes in general, or trying to pick hidden nodes from non-hidden nodes, you get the 15+.

Well, don't forget, even if you suspect it, if theres any non-hidden nodes around, you get the 15+. So its 4+ only if theres no active/passive nodes around, and you suspect that guy has a hidden node on him.

I think the waters are getting muddied with that statement. This is how I have always interpreted it: If the PC says, "I'm looking for a hidden node on that guy/that small group of people." Then it is a Threshold 4 test. The Threshold 15+ version is to "accidentally" discover a Hidden node when just scanning in general.

Simply add 1 Active Commlink to your person doesn't suddenly jump the Threshold to find your Hidden Commlink from 4 to 15+.

By the RAW, having 1 active makes you need 15+ to find the hidden. Realize this isn't much use, since if you're infiltrating a facility, having an active commlink on yourself will just make them know exactly where you are at any given time as they can easily spot it.

thing is that to find a hidden you need to go thru all that traffic that any active or passive nodes generate to look for that small traffic that the hidden one generate.

ok, so that kinda data-sorting is exactly what computer where buildt for. just look for that oddball address that only shows up that often. but if the area have enough traffic, it could still be a problem based on pure data size. ie you would have to strip away even address that shows up more then x times, working your way down.

and maybe the data sample your working with isnt big enough. or are you flagging addresses in real time? ie, list all addresses that have only generated X packages of data within Y time.

still, set the Y to high and your picking up every transient active from passing cars and similar. set it to low and your maybe dropping everything and then some.

and remember that a hidden node do not anounce that its around like a active node does (maybe helps for sorting out those active nodes), and do not reply to requests from nodes not on their subscription lists. could help sorting away those passives. still, that may compromise your own hidden node if you go about pinging like a ww2 sub-hunter with active sonar.

I think the Threshold 4 vs 15 is a matter of directionality and volume. For a threshold of 4 you scan a limited volume of space using a directional antenna. To search for ALL hidden nodes within the sphere of your Signal rating requires 15 successes.

Paranoia corp may, in fact, scan each and every person that comes through the door for hidden devices. the solution is to turn off the wireless on your combat Comm and use an old-fashioned, stand-alone mastoid radio for low-visibility communication (No emissions when not sending so nothing to detect). If you find something worth sending you use a short verbal keyword, wait a tick for everyone to get their comms on, slug out the data, and then disable your comm again.

IRL I'd set the Comm to receiver only (no emissions, no detection) so that if a team mate needs to send info I'd get it and vice versa with the sender being the only person who could be detected. Unfortunately, this simple switch to turn a transceiver into a receiver has been left out. I'd expect a mod to be available in Arsenal or VR.

i would expect hidden mode to be receiver only unless the user wants it to talk to some other device. its not broadcasting that its there, its not even responding to traffic unless its from a sender on its subscription list.

How does the receiving commlink handle all the error-checking and confirmation information that makes a wireless connection really work if it's not broadcasting anything? For all the sending commlink knows, it's talking to dead air.

here is my breakdown of the modes based on my read of the book:

active:

broadcasting ever so often location and whatever other data the user feels like telling the wold about.

will allso respond to location request broadcasts with same data.

passive:

will not broadcast its location and other data unless it picks up a general request for doing so.

hidden:

will not broadcast any data unless its specificaly asked for by a matrix id thats on the subscription list.

hidden isnt exactly 100% silent running, listen only. but it will limit its traffic to the bare minimum needed to do what its trying to do.

so if your in the same area as a active or passive nodes, the amount of traffic your hidden node generates in comarison will not realy stand out. unless the person looking spends some time on it, and your in the area for some time, he may well consider your node traffic as something related to a transient passive node or similar

Speaking of hidden mode stuff.

Would the Hacker get a thershold 4 to find a security cam/motion sensor/whatever? Or a 15 threshold?

Does it matter if it's visable? Liek she can SEE the camera so finding the signal is easier but if it's a small motion sensor on the floor, something she can't usually "see" it would be harder?

If the user is aware of the presence of a hidden signal, he gets a 4 threshold. If unaware, and scanning generally, they get a 15 Threshold. It's a question of whether they're looking for a specific signal, or trying to sift through countless signals for something in general.

Geek, what about the part that says "If you're just scanning for hidden nodes in general, or trying to pick the hidden nodes out from the non-hidden one, make the same Extended Test noted above but with a much higher threshold 15+"

Emphasis mine. It even says "non-hidden ONE". Which to me very clearly says that if theres even 1 link nearby running in active or passive, you're at a 15+ to find that hidden node. Period.

The way I read it, even if the guy comes up to you, and says "I have a hidden commlink on, try to find it and i'll pay you 10,000." And you start scanning, its still a 15+ test if theres any non-hidden nodes around.

So you would play it that if there just ONE Active or Passive Commlink anywhere inside of your Signal range then the Threshold is 15+? This seems quite silly to me. You do realize that this is a single Threshold Test and not an Extended Test, right? If you are making it an Extended test then sure, 10+Stealth for a Threshold seems right. But considering the book doesn't mention the word "Extended" anywhere in that section, a Threshold of 15+ makes it effectively impossible.

I suppose my counter question is: when is the Threshold 4 then? When do you "know what you are looking for?"

Personally, I think it's when the PC can be specific. "Is that guy running a Hidden Commlink?" Threshold 4. "Is someone in this bar running a Hidden Commlink?" Threshold 15.

Isn't "Hidden" in this context referring to it's mode of operation, not whether is physically visible or not? Ultimately you are searching for are the various Access ID's of nodes present right? Active, Passive or Hidden mode just determines how much work it's going to be to find its Access ID so you can interact with it yes?

You'd be looking for traffic coming in and out of the node. You can scan the destination or source of the packets of data and discover who sent it and where it's going. In terms of signal volume, Active would the easies to find (lots of in-out traffic), Passive harder (limited response) and Hidden nearly impossible (one way traffic). A device turned off would be the hardest (impossible?) to find of those.

So what amount to "Scanning for nodes" is SR4 is really talking about signal analysis to determine who is talking and who is listening.

I think it's a kin to doing a data search on the web. The more detailed the question you ask, the better chance you have to get close to what you are looking for. I'd consider If you're looking for a "Hidden mode R&D system" in the lobby of the Corp, to reduce the 15+ since you've narrowed your search criteria.

On the other hand, if you're saying "Show me all the hidden nodes" (which i think is how SR4 words it), then you're obvious trying to find ever node in a very general statement.

This sound about right?

Well, if the whole network was indeed mesh (each node talking to the others) then the more traffic makes it easier to locate the one hidden-mode node than say, the same hidden-mode node connected to a smaller subset of the mesh network.

So, less-traffic (in/out the node) = harder, more-traffic (in/out the node) = easier, yes?