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cetiah

CONSTRUCTING A VIRUS

Each virus must be made for a particular node. The node must be analyzed prior to creating the virus. This is handled like any other build task (p.125, SR4) and has a threshold equal to 3 times the Firewall rating of the node you are installing the virus on. The time interval for construction is 3 months.

In the case .vshare virii, you must attach the source code for any single program and record its the market price (in nuyen) along with the virus rating. Each .vshare virus can only hold one program. This does not effect the difficulty or time required of constructing the .vshare virus.


THE MARKET LIST

To get the most use out of a .vshare or .vspam virus, you need to coordinates its actions with a database of users willing to pay for you to have the virus distribute illegal traffic to particular nodes. The market list is stored within a marketshare.list program rated from 1-6.

Creating a marketshare.list program is an extended test using your Data Search + Browse program. The threshold for this task is 2 plus twice the rating of your current markshare.list program. Success improves the marketshare.list program rating by +1. If you do not have a marketshare.list program, you can get a rating 1 marketshare.list program with a successful Threshold 2 extended test of Data Search + Browse. The time interval for this extended test is 1 minute, as it requires searching through the entire Matrix.

The marketshare.list program itself tends to be a rather valuable commodity on the black market and is priced as a Hacking program. (You can even attach it to a .vshare virus like any other program if you want to.)



THE VIRUS

Each virus has a rating that determines the sophistication of its programing, its ability to remain undetected, and its resistance to anti-viral (AV) agents. Virii are resident agents that cannot leave a node once uploaded into the node's OS and are designed to stealthfully transfer illegal traffic through the node. They are immune to all forms of IC, but vulnerable to special anti-viral (AV) agents. There are three types of virii: .vspam, .vshare, and .vddos.

.vspam virii are designed to send out pre-determined content and distribute them throughout the host node. This can be used in conjunction with your marketshare.list program.to distribute spam routinely to everyone in the marketshare list.

.vshare virii are designed to transmit certain files from the host node to other nodes all over the Matrix. .vshare virii are usually uploaded along with illegal datafiles and pirated programs so that the remote host will distribute these files for you. In addition to accepting downloads from everyone logging into the host with a certain username or password, it can also distribute the files to everyone in your marketshare.list file.

.vddos virii allow a remote host to coordinate a directed denial of service attack against any remote node. Not only will this prevent other users from accessing the targeted node, but it can also cause damage to hardware and users connected at the time of the attack. At least 5 nodes must participate in a directed denial of service (DDoS) attack, and the virus must exist on each node.

DATAVICE

Datavice is an abstract representation of the progress of your accumulated virii. When you decide to activate your agents, you may activate one at a time and each one can potentially contribute to a pool of Datavice. When you have no more agents of that type to activate, use the Datavice score to determine the results of the activation, and then Datavice drops back down to 0. Datavice is a temporary score used for the calculation of group results.

ACTIVATING A VIRUS

Virii lay dormant until activated. No response is required from the player character or his equipment - but the player can activate the virus at any time. (It is assumed the virus have pre-determined instructions as to when they go off, but there's no need to have a player specify this for each virus.)

Virus are activated as a group, and each virus in the group must correspond to the same type. They can be spread out among hundreds of different nodes. (Only one virus per type is rolled for each node, so having 10 .vspam virii in a single node won't be more effective than having a single .vspam virus). Only one virus can be activated per node, and each virus in the group must be the same type. If they are .vshare virii, then each .vshare virus must have the same program source code.

When activating a virus, the GM rolls an opposed test (the Anti-Viral Test) for each AV agent in the node. Test the rating of the virus vs the rating of each individual AV agent. .vspam virii automatically recieve a +3 bonus to these tests, reflecting their increased stelth capability.

Roll a number dice (the Viral Test) equal to the virus rating plus the Response value of the node that it is installed on. The node may oppose this test by rolling dice equal to its Firewall rating. Each AV agent that scored any net hits on the Anti-Viral Test adds +1 to the Firewall to oppose this test.

If the Firewall scores more hits, reduce the virus' rating by the net hits scored.

If the virus scores more hits, then you may add its net hits to your marketshare.list rating and roll that many dice. Each hit counts as a +1 increase to your Datavice.

Generally, each virus can only be activated once per day.


RESULTS OF DATAVICE

For each points of Datavice earned when your .vspam virii are activated, you will earn 10 nuyen.

For each point of Datavice earned when your .vshare are activated, you may roll 1 die. For each hit scored, you earn 10% of the market value of the listed program.

Datavice for .vddos virii work a little differently. If you do not have at least 5 nodes contributing at least 1 point of Datavice each, then the total combined Datavice for the activated .vddos virii are reduced to 0. Make a Datavice (Firewall + System, 1 Combat Turn) extended test. When you reach the threshold, the target node's OS is crashed and forced to reboot. This attempt automatically triggers an alert.


EXAMPLES OF VIRUS ACTIVATION

A hacker has uploaded a .vddos rating-4 virus to a node with System 3, Response 4, and Firewall 4. The node also has two AV agents at rating 3.

When the hacker chooses to activate this virus, he rolls an opposed test of his Virus rating vs each of the Anti-Viral agents' ratings. Against the first AV agent, he scores 3 his and the AV agent scores 3. Against the second, he scores 2 hits and the AV agent scores 2 hits. Altogether, the AV agents had no effect and the virus slipped past them. If this had been a vspam virus, the hacker would have recieved a bonus of +3 to each of these tests, but a .ddos virus does not recieve this bonus.

Now for the Viral Test, the virus rolls its rating plus the node's Response and scores 3 hits. The Firewall scores 2 hits, so altogether the .ddos virus has a Datavice of 1.

If the hacker had a dozen other viruses that performed with similiar luck, he would have a Datavice of 13. Let's say he was trying to take down a node similiar to the one these virii were installed on. He would roll 13 dice, scoring 5 hits. He needs seven, so next turn he'd roll the 13 dice again. This time he scores enough hits to crash the OS and shutdown the node.

If the virus had been a .vspam virus instead of a .vddos virus, and each of 13 virii had scored 1 Datavice each, then altogether the hacker would have earned 130 nuyen this day.

If the virus had been a .vshare virus with a rating-5 hacking program ("Attack"), it would have had a market price of 5,000 nuyen. He would roll 13 dice for his Datasteal and scored 3 hits, indicating 3 customers downloading his program in exchange for 10% the market price - a total benefit of 1,500 nuyen for the hacker.



Concepts and naming conventions were inspired by the free Slave Hack web-based computer game.
celegar
wow, you know an agent can do the same thing and better.
cetiah
QUOTE
wow, you know an agent can do the same thing and better.

Yeah, but you could say that about anything. wink.gif
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