Hey, all,
I was just on here to ask a question of my fellow gamers about this issue that came up in last night's adventure.

One of my players has an Implanted Commlink to assist with his mad hacking skills, however it's not totally clear in the SR4 core book if this peice of cyberware still requires an Image Link for him to view Augmented Reality.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks!

It does if you're not using a Sim Module.

Of course, if you're not using the Sim Module you'll also need input devices in order to actually do anything in AR.

He would require an Image Link if the Commlink he was using didn't have a Sim Module attachment (which it should, being implanted). The Sim Module pumps the data right into your brain.

Oh, and welcome to Dumpshock.

My personal recommendation?
Implanted commlinks are awesome and amazing.

This has nothing to do with the cost to effectiveness breakdown, but has everything to do with it being rad.

Suggest to him that he stack it out with everything he can connect it to.

I concur, the bone phone is pure cyberpunk and I'm sad no one has sprung for it my campaign. I guess it's time for peoples commlinks to get jacked/broken.

Moo hoo... ha ha.

...my matrix specialist Violet has her commlink & Sim mod implanted along with fully decked out cybereyes and ears, skinlink, datajack...

...and of course a decoy, or three.

Oh, of course!
The simlink! I totally forgot about that. Thanks a whole lot guys. I appreciate the ASSISTance. (hah! Knee slapper!)

My hacker buddy will be releived.

Now if I can just coax him into modifying it for Hot Sim. Can you believe he doesn't want to? I wonder what all his other hacker buddies will say.

Talk to you all, soon!

PS: Thanks, Fortune. I appreciate the welcome.

I ALWAYS go for the implanted commlink. I think that it's just too damn useful not to have one.

@Firemage: when your buddy buys a commlink, have him go with a Meta Link and then upgrade it to signal 5/response 5. It's cheaper than a Fairlight and has better response.

@Everyone: Why did the devs make it so that an implanted commlink didn't come with an integrated sim module? Why not just make it more expensive and just leave it at that?

i would assume it's partly because of the essence cost, partly incase people do not want it standard.
I mean say you had the anti-VR negs, you wouldn't want a simrig.

that's just a guess on my part though

Main reason a few of my characters don't go for implanted Commlinks is because I always worry about wanting to upgrade them later in a non-software way

So, if they're implanted, that means they're DNI, which means you can manipulate AR and what not with your mind, correct?

Sure, but it's no better than a datajack and sticking a regular commlink into a skin pocket or something.

Well, maybe a little better. And yeah, isn't a high-response commlink something you'd be upgrading every few months? Do you really want someone opening your skull or whatever every time they come out with a faster CPU?

actually, simsense vertigo still applies to AR as well as VR.

One of the reasons they made sim mods seperate from the implant comlink is to avoid a few redundancies.

For instance in the game I run, myself and the other GM have said 'trodes dont exist. For the feel of our game, we thought it takes to much from the CYBERpunk feel. If someone wants to experience VR and SIM, they are gonna have to have a hole in their head. Makes for interesting life choices amongst the mage types.

Several of our playes have implant comlinks. Instead of adding a sim module, they spent just .3 essence more and 3,000 extra bucks to get a SimRig. All simrigs have built in simmods with the added bonus of being able to record your life for fun, profit, incrimination, ect, ect.

I'm sort of unclear on that one -- if you're using AR-through-simsense it obviously works that way, but what if you're using AR through an image link, earbuds and so forth, without sim? It's not called "computer vertigo", but at the same time, I know that I get kind of motion sick from a lot of FPS games (or an orthoscopic surgery simulator) on a regular monitor.

(emphasis mine).

so yes, it does count even if no actual sim tech is involved.

Cool, thanks -- that makes sense.

There's something that's been bothering me.
What justifies losing essence for an implanted commlink, aside from the coolness factor? (I actually wonder the same thing about smartlinks).

basically convenience. it's not something that can be lost or taken away from you as easily as a commlink that you carry around.

but really, it mostly doesn't cost essence because of balance, it costs essence (in this case at least) because it should.

I don't see how it would cost more essence than a datajack. Likewise for the smartlink, which you can get for zero essence if you get contacts and which is essentially an image link plus some software.

(Actually maybe shooting by mind rather than pulling a trigger would make you a bit more accurate).

Okay, thanks. I just wanted to know if there was any difference of efficiency or practicality that I've missed.


You don't need a datajack to use an external commlink. If it needs to communicate with your 'ware (such as a simsense module) you can use wireless.

Yeah, currently, it's a little bit dodgy to explain why smart-linking costs essence, if it's nothing more than a targeting software with a visual aid.

I guess it's just copy-pasting from older editions, and not thinking about how it makes sense now. Back then, it somehow made sense, as you had to implant a fricking cable from your brain through your body into your palm. But now, with Skinlink and Image Link and a Commlink... Especially considering that these same game designers also seriously brought out the rules for emotion software, where you're getting 6 bonus dices for 0 essence costs for social tests, whereas for smartlink systems, you have to pay essence just to get 2 meager bonus dices. Talk about streamlining and applying internal consistency...

Oh well, perhaps in Shadowrun 5th edition, they'll revise that rule...

Also I had a question - I am not able to reference Arsenal right now, but is it possible currently to implant a Comlink inside a cyberlimb? Seems like a limb might have more available space for something good, and it would cost a lot less Essence. Plus it's a little less creepy to "upgrade" as you don't need to go through brain surgery to keep up with SOTA.

Even if it's not in the actual rules to do this, I will probably house rule it in my game - since it seems very plausible. Hell, you could easily ghetto-rig it just by placing a store-bought commlink inside a cyberlimb's secret compartment. Just wondering if it was actually possible right now with the current rules set.

implanted commlinks have a capacity rating, so yes they can be implanted in cyberlimbs (a particularly picky GM might rule that they can only be installed into a cyberskull, but that seems a bit excessive to me).

although i don't know that i would call getting a cyberlimb to install a commlink into to be more essence efficient...

Well I meant that it was more efficient in that you could mount more neat stuff in the limb than just the commlink. Sorry - wasn't clear.

You need a datajack or a trode net if you're doing it DNI, and trode nets are dorky (nanopaste trodes are kind of okay). What I'm saying is that the interface with your brain seems to me like it should be the big Essence cost, and that as far as I can tell the datajack and the implanted commlink are the same in that regard. Just having some encapsulated thing stuck somewhere in your head, that I don't see as being a big Essence eater.

But then again, bone lacing costs Essence.

Skin pocket FTW!

Augmentation clears up this little problem. Your local Cyberdoc can handle the upgrade, and since theres no essence change, you walk away with only a few stun damage.

it only cost essence if you don't have cyber eyes and really implanting smartlink in to your meat eyes must be one of the silliest ways(IC) of getting a smartlink