One thing I've always been unsure of is when cybercombat would actually occur.

A user with admin level access can kick any user they know about on the network. Under what circumstances would someone with this level of access ever choose to use the attack program instead?

It's actually pretty tough to kick a hacker out of a system and takes quite a while. By the time you finally kick him he could have already made off with the Paydata. Cybercombat diverts his attention and potentially boots him faster. See "Terminate Connection" (BBB 223).

Subscription is a level of connection. You may opt to fight in order to make time for a parallel trace.

Then I think not even admins should be able to kick connected admins, as hackers can easily spoof admin rights. Disable that and you are left with cybercombat.

Anyone who doesn´t have admin rights has to fight, too.

I'll go check now but are they not restricted to not using the Hacking skill?

Attack uses Cybercombat....

Forbidden to execute illegal orders, causing damage certainly qualifies.

I thought I remembered somewhere in the fluff of Unwired implying that if you get an active alert called down on you, your account privileges are revoked temporarily. So if a patrolling IC or spider got a matrix perception roll past your stealth while you're using a hacked account and recognized you had invalid status or looked at the access log a few turns after you did something invalid (though not much is invalid for admin), they could call an active alert and you get bumped by the system down to user level again and can be booted more easily. They had just better hope they don't call an alert on a valid admin or their job is probably going to be in the trash.

I could be wrong about the fluff though and just be going off something I've done at my table before (had a hacker using a hacked admin account who critcially glitched a log edit that I ruled had to still be rolled to clean his tracks and an alert was activated on him)

It's not fluff. That's actually in the rules. When an alert is triggered the trigerring user loses all access rights in addition to the +4 to firewall (Alerts, Unwired about pg 69). Ironically by stripping his user rights it actually makes it harder to terminate connection.

I got an Unwired software question that I hope someone can answer for me. I apologize in advance if it was answered somewhere else and I didn't see it.

Why is does open source software cost any money according to Unwired? That's pretty much against everything that I understand open source software is supposed to be, which is to be open and available to everyone.

Open source programs by most licenses are open and freely available by anyone who wants them, but that doesn't mean they can't be sold. A lot of people who develop open source programs allow it to be freely downloaded and compiled, but they also sell boxed copies for some small amount, sometimes only enough to cover the cost of shipping and handling, other times for a few hundred dollars in combination with support plans or in house training. A lot of people like to have a physical disk they paid for of a program, even though they could go download it for free, with or without source code.

So it's valid. though I'd probably make some rule about the 50% cost being for non-degrading versions to represent support from the open source group selling the software. Other open source stuff would just be free up to certain ratings and restrictions without an actual warez group contact or open source tribe or something.

Sorry for jumping in late here, but could you offer a page reference for that?

Unwired, pg.54, Routing

Urrrrmmm...

Yup, p54, under 'Routing.'

[edit]

Hawt dang, ninja'd again....

Hm. It seems I need to read the actual published version of this thing.

Interestingly, this means one can't do a string of drones acting as a relay if she also wants those drones to be in Hidden mode.

I'll answer my own question then.

On closer inspection the new sprites in Unwired have all miraculously developed both Edge and Resonance stats that they did not previously possess.

At least one of the Free Sprite Powers implies that Sprites don't have Resonance so this has obviously changed during the development cycle of Unwired.

Still there's no mention of this change anywhere in the text, it just sorta happens...

That's the optional version in 'To mook or not to mook,' Unwired p101.

The basic version simply bans any use of the Hacking skill.

Okay, so a Node by itself can't run Attack, and a conventional Agent can't run attack.

So how would a nomral person's commlink (and a shadowrunners commlink) be set up to respond to detecting being hacked. Choices I can see:
1) Most hackers are so good that a normal commlink won't detect them, so there is no norm...
2) People buy a service that provides a backup hacker to take the alert when their commlink is hacked?
2') Shadowrunners better have a hacker on the team who can respond to such alerts
3) People's commlinks turn off when hacked?

I am trying to understand what the normal set for different types of people would be.
Your midrange person? A corporate exec? A Johnson? A normal runner?

This has bothered by with BBB, and seems to be made harder by the descriptions I have seen of Unwired.
Any clarifications would be appreciated.

Yours,
Joel

Sure you can. It's what the Retrans Unit from p.142 of Arsenal is for. It's a radio retransmitter that is separate from the drone's node and not limited by what mode said node is operating in.

Yes.

More specifically, 1 and 3 are what happen with normal users. They rely on their firewall and analyze programs to detect a hacker. If the hacker is detected, then the system probably tries to boot him, and if it fails it reboots. If it fails to detect the hacker, he has free reign.

Anyone with real sensitive data will either have a liscence for the good agents and attack program, or they will break the law and get them anyway. Your runners obviously fall into category 2.

i would say that depends on the drones being owned by the user or not.

the p54 stuff is for general matrix routing. as in, the mesh networking stuff when your out and about on the street and just want to look up the local news. in that scenario your basically piggybacking on active mode comlinks all around you to get in contact with telco backbone nexi nodes.

but if one wants to use a specific chain of drones to act as relays for getting past a corp signal blocking wall or similar, get those subscriptions going

It happened in the Catalyst printing of the BBB. I believe I started a thread elsewhere on here as soon as I got a new printing of the book. So it didn't start in Unwired.

Very stealthy. Can someone offical answer if that is intentional or another version difference between odd and even printings?

Or instead of buying an Agent for defense you could buy an Offensive IC. The one developed by the Choson is VERY funny,

IC is an agent for all purposes.

However, it is very specifically the Agents that are restricted. IC, especially Offensive IC, are created to deal with intruders. I certainly don't believe they intended the Three Musketeers IC to not be able to attack when an intrusion is detected. Or that the Choson IC can't hack its way into nodes in order to do its job.

I've got a question for everyone here: If a Technomancer can "code" a Program Complex Form for a Smartlink, then could a Hacker make a program to do the EXACT same thing? The hacker's version of the program needs to have a display link (either cybereyes or added to a vision enhancer) to work (of course), but can a Hacker do it?

If they can't, why not? It's not like the Technomancer is using a Sprite to do this.

No, but since it has that option, it isn't an off the shelf- standard agent, and thus requires a liscence to run dangerous software in order to possess.

Even Complex forms for a technomancer occupy a place somewhere between hardware and software. I presume that the smartlink is more than an image link and a program, and that the technomancer's complex form includes the changes to their own AR link required.

I would say, yes he can. Just roll a test after the building/repair table by GM discretion and you can code a Smartlink software. To use it, you need a image link (Cybereyes, Googles) oder simsence imput option (Simmodul) and a proper working smartgun.

cya
Tycho

Why would you need a Simrig? I can have a character who only has a cheap pair of cybereyes and get the smartlink for no extra cost of Essence? So to run a Smartgun every character has to have a Simrig? Somehow I am not seeing that.

Actually, if I'm reading Tycho right, he's saying that you should have either an image link or a sim-module. (And as a point of clarification, the sim-module is not the same piece of equipment as the simrig.)

and we will keep having to correct that until the end of days...

Gotcha. I thought that he was saying that you needed both.

you need to watch the Data the Smartlink produces. There a two possibilities:

1. you have a image link in some form, that actual let you see the data.

2. you have a Simsence Input, so that the Data can be put directly in your brain's visual cortex, without the indirection through the eyes.

Note that this is all my personal opinion...

cya
Tycho

So my question to everyone here: Why would you want to waste the 3 Capacity needed to have a Smartlink when you can just run it as a program on your commlink and free up the capacity for "cool" things like Lowlight/Thermo/Vision Mag?

All it takes is a rating one program, and *BAM* you get a smartlink without having to use capacity for it. Everyone has a commlink, and if you don't have cybereyes, you have glasses/contact/monocle for you vision enhancing purposes (image link costs ZERO availablity and 25 so it can be added to any vision enhancer).

Wrong question.

Why would you want to waste the 3 Capacity needed to have a Smartlink when you can just run it as a program on your cybereye?

because I'm going with the "fluff" that only commlinks have the "computational ability" to run that kind of program.

Because the three capacity in your cybereye GIVES it the computational power to run it in eye. If you allow it to be run comlink-side, that's still counting against the number of programs run on it.

Yeah, but other than Hackers, does anyone else REALLY use all the abilities of their commlink? I would sacrifice a program to run a Smartlink! My Chaos Mage has a cyber commlink that was modded to be Response 5 / Signal 5 (yes it is cheaper to get a Response 1 / Signal 1 Commlink and mod it to Response 5 / Signal 5 than to buy a top of the line commlink.

Programs running on my Commlink (if Smartlink is viable):

1. ++Firewall 6
2. Smartlink 1
3. Spoof 5
4. Stealth 5
5. Analyze 5

If I wanted to run at Response 4, I could add 5 more programs (these programs of course would only run at Rating 4):

1. ++Firewall 6
2. ++Virtual Person (link it with the Agent so I can have a "Friendly Face" to interact with)
3. Smartlink 1
4. Spoof 5
5. Stealth 5
6. Analyze 5
7. Agent 4 (run a "Hacker-in-a-Box" when we don't have a Hacker)
8. Attack 4
9. Armor 4
10. Exploit 4
11. ECCM 5

++ = As we all know, these programs don't reduce Response.

And that's your choice. I can think of many, many characters who would rather use the capacity.

Except to squeeze in what I was wanting, I could not get the next higher rating cybereyes.

Completely separate question: Why didn't they have a Sim Module be a module for a commlink? Why did it have to be a completely separate piece of gear? I would think that a cyber commlink should have a sim module built in (you pay enough for a cyber commlink).

how about rather than use capacity on your cyber eyes or program limit on your real comlink, how about 110 for a meta link, fiber-optic cables and some gaff tape. wham-bam-done.

'Ding ding, seconds away...'

Actually, in later printings of the BBB, cyber commlinks don't have an integrated sim module. It's stupid I know, but because later prints override earlier printings...



Because you can get a smartlink for your contacts for about 400 more, but it's a LOT more convenient, and a LOT less noticeable.

What happens if Nuke reduces your subscription limit below the number of active subscriptions? Last in first out? First in first out? User selected? User selected between FIFO and LIFO?

Not really - even dumb devices can run a single Rating 1 program

Ahem:


Sad thing is, I've seen a 5th printing copy on the shelf of my local store, and out of curiosity, I checked... sure enough, that line was printed exactly how you quoted it. It flops back and forth between even and odd printings, but Synner's post above is the last offical word I've seen on the issue. Rob Boyle also stated such earlier in the same thread as Synner did.

I wish they would make up their mind...

I think that a commlink should be able to have a sim module built into it just like the Fetch module. The only difference between a normal commlink and a cyber commlink is that the cyber one should have it by default. Also I would love to have other modules. How about an Agent/IC module, or a true GPS module (they say that the GPS in a commlink is based just on Matrix data and not by the GPS sats in orbit).

iirc, that 5th is acutally a reprint of 4th without any errata inbetween. it was basically done to give catalyst something to sell after they took over from fanpro, or something like that...

Question: Do you think that a cyber commlink should come with an integrated Sim Module? I say yes because a cyber version of a commlink costs 2000 more than a regular version. Now I can see 1000 of that going for the surgery, but the other 1000... that would be for a sim module that is built into a commlink.

Yes I know that a sim module separately costs 2000 , but I'm thinking that is because it has to put in all the interface components... something a commlink already has.

Or barring that, make it so that characters can get a sim module built into their commlink for the extra 2000 , but doesn't cost any Essence.

Interesting that the Errata still does not appear to reflect the change. Which is of course where it belongs first and foremost.