In reading Unwired pg 128, I'm a bit confused (either that, or my cold meds are kicking in!)

My mage character has Alpha Skillwires 3. Can he slot the Manadyne Archmage skillsoft cluster? If you subtract 2 from the Total rating of skills, this makes it a 7 (Arcana 3, Magic Background 2, Latin 4 for a total of 9, minus 2 is 7) or is it (Arcana 3 minus 2 is 1, Magic Background 2 minus 2 is 0, and Latin 4 minus 2 is 2) for a total rating 3?

Looking forward to your answers (as well as the cold med-induced fog to wear off),

GB

It should IMO be an option c): The sum of all individual capacity costs - 2, or Arcana 3 + Magic Background 0 + Latin 0 = 3, 3-2 = 1. Only the activesofts cost capacity, and you´d substract 2 from the sum of their (effective) ratings.

If knowsofts are really supposed to cost capacity now, your first version is correct. This is what the rules are currently saying, but hopefully don´t want to say. It would make clusters with knowsofts a comparativly dumb idea.

Only activesoft ratings are limited by the level of the skillwire system they are loaded on. So only count the activesofts and subtract 2. The knowsofts wouldn't interfere with that total and so shouldn't be tallied.

I agree with Otakusensei. It is the most balanced option as well.

Cheers,

Max