Ok so i lied this is not entirely about the fluff. I have a new person joining my game and they are making a hacker (something the group desperately needed as I was having to ignore basically all matrix security due to their inability to handle it) and they raised a number of questions about hacking and commlinks that I had never thought about. First, the last line of defense a hacker has in an emergency jackout. This is all well and good until one implants the commlink and then the question is how does one jackout as there is no wire to pull? The Black IC has theoretically jammed the link open so is the hacker screwed in this case? I suppose one could say that the matrix link is jammed open not the DNI link. Yet if a program is so badass that it can force a link to stay open without a roll and can send a surge of electricity through a wire so powerful as to kill a person the fact that they can't sever the DNI to keep a person from just turning off their commlink seems odd. The DNI seems to be a much greater hindrance than help here.
In that same vein does a person with an implanted commlink need AR gloves or does the DNI handle all controls enabling them to sit perfectly still and do AR?
Finally perhaps i am missing something but in the core book at least i see no reference to Grey IC (IC that damages equipment not people). Has such a thing been eliminated form this edition? I do not yet own Unwired so if it is in there I may have to go out and get it.

He could go for a Modular Cyberlimb with implanted commlink. Sounds a bit saner than attaching wiring that can fry your brain directly to the brain anyway.

"Crap, a world of Black Hammer hurt's coming this way!"

*Hacker disconnects modular cyberarm forelimb, severing connection*

"Hey, can someone give me a, er...hand here getting back up and running?"

It helps to put in points so it's easier to answer.

1) As far as I can remember, yeah, that guy is screwed having an Implanted 'link stuck open by black IC. Suggest getting a low-Signal implant and connecting it to a Satellite Link (boosting it to above a standard comm), and that'd also give him a cord to pull.

2) Yes, a person with DNI wouldn't need to move around to manipulate AR; his thoughts would move the AROs and DOTs for him.

3) I can't think of any Grey IC, but they do have viruses and a program called Corrupt or something in Unwired that corrupts programs and makes them unusable.

There's also area jammers (temporary Signal-killers), and you could make some sort of ruling based off of Redlining a cyberlimb - you get a higher response, but the longer you do it the more chance of burning out the hardware.

One can use a manual trigger to shut down an implanted commlink. Like a hidden button somewhere along the spine or in a tooth.

Agreed. I let my players with implanted links have some sort of physical shutdown "button" or "switch" somewhere.

Implanted cyberware, included implanted commlinks, have DNI, which at the very least allows mental commands, such as reboot, turn on, turn off etc.

ARO and VR with a implanted commlink would need simsense provided by implanted sim Module, or an external sim module or trodes that communicate with the implanted commlink.

Which is useless if the DNI commanding hacker is paralyzed by some sort of biofeedback.

I didn't say it was useful.

Logging out and jacking out are two different things. Think of your desktop computer. A Logout is telling your computer to shut down. The computer gets all its affairs in order, terminates all programs nice and tidy, and then shuts everything down. 'Pulling the Plug' is like pulling the power out of your desktop. Data can be corrupted, and you can get errors on your hard disk. Data can be lost.

When a program jams open a connection, it basically prevents the commlink from nice and easy settling out of the network. You can still pull the connection physically (if nothing else, you can mentally tell your comlink to reset) but then you suffer dumpshock.

Also, black IC TECHNICALLY isn't sending an electrical surge to your brain to kill it. It is scrambling your neurons. Basically it uses your commlink's simsense to rewire your brain. Rewire your brain with a hammer.


I think having a commlink in your brain is a bad idea (You have to have cybersurgery every time you want to upgrade or tinker with your 'link) but that is just my opinion. DNI lets you hack very quickly though (2 IPs per turn, or 3 if you are running hot) so you basically need to run DNI unless you are hacking in AR with a synaptic booster. Even then, running hotsim gives you more bonuses (but opens you up to bad stuff.)

A DNI allows people to manipulate AR without the need for gloves, though you can't have the physical 'Sensation' of moving the object around. AR gloves have tiny servos in them, so when you grab an AR 'Object' (like a menu) you can actually kinda feel the menu in your hands, as opposed to telling your comlink to move the menu around.

I think they did away with Grey IC when they realized how unrealistic it was. The idea of Grey IC was that the program told your computer to do something stupid, like run superhot or draw more power than it needed, and it physically melted the machine. I have NEVER heard of a RL virus that can replicate that because all of that stuff is taken care of by ROM (read only memory) inside your machine, or physical switches or whatever. Sure, you can overclock your CPU, but that requires more than a line of code. I think they just got rid of it because it didn't make sense.

Chernobyl (CIH) would rewrite the boot sector of a hard drive, rendering it functionally useless (though i suppose that only sort of counts as physically damaging hardware), as well as rewriting the BIOS, which in the case of this specific virus really did render some systems more or less junk. Also, overclocking a CPU actually probably wouldn't require much more than a line of code (many BIOSes have the option of adjusting the Front Side Bus speed, which processor speed functions as a multiple of), but it seems like it might be difficult to write a virus that would be able to effectively handle the multitude of different firmwares out there (although it's probably easier than i think).

I stand corrected. Maybe wizkids just didn't want to kill off a hacker' 100k nuyen machine. Plus, how would grey IC interact with technomancers?

one would not need to overclock anything. just kill any board controlled fans and override the temperature sensors (that is, if they are not hardwired fully), then the cpu would fly, and maybe take some other components with it.

but thats real life silicon chips. SR uses optical ones...

thats one potential problem with SR4 matrix, the lethality have gone way down if your not a TM.

fear black hammer? stay in AR and get wired reflexes. you loose 1 pass vs VR but remain immune to any kind of direct brain attacks.

and with no way to permanently fry a comlink, at best the target node can disconnect the hacker from said node.

Remember, you get two extra dice to ALL matrix actions when hacking hotsim. That's a pretty big boost. Maybe not to one skill, but to ALL of them? A guy running hot could beat the equivelent AR hacker without breaking a sweat, and certainly without taking damage. Sure, the AR hacker isn't at risk, but he's also not doing his job.

Not to mention it is much more costly, in nuyen and Essence, to get the same speed in meat to match a pure-VR character.

thanks for the reminder

btw, if they are using li-ion like tech in SR, maybe some enterprising hacker can find a way to trigger a explosive thermal runaway in the comlink battery?

Responding to grey IC, I choose to believe that the SR universe has gotten to the point where they realized people could slag their commlinks, and did something about it. Because everything is wireless, you can't simply send an electrical surge to a comlink to fry it, so that idea is out. Then, all you have to do, is make sure that your 'link has all physical demands taken care of by circuitry or ROM. Sure, a virus could screw your BIOS or Boot Sector, but as someone pointed out, there is a way to take care of that (Unwired, the corrupt program.) Just have the Corrupt program corrupt your SYSTEM. It would effectively mess your commlink for a good long time, (certainly for the duration of the run) but any hacker worth his salt could fix it, given enough time (and a second commlink to network to the first.)

Thanks for the helps guys. Also if i did decide to be a jerk to my runner do you see any logical reason a program/other hacker couldn't hack the DNI to make it impossible to turn the comlink off? Y'all seem to have a much better grasp of computers both real and fictional than i do so please weigh in. Now I know as GM I could just wave my hand and say it does that but I like to have at least some bases for doing what I do.

Pulling the plug has always been a shadowrun last-ditch resort to hacking. I think every commlink (and every hacker worth his salt) would have a way to manually reset his commlink. If all else fails, you could interrupt the power supply (Battery). But remember, this causes nasty nasty dumpshock, which results in 5S damage (if hacking coldsim) or 6P damage(if running hotsim.) However, if you think you can survive it, and that Black IC is bearing down on you, then that option looks pretty good.

So, as a GM, I would say there is always a chance to pull the plug, but it isn't without risks.

heh, even data had a on/off switch