QUOTE
Read the entire section, rather than just the one paragraph to build a broader context for the information. There is also supplemental information on Unwired p. 110-111.
What would imply I didn't read it all exactly? This seems overly presumptious and dismissive on your part and definitely isn't helpful. If you have some RAW to quote that proves a point or shows me where i'm going wrong, by all means, post it and I'll be most appreciative.
Now on to the meat. I'm going to quote from SR4A because it is the most recent (and more correct) and also its the only one I have in electronic format so its easier to copy and paste.
My problem specifically is that single sentence, as it goes against everything I had understood about agents, icons, and multiple nodes.
An Icon is defined as:
SR4A, 224
QUOTE
An icon is the representation of something that exists purely in the
Matrix. Your persona is represented by an icon in the Matrix, as are
your running programs, files, agents, IC, links to nodes, etc. Nodes
seen from the outside, data packages, and controls for physical devices
(such as switches for door locks or environmental controls for an apartment)
also appear as icons in the Matrix.
Everything represented in the Matrix that matters has an Icon.
QUOTE
Also note that the agent only has its own icon while operating independently. If you have it loaded on your system as a standard program, it has no icon and can be used in any node your persona is currently accessing.
Says where exactly? I can't find anything that says that and the RAW above directly refutes this. If I load an agent on my persona, it still has a separate icon, as do all programs. If i'm in multiple nodes simultaneously, so are all my program icons (as they all originate from the commlink that has the multiple subscriptions).
You cannot crash an agent program, you have to defeat it in cybercombat. You don't attack my persona to damage the Agent, and I don't run Medic on myself to patch him back up. He functions independently (using my processing limit) as his own icon and on his own initiative (using my commlinks response).
It gets even more confusing when you try to interpert that one sentence when you consider loading an agent on its own node.
QUOTE
..which is directly contradicting:
QUOTE (Unwired @ p. 110)
Like any Matrix user, the agent can access multiple nodes at once. Other nodes must be accessed with passcodes or hacked, per normal rules. The agent remains loaded on only one node, however - though it interacts with other nodes, it does not need to be copied and loaded on them.
And that's imporant - otherwise, the dicepool of an agent performing a search would change constantly - which is completely FUBAR.
Exactly. And that section goes on to make the distinction between accessing a node and
moving there.
Regardless though, If I load an agent into an independent node, he has an icon there. If I send him to access another system via legitimate account or hacking, whats the representation of the agent as he hacks in...the icon. While he is in the node (not loading onto the new node) he has an icon. If my commlink gets hacked while my agent is busy in another node, couldn't the intruder attack the agent icon in my home node?
I get the "can't function" in multiple nodes at once which seems implied, but the can't have multiple
icons is messing with me. Why wouldn't the same rules apply to the agent that apply to the persona functioning in multiple nodes. They choose which node they're "active" in for each IP. Defenseless to cybercombat in all other nodes they're present but "inactive".
QUOTE
I think you are confusing the Agent itself and it's Icon.
An Agent can be loaded and running on Node A whilst being logged in to Node B and using an Icon to perform operations on Node B.
To perform operations on Node A it must first log off Node B and log on to Node A.
Maybe I am, but as far as the matrix is concerned the icon IS the agent and vice versa. Theres really nothing to be confused. Logging on a node is a single complex action and creates and icon. So an agent loaded independently on a commlink that is told to access another system now has two icons. One for the node he is loaded on, and one for the node he is accessing.
QUOTE
Log On (System )
You open a subscription to a node, and your icon appears there. This
requires no test, but does require either the proper authentication to an
account (such as a passcode) or a hacked account. You also need a connection
to the node’s device, either with a wired connection or a wireless
connection (by being within mutual Signal range or establishing a route
across multiple devices).
QUOTE
Maybe I am thinking about it too simply. But the way I am reading all this is that an Agent can do everything a hacker can do, except act simultaneously in multiple nodes.
Seeing that a commlink, per RAW, can only house one persona at a time, the autonomous Agent would need its own commlink or be loaded somewhere that a persona could be ran. But after that, the Agent goes about its business per a normal hacker. It can access multiple nodes and whatever else a hacker with xyz programs can do.
The only thing it cannot do, if its has accessed nodes A, B, C and D, is be in each at the same time. So, if it has hacked all four successfully, the Agent would have to choose only one to be active in. While a hacker could be active in all four simultaneously.
I like this interpertation, and simple is good. I get hung up though when you say acting in multiple nodes simulataneously. You can only be "active" in one node at one time, despite how many nodes your logged onto or have access. Why should the agent be any different?
SR4A, pg 225
QUOTE
It is possible to be subscribed to multiple nodes at once. This means
you can have icons in multiple places in the Matrix at any given time.
You are aware of what is happening in all nodes in which your icon
exists. You may only control one icon at a time, but may switch which
is the “acting� icon at will. This has ramifications for cybercombat
(Simultaneous Combat in Multiple Nodes, p. 237).
If that one sentence didn't exist, everything would work perfectly IMHO. The use of icon in the context of the restriction seems to far reaching in scope to make sense in regards to how agents are implemented and how they act independently. The agent should have icons in multiple nodes and only act in one, specifically so if he is loaded onto a persona that has said access to multiple nodes.
Maybe I need to rethink and take it as having both the loaded program icon and the "active" agent icon as two separate icons and apply the rule only to the latter. Effectively disregarding the icon from the node or persona in which it is running and only focus on the icon in the node/persona where its actually doing something.
(quick edit, I realize thats what some of you are saying, my problem was/is that everything has an icon, even programs that don't necessarily need one that are loaded on your persona. Icon is a very broad definition for fluff/comprehension purposes and not an actual mechanical definition on its own.)