Hey folks,

I have a question about SR 4a using the Augmentation rules.

Can someone who has a set of cybereyes and an internal commlink load a facial recognition program or gait recognition program or whatever onto the internal commlink and have it process the feed from the cybereyes in real time?

I am aware that these program require a sensor system to be hooked up to it and I'm having a hard time deciphering whether or not cyberwear can count as a sensor system.

My concept is to have 'Bob the Bounty Hunter' or whomever wandering along and his FR program running on his internal comlink looking for particular faces in whatever library he has loaded into memory.

I appreciate any clarification you can offer.


Pax

I would say so. The cybereyes are basically cameras, so I do not see why not.
However if you cannot you can simply have a small camera mounted on a headband perform the exact same function.

Unwired p.44

"John Connor?"


OT: Yes, it should work.

Absolutely, you can. In fact, I think there's a note about doing EXACTLY that in Unwired where it's discussing the facial recognition prorgams... a sensor is a sensor, and if you have a SimRig, every one of your senses just became a sensor... can you say "(meta)human lie detector"?

SimRigs are fun for this kind of thing. You have a Commlink with a Simrig? You can run programs that can tell where that sound just came from, what kind of gun was just fired, where that gun was just fired from, paints the location that gun was just fired from onto an image link, using a camera to zoom into the location that gun was just fired from, uses facial recognisation software to detect if that person is your target and then updates it all in realtime and sends it too a TacNet.

Running in the 2070's. Its basically just playing a really high resolution video game with consequences

"Don't make me shoot you, Pinky." -The Brain

The TM in our game has the simrig program (echo?) and he either runs a machine sprite with the tacnet software or threads it as a backup to my rigger's dedicated tacnet comm. Very handy as the TM keeps a couple of sensor-laden micro/mini drones around for those times he goes full VR so even when there's a jammer in close proximity, he's unlikely to be surprised. I'm also fond of when he can act as the router on the tacnet, loading a sprite on the tacnet comm to provide that magic level of encryption.

The neat thing about the TM's simrig, at least in our games since I dunno if this is canon, is that it allows the recording of "mana" type illusion spells and manifestations, since it's more a download of what their mind experiencedinstead of their what their nerves detected.

Holy crud! Thank you for the quick replies and the cool other ideas.

Here I was wondering if I was pushing the envelope a little too much and now I can see I must requadruple my efforts to induce a GM seizure.

(I had to make up the word requadruple to adequatley express the amount of effort I'm going to expend).

On another note, is there any point (or is it legal) to have two headware commlinks, one for running these kinds of programs with the wireless disabled and one for actually jamming out and using the Matrix?

Other than costing more essence? No. However you don't really need to waste it, better to use a normal Commlink with a Skinlink to a Datajack/Trodes. Provides the same level of usefulness without any essence costs. (I never understood why people bought internal Commlinks except when you need to smuggle it into places. But any places that you need to smuggle a Commlink into almost certainly have MAD scanners that would detect such things, no?) You might want to look at the Clustering rules, means you dont even need to turn the wireless off the second one really, it just makes a Commlink with what is basically double the program limits. Make sure you optimise each Commlink for a different program, means you can get a +1 to Dicerolls to two different programs. Yay.

Um, that's questionable. Mana spells don't really have a observable effect, per se, except as it might record pain or emotional distress or emptiness for example. And you can't record actual THOUGHT yet, last I checked. What exactly were you thinking of recording for example?


Um, Deltaware comlink is only 20k Nuyen, and it's now a threshold 5 to detect. Rating 6 item has a pretty small chance to find the thing. At least, that's what I was thinking about. Even if you have 5+ pieces of 'ware, as long as it's all delta, that's 8 dice trying to get 5 hits... I'll take those odds. And nano-bioware always has to be found individually and thus doesn't count toward the "total" count on chrome.

Well there you go. A note, I have never had to worry about such things. It was out of place of me to suggest that implanted commlinks are a waste of essence.

*laughs*

I wasn't snapping at you. I just wanted to make sure other people considered the one REALLY nice benefit to the new thresholds vis-a-vis Deltaware. Also note, I don't have a data jack. Anywhere. So even if they see it, there's nothing for them to "secure". Every faciliy worth it's salt is RF-shielded against communications in and out, so without a way to communicate with their secure devices it's not really a security threat. The fact that my Deltaware SimRig is recording everything that my magic-enhanced senses can detect is besides the point. So all I really have to do is page through the screens of data instead of the old stand by of lifting the chip itself. I can't go on enough about the cute things you can do with a full-out SimRig. Bioware is my primary cost in essence, so 1/2 of 1/2 of .5 essence is a net .125 in exchange for everything it lets me do. Paid, and happily. Toss in an Orientation System, NanoBiomonitor, Nano Handprint Adjuster, Nano Retinal Adjuster, SkillWires, and a Gastric Nerostimulator, and you're all set. I'm not sure if it's going to be worth losing another point of MAGic to shoehorn in the 360 degree radar sensor. Other than the adjusters, none of it is even illegal, and those pieces require 5 hits EACH to locate in separate tests without bonus dice to the sensor for multiple pieces of chrome.

OK, so a lot of that is long-term, but it's where I am shooting for. Once I get there, on the other hand, things should be interesting.

Why even bother with the second commlink? Just cluster your other cyberware into a cluster and then slave that to the commlink. My Chaos Mage/PI does that with his cyberware (cyberhand with goodies, eyes and ears). On that cluster he runs: Facial Recognition, Voice Recognition, Empathy, Lie Detection, and an Agent that's setup for IC.

Nevermind, I missed the Slaved bit, thought you were clustering everything with the Commlink.

However, Clusters use the lowest Device Rating for its System. Program Ratings are limited by System, so if you wanted to run Rating 6 Software/Agents on that cluster all the Cyberware that is used in it would have to be Deltaware (SR4A Pg. 222 gives the Device Rating for Cyber).

(The same argument I use when people say they run an Agent Smith army off of Device Rating 1 RFID Chips. Ooo, it makes me so mad )

Or get optimization at rating 2 for a cluster made up of Alpha ware (like all my crap is). As for running Agent Smith army... do it on a whole bunch of credsticks... talk about getting your money's worth [/rimshot]

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Oh Pax, get Vision Enhance and Audio Enhance. It adds its dice to the sensor software because it is enhancing the quality of the video/audio.

Damnit, I keep forgetting about optimization. Honestly, it basically makes the System restriction on programs completely void, it costs hardly anything. Who would not buy it. Cursed optimization.

And Agent Smith on credsticks, thats just cheesy as hell As a GM I would probably not allow that (Who the hell installs a System 6 onto Credsticks!?) but I guess it is right.

It's difficult to get Rating 6 sensor software with optimization at chargen because of the Availability, but rating 5 (w/ optimization) is easy.

What should have you blowing your gasket is the Ergonomic option. Yup! Get a rating 6 Response chip in your commlink and you can run 11 programs (6 with Ergonomic option) at rating 6 without losing a point of Response. If you got Delta grade 'ware in a cluster... the number of programs becomes... disturbing.

Program Options ruined the Matrix

Nope... just made Technomancers less special.

Folks, I appreciate all the responses. I have always liked the various shows involving bionics or whatever where the protagonist has the integrated heads up display in his/her field of vision and that's where this originally spawned off of.

Then someone mentioned the Terminator series which had slipped my mind but is totally applicable and has opened up a new round of rereading supplements.

I appreciate everyones' input very much.

Regards,


Pax

On the other hand, you can only have [Rating/2] options. So if you're optimizing your attack 6 program to make it run on your System 3 commlink and making it ergonomic to avoid having it slow down your response, you've only got 1 option left for making it a better attack program (Area, Armor Piercing, Rust, and Targetting all spring to mind as possible things to use here), where someone who actually payed the money for a system that can handle large numbers of rating 6 programs without those options can put all their program options into making sure their rating 6 attack program can curb-stomp you.

Now, whether this is enough of a benefit to be worth the difference in cost is debatable, but it does mean that the hacker who's actually gone in for the really awesome commlink is getting some benefits from it.