I tend not to advance the clock unless absolutely necessary. Us bickering like children shouldn't take much time.

Yeah, I think I ticked off a minute, and hell she's got enough pheremone booster to usually shut someone up. So I think it's going to be simple one or two post snipes. Of course if he finds out about those, well... Let's say there's always a way to mess with those things...

@ notso:

Ic initiative = 12(3 passes) simultaneous action!

first pass: use black hammer attack: [1,2,4,4,1,2,1] = (0)

2nd pass: attack:[4,2,1,4,3,1,3] = (0)
(you are soo lucky)
defense:[1,1,4,5,5,4,6,1,3,2,2,5] = (4)
(the +4 to firewall for the restricted alert may be causing you problems)
3rd pass: attack: [6,3,3,6,1,2,2] = (2)

defense: [5,2,4,5,3,1,1,1,6,1,6,4] = (4)


ok, roll some defense

Can I get a location check, layout of where we all are in physical relation to one another?

Professor is right by where the spirit manifested.

Acme is sitting in the Van where it was parked, near the gang hideout they spirited the civvies to.

Professor- what pbangarth said. Acme- inside Ferret's van, in a seat by an open passenger door. Amber- in front of Acme, but not inside the van. Oswald - standing right in front of what I presume to be a different door than the above. Ferret- in his van in the driver's seat, having spasms and hissing at an invisible Matrix IC dog, with the door closed and the window up. Jovan- sitting inside Oswald's Rover, which is not at the scene right now. Thirty- still dying, currently hooked up to medical equipment in the back of the Rover. GM/Red-ROM- Everywhere and nowhere simultaneously.

Damien Knight- in his office plotting revenge. Najda Daviar- hanging out with Carmen Sandiego sipping martinis in Prague. Dunkelzahn- still dead. The sun- still 1 AU away.

Eeek! Black IC! Flee the premises!

Defence roll: Response 2 + Firewall 6 = 8d6.hits(5)=3 - Phew!

Okay, Ferret does not want to deal with Black IC. However, according to the rules that second attack will have jammed my connection open. So modifying second round as follows:

1st pass: Complex action - Log out: Willpower 3 + Biofeedback 3 + Hotsim 2 + Edge 2 = 10d6.hitsopen(5,6)=3 - bleh! Opposed test against ICs rating + response. If that doesn't work, I'll try again.
2nd pass: Complex action - Log out: Willpower 3 + Biofeedback 3 + Hotsim 2 + Edge 2 = 10d6.hitsopen(5,6)=3 - darn.
3rd pass: Complex action - Log out: Willpower 3 + Biofeedback 3 + Hotsim 2 = 8d6.hits(5)=4 - wouldn't you believe it

I'll edit post to reflect change of plans.

@ Notso:
opposed tests: [3,2,2,6,5,6,1] = (3) ,[3,1,6,5,5,1,3] = (3) , [2,4,1,5,2,1,4] = (1)
looks like it takes you 3 tries,
heres the other 2 attacks
pass 1:[2,4,5,6,6,1,2] = (3)
, pass 2: [6,1,2,2,1,5,5] = (3)

ouch, roll to resist

Acme wins.

This is gonna hurt!

Defence roll 1: Response 2 + Firewall 6 = 8d6.hits(5)=3 - praise the lord!
Defence roll 2: Response 2 + Firewall 6 = 8d6.hits(5)=1 - not good! That leaves 2 net successes + program rating in Physical damage.
Soak roll: Biofeedback filter 3 + Willpower 3 = 6d6.hits(5)=2 - pain incoming.
Then Ferret also needs to resist 5P dumpshock damage: Biofeedback 3 + Willpower 3 = 6d6.hits(5)=4 - The gods of the matrix are with me on that one - only 1 more box of Physical damage. Ouchie, ouchie. And as a bonus, Ferret gets to be disoriented for 7 minutes (extra -2 to all tests).

Nope. He has to hit you to jam your connection open. He missed, so you're fine to log off normally as a Simple Action.
Edge, saved.

Dammit! i think he's right. No excitement after all. Ferret might as well use his admin account to turn off the IC program and shut off the alarm.

Well, technically, with an Alert against him, all account privileges are suspended. That means he has to make a Hacking + Exploit check against the node's System + (modified) Firewall to take any action on the node. I don't think that would prevent him from logging out, but that would prevent him from using his account level for canceling the alert or killing the pup.

If you're going to hack on the fly for an admin account, you gotta have 3 things:
1) A good stealth prog.
2) A hacking pool in the teens
3) The "Mute" program option on your Exploit program

That last one is the easiest by far.

I am so glad you're here man. this matrix stuff will be the death of me. I'm working on a big post right now

Yeah, the actual matrix rules aren't terrible, the problem is they're terribly laid out so that you have to cross-check like 5 different places across two books just to figure out how to do the basic shit.

I'm thinking about writing a guide or a list. Just take the 20a and Uw pdfs and do a search for "Hacking +" and "+ Hacking" to find and list all the hacking actions and their situations and "Software +" & "Computer +" etc. to find all the other stuff.

Sounds like a good idea. Thanks.

@ notso: I've returned the edge, and no damage has been done

I have another rules question for anyone who can answer it, not necessarily Red-ROM. When it comes to resting and healing tests, does magical, non-physical activity count against the test interval regarding rest? If so, does it still count against rest if no drain damage from the activity was taken? I ask because, looking back through the IC pages back to November, it seems that the only things Jovan has actually done in the last hour and fifteen minutes is summon a bunch of watchers, pat Viper 5 down, and subsequently cast mana bind and use Influence on him - none of which resulted in any damage. So if those don't count against the full hour of rest, then I would like to make a healing test if that is permissible.

Hmmm... I think casting spells and summoning both count against being at rest, even if they didn't cause drain. Imagine walking for an hour. You might not take Stun damage from it, but would it be restful? Professor is walking around with a couple of points of Stun right now as well, I think. Acme has been doing the best of all of us, just flopping in the back of the van and sniping comments through his commlink.

That is what Coyote shamans do best after all.. But yeah, I'd agree that doing any test counts against the stun healing. That's why he's been careful to avoid doing anything other than shifting positions. You can still be useful while resting, that's why he's been still communicating instead of just gurgling in the back seat.

Misread the section on Black IC reading 'missed attack' instead of 'no damage'. Man these rules are a bitch. Still with a system alert and Black IC on his case. Ferret will still log out (he's a bit of a coward), just not as painfully as I had expected. Rules lawyer to the rescue!

Hmm, 15 minutes huh? Nice way to cut it to time, ROM. I think that would put Acme exactly three minutes shy of the full hour. You'd be nice and give him a bit of leeway eh? *Bats eyelashes*

Ah, I guess I can live with that. Depending on how things go though, Jovan might not get an opportunity to rest until he has to sleep in the morning. Blarg. =/

what happens in 15 minutes?

I was about to ask the same thing!

Could be a timer to a meeting.

Or an explosion. (Is there enough room in a commlink to make an explosive device that would hurt more than the wearer?)

Or his soup will boil over back home.

Anybody scanned this yahoo for cyber? He might have a timer-based dead-man switch on a cranial bomb...

T'would appear I never rolled for Amber's Starting Cash (4d6*500=5500)

Ferret's commlink:
Response 4(3), Signal 3, Firewall 6, System 4
Programs running: Stealth, Analyze, Exploit, Attack, Biofeedback filter, Command, Browse (-1 response)

He can have up to 8 subscriptions with this setup. I'm counting the van, smartgun and cyberspur as 3, leaving 5 over. Each link get subscribed to 2-4 others depending on system rating (hence Ferret directly subscribes to any system rating 2 devices first for a total of 15-25 depending on number of rating 2 links (let's assume all 20 for now). All are slaved to the ones closer in and these are then slaved to Ferret's comm with the access data to the whole array forwarded to Oswald so he can pick it up.

Ferret starts copying his Exploit and Attack programs onto the slaved links (transfer data simple action), while ordering them to copy them onto the links slaved to them (control device complex action - single command to all slaved devices). He does it all in hotsim mode just because he can.

When it's done he deactivates Attack (simple action) and loads Armor (complex action) before working on hacking the node again. This time he switches to AR mode and just spoofs a new user account (if he believes that would be enough to access the comm's contact list: logic + security design = 9d6.hits(5)=3).

Hack on the fly: 7d6.hits(5)=2, 7d6.hits(5)=4, 7d6.hits(5)=2, 7d6.hits(5)=4, 7d6.hits(5)=3, 7d6.hits(5)=2, 7d6.hits(5)=2 = 2 rounds for 4 hits, 3 rounds for 8 hits if the node is still on or goes on alert. Again that gives a chance to spot him hacking every round.

Pass logon info and control of commlink nodes to Oswald and wait till he sends in the troops, then follow them in.

P.S. Totally making this shit up as I go along.

Rolls for the in-bar sequence:

Perception Check (8d6.hits(5)=2)

Etiquette Check (9d6.hits(5)=6)

Negotiation Check (14d6.hits(5)=6) (includes First Impression, but would still be 6 hits without it, and would still be 6 hits without the pheromones)

wow, this game is flying now!
Jovan's questions are going to have me digging through 30 pages to keep the timeline straight and I don't have a clue what Ferret is doing. Add to that some more ganger interaction and general plot development, and I have a long night ahead of me.

@ saint: how do you plan to copy your agent and spoof ID's? I'm trying to learn here. p. 111 in unwired says you can't change an agent's access ID once it's running. you can make a patch for a copied agent to change it's ID, but the interval is 1 week.

I'd be Spoofing their IDs as I load them into the links. Part of the benefit of running a hacked bot is that I can copy it, rather than just running it from my ID. Downside is I have to patch him each month.

ok, here's what I've found so far;
p.224 sr4a , Access ID's
"The standard technique to reduce your datatrail is to spoof your commlink's access ID. There are two ways to change your access ID; both take only a few minutes. you can alter your access ID by reprogramming your router settings with a Hacking + Software(2) Test....."

This doesn't apply to an Agent because it has no router.

p. 111 unwired, Access ID
"Unlike Matrix users, agents and other autonomous programs do not access the Matrix via a device, and so they are not assigned an access ID. Instead, each autonomous program has a built in access ID, sort of a software serial number....
Once running, the access ID may not be switched, not even if the agent moves and loads onto another node...."

p.11 unwired, copied Agents and IDs
"Note that when an agent is copied, the access ID built into the agent is copied as well...."
"A copied agent may be patched in order to give it a seperate unique access ID with a logic + software (rating x 3, 1 week) extended test"

so it sounds like you can't "spoof" an ID for an agent, and also that copying an agent produces the same access ID, meaning they can't log onto the same node

I'm looking specifically at p110 of Unwired regarding Agents and their Access IDs.



Really this whole thing isn't exactly necessary since ferret should be able to Spoof a new ID and hack a user account without setting off an alert. He just needs 4 hits, right? He could get that with an edge reroll..

that second paragraph isn't in my copy of unwired. where did it come from??

edit: I have the second printing of unwired, and I notice that i'm on p 111 and you are on page 110. do you have an earlier printing?

Ah, that is strange. The underlined part isn't in my Unwired hardcopy, either, but it IS in my pdf copy. Looks like Sithney's quoting from the first printing of Unwired, while you are working from the second printing (which doesn't have what he quoted in it).

I just read the erratta, and that bit was removed

edit:

Sorry about that, We can hand wave it and assume you patched your agent a few times in advance?

Red-ROM, I'm not sure if I intuit correctly what you're planning, and if I do I am of course not going to try to prevent it (I figured something bad would happen after Jovan started feeling merciful anyway). But if he ends up getting zapped soon, will Jovan's Regeneration help at all with the incapacitating and/or disorienting effects of Electricity damage? I'd just like to know ahead of time, in case it'll help me do all my needed rolls correctly in one quick post. If that's ok with you.

That is of course assuming that I'm not sensing things that aren't coming, and Jovan's paranoia isn't rubbing off on me.

I don't think I get what you get out of what Red-ROM gave the Viper to give you.

What do you think is going to happen? I believe I know (though Professor doesn't because he isn't there) and it would be interesting to compare.

he's reading my posts in the other thread about shock frills, but I don't think his captive can operate them(which is the question I posted in the Shadowrun forum)

Ah.

Ahh. Makes sense. I mean, it's definitely something that could be abused, the whole Agent Smith thing. I just figure Ferret could use the help, what with him operating without a lot of the hacking DP bonus options in this first caper.

Maybe he could hit up a drug contact for some Overdrive? +1 Reaction +1 to Logic-linked skills, then 8S crash after 10-body hours.
Availability 5R 150¥. Could be a same day drug thing, but it won't help us in fifteen minutes.

If I'm following this right even if Oswald's agent is on all the commlink's only one at a time can try to log onto Viper5's link. In that case, we chain them up one link after the other. First agent logs on to Viper5's comm and attacks the IC/agent. If it gets crashed then number 2 logs on. If necessary, Ferret keeps generating new spoofed user logins and feeds them to the agents until one reports back that the IC is down. Then he takes a look in the node himself (in AR mode first).

On average he should be able to generate a new user ID every 1-2 rounds in hotsim, even if the node is on alert. This does mean he is distracted again.

This Matrix fun is kind of coming off the tracks.

The IC has a black hammer attack program, and it has no effect on Agents, I guess there could be more IC on there with a regular attack program. also, are you going to be in AR or VR? or switching back and forth?

edit: Also, we have established that you can't spoof ID's for agents, contrary to your last in character post

Cool. Changed the wording to one agent after the next rather than all at once. So, it's like the first agent tries to push in, and if he gets derezzed, the next one is up. Continuous assault rather than massive attack. Do you want some rolls? I don't know the commlinks' stats, so I'll assume they're lower than my own.

I'll just roll the attack from my primary comm first to see how well it gets in.

Should be Agent 3 +3 Exploit for 6 dice total. 3 stealth will likely be cracked before he gets in, but I'll block roll for the user-level access.

Bugger. Will edit post accordingly. My intention was that Ferret would not log onto the node in VR mode, so possibly even spoofing the IDs would need to have been done in AR mode. As that is not possible, he will quickly realise that and I think for the moment give up.

You don't have to give up. The one-at-a-time way seems to work well enough and solves the problem of "only one of the same access ID on a node at a time." And you are being given the chance to have copies of the agent with different access IDs... so you can still do "some at once" rather than "all at once."

@ Notso: what are you doing now? opening it up and accessing the memory via hardware?