Assuming the gamemaster is willing to simplify Matrix runs (there's a "sidebar" on abstract matrix runs in the middle of Unwired 79, one of the few things I like about that book), what's the minimum required to be a decent hacker? I'm interested in approaches for mundane, cyber-adept and technomancer hackers, with emphasis on the tactical and strategic roles they can play in a team (updating HUDs with tactical maps, active jamming and the like).

1. Maintain a tacnet. If necessary, cram sensors into little flying drones and keep them buzzing around, but throwing 4 more dice into most combat pools will make your Troll teammate resent you just a little less when your Steed breaks down, you're hacking in VR and he has to haul you around.

2. Good programs, good skills, good logic. The last one is optional depending on your GM, the first two... well, you can make a good street sam who has a crappy gun, but he'll be better if he has a good gun, right? Same principle.

3. Mundane? Get chromed! Simsense booster, encephalon, control rig, neocortical neural amplifiers (preferably combined with the Focus Reality Amplifier) are all good fun. Technomancer? Get karma! Spend it on everything, because everything you do takes karma. Remember you can register and re-register sprites in downtime, it's free. Cyberadept? Get skills! Then get your skills better. Then put on a trodenet, and watch mundane hackers cry.

4. Drones. Drones, drones, drones. Don't get Pistols, get Gunnery. Doesn't matter if you jump in, use Command or just let them drive themselves, you gotta be the guy with the drones. And remember, Drones Go In First.

I'd get the Electronics and Cracking groups at the same rating so that you don't have to worry about which skill to roll, just roll one of the groups. Then, you're probably going to want, at minimum, the following programs: Analyze, Armor, Attack, Browse, Edit, Encrypt, Exploit, Scan. Spoof would be the next one on the list, but just about everything you can spoof you can also hack, so skipping spoofing means you chop out a chunk of rules. Now, get all those programs at the same rating so that you don't have to remember different pools.

To hack something:

1. Find it's wireless signal (Cracking + Scan); this might not be necessary if the signal is obvious and it might be very hard if the signal is hidden and in an area of high-matrix traffic.
2. Hack in (Cracking + Exploit); this is an extended test so you might do it more than once.
3. ???
4. Profit

Step 3 there, in all seriousness, is where you do something. Are you changing things? Roll an edit. Searching? Use browse. Fighitng? There's your Attack program for that. But since your skill groups and your programs are all at the same rating, you can just role the same dice every time and report hits to the GM. The matrix rules are pretty simplified if you cut out the different ways of doing things (spoofing vs. exploiting, mainly) and you realize that a chunk of the chapter is devoted to drones and rigging so we can ignore that here (to some extent).

Is this even remotely what you were looking for?

Very helpful, thank you. I'm actually building a tactical rigger, though (probably a cyber-adept with ludicrous Command pool who sits in the captain's chair and also handles jamming, security systems and the like). Is it feasible to both remote-control drones that way (as opposed to letting their pilots handle the orders) and handle security and jamming and tactical advice simultaneously, or should I get really good Pilot programs and pray?

That's feasible yes. I must have misunderstood your intent above. Then I'd get the same programs above but skip Exploit and buy Spoof. You might also want to get Biofeedback Filters (BFF) (or play a Technomancer since they have BFF equal to their Charisma). The BFF will help if you ever to jump in and your drone takes damage. You might not intend to, but just in case you ever do, the BFF will help you stay alive when doing so.

You also NEED the Command program if you don't want to jump-in and ECCM would be nice if you don't want to jam yourself. Or just a signal rating higher than the rating of your jammer would do, too.

Your method of hacking will likely be something like this:

1. Get an authorized Access ID (Analyze); you'll need to find an authorized user of what you're trying to hack, though. But that's more social engineering and detective work than hacking, so other skills may be necessary here.
2. Send a single Spoofed command to the target device (Spoof); if you win the test, the device does what you want, if you lose it doesn't.
3. Repeat #2 for each command you want the target device to execute.

The upside is that you don't set off alarms, the device just ignores what you asked it do to. The downside is that, during #1, you have to find someone to pretend to be when you send the command. Otherwise, the drone ignores you. The other problem is that you need to spoof each command, not just the first. Exploiting might be a little slower and more dangerous, but once you're a god in the machine, you're a freaking god in the machine!!!

If you're commanding your own drones, I'd definitely look at the back of Unwired and you'll find a table of common rigger and drone tests. That'll help you get a handle on what the different tests are made up of. In that case, you are the authorized user so #1 above is unnecessary and you'll use the Command program in lieu of the Spoof one for when you're hacking someone else's stuff.

Don't forget that you can try to spoof things like cyberware and gear, too. My players hates it when I have a spoof-monkey on my side of the table and I start spoofing their smartguns to eject clips and what not. This sort of hacker can have a lot of fun. Order your drones to kill on your phase in IP 1. They'll start doing so during their IP 2 and 3. Meanwhile, you can start telling the opposing team's stuff to turn off or act funny for your following IP's. Granted, you won't always win the roll, and if the GM gets wise to your tactic, you'll start facing teams with better matrix security (e.g., a dedicated spider in their network watching for stuff like this).

For active jamming, p. 105 in Unwired has a bit about active jamming on the fly. Otherwise, just buy a rating 6 area jammer and turn it on. Woot! you're jamming Just make sure your team buys ECCM so they can still communicate, too.

Finally, if you're wanting to rig the security systems of a building (a) the building will need to be set up to handle that sort of feature which not all are and (b) you'd need to gain access to their security system. That involves and Exploit style hack (above) and not a spoof (in this post). But, if a teammate can let you into the system or if you can steal credentials from an authorized, legitimate user, that might be ways to gain access, too.

So do I have time, if remote-controlling multiple drones, to also take care of Matrix security etc.?

[Edit:] Can I order a remote-controlled drone (either captain's chair with command or ordering the dogbrain) to make a sensor lock? I seem to remember a tactic involving the use of a spotter drone to improve the targeting ability of the other drones. How feasible is autonomous operation, anyway?

[Edit 2:] Thanks very much for all the help - I know these must seem like ridiculously simple questions. I'm mostly seeking clarification and someone else's outlook.

You have as many IPs as you have IPs. You can spend 4 in the captain's chair, 4 on matrix security, or split them as you will. One thing to keep in mind is that you can set your Analyze program on passive mode, where it just looks around automatically. Great way to catch hackers who slipped in.

Well, a spotter drone can be used for indirect fire (using targeting data to shoot at something out of your LOS, like with a mortar), but I don't know of anything else quite like that. Making a sensor lock isn't a bad idea on its own, though, but remember; no matter what kind of action you're trying to make a drone do, using Command is a complex action. Bummer.

Autonomous operation is quite feasible. Two things to keep in mind; make sure the drone has nice hardware, and write it a good script. Make sure it's got basic "don't do something stupid to give us away," "don't stand there watching me get shot to death" and other basic instructions hardwired in. Think like a computer game; tell it that there's an active mode (shoot anyone who isn't in the party), a passive mode (return fire if the party is shot at) and a silent mode (don't shoot nothin').

Also, IIRC, jammers can allow your own electronics to operate freely. In fact...

"One of the easiest ways to control the radio frequencies of an operational zone is through the use of jamming. Jammers can be configured to allow your signals through while blocking others. The more powerful the jamming device, the better."

Depends on your passes. I'd definitely go for 5 passes in VR with the Simsense Booster and the what-ever-its-called from Unwired which stacks with the Booster and gives you the 5th pass. With that many actions, you should be good to go. Especially since you can command groups of drones at the same time as long as they're all performing the same action. Check with your GM what constitutes a single action. I would allow a command like "Shoot all hostile opponents" and let the drones roll a comprehension test to understand what "hostile" means. Opponents they should get. Other GMs might not be as forgiving as I.

Remember, though, if you're operating in your own node to Command drones and in the Security system's node, you can be attacked in both of them but only defend in one at a time. It's only happened once in since SR4 was released that I was able to attack one person in multiple nodes, but that person was woefully out gunned and out maneuvered. Course, I had to hack his RV, but it was an RV so it was pretty obviously not where it should have been in that situation. But, I digress.



Autonomous operation depends largely on the GM and the comprehension test (Pilot + Response, if I remember correctly). More hits equals better comprehension and better chance that your command is followed the way you want it to be. I use the same thresholds for comprehension as for all tests (1,2,3,5 as per SR4a). Thus, something simple and within the confines of the drone's programming might be a threshold of 1 or 2 but someone very complex would be 3 or more.

As for indirect fire, that's in Arsenal on p. 162 while passive and active targeting (for Gunnery) is in the mainbook. In SR4A, it's on page 171, but it's always been the last page of the Combat chapter in case you need to find it in an earlier printing. IMO, passive targetting is a waste of time since the signature table modifiers apply, unless your targeting other vehicles. Active targeting can be handy.




Not a problem at all. These are common, but not necessarily simple questions.

I thought I remembered something about it being possible to share the bonuses from active targeting. Am I misremembering, or remembering an earlier edition?

[Edit:] Also, I know there have been a number of threads on the subject, but they're pretty scattered. What are some good bread and butter drones for a starting character, what are the pros and cons of sitting in the van vs. going with, and if I sit in the van, what should I stuff into said van? I'm guessing a Bulldog would be best.

That doesn't ring a bell for me.

Bulldogs are great. Sitting in the van is a lot of fun; good ideas are to invest in anti-theft technology, a rigger cocoon, and some serious camera (including an interior view of the van); I'd go for 2 of the 3. Also, either keep an armed drone in the van with you, or build a weapon into the van. The former is probably easier. I see no reason why you can't build a rail system onto the van, keep the small Ares R Series drone inside the van with a Vindicator, and deploy it from inside the back onto the roof when people start looking to jack the van. Pop goes the minigun, muthafucka!

To defeat wifi-inhibiting wallpaper, try my patented iBola: you hardwire two iBalls together, retrans/nonstandard wireless link etc, then put one outside the building and one inside the building. One on either side of a window could be good, or just cut a small hole in a wall and pop the microdrone through. In theory, it should work. You have signal to the iBall outside, it's wired to the iBall inside, the iBall inside directs your commands to your drones inside. Invest in ECCM and you should be good.

The Steel Lynx is a great combat drone, and not too expensive. For a crawling spy drone, go Kanmushi; a flying one that's good is the Fly-Spy. Social stealth can be found in the Bust-A-Move drone, and the Crimson Samurai might be the premier combat drone with smart tires and an LMG. On the other hand, the LEBD-1 can fly, and its appearance inspires more "crap, the cops are here" than "holy shit, someone's lookin' to kill some people!" Finally, consider an anthroform like the Manservant. Sure it's feeble, but people underestimate it, eh?

I can't stress the awesome that is the bust-a-move. I usually make them look like more dolls than just a teddy bear, but that's up the the GM. Load those things with a remote detonated grenade and just set them down somewhere. A guard happens by and stops to look at it .... BOOM! Only works a few times, though. I also like strapping explosives on RC cars and sending them down hallways at guards. They're small and hard to shoot plus give them the command to drive toward the guards and then jam them so the guards can hack them. Put some ECCM on the remote detonator for the bombs and you've got some pretty awesome mobile explosive platforms.

I'll stop brainstorming now

Just posting this as an example in case it helps the OP in some way:

This is my new rigger's vehicle and drone loadout at chargen:



We'll see how it goes. I wanted to cover air and ground attack, and be able to provide some air and ground surveillance. I also wanted to have the bitchin' team mystery machine. I could have gotten some more drones, but I had some cyber I wanted to grab.

Arsenal, Indirect Targetting via spotter-fed data.

Only good for indirect, then. Those penalties suck. Thanks, though.