The team needs a backup hacker for when the party gets split, and Mr.Sam has stepped up to the plate. He's not going to be taking on Ultraviolet systems, but wants to be able to get into reasonable systems, pop locks, hit cameras, and maybe provide a distraction when the techno is battling it out.

He's already purchased rating 3 skillsofts in required skills (and is owed two Activesofts at Rating 4 with Personalized) with about 75,000 nuyen left to spend on the rest of the project. A previous victim thoughtfully dontained a rating 5 commlink, also he's got a datajack, and is pretty fast in meatspace with 4 IPs. Attributes: LOG and WIL are 3s, CHA is 2.

The PC is good at pulling the trigger (and the player is looking to try something new), but they're both looking for some advice on how to proceed as a Hacker:

• I'm thinking at 4 IPs, a VR hacker is the way to go.
• Should he bump up the commlink and get a few programs at rating 6, or quite a few at lower levels?
• What programs are the most important? And which of the Unwired options are the most useful?
• What else should I consider, and how best to expand.

Do you mean AR hacker?

Upgrade the commlink to 6/6, and buy all programs at 6, pirated - at 10% street price pirated
programs are the way to go, and you can't use legal software anyway for hacking because of the data trail. The TM should be able to get you the programs and updates easily.

Get an agent or two, to have asistants.

Ergonomic seems a good option to run more programs on a node. Viral resistance depends on how often the GM uses viruses.

with 4 IPs he should probably AR hack; he'd get a two die advantage going VR hot sim but unless he goes all out on the 'ware he won't get more IPs than he would in AR and in the meantime he's subject to more dangerous IC.

if he can afford, consider clustering, will let you run more programs without response degradation.

get -every- program at 6 (pirated as noted), malware is optional at first but useful. make sure you have Electronic Warfare and Cybercombat too and not just Hacking, Computer and Datasearch. - try to get it setup so that you have all 5 at least at 4 rating (which means learning at least two of them in the meat in the long run, I think.) wasting actions to change what you have slotted will cost lives, maybe your own someday.

No, upgrade the Response to 6 and get a Satellite Link for a Signal of 8. 500 < 3,000, and 8 > 6.

Other than that, what rating Skillwires is he running on? That looks like over 10 skillwire slots used for hacking.

Your meat attributes mean little as a hacker.

Assuming you have Skillwires or MBW, just get pirated skillsofts or groups Electronics and Cracking at the highest rating you can and buy the best program you can.

- J.

Because nothing says 'good idea' like giving control of your body over to pirated software brought to you by hackers

But really, does unwired really present any sort of disadvantages to compensate for the fact that you're only spending a fraction of what you should on your programs? Seems to me it should give you a gremlins 4 quality or something when using it.

The disadvantage is that the programs degrade.

Yeah. They Degrade. Legit programs don't. They might be subject to Availability rules, unless piracy has their own rules for getting them. Degredation starts to add up when there's twenty-something programs, and you get day-long tests to try to find em.

You get a single days long test to find a VPN. Then you spend a few complex actions per program to get them from said VPN. It really is "Tank, I need a blank program", and waiting a dramatically appropriate few seconds.

Monthly degradation doesn't seem like much of a punishment. At worse you refresh them every month and it takes almost a year to even out. *shrug* I guess that is an appropriate punishment in a really long term game. Ah well. Go for it then, grab the pirated stuff and matrix the matrix.

.. Unless your hacking via AR.

Also, it should be noted that any DM in their right mind is going to apply bugs to the pirated software. DMs who don't are in their left mind.

Also also, don't forget to get a R4 Agent program and have him set to find and download all the pirated softs you need every month, right before his program degrades. Let the mook do everything for you, and reap the benefits.

OK, just trying to figure out where all the players are finding these warez sites? And why are the GMs letting them get some of this crap? Go and reread the section on "Finding Pirate Networks" Unwired pg. 94


(Emphasis is mine)

Most people tend to just use the section below it.


So people spend a day looking for a pirate network on the CU so they can get a good Edit program. They find one, but this one has cracked copies of games, movies and some comercial software (like I expect many would). The GM decides that this group of crackers are mostly highschool kids and limits the ratings of everything to 3. They do the search for a rating 5 Edit and succed, but are told the best one they have is the lvl 3 Edit.

A few days later they need a copy of blackhammer and check out the site. No amount of hits will get you that software, because they kids just don't have that type of stuff. The team spends another day looking for another network (but they still know where this one is).

A few months later they need an Analyze program and go to check on the network, but their principle found it hidden on the school network and shut them down. It is now crossed off the list of networks that they know about.

Just my 2cents on how Cracker Networks work.

Folks, you have to use pirated programs for hacking, or the datatrail will ruin you.

or self-programmed!

Why? There is no way to tell Program_Attack_1029833451 from Program_Attack_231513423934 so no one can track you based on your program and only a total moron would use a hacking program that reports to the parent company what you've been hacking and when.

if I were selling legal hacking tools...

Unwired:
In game terms. legal software does not degrade in the way
as pirated software (see p. 109), but leaves a datatrail when used
illegally for hacking (see Registration, p. 115).

Since the software is registered, however, it leaves a datatrail
that allows its usage to be more easily tracked. As a result, hackers
have to be more careful about “cleaning up” behind them.
In game terms, decrease the threshold of any attempts to track
a user who has used a registered program by 1 for each registered
program used. Likewise, increase the threshold of any attempt to
Edit the access log (p. 65) or otherwise eliminate traces of the datatrail
by 1 for every registered program used while hacking a node

And if you write your own program they degrade as well.

Pirated programs are the only viable option for hackers. There is no need to punish them for using them.

All legal programs are issued with Registration and Copy Protection; when you remove those, the monthly updates also stop coming.


I think Unwired tried very hard to do good things, but in their attempt to cram in more features they made the system rather buggy and unwieldy. Ironically, given the subject. A while back someone described Unwired as the result of computer geeks trying to inject realism into the previously rather abstract and stylized matrix systems. ("Ooooh, and we should have pirated and open source software. And viruses, and botnets, and SOTA, and...")

I find that we've had to use some houseruling to reduce the complexity of Unwired to something manageable.
- We cut out Program Options. The only ones I really liked were Addictive, Psychotropic, Black IC for Simsense, Registration and Copy Protection...
- We silently ignore software piracy as a cheap alternative. Any hacking tool you can download for cheap was also bought by the security industry, and ceases to be SOTA in a matter of hours.
- Software degradation applies only to security-related programs. Those are in an arms race; everything else stays viable.

When I compare Unwired and Street Magic, it makes me want to play a mage; the system is so much cleaner. You don't have to choose between a hundred different options and combinations.

These are the sorts of reasons that I never liked unwired much.

This was changed in the errata to Unwired; self-written programs do not degrade (at any defined pace). It seems that planned obsolescence was the bad guy after all, and it applies to pirated ware (strangely enough.)

Or perhaps something along the lines of the idea that it would be very easy for someone who wrote the program themselves to keep it up to date, but if they just downloaded a program from some site, then they have no idea how it was coded, and the effort of learning how would be equivalent to writing a program of your own.

I think it has more to do with the amount of it being used and the availability. If you post your self-written software to a warez board then it will degrade. If less then 10 people have it then it won't. It has to do with the how the program exploits or does damage. They need the code base or the records of a bunch of attacks to be able to write counter code to protect the loop holes that the program exploits. If you don't let people see your secret sauce then it shouldn't degrade (or at least not as fast).

Not sure if that means that some programs like edit or browse would ever degrade then, but who knows. Maybe the nature of code in the future gets corrupted easily.

Hmm, that is a very good way of looking at it actually.

And I don't think common use programs should degrade at such a rapid rate. Maybe every year or so it might to represent new versions coming out, making the old ones 'obsolete' but that is kinda odd that a new version of MS word coming out would make the old versions less effective (Which is far from the truth, I use notepad all the time and it is only slightly less powerful than word AFAIC)

Most people forget that players can degrade enemy software too using exploits.

Unwired pg 96



So if you take into account software makers are basically doing the same thing to patch up their programs to keep them from degrading as well. I had a hacker once who spent a lot of spare time just looking for exploits in common pirate warez just so he would have an edge against other hackers.

We've overthrown the RAW SOTA system from Unwired, deeply unhappy with it. We're experimenting with the following:

- Each Common Use and Hacking program has a SOTA rating (1-48)
- SOTA ratings drop by 1 every month
- The square root of a SOTA rating is the program's Rating (1->1, 4->2, 9->3 etc.) Round down.
- The program's SOTA is it's Availability
- SOTA 4 and lower programs are available for free
- Common Use programs cost SOTA*20 , and Hacking costs SOTA*200 .
- Raising a program's SOTA can be done with a Logic+Software test; interval 1 week for Common Use and 2 weeks for Hacking. every hit adds a SOTA.
- Patches are available; in legal programs they just come through the mail. Illegal ones must be bought; from someone who has the same program that you want to patch. (I.e. no S-K upgrades to your Renraku Exploit program). Upgrades cost their SOTA difference with your program.

We made a sheet that's basically a [# of programs * 48] field of squares; you fill in the SOTA you have on each program, and the nearest Rating printed (at 1, 4, 9, 16 , 25, 36) shows how dated your software currently is.

It still needs testing for balance, but it's not as weird as the Unwired system, while still adding the sense of urgency SOTA should be adding. It also equalizes piracy, freeware etc.

How is pirated ware balanced? If your pirated ware is traded at a lower Availability, it's SOTA will quickly sink to that level, as all the security vendors pick up a copy and take countermeasures.

This makes programs have an absurdly high availability. A rating 4 has availability of 16, and a rating 5 has a 25 availability, making it notably harder to find than heavy milspec armor.

What happens with fractions? Does it round down or to nearest?

It rounds down. I wanted the Rating 6 programs to be truly valuable, yeah. Something to work towards, not available from the start.

Well, my concern was more with the fairly middling 4 and 5 programs, but...

You do realize that a rating 6 program isn't just difficult to acquire, it is virtually impossible to do so right?

Availability 36 means that you'd need a DP of roughly 16 to find the program (And it would take something like three months to track down).

I guess that you could simply improve the program up to that level though... which does make alot more sense.

Ah well, I actually do like your method now, it gives hackers something to actually work towards instead of just starting out with all maxed out programs and never having any real means of advancement.

I was inspired by William Gibson's novels, where the protagonist is given cutting edge military software that's years ahead of anything normal hackers can come by. I wanted that effect without having to introduce Rating 9 software (6 is the limit).

As a side effect, skill becomes more important than software, and script kiddies are in trouble.

I thought six was just the general limit while you could still program software above that?

RAW it is, yeah.

Six is the (almost) hard and fast limit by RAW.

It makes mention of if you have bleeding edge military software that is supposed to be ultra amazing and yadda yadda yadda then you have a rating 7 program. This suggests that a 7 is supposed to be rare beyond reason, and that anything higher doesn't exist.

Just to derail the thread slightly:

What should one be looking for in a good hacker? I'm used to building characters that rely on actual attributes, but as far as I can tell, hackers can have extremely low attributes and still function well. With hackers, it looks like a 4 in cracking and electronics and some good programs are all you need.

Don't forget about all the ware out there that can give you boosts. If possible break your skillgroup to get hacking up to 6 (or maybe even 7), since the most important skill is by far hacking (not a big surprise really). Other than that, yeah, there is no statistical reason for your hacker to be smarter than a sack of bricks, he'll be just as good at hacking as a super-genius would be (Though make sure GM won't be using the optional rules of Attribute + Skill max hits program rating or Skill + Program max hits Attribute).

Derail.. Rerail..

Consider if you want to be able to use social engineering.
I was at a computer security conference last month; one of the speakers commented: "We only do technical security testing; social engineering attacks always work anyway."

Implants are important; particularly an Encephalon II (which is expensive!)

Intuition is useful; it's the only stat used in determining your matrix initiative.

Simsense Booster is useful for VR; but if you wanna use AR, it's not needed (nor is Biofeedback Filters! No dumpshock or biofeedback damage in AR!)

Consider if AR is truly the way though; a lot of actions are Free in VR that are Simple in AR, and so on. VR is a LOT faster.

If you go VR, get a biomonitor that's not driven by your PAN, but with a killswitch to your commlink. If you get hacked and attacked with biofeedback, it'll switch off your commlink. (As long as it receives no input except manual and it's own readings, it should be immune to subversion.) Choose a reasonable setting at which it will automatically jack you out (not too sensitive, not too loose).

Doesn't shutting off your own commlink while in VR hit you with dumpshock?

Yes, but it might be better than the alternative.. (Although 5P dumpshock for full VR is pretty intense.)

Cold VR with Simsense Booster seems the best I think.. you get 3 IP, and dumpshock and biofeedback are still Stun. If your biomonitor-lifeguard shuts off the commlink whenever you lose consciousness, you should be safe-er. Unless they trace you and come and get you Maybe a medikit set to auto-treatment whenever the biomonitor intervenes?

Remember kids: don't do hot VR without someone standing besides you keeping an eye on you.

Wrong, see errata.

From what I can tell I'm probably the only software engineer with considerable experience actually reading this thread. What I have done with hacking to inject some realism while balancing out the bugs is this:

1) Software is free, with the exception of things like Activesofts that take significant development input. Everything else is mostly done by evolutionary computation or other AI-driven programming at this point. If you're a corp coder you're coding automated software generation tools, not software. This is happening in industry RIGHT NOW. By 2070? Standard. Also, the fact that anyone doing anything industrially advanced is either intranetting or open-sourcing their stuff. There's no middle ground like Microsoft anymore - they just got gobbled the fuck up for their bad business methods that stop being profitable when people tighten their belts and start thinking about money. Big corps buy software because it's been custom-developed. The masses download open-source projects, ESPECIALLY hackers, who often need to modify programs on the fly.

2) Hacking programs? Ratings? HAHAHAHA. Bunch of scriptkiddies. That's ALL gone - hacking programs are still there, mostly for memory and response requirements, because that does make sense. Ratings are irrelevant and it's now a Skill+Logic test. Logic is now an important attribute and that troll with a Log of 1 is not going to be an amazing hacker anymore. The scriptkiddie stuff is still available, and can replace your Logic stat with a rating of up to 3, but it degrades FAST.

3) The old rules for limited initiative passes with AR are in effect. If you've got 4 passes in the meat, you're still down to 2 in AR - the interface can only respond so fast. Hot and Cold Sim work as normal.

Where is that rule from? I never recall anything saying that you were limited to a max of 2 passes in AR.