Having started playing a SR 3 game (why did I bother buying SR 4 books around these guys? ) we have had a few rule gripes. (I love it when 3 runs in you are told that there is a rule hidden in a back of a book saying dwarves can't use reach 2 weapons, luckily the actual rule is only for some of them, I still get a combat axe).

Anyway the main rule in contention is smartlink systems and smartlink-2. In Man and Machine the first line for a Smarklink-2 states that it works like a normal smarklink. It then describes the additional smartlink-2 abilities it has, and finally states that Smartlink-2 systems do not work with smartlink guns. I take this to mean you gain no smartlink-2 specific systems (called shots, etc) benefits when you use a smartlink-1 gun, but you get regular smartlink benifits (-2 TN's) as it still works like a smarklink-1. I think there is a line over the page that implies that a person with a smartlink-1 can use a smartlink-2 gun.

One player also has mentioned in SR 2 there was some fluff that talked about gliches when using the two systems together, but what time period would that be?

The main reason why there is a little contention here is I usually have a Predator-II as a throw away gun as they are 100 cheaper and have 1/2 the street index of a Predator-III, making them a common disposible gun, like the first Predator.

So I put it to you, my fellow dumpshock readers and posters, how do you run smartlinks? Is my reading of the rule correct, or thier version based on SR 2 fluff?

Thanks (and tanks) in advance!

It states pretty clearly that if you have smartlink -2 installed and the gun is using smartlink that they are not compatible. However, I would also be willing to make them sync up but have a chance for it to glitch (say 10% chance when turned on) doing such things as feeding inaccuarte info (+TN) ejecting a clip on accident, etc. This also keeps the setting gritty as even your own tech can turn on you inadvertently.

I'd let it be backwards compatible. The price difference is low, and the advantages are nearly the same. Just treat the SL-2 processor as being able to work with SL-1. Either that or require a negligable upgrade to the SL-2 implant to be backwards compatible.

The official errata make them compatible:

Ah awesome thank you! I checked the errata, but not thoroughly enough. Wonder if I can convince them that they don't know 3rd that well so learning 4th shouldn't be too hard!

Cheers again

Did not see that one.

With the detailed smartlink costs in Man and Machine most of our characters generally used two processors (SL-1 and SL-2) sharing the rest of the hardware. The litlle extra essence and nuyen was not that big a problem.

There's something about that combat axe in those errata as well

darn, those must be the sr3 errata, not m&m