What would be considered the barebone gear and skills setup for infiltrators, street sams and gunslingers in general ?

Let's get in context :

Let's say you got the Ultrawideband Radar, an Ultrasound sensor, and all kinds of exotic sensors on you. Your infiltration is top notch (around 20 dp), same for Perception. You defense pool is high, your armor is either decent or impressive. Anyone unprepared to your attacks dies in half an IP. You're all cybered up, ready to rip guards apart.

But you start to ask yourself : can I do better ? I mean I could be hacked, or detected through various enemy sensors. Also, I could be ambushed and die a horrible fate if I don't pay attention to those spies beyond the cameras. Maybe getting some matrix skills and a fez tech-toys would help avoid that ?

Then, let's say you want intelligence on a location, either to slaughter everyone or simply to get in and out unscathed. You start to think that mapsofts combined with an Orientation System might help you find your way, and your radar would warn you in advance or incoming enemies.

Then you think : drones could help me cover a nice area with mobile surveillance, I wouldn't be so easy to trap if I had foreknowledge !

And tacnets get on your mind. Those could boost your trademark abilities as well as provide your team with all kinds of info you have on hand, but should really share with others.

But you need wireless for all that, and you could be hacked... still, you want to talk to your pals (you don't feel like doing all this alone, eh?).
--

Given that it's not a fighters main task to hack the Bank of America or control a security node from home, how does one get the minimal matrix skills and gear, at bargain price, in order to be more efficient on the job ? Commlinks, Tacnets, Skills (Data Search, Computer, etc.), Softwares, etc. ?

Stealing or pirating, like any hacker. Also skillwires.

For defense, max Firewall, Encrypt, and Analyze. You can also throw in some basic IC/Agent, or a Databomb. And if you have the room, a Stealth program.

For offense, as Mardrax said, Skillwires are great for getting the skills cheaply. Most important is Hardware, for overcoming maglocks or tapping in to physical devices onsite (allowing the team hacker to piggyback in from the safety of their own home). Also good: Data Search for finding out about your target. Computer for doing pretty much anything on your own commlink (from designing a new paint job for your Ruthenium polymered heist-van to slaving devices). Software if you want to write your own code (so not as important).

In the Cracking group, Electronic Warfare for jamming, signals interception, and defense against jamming. Hacking for spoofing simple commands (open, door!) could be quite useful for an infiltrator. Cybercombat shouldn't be needed.

The first question, obviously, is whether your group has a hacker or a Techno. If your group has a hacker, you should be able to piggy back on copies of his software and tie yourself in to his defensive grid. If your group has a Techno, you probably won't be able to piggy back his software but he can find pirated copies for you and if you can slave you commlink to his personal node your security is golden.

If so, then you simply duplicate whatever the hacker/Techno uses and you're golden. There's plenty of room to get creative, for example you could load up all that hacker's wonderful malware into a couple optical chips and go around the corporate headquarters inserting them into any system you want crashed. Moneywise though, you're golden, it's just a challenge of how best you can use your hacker's toys.

If not, things get complicated. The most important thing you need is an optimized Browse program. That allows you to get pirated software, which is critical to keeping costs down, and you need it optimized because you're not seriously going to spend Karma on Data Search. For defense, the simplest thing I can think of is to get a directional antenna and go to hidden mode. Hidden mode means they have to Sniff you out before they can hack you and directional antenna only broadcasts a signal in a 90 degree arc, meaning that the mutual signal range requirement for hacking is almost impossible but you should still be able to link up with at least one teammate.

One thing to keep in mind as a sammie is that your cyberware, including your senseware (especially your senseware), should be DNI-only. If you need to communicate with your teammates, use an external commlink (with maxed-out firewall), and if you need an image link to go with any of it, have it on glasses or goggles - something that can be discarded if it gets hacked.

The biggest thing you can do to protect yourself from hacking is network segregation.
Just flat out don't connect stuff that doesn't need to be connected.

Good use of Clustering and Slaving to cut down on your # of subscriptions and to put weaker nodes behind high-firewal nodes is a good practice too.

This depends on how much money you're willing to throw at the problem.

At the very least, Analyze 6. add Ergnomic and Optimized if you need to. Run it in auto-mode constantly.
Ditto encrypt 6.
Data bomb it. Those things are nasty.
Computer skill helps.
Get an Agent. Have it scan and watch over your nodes and cyberware. Unlike you, it doesn't need to sleep. Remember that Optimized programs work while in its payload too.
Trick said agent out with high rating analyze and the homeground autosoft.
That covers defense.
And -always- run Stealth.

I kind of thinkg most/every successful runner in shadowrun should have at least -some- skill with AR/The matrix, just to be a successful criminal in a heavily computerized environment. Sadly, it doesn't always work out to be affordable, with cracking/electronics groups @ 1 costing 20bp. If you're looking for more offensive uses of the Matrix..

Analyze(to double-check your AR surroundings for traps) and Spoofing(for vending machines, door locks, and other small things like free lifestyles) seem to be the best for someone not willing to waste a ton of points on being a semi-hacker.

Its also worth noting that War! has advanced auto-mapping software available. Its a good combo with a tacnet.

Matrix is probably the most alien dimension of SR to anyone coming from other game settings. I must've read that chapter thrice, and yet I don't have a good grasp at what's important or not. Being a perfectionist, it's something I can't stand. How do you weight the value of 30K nuyen of matrix-related gear versus weapons and B&E tools when you don't know how frequent matrix-based challenges are likely to crop up for you ?

It's really when I was looking at all the benefits of knowing a few tricks related to sensors, drones and tacnets that I tried to get back to the commlink/software/skill issue. What do you guys do in this area ? Do all your combat-based chars run a rating 6 Firewall with rating 6 analyze and stealth programs ? There is always a cost-efficiency balance to strike, and the opportunity cost that goes along... and if bioware doesn't come cheap, it certainly is not so cheap to trick-out a semi-hacker. So what do you usually pick ? Do you have archetypal character sheet examples ?

A nova hacker can certainly be expensive, but it's your basic diminishing-returns curve. You can get 75% there for like 25k, right? No reason that almost anyone in 2070 shouldn't have a hack-in-the-box setup. Hacking challenges come up as often as you initiate them (on the one hand), and then, yes, it depends on your GM. Still, it's a 5-ish BP investment for a whole other aspect of the game.

Honestly, I think a Casual/Street level matrix game might be interesting. Ratings of 3-4, where you're not seeing humongous dice pools.

Lesee. Things to keep in mind about the matrix...

Most things are Opposed tests. If they're not, its probably a threshold instead.
A good example is Stealth. When hacking/probing onto a node, your own Stealth rating is the threshold the node has to match to detect you. In the caseof hacking on the fly, its an extended test: the node gets to roll each time you roll. If it detects you, it puts out an alert on you(which carries a +4 firewall penalty, which raises your own threshold to break through. Alerts also restrict your user rights. For probing, the hacker has a higher threshold to make, but only has one chance to get spotted. Either way, getting detected sucks.) Once you're actually INSIDE a node, Stealth lets you Oppose other Analyze/Matrix Perception tests.

Its a similiar thing with encryption(Rx2 to break) and databombs(hacking+defuse vs Rx2), really.

Consider Availability for a moment. Common use programs have -. Hacking have rx2. Options are +1 for common use options, +2 for hacking.
Therefore, you can start with Rating 5 hackware with an option or two, or a rating 6 program.
Then consider standard device ratings. Pretty much everything starts at 3. Security gear/drones are 4, and milspec stuff starts at 5 or so(before war and milspectech).

Response limits System Limits Program rating. Therefore, most casual-entry level stuff starts at around a dice pool of 6-8. Firewall at 3, system of 3 means you can run an analyze of 3, etc.
It starts to get a little more complex when you consider options and ware and specializations and the like, and then try to apply that to the NPCs in a world. I strongly suggest finding the 'sample corporate spiders rating 1-6' in unwired, page 68 or so
The same thing applies to IC and Agents/Pilots running on some nodes. A security drone, for example, probably has an autosoft of 3 or 4, and can just straight out run it.

The biggest piece of advice i can give you to understanding and comprehending the matrix is...... pick up Unwired, and read the first 90 pages or so. Topology, security examples, that kind of thing. It really, really helps to fill in the blanks and give you an idea of how the system is put together.
I know some GMs really hate that book, and don't want to touch it with a 10 foot pole. AI rules, techno-crap, and annoyingly complex programs can wait, the first half is hella worth it.
Little things ..... like Data Requests, so you don't have to use Subscriptions for everything, or the rule that lets you have more subscriptions than your limit(past the limit, they count as running programs, so too many network connections cause lag).

Iunno. Is there anything you're looking for in particular?

• Extending the reach of the local friendly hacker past the walls of big organizations (criminal or corporate) and inside their offline networks.
• Maintaining a secure tacnet involving multiple spydrones that, contrary to other gear, can't be skinlinked and left disconnected, thus relying on some kind of wireless network to control and communicate with them.
• Communicating with teammates and involving them in the tacnet.
• Avoiding being hacked. Now that would be humiliating ("I turn your senses off and give you nervous seizures...").
• Not dying.
• ...
• Profit !

Ok, here we go, very basic setup. It's been a while since I gave this setup much thought so there's probably a few bugs, hopefully some kind and wise fellow will point them out.

Tip #1 Use Hidden mode
Don't want to get hacked? Don't give them an opening. There's two ways for your commlink to get hacked: through the Matrix or through mutual signal range. Go to hidden mode and they can't get to your link through the Matrix. That leaves mutual signal range. Any commlink can do this, your commlink is either in Public mode, Private mode, or Hidden mode. For a commlink with hacking software or anything vaguely illegal, you should always be in hidden mode or off.

Tip #2 Use Directional Antenna
Directional Antenna is a little 200 pickup from Unwired that boosts your Signal by 2 in a 90 degree arc and drops it to 0 for the other 270 degrees. Originally intended as a cute way to boost your signal, it's actually an awesome defensive device because your signal is effectively 0 to most of the world, meaning you are basically never in mutual signal range, meaning you can't be hacked. Remember, they can only hack you via the Matrix or by being within mutual signal range. If your signal range is 0, they could stand right in front of you and still couldn't hack you. Just be careful with that 90 degree arc. It's your only connection to the Matrix so if you want to use tacnets, drones, etc that they need to be within that 90 degree arc. Also, any hacker in that arc can hack you. Your position and those of your teammates will become very important. Still, for 200 that ain't bad.

Tip #3. Pirate everything
Don't buy at chargen. Don't, don't, don't. If you don't need to hack at chargen, then start out with a Commlink with decent Response and a low/mediocre signal, whatever Firewall and System you can get away with, and an optimized Browse program. Look up pirated programs in Unwired, the ones that allow you to download any software (including firewall and system) at 10% of the price and no Availability, just one extended Data Search test. Dedicate some downtime between runs to looking up a few critical programs and ignore the rest. For example Analyze, Encrypt, Data Bomb, and Stealth are all awesome defensive programs. Buy them legally at Chargen at R6 will run you 24,000, the pirated version will run you 2,400 and about 400 a month to keep them up-to-date.

Tip #4. Optimize everything.
In Unwired there's a lot of Program Options, cool little add-ons that improve the program. The only one you should care about is Optimize. It allows you to run high powered software on bad hardware. For example, for a couple hundred nuyen, you can run an R6 Encrypt program on an R3 Commlink. That's golden.

Tip #5 Get an Agent.
If you're not a hacker or a Techno you want an agent (if you are a hacker/techno, you want agents plural). Your agent should have as high of a rating as you can get, it should be without a doubt your first pirated program, and you want two options on it: Optimization to let it run on your Commlink and the Fuzzy Logic boost (don't quote me on the name) that improves it's decision making abilities. Your Agent is going to do two things for you.
First, it's gonna spoof your lifestyle. You might have noticed that keeping all this nice software up to date is getting expensive once you add in your lifestyle cost. Spoofing your lifestyle is an extended test that allows you to have your lifestyle for free. You'll need to get your agent the Exploit program but whenever you're not running your Agent can be working on spoofing your lifestyle and saving you 2,000-5,000 nuyen a month. You don't have to do a thing, the agent will do the extended test for you, all you have to do is issue the order.
Second, it's going to simplify the Matrix for you. Give it an AR icon and a bit of a personality (a secretary, butler, detective, whatever floats your boat) and whenever you're using your commlink you have an invisible little friend you can issue orders to who will go and carry out your wishes on the Matrix. Want to run a background check on a Johnson but you're not familiar with Data Searches? Your agent can do that, just tell it "find some background info on this guy". Need to hack low rating commlink? Your agent can do that, just tell it "hack that guy's commlink." Need to know how many commlinks or wireless devices are nearby? Your agent can do that! Instead of being familiar with the Matrix, you can issue orders to your agent and since the agent is technically an NPC your GM doesn't have to roll anything, he just tells you the result.

Edit for Quake:
Extending the reach of the local friendly hacker past the walls of big organizations (criminal or corporate) and inside their offline networks.
There's a minidrone for that. Check Arsenal.

Maintaining a secure tacnet involving multiple spydrones that, contrary to other gear, can't be skinlinked and left disconnected, thus relying on some kind of wireless network to control and communicate with them.
and
Communicating with teammates and involving them in the tacnet.
If you want a fully secure tacnet, you need at least a rigger, a hacker or techno is recommended. If those aren't available, I recommend using the Directional Antenna trick above and being very careful. You best bet is probably to have one node/commlink controlling the tacnet, wall it up with Encrypt and Analyze, then have everyone else send their Agents with Analyze and some kind of attack program over to defend that node. Not great but as good as you're probably gonna get.

After my post above, I thought i'd come back to this.

In my game, I don't think the other members ofthe team really bothered with running high-end software. At one point, we yelled at the mage for running the tacnet on a hilariously poorly secured commlink.
Its been my experience that people really neglect the matrix when making characters. Most people don't even grab an analyzer.
Matrix security was pretty much always seen as the hacker's domain, and he's supposed to take care of it. Which is kind of unfair, if they're not willing/don't know what to get to have decent protection in the first place.

The least you can do when making a character is grab a Pro user suite and a high rating, Optimized encrypt.
IC/Agents start to get expensive.
I have to say, my favorite piece of ware for a hacker is PuSHeD. Its fairly cheap for a +1 to pretty much all your hacking tests. If you're taking the dive to hot-sim(which, i'd like to point out, you should with moderation: there's no reason you can't swap between AR/Cold/Hot at will. Hotsim isn't an irreversible change. ), its fairly easy to get a +3 when you need it.
In general, getting your common use programs at rating 6/Optimzied 3/Ergonomic is fairly cheap. Its also hella worth is because it basically means you don't have to keep track of your program load, and thats just a general relief for any non-hacker. It also means you can get your full 6 dice running your ware on a rating 3 link. Its a nice compromise.

While Analyze 6 might be top notch, I would go with Iris Anti-Virus. You get Purge 5 (w/ Virus Resistance 3) AND Analyze 5 (w/ Virus Resistance 3). The beautiful thing about Iris is that both programs run at the same time and only count as one program.

You barely have to worry about program load anyway. The penalties for bogging down the Response are less than a slap on the wrist for most tasks. Cybercombat, yes, but not terribly much else.

There are various non-wifi methods of communication in unwired. Specifically, Beam links - laser, microwave. Ultrasound is another possibility, but not very well supported.
Plug-in wifi adapters are also excellent(and also in unwired) ways of providing wi-fi access to devices which don't(or shouldn't) have it.

In many movies and shows, you'll have a team thief sneak into a building to plant a bug or transmitter for their hacker to use. It works similiarly in shadowrun: You typically want to get relays, transmitters, sometimes even hard unjammable fiber cable inside a target facility. I'm a fan of the micro-tapper drone for this.

This is an old thread, but a goodie. Steal it for ideas.
I especially liked the Bust-a-move beat with gecko grips, and laser comms. Get it next to a window, inside the anti-wifi wallpaper, and make people think it just got lef there.

Avoiding being hacked: Network segregation. Okay, so you have a tacnet. Using what senses? If you can avoid it, don't connect your cyberwear to the tacnet. Use glasses, goggles, external/strapped on sensor packages. If it DOES get compromised, you just take your gear off and don't worry about someone messing with your cyberwear.

Tacnet coordination is...... ..... honestly something you shouldn't have to worry about. Once the team is connected, its supposed to take care of coordinating the members themselves. A rating 2 tacnet is within the availability to start with, and, if you run a Centralized Tacnet, not that expensive to setup for your team. You just need to make them aware of the sensor requirements.

Minor nitpick: Signal 0 still has a range of a few meters.

However, this is good advice. Directional Antennae own.

I would disagree. In the middle of a hack, I don't want to waste actions loading and unloading programs. I want to get in, get what i need, and get out before I'm detected.

This means:
Stealth - always.
Analyze- always
Edit - to change access logs and cover your tracks
Decrypt - absolutely necessary to break into nodes and files.
Exploit - also absolutely necessary to break in.
Spoof(for traces). If you need to redirect a trace, you WANT it preloaded.
Biofeedback filter. If you're hotsimming, and you should be, you want it on all the time.
Eccm: Getting jammed into dumpshock sucks. AND can hurt/kill you.
Defuse: If you run into a data bomb, you want it ready.
Scan: If you can't find nodes, you can't hack them. This one you can have on standby, i guess.
Sniffer/track/attack/armor are kind of situational. If you're doing it right, you probably won't need them. If you are doing tacnet spoof games/intercepting traffic, then you WILL need sniffer.

Thats 10 programs, 3 of which are common use. Assuming a rating 5 commlink, Grabbing Ergonomic on your common use programs saves you a dice of Response.

In general, thats not a big deal. Its 'only' your Initiative and Cybercombat Defense pools, which matter less up until you get caught.

Unless you're rigging. Then every point of response matters, because its half your dice pools in a drone.
And if you're running a tacnet, with drones, and are interested in keeping your drone, then you may have to rig/defend them.

That's my point. You're *not* worrying about loading things, because Response Degradation is basically meaningless for most (esp. non-hacker) uses. As you agreed. Same thing for Subscription Limit (because extra subscriptions act as extra programs).

Yeah, that's why one of my non-hacker players seem to see the Network Bottleneck lifestyle flaw as basically a freebie point. I don't really blame him. Two less response is a bit crappy, but it's really not a big deal if all you do from home is just run-of-the-mill Data Searches. And really, that's probably all you should be doing. Dabblers really shouldn't be doing matrix intrusions from their own home with or without the flaw given the way Trace works, and even pros would have to be more than a touch arrogant to just always assume they won't be spotted and will have all the time in the world to edit away access IDs. In theory, it hurts their ability to defend their home turf on the 'trix, but in practice all most dabblers really want from their mooks is a warning so they can shut their gear down and call in their hacker teammate or hacker contact to clean up the mess anyway.

"Hey, um, Datamancer, yeah, it's Cutty again. It, um, happened again." "Which porn sites were you visiting this time?" "... ... ... Asian Elf Happy Endings. With Simsense." "*Sighs* At least you're not trying to deny it any longer."

Keep in mind you can only run as Many Ergonomic Programs on your link as your Response Attribute. You really need to pick and choose your programs. But you are right, in that you can save a Response degradation if you are judicious.

Dirk Gently wore a fez (which looked like a lampshade) and it stood him in good stead. This is my favourite piece of equipment suggested in this thread so far.

I'm currently playing a face, and love the above idea of having a matrix monkey to do my bidding (agent), so I thought I'd put the ideas above into action. While not capturing 100% of the details (it would have been a book), PoliteMan's ideas are top notch. Below I've included the steps I took to build what PoliteMan conceptualized, and some of the items of note. If I'm out to lunch on anything, please let me know. The whole thing cost me 8265 nuyen and around 6 days of in-game time.

Thanks again to PoliteMan.

Items of Note:

- Optimizing Agents. (uw115) Unless I'm reading it wrong, agents and pilots can't be optimized, meaning that the max limit for them is the sys rating of the commlink. No biggie in terms of cost / time invested / effectiveness, but it's something I had to accomodate for.
- Spoofing Lifestyle with an agent. (uw101) Again, unless I've got it wrong, this is basically getting a mook to spoof your lifestyle, which requires the 'Unrestricted' designation for the pirated agent. Again, I worked around it, but I thought it was good to know.
- Fuzzy-Logic for Agents = Adaptability Autosoft 3 (uw113)
- Pirated Software from Matrix = (UW94,109)
- Spoofing lifestyle clears the upkeep costs for pirated software, but those updates can be pirated on a monthly basis as well.(UW94,109)

Edit- Almost forgot: Commlink: Novatech Airwave (optimized for browse) w/ Novatech Navi: Response 3, Signal 3, System 4, Firewall 3, Browse 6 with optimization 2 (uw115/198)

Summary of Actions:
1 – Use Commlink to Get a pirated agent with the following:
- Agent 4 (unrestricted - uw101)
- Pilot 4
- Adaptability Autosoft 3 (uw113)

Tests:
A) – Find Network that can get the pirated programs (one time test): Extended Data Search + Browse (8, 1 day) = 9(8, 1day) = 4 days with purchased hits

B) – Find Each Item on that Network: Extended Data Search + Browse (Availability + Desired rating, 1 Combat Turn)
- Agent 4 (unrestricted) = 9(18, 1 combat turn) = 5 minutes with purchased hits = 1200
- Pilot 4 = 9(12, 1 combat turn) = 3 minutes with purchased hits = 300
- Adaptability Autosoft 3 = 9(9, 1 combat turn) 5 minutes with purchased hits = 750

Total Cost: 2050

2 – Upload browse program to Agent.
Tests: None

3 – Tell agent to get Pirated Programs on it's own (UW94,109)
- Find Each File: Extended Data Search + Browse (Availability + Desired rating, 1 Combat Turn)

Tests:
- Analyze 6 (optimize 2) = 10(7, 1 Combat Turn) = 2 minute with purchased hits, 1 avail, 630
- Command 6 (optimize 2) = 10(7, 1 Combat Turn) = 2 minute with purchased hits, 1 avail, 630
- Edit 6 (optimize 2) = 10(7, 1 Combat Turn) = 2 minute with purchased hits, 1 avail, 630
- Encrypt 6 (optimize 2) = 10(14, 1 Combat Turn) = 4 minutes with purchased hits, +2 avail, 825
- Data Bomb 6 (optimize 2) = 10(14, 1 Combat Turn) = 4 minutes with purchased hits, +2 avail, 825
- Stealth 6 (optimize 2) = 10(14, 1 Combat Turn) = 4 minutes with purchased hits, +2 avail, 825
- Exploit 6 (optimize 2) = 10(14, 1 Combat Turn) = 4 minutes with purchased hits, +2 avail, 825
- Spoof 6 (optimize 2) = 10(14, 1 Combat Turn) = 4 minutes with purchased hits, +2 avail, 825

Total Cost = 6015

6 – Tell Agent to spoof lifestyle (uw99) while I did other stuff: Hacking + Spoof(<see chart below>,1day)

Lifestyle Thresholds
Squatter 2
Low 4
Middle 12
High 48
Luxury 100+
Hospitalized Standard Care 15
Hospitalized Intensive Care 30

Low Lifestyle: 10(4,1day) = 2 days with purchased hits
High Lifestyle: 10(48,1day) = 24 days with purchased hits
Luxury Lifestyle: 10(100,1day) = 50 days with purchased hits

Just a note: Because you could not spoof the Luxury in 30 Days or less, you will not get it with Purchased Hits. I would stick with the High.

Agreed. I actually only spoofed low, but I provided the tests to get a baseline of how long it would take.

Ahhh... Yeah, Low is pretty easy.

My favourite is still the fez.

Does anyone use Unwired's Pocket Hacker? For roughly 5000 it seems like a bargain.

(EDIT: I always try to buy the FTL Matrixware Net Wizard for it, so it has other programs to use. For 5400 total, it seems like a capable enough Agent. Does need Spoof 3 though.)

Honestly, I don't understand it. It's in Unwired. It's an agent. It doesn't have mook (Unwired 101). By unwired's own rules it can't use the software it comes with.
Yes, I'd houserule that it's a mook, it's the only thing that makes sense, but even then it's dice pool feels like a glitch waiting to happen.

It's described as an illegal program package, which is the definition of a mook. I would probably only use it in a campaign where the GM handwaves minor hacking.

..i do not have my Unwired w/ me right now, but i do vaguely remember
program can be Optimized only once (upgrade it as acting 1 rating higher?)

allowing by optimization to upgrade programs to sky-high
just buying rating 1 hacking program (500 y) and buying lvl 5 Optimization (500 y/each) ( to bring it act like rating 6 program)
, just somehow just do not seem right to me..

as i look at it, Optimization only allow program to act as 1 rating higher than it is, and that is it..

do i look it as RAW/RAI??

Enemy hackers could be annoying, but network segregation can take care of that. There are only two things you need external connections for: telecommunication and TacNet. It's of course ideal to have Smartlink and TacNet on the same network; I don't think it makes great sense to stack bonuses from TacNet and Smartlink if they can't communicate with each other. But maybe you can just keep them on separate commlinks, linked together with a cable. If you notice someone trying to hack, pull the plug, and your Smartlink is suddenly unavailable for remote access.

Think of it as running in "Autistic Mode", as they do in Ghost in the Shell, when they're dealing with particularly dangerous enemy hackers. You should have a plan for those occasions, and just sucking it up and doing without TacNet for a battle may be better than someone hacking it.

Not quite...

Optimization allos a Powerful Program to run on a less than optimal System. So, you purchase a rating 6 program with an optimization of 3, and you can now run that program at optimal rating (6) on a suboptimal System/Response (Rating 3). It is a nice program option.

..ok..
so if my commlink have system and response 3, i must buy lvl 6 program and lvl 3 optimization to make
it work as lvl 6 program ( Optimization must be 3 lvl otherwise commlinks response/system ratings are stopping it act like lvl 6 program)

right?..

Yes... The Optimization allows the Rating 3 Comlink (Along with the Optimization 3 on whatever rating 6 program) to actually run the Program Rating of 6. If the Optimization was only a 2, then it would allow a Rating 5 Program to run on that particular 'link.

You may be thinking of Optimization on pg 198 of Unwired:

..device can be optimized only once, does that mean if my commlink have 10 programs, i must choose just one to be optimized
and leaving others as it were?

Yes, for THAT type of optimization.
Note that optimization type #1 (running a rating 6 on a response 3) is an add-on for software. Optimization type #2 (running software at +1) is an add-on for hardware. They are different things with the same name.

Ooops... Yep, forgot about the one for devices. Guess I should use it more often.

Forgot to mention. I highly suggest houseruling against Optimization: Tacsoft.

Optimization: Agent doesn't have a lot of appeal to me from a balance standpoint as well.

I'm beginning to think I overlooked this one for mere mortals as well. Optimization: Firewall sounds like a good investment of 500 until I realize it opens the door for Optimization: System and then I throw up in my mouth a little.

No need to houserule: tacsofts do not accept options.

"Pocket Hacker" Software Bundle (Unwired, Page 127.). Always can come in handy!

You are not adding an Option to the Tacsoft. You are adding the Option to the Hardware that RUNS the Tacsoft.

What good would that do? It would add 1 die to every tacsoft roll, not to the tacnet bonus. The only tacsoft rolls are used for pattern matching.

I'm not the one coming up with it, but yes, it would add to the Tacnet ROLLS, not the Bonus dice granted... *shrug*

Good. That makes me feel better. Also means I can ignore my brain fart on System.

Still, makes a nice firewall bonus for non-hackers. Kinda like that. Might be worth investing 1000K to protect my two commlinks a hair more.

Anyone can be a hacker - anyone. Your Logic attribute is NOT used in most of your Matrix dice pools. It is your Active Skill Rating + Program Rating for most all dice pools. Your thick skulled axe wielder with Logic attribute of 1 and a Computer or Hacking of 5 with all his program ratings=6 is just as good as your "geek whiz" and his Logic attribute of 5 or 6.

This is one of the flaws or benefits of the system, depending on your point of view. Makes it easier for people and gm's playing in campaigns where no one wants to be a hacker. But makes it so simple that there is no point to really making a good hacker with a high Logic score....

As for gunslingers: physical adepts are the way to go. You can get dice pools well into the 20's with your preferred type of gun. Silly good.

For street samurai and infiltrators: I prefer bioware over cyberware. It doesn't set off chem sniffers or metal detectors.... DERP! DERP! DERP!!!.... Yeah, none of that please. Bioware is more expensive and still leaves "black holes in your soul" if perceived magically, but it is definitely more stealth than cyberware.

This is seriously oversimplified.
1) There is still cyber/bioware that is beneficial to hackers and precious little else. Not having that ware reduces your effectiveness.
2) While the logic attribute is no longer needed, there are now two skill groups required for the role instead of 1. The karma/BP costs to be a hacker are not cheap.
3) If the table is not using piracy (and note that Missions season 4 does not use piracy), then the gear required for being a hacker is not cheap or easy to obtain and some will have to be obtained after chargen.

Claiming that anyone can be a hacker is like claiming anyone IRL can own a mansion. It's meaningless unless everyone IS becoming a hacker.

Everyone *is* becoming a hacker. You can easily get to about 75%. The specialized stuff and the maxed skills is that last 25%, at vastly increasing cost.