From Silencer/suppressor, SR5 p432



That's the most ridiculous thing I've read in the book so far.

Is it listening for someone yelling "HEYGUYZ, I HURD SOME SUPPRESSED GUNSHOTS IM GUNNA CHECK IT OUT?" And if it's listening for someone changing direction and approaching you or something, why doesn't it tell you this all the time instead of only after you fire your weapon? Shouldn't that just be a bit of software available for cyberears or any other audio receiving 'ware or tech?

Pretty sure I'm going to pretend that bit of text isn't in the book.

It is sort of stupid and I am pretty sure, that its stupidity has been noted during playtesting... yet it is in the book... why ever.

Still, while I can bend my mind around ways to make this work somehow... in there it has nothing to do with silencers or gunshots...
So yeah why the hell do I have to fragging shoot for that piece of crappy software engineering, to tell me, that someone takes notice of me, or is headed my way...?

If the silencer has to have a wireless bonus, then why doesn't it at least do something directly related to what that thing is doing. Maybe it can wirelessly access data that enables it to supress the sound even better? Noise canceling frequency and such.

Suggestion:

"Wireless: The silencer/suppressor features a Rating 2 microphone with Rating 2 Select Sound Filter and simple
software that detects surrounding noises and frequences, while adjusting the own noises into a ideal direction.
This advancement raises the dice pool modifier on all Perception Tests to notice
the weapon’s use or locate the weapon’s firer by additional -2 to overall -6."

Don´t know if this actually works, but sounds much more consistent to me.

So the suppressor would have movable baffles to direct sound in a direction?

I think if I were to try and write up something that halfway made sense, I'd go with:

"Wireless: The silencer/suppressor features a Rating 2 microphone with Rating 2 Select Sound Filter that wirelessly connect to the user's commlink or cyberdeck, where it utilizes the master device's higher processing power to calculate opposing audio frequencies and then broadcasts them via small speakers to cancel out even more of the fired shot's sound. This advancement raises the dice pool modifier on all Perception Tests to notice the weapon's use or locate the weapon's firer by an additional +1, to an overall -5."

Minus 6 seems awfully high for an additional, additional bonus (which is really what wireless bonuses are).

All in all, though, it's just a piece of gear that doesn't warrant or need a wireless bonus at all. The fact that the bonus given in the text is pants-on-head silly is just icing on the nut cake.

Reacting to the OP, that is a rather stupid bonus. So what happens if a decker happens to brick the suppressor? Does it no longer silence gunshots?

So yes, it literally does allow you to set two sounds or patterns of sounds for alert. I'd use it to listen for approaching footsteps and sound patterns being interrupted after firing, but you're perfectly able to make it listen for stupid things a la Eidolon's opening post.

Unless there's mechanical action involved in the workings of a silencer, I'd imagine it's like bricking a katana that has electronics in the hilt.