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Medicineman
maybe a moderator shouldsplit the WiFi Discussion and turn it into a seperate Thread ?
(I'm afraid we're "Kidnapping" the original thread here smile.gif )

with a seperate Dance
Medicineman
Mach_Ten
QUOTE (Medicineman @ Jan 31 2015, 04:12 PM) *
maybe a moderator should split the WiFi Discussion and turn it into a seperate Thread ?

I doubt that it's possible, seems to me, to be a complex action and he's turned his WiFi off!

biggrin.gif
Redjack
QUOTE (Mach_Ten @ Jan 31 2015, 11:23 AM) *
I doubt that it's possible, seems to me, to be a complex action and he's turned his WiFi off!
I'm running an SR4A matrix connection. No WiFi bonuses.
Bogert
QUOTE (Medicineman @ Jan 31 2015, 09:38 AM) *
A Laserpointer gets a Plus +1 Bonus from being connected to the Matrix WiFi ,and Light is even faster than an Arrow

Traditional laser sights simply follow a straight line out from the gun barrel. Bullets don't travel in straight lines. Perhaps in 2075, Wireless enabled laser sights are smart enough to put a dot where the bullet is actually going to end up, based on wind and bullet drop. They also could help with moving targets, placing the dot based on how fast the target is moving and how much you're leading them. ("Cool, I got the dot to appear on him again, so that's how leading works!" *pulls trigger*)

QUOTE
I got a question, maybe You can help:
real Laserpointers activate automatically if you pull the trigger lightly. No extra Action needed....
why do you need to spend an extra free Action in SR5 ?

Probably just because the designers didn't know about systems like this one. The Crimson Trace people seem to be advertising that as being a competitive advantage, talking about how their system is unique. I don't know much about laser sights, but perhaps many laser sights today do need to be turned on/off with a switch? (In the little video on that page I linked they show that "a competitor's system", which requires flicking a switch to activate, costs a shooter about an extra second.)

The Crimson Trace system does apparently have a master on/off switch, I don't see anything wrong with saying that "activated" and "deactivated" mean whether the master switch is set to on or off, not whether the laser is actually shining. (Presumably, if you're out and about, you'll generally have it switched on, unless you want to try to get a bead on someone stealthily. That way it generally won't cost you any kind of action in most combat situations.)
Medicineman
my point was the Speed of the Item.
if the Matrix can give a bonus to a laser ray it can also give a Bonus to an Arrow or a Bullet which are both slower than Light !
so the WiFi Bonus which is given to a throwing Knive can & should be given also to an Arrow or to a Bullet

Hough!
Medicineman
Sengir
QUOTE (Bogert @ Jan 30 2015, 10:35 PM) *
The character uses the DNI to extend the baton. The baton is electronic, so it can be controlled electronically. Using a DNI is easier than using manual controls.

Except that is not how it works. The sole decisive factor is whether the device's Wifi is on or not, how you interact with the baton is irrelevant.

If the Wifi is off, extending it is a Simple Action, no matter whether you have a cable from your datajack to the baton or are manually pushing a button.
If the Wifi is on it becomes a Free Action, again irrespectively of how you actually activate the baton. Even if the user has no implants, trodes, or anything else which could provide DNI, the magic of wireless makes the baton extend faster.
Mach_Ten
QUOTE (Sengir @ Feb 1 2015, 08:34 PM) *
Except that is not how it works. The sole decisive factor is whether the device's Wifi is on or not, how you interact with the baton is irrelevant.

If the Wifi is off, extending it is a Simple Action, no matter whether you have a cable from your datajack to the baton or are manually pushing a button.
If the Wifi is on it becomes a Free Action, again irrespectively of how you actually activate the baton. Even if the user has no implants, trodes, or anything else which could provide DNI, the magic of wireless makes the baton extend faster.

maybe the full predictive power of the "greater connected hive mind" can act to our benefit?
Maybe its connected nature is not reliant on the subjects decision making to actually extend or not extend a baton?

Maybe the computer is actually subliminally pushing you into a combat situation, where ordinarily you might try negotiation?

IFOWNERHEARTRATE>NORM=YES/NO

IFOWNER<2MFROMSUBJECT=YES/NO

IFOWNERPUPILDILATION<.0002MM=YES/NO

IFQUERIES1_3=YES, THENEXTENDONDRAW

"Hey, is that Jimmy? I thought I saw him with sarah alone last night.. I told him, i catch him with her again and we'd have to talk."
"Man, he's close, really in my face, i just wanna talk... He's getting aggravated, calm down man, i don't want to reach for my baton..."

"My god! I killed him!... How the hell? .. I was just talking.. I know i touched the baton... But then, how did it end up in my hand so quick... Oh man..."

......
Not saying this is right, but it certainly adds a darker side to the connected world.
Not all your free actions .. Are free!
Smash
QUOTE (Medicineman @ Dec 31 2014, 06:19 PM) *
that was my main Pet Peeve (is that the right expression ? ) too....
until Run & Gun where they introduced the way more logical Rules from SR4A (multiple Attacs are possible again)
and right now the only SR5 Char I'm playing regularly is a Troll melee Adept so it's (right now) not much of a concern to me personally, but in General this one attack action per round rule is so completely unexplainiable ingame.....
it might have been ok in a Boardgame , but not in a Roleplaying game .


This is another one of those many examples where for some reason Shadowrun players overthink mechanics.

This type of rule is not excusive to Shadowrun. Let's take d20 for example. In 3rd Ed DnD you can use move action to move. you can also use the standard action to move the exact same distance. So logically, if you can move the exact same distance then surely the action take the same amount of time and thus you should be able to attack with it right? Well no you can't. The community just accepts this outcome with DnD and Pathfinder.

Now the only difference between that and Shadowrun is that the actions have seperate names. Shadowruns approach has been to say that you get 2 of the same action but you can only use one for certain stuff.

Ergo, the mechanism is not really the problem, but rather the name of the action. Not particularly system breaking IMO.
Medicineman
AD&D (or D&D)
has always been a Kind of Boardgame RPG, It developed from a Boardgame, thats why it has Boardgame Elements
(even more in the 4th. ED ) and that's why its ok (for Me at least)
I don't expect better from D&D.
But (HEll ) I expect much better from a serious Roleplaying System !
the more "Boardgame Rules" a RPG has the worse it gets
and if one of these Boardgame Rules destroys/fucks ingame Logic (f. Example I can Shoot twice in an initiative Phase, but I can attack only once. Or I can cast two Spells but only one can be a Combat Spell) its even worse
and If the Developers don't explain these rules even rudimentarily its a total Failure of Game Development (for Me)

Hough !
Medicineman
Cain
You're both right. Smash is correct that even though actions can have the same cost, they aren't the same thing. Medicine Man is correct in that the SR5 book doesn't do a good job of explaining this.
Bertramn
I liked the rule about one attack per round, though it does not make much sense.

Another thing I basically liked was progressive recoil in 5th.
Sadly it overcomplicates things. I had to buy markers to throw at my players to keep track of the recoil.

Though if you combine the two, progressive recoil becomes meaningless.
Medicineman
@ Bogert

QUOTE
Traditional laser sights simply follow a straight line out from the gun barrel. Bullets don't travel in straight lines. Perhaps in 2075, Wireless enabled laser sights are smart enough to put a dot where the bullet is actually going to end up, based on wind and bullet drop. They also could help with moving targets, placing the dot based on how fast the target is moving and how much you're leading them.

A ) I was never writing about Bullets and their Straight Line ! I wonder Why You answer to a total different subject ??
B ) Pistol Bullets in SR have a Range of 50,60 Yards some even less (Colt Agent Special has a Range of 20 Yards) so at this range its still a straight Line.
C ) a Laser Dot gives the same +1 Bonus at 5 Yards as well than at 50 Yards so Your Argument has no value
D) how does a simple laser Dot now where the gun is aiming too ?
does it have the same misterious WiFi Prediction as a Silencer ( with WiFi on a Silencer knows if somebody else heard your Shot.....)

With my previous questions I wanted you to find out for Yourself how wrong these WiFI Bonuses are.(t..to point you in this Direction )
I didn't want to start an Argument because some people get ....Stubborn when they meet resistance or get into a defensive Position which does not allow them to accept other Arguments. Thats why I was "asking" about the WiFI Bonuses.
It was not to bait You or something , just to make You see for yourself how utterly wrong these Bonuses are INGAME.
From the Developers Point of View they make (kinda) sense (sure ).
The Devs want the Chars to activate WiFi so that the Enemy Hacker can ruin their Equipment or Cyberware
(that the developers are totally wrong with their prerequisite Argument (that Hackers in SR4A had nothing to do in a fight and that they need more influence in a Battle or at least something to do) is a big misfortune ,because that is why they started this whole issue)
For me, this whole WiFi Bonuses is a Stick in diguise and not the Carrot on a String.
Luckily in all the SR5 Runs and Sessions I was playing in , not even once did a Decker try to Brick one single Piece of Equipment or Cyberware (because it takes to long to brick it. Its so much faster to kill the enemy stright on with a Gun than it is to brick his Laserpointer so that he looses one of his Dice ).
My Mootpoint is that the WiFi Bonuses make. absolutely. no. sense. Ingame. !

HougH!
Medicineman
Bogert
QUOTE (Sengir @ Feb 1 2015, 02:34 PM) *
Except that is not how it works. The sole decisive factor is whether the device's Wifi is on or not, how you interact with the baton is irrelevant.

If the Wifi is off, extending it is a Simple Action, no matter whether you have a cable from your datajack to the baton or are manually pushing a button.

I talked about this in the second part of my post 45. I can make sense of this.

QUOTE
If the Wifi is on it becomes a Free Action, again irrespectively of how you actually activate the baton. Even if the user has no implants, trodes, or anything else which could provide DNI, the magic of wireless makes the baton extend faster.

I did not think about this, and it pretty much destroys my position. Technically, by RAW, the user doesn't actually need to have a single other electronic item on their person; they could be naked, holding nothing but the baton, and they'll still get a benefit from turning the baton's Wireless on.

I think I was mentally conflating some aspects of Wireless bonuses with parts of the 'Change Linked Device Mode' Free action.


Hm, actually, looking at Change Linked Device Mode again is raising some additional questions. Change Linked Device Mode is available for anyone with a DNI, and you can explicitly do it using either a wired or a wireless link. One example of something you can do using this Free action is change firing modes on a smartgun.

Looking at the description of smartgun systems, they specify that part of the Wireless bonus is that if the system is Wireless, you can change firing modes as a Free action, but there's no mention of a DNI.

So, by RAW, if I have a wired connection to my smartgun, and a DNI, I can change firing modes using Change Linked Device Mode as a Free action, without Wireless.

Also, if my smartgun is Wireless, I can change firing modes using a Free action, with no reference to how I'm interfacing with it. (Again, like the baton, I could be naked, no implants, no other electronics on my person, and I can still get the bonus.)

Look at things like forearm snap blades, or hidden arm slides, it's the same thing. By RAW, you just need the device to be Wireless-enabled, technically, you don't need any interface with the device of any kind.


I'm tempted to just say: Ignore any Wireless bonus that purports to discuss changing device modes or readying. Instead, just use the rules for the 'Change Linked Device Mode' Free action and the 'Change Device Mode' Simple action.

In other words, if you have a DNI, and some kind of link (wired or wireless), you get to do stuff as a Free. Otherwise, it'll cost you a Simple.
Mach_Ten
QUOTE (Bogert @ Feb 2 2015, 04:21 PM) *
Technically, by RAW, the user doesn't actually need to have a single other electronic item on their person;
they could be naked, holding nothing but the baton, and they'll still get a benefit from turning the baton's Wireless on.

Whut?


... really ? ... there's no extra section in the whole shebang that says a connection to a PAN or other, must be made ?

wow, that's ... ummm... something
Medicineman
QUOTE
In other words, if you have a DNI, and some kind of link (wired or wireless), you get to do stuff as a Free. Otherwise, it'll cost you a Simple.

This makes much more sense smile.gif
it was always (since 3rd ed IIRC) that a thought activated mechanism just needs a free Action while a physically activated mechanism needs often a simple (or even a complex )Action


@ Mach Ten
No the Device just needs its WiFI on and it gets the Bonus, thats all it needs and thats what makes no sense at all (to Me)

with a free Dance
Medicineman
Bogert
QUOTE (Medicineman @ Feb 2 2015, 10:04 AM) *
C ) a Laser Dot gives the same +1 Bonus at 5 Yards as well than at 50 Yards so Your Argument has no value

They're rules for a tabletop game, not a physics engine, so you use simplifying abstractions to make it playable.

"So, how is a Wireless laser sight better than one without? How could it use additional information and processing power?

Well, if it has plenty of processing power, it can find range to target, figure out flight time given the muzzle velocity and drag of currently loaded ammunition, and use that to calculate bullet drop basically instantaneously. It could get local weather information, use that to estimate windage. If it detects that you're trying to aim at a moving target, it could adjust for relative changes in lateral position, place the dot accordingly. It could tune the power and color of the laser light to try to adjust for ambient lighting and atmospheric conditions.

How do we want to write that up? A bunch of small reductions of penalties related to range, wind, movement, whatever? Meh, let's just give them a +1."

QUOTE
D) how does a simple laser Dot now where the gun is aiming too ?
does it have the same misterious WiFi Prediction as a Silencer ( with WiFi on a Silencer knows if somebody else heard your Shot.....)

How "simple" the laser sight and silencer systems are isn't really obvious to me. It is 2075, and once Wireless is in play, we've theoretically got access to nearly unlimited processing power from the Cloud.

QUOTE
It was not to bait You or something , just to make You see for yourself how utterly wrong these Bonuses are INGAME.

Some of the Wireless bonuses don't make any sense. The air tank, color changing on the Tiffany Needler, and the general confusion/contradiction between Wireless and DNI stuff that I discussed in my last post.

I think the basic principle is sound, and most of the bonuses are reasonable. I don't think they do any great damage to the setting or to verisimilitude.
Mach_Ten
QUOTE (Medicineman @ Feb 2 2015, 04:28 PM) *
No the Device just needs its WiFI on and it gets the Bonus, thats all it needs and thats what makes no sense at all (to Me)

well, if that floats yer boat smile.gif

Actually, I've been re-catching up on my "Schlock Mercenary" of late, noticed how ALL the devices have a miniscule antennae smile.gif

Now I know.
Medicineman
I would've liked a WiFi Bonus with a Tacnet.
the Hacker/Decker coordinating the Data and leading his teammates and giving them different Bonuses
THAN he would/could act in a fight/confrontation to his best of abilities without even picking up a Gun !
THIS would be a true Carrot because teams using WIFi (and a Decker) get a decisive advantage ....

He who dances with a Carrot
Medicineman
Mach_Ten
QUOTE (Medicineman @ Feb 2 2015, 05:24 PM) *
He who dances with a Carrot

Dude .. you need to lay off the 'Peace Pipe' biggrin.gif
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (Mach_Ten @ Feb 2 2015, 10:30 AM) *
Dude .. you need to lay off the 'Peace Pipe' biggrin.gif


Naah... that's what makes him so entertaining...
Well, that and his dance moves. smile.gif
Shev
QUOTE (Bogert @ Jan 31 2015, 11:22 AM) *
A thrown knife can travel at about 15 m/s. An arrow can do something like 90 m/s. That's a sixfold increase. Comparing a thrown knife to an arrow is about the same as comparing an arrow to a bullet.


Given that a typical .22 LR bullet travels about 340m/s, I would absolutely compare the knife and the arrow.
Medicineman
and how much is that compared to the Speed of Light ?
The Matrix gives a bonus to a laserpointer too wink.gif

with a Dance with the Speed of Light
(see, no, ok , I'll dance again wink.gif )
Medicineman
Bogert
QUOTE (Shev @ Feb 6 2015, 11:21 AM) *
Given that a typical .22 LR bullet travels about 340m/s, I would absolutely compare the knife and the arrow.

Hm? What are you saying exactly?

Going from 90 m/s to 340 m/s is significantly less than a sixfold increase. So, like I said in that post you quoted:

QUOTE
Comparing a thrown knife to an arrow is about the same as comparing an arrow to a bullet.

If, in the Gear section, they'd put tracking/guidance sensors on arrows, would you be on the boards talking about how they should also have put tracking/guidance sensors in bullets as well? You've gotta draw the line somewhere, yeah?
Medicineman
for me the Line has to be drawn either BEFORE the Speed of a throwing knife or AFTER the Speed of Light
If You allow both (which is RAW ) you have to allow a bonus for everything which is in between ....

with a Dance on the Line that has to be drwan
Medicineman
Bogert
QUOTE (Medicineman @ Feb 6 2015, 01:19 PM) *
for me the Line has to be drawn either BEFORE the Speed of a throwing knife or AFTER the Speed of Light
If You allow both (which is RAW ) you have to allow a bonus for everything which is in between ....

with a Dance on the Line that has to be drwan
Medicineman

I've discussed how laser sight bonuses might work several times. Basically, the Wireless functionality of the sight just allows you to aim the laser better. (Similar to how a smartgun system helps you to aim your gun better.)

For the purposes of this discussion (what kinds of things might reasonably include electronic components), the relevant speed isn't the speed of the laser, it is the speed of the laser sight, if that helps to clear things up?
Medicineman
and I told at least once that its not important how it works. its the Speed of the Item that is important

QUOTE
the relevant speed isn't the speed of the laser, it is the speed of the laser sight, if that helps to clear things up?

No, not at all, because it does not make any sense at all !
The WiFi makes the Laser more effective (adds a +1 Bonus ) so it makes somthing that works at the Speed of Light better

QUOTE
Laser sight: This device uses a laser beam to project
a visible dot (in your choice of colors) on the target. This
increases the weapon’s Accuracy by 1, which is not cumulative
with smartlink modifiers. The laser sight can be
attached to either the underbarrel mount or top mount.
Activating or deactivating a laser sight is a Simple Action.
Wireless: The wireless laser sight provides a +1 dice
pool bonus on attack tests, not cumulative with smartlink
modifiers. Activating and deactivating the laser
sight is a Free Action.

none of Your explanations are backed up by RAW

all You do is inventing Stuff so that your explanation makes sense to You but are NOT in the Description of neither the Item nor the Bonus (and by-the-Way do you know which explanation makes sense to me ? Answer: The WiFi Bonus is only there so that Chars switch their Weapons/Items on WiFi so that they can be bricked by NSC Deckers)
QUOTE
If it detects that you're trying to aim at a moving target, it could adjust for relative changes in lateral position, place the dot accordingly. It could tune the power and color of the laser light to try to adjust for ambient lighting and atmospheric conditions.


or use explanations from Smartlink

QUOTE
Well, if it has plenty of processing power, it can find range to target, figure out flight time given the muzzle velocity and drag of currently loaded ammunition, and use that to calculate bullet drop basically instantaneously. It could get local weather information, use that to estimate windage

what are the weather conditions inside a Building at a Target that is 5 Yards away and how big is that influens to a Bullet ?
but these are Questions for the Smartlink and why the WiFi makes the Smartlink better.one Bonus-that-makes-no-sense at a Time wink.gif
Right now the question is:
When the WiFi gives a Bonus to a Laserpointer and the WiFi gives a Bonus to a thrown Knife why shouldn't it give a Bonus to Items which speed is in between those two extremes ???

with a dance between extremes
Medicineman
Not of this World
The Wifi penalties are so horrifically bad that it should just be hauled out back, shot out of its misery, buried, and then pour the proverbial concrete over it. Nobody is going to fully implement this in any practical game session and they need to get real about it.

Then they need to review their archetypes and decide what roles they all perform and make sure "everything has a price" isn't penalizing them from having their proper niche. Cyber seems to pay a very heavy price compared to its magical equivalents that one often just wonders, "why do they bother"? Cyber should be distinct not just for its disadvantages, but the advantages too.
Bogert
QUOTE (Medicineman @ Feb 6 2015, 02:35 PM) *
and I told at least once that its not important how it works. its the Speed of the Item that is important

What do you mean by "Speed of the Item", with regards to a laser sight? You think it is c? Would you say the same about any item that sends out EM waves?

QUOTE
none of Your explanations are backed up by RAW

The book tells us:
"Because nearly every piece of gear and ’ware is wireless capable, it means nearly every piece of gear and cyber- ware benefits dramatically from being “meshed” into your wireless personal area network and the Matrix as a whole."

They give two examples of how this might work:
"Your Ares Alpha can’t auto-adjust for the wind direction and speed if it can’t download local up- to-the-second weather conditions, and your Eurocar Westwind 3000 doesn’t know the status of the next three traffic lights if it’s not connected to GridGuide..."

If you look at the description of the Wireless bonus for a smartgun system, it says:
"Wireless: A wireless smartlink provides a dice pool bonus to all attacks with the weapon: +1 if you’re using gear with a smart link..."

They don't say anything about wind, they just tell you how many dice you get. In general, they don't give us complete descriptions of the systems and functionality of all pieces of gear. You can interpret the stuff they do tell us how you like. My position is that there are reasonable interpretations for most Wireless bonuses, that's all.

(Legitimately bad Wireless bonuses are, by my count: Tiffani Needler color change, Air Tank, the stuff that's essentially Switching Device Modes that confuses Wireless with DNI)
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (Bogert @ Feb 6 2015, 03:19 PM) *
(Legitimately bad Wireless bonuses are, by my count: Tiffani Needler color change, Air Tank, the stuff that's essentially Switching Device Modes that confuses Wireless with DNI)


All the wireless bonuses are bad... More so because the guy who wrote them did not understand how the system worked in the first place, and chose to implement things that HE preferred based upon his definition of Rule of Cool (BY HIS OWN ADMISSION). Sorry, but his choices are decidedly NOT Cool in my book, and are downright ludicrous in many, many ways.
Nath
QUOTE (Bogert @ Feb 6 2015, 11:19 PM) *
They give two examples of how this might work:
"Your Ares Alpha can’t auto-adjust for the wind direction and speed if it can’t download local up- to-the-second weather conditions, [...]

If you look at the description of the Wireless bonus for a smartgun system, it says:
"Wireless: A wireless smartlink provides a dice pool bonus to all attacks with the weapon: +1 if you’re using gear with a smart link..."

They don't say anything about wind, they just tell you how many dice you get. In general, they don't give us complete descriptions of the systems and functionality of all pieces of gear. You can interpret the stuff they do tell us how you like. My position is that there are reasonable interpretations for most Wireless bonuses, that's all.
Wind is an environmental modifier to ranged attack that is compensated by smartlink, per page 174-175, with no regards to whether wireless is enabled or not.
Medicineman
QUOTE
What do you mean by "Speed of the Item",

well I mean the Speed of the Item
the Speed of a Throwing Knive or Shuriken , the Speed of an Arrow, of a Bullet, of Light....
(wifi already gives a Bonus to the first and to the last Item....
and since WiFi bonuses can not be explained within real World Logic or physical laws so they have to be adressed to with purely RAW Logic)

with a speedy Dance
Medicineman
Sengir
QUOTE (Bogert @ Feb 6 2015, 11:19 PM) *
The book tells us:
"Because nearly every piece of gear and ’ware is wireless capable, it means nearly every piece of gear and cyber- ware benefits dramatically from being “meshed” into your wireless personal area network and the Matrix as a whole."

They give two examples of how this might work:
"Your Ares Alpha can’t auto-adjust for the wind direction and speed if it can’t download local up- to-the-second weather conditions, and your Eurocar Westwind 3000 doesn’t know the status of the next three traffic lights if it’s not connected to GridGuide..."

The problem is (again) that the decisive factor solely is whether the device's Wifi is on or off. If you turn off the wireless on your Alpha but connect it to your commlink via cable there is no bonus from auto-adjusting to wind, because it's not wireless. And this isn't some unintended side effect, it is an example of the rules doing exactly what they were built to do -- forcing players to open up their gear so hackers can pull Neo tricks like bricking the enemy's rifle.

I agree that some of the wireless bonuses would make sense as "online bonuses", but that is neither what they are nor what they were inteded to be.
Glyph
GITS-style hacking is fine in GITS, but it is a bit of a Frankenstein's monster if you try to port it into a game where hacking works completely differently. In play, the wireless "bonuses" are typically something most sane players will ignore (turning off their wireless), because when it comes to a +2 bonus for this or that, versus leaving yourself vulnerable to a potentially crippling attack from an undetectable vector, it isn't worth it.

All of this, so deckers could have an attack that they won't get to use that often. Most grunts won't have 'ware to hack, hacking guns and such really doesn't do much, and any enemies with 'ware will probably have their own matrix support protecting them. And like the mage protects the team with counterspelling, the decker gets to be the matrix babysitter, protecting the rest of the team from hostile hacking.
carmachu
To start: quality control sucks. Whether its subject content(WAR!) or editing or proofreading or errata and adding it back in to books. Its been shown elsewhere. Then on top of that, the book is one of the MOST expensive books out there for a core book, with all that bad quality control. The books themselves are hard cover and color and look great. But the content and quality between covers is not. And on TOP OF THAT, that you flip over CGL to its Battletech side and the quality control and content are awesome in comparison and you have one frustrated and pissed off customer.

I cant talk about the rules, there are better qualified people in this thread that have done so already, but some of them are bad- wireless rules and such.

But I can talk about fluff. It sucks, to me. Its completely lost its roots of dystopia, chrome, matrix and coprorations. Too much large plots of elves and dragons machinactions not enough coprorations. Move to bioware and transhumanity and left behind chrome and cyberware. Unified magic that removes the fun and mystery from shamans and hermetics. The current plot of nanites......is a rehash of sorts of unviersal brotherhood(and a couple others like shedim and such).

It feels like it lost its roots. Take wireless internet.....yeah, you spend 20 years hammering corporate extraterratoriality to us and it feels just like that they ceeded control of the new internet to GOD. Ceed control over to someone else. Technology based on one of their rivals.......I'm sure there is more I'm missing but it doesnt feel like shadowrun much anymore. Too much global not enough local.
Sternenwind
Year Cyberpunk,

[img]http://i.imgur.com/uzYiWMx.jpg[/img]

A genre grounded in reality and set in the near future. Unlike Sifi, where you can assume that today political and social problem are “solved somehow” and the technological is beyond our understanding. Cyberpunk is in the danger zone. And has the problem that most of the technology and mechanics are things we still understand. Even if in some cases we today don’t have the knowhow to actual replicate, produce or safely use this technology, we understand the basics, the theory. For most of the technology involved in shadowrun we already have completed the foundational research, and in some cases we already surpassed shadowrun.

Wireless-Bonus is good example why this genre is risky, and how you can fuck it up. In a distant SiFi setting you could just say: If y use the mod A you are vulnerable but you get X. But in SR and Wireless I have to leave my brain on the reception. Not that I have much of it.

And quoting some flufftext out of the books is not helping. I already assume the somehow solved the problem of limited bandwidth for wifi, wifi interference, health risk of too much wifi and wireless power theft. Some of the wireless mechanics still don’t work.


Let’s take smartgun.

Don’t let us use the “auto-adjusting to wind” mechanic, because that’s silly. Most of the time my characters, and player characters us a range too short to be affected by wind, there is no wind that could affect anything or there is no reliable local systems that could measure wind. And that’s the same with pretty much every other meteorological effect. If I now take a look on my watch and some of the function it has “offline”. I am sure that cyberpunk/sifi assault and sniper smartlink rifle can gather this kind of date alone and offline.

But there could be another mechanic involved to encourage a customer to go online. And for that I will just assume that in SR, you will always have ping of near 0. Something you must have in a world with enhanced reflexes, if you don’t want to have a Malus for using smart gun wireless.
Some guy in marketing, most likely, could have counseled his graphs and advised his higher ups, that it is profitable to just build wireless capable smart gun weapons instead of autonomy working ones. The corp gets additional revenue in service, the production is cheaper, they have an “always-on drm” for hardware and they can sell a weapon with build in thieve protection.

But even in this scenario, there will be people who don’t like always-on drm, and corps who sell devices without always-on drm. This one will be more expensive and the more advanced hardware will consume more space. But if I look into the mod rules, 4 or 5, comlink prices and todays aim assisted rifles I don’t think (“I don’t know”) it will be much.


But what is with the “Gits” factor?

Please don’t call it gits factor. Give Shiro Masamune some credit. Whenever a hacker in gits hacked someone else, he was going over the other ones datajack, their communication network or the other one were stupid amateurs. Leaving his car running, with money on the dashboard and wondering why it got stolen, stupid.
If you want a Gits factor why not implement tac-net advantages and make it available and affordable for runners. Give the hacker a Command and Control roll, and the option of range combat team tests. Make the tac net a host. A host the hacker can rule and defend.
Bogert
QUOTE (Sengir @ Feb 7 2015, 09:17 AM) *
The problem is (again) that the decisive factor solely is whether the device's Wifi is on or off. If you turn off the wireless on your Alpha but connect it to your commlink via cable there is no bonus from auto-adjusting to wind, because it's not wireless. And this isn't some unintended side effect, it is an example of the rules doing exactly what they were built to do -- forcing players to open up their gear so hackers can pull Neo tricks like bricking the enemy's rifle.

Meh, I'm fine with this personally. If you have Wireless on your gun turned off, you run a cable from your gun to your commlink, and Wireless on your commlink is turned on:
1. Sure, why not get your Wireless bonus? You can use your commlink to talk to the Matrix for your gun, seems reasonable.
2. Of course, now your gun can be hacked, they just have to go through your commlink to get to it. Game-mechanics-wise, just treat it the same as having your gun slaved to your commlink.

Is there anything wrong with handling things this way? Since it's no better than just running the gun itself on Wireless, there isn't really any reason to do it, so I don't imagine anyone will, so I'm not too upset that they didn't include specific rules for it.

QUOTE
I agree that some of the wireless bonuses would make sense as "online bonuses", but that is neither what they are nor what they were inteded to be.

Well, they almost all work if you think of them this way, and it's what I assumed when I was reading it, so I'm not too concerned about what the writer was thinking or what they intended. They were obviously confused about some things (Wireless vs. DNI, mostly), despite that, the system generally works.

QUOTE (Sternenwind @ Feb 7 2015, 08:53 PM) *
I already assume the somehow solved the problem of … health risk of too much wifi ...

Off-topic, but just FYI, radio waves and microwaves (the kinds of things you'd use for wireless networking) are non-ionizing radiation and don't present any kind of health risk. Well, unless they're powerful enough to literally cook you.

QUOTE
Let’s take smartgun.

Don’t let us use the “auto-adjusting to wind” mechanic, because that’s silly. Most of the time my characters, and player characters us a range too short to be affected by wind, there is no wind that could affect anything or there is no reliable local systems that could measure wind. And that’s the same with pretty much every other meteorological effect. If I now take a look on my watch and some of the function it has “offline”. I am sure that cyberpunk/sifi assault and sniper smartlink rifle can gather this kind of date alone and offline.

Compensating for wind is only one thing that a smartgun system does, part of a host of small benefits that are all lumped together, as a matter of game mechanics, into a bonus of 1 or 2 dice. (Plus, weirdly, a small separate boost to compensation for wind alone.)

QUOTE
But even in this scenario, there will be people who don’t like always-on drm, and corps who sell devices without always-on drm.

Yep, this suggests to me that the Wireless bonuses presented in the books aren't a matter of DRM, but are instead a matter of technical necessity. My interpretation is that in 2075, they can't make a smartgun system good enough to give you +2 Limit and +2 Dice without serious on-demand processing power, the kind of processing power it's just not feasible to walk around with.
Draco18s
QUOTE (Bogert @ Feb 9 2015, 11:06 AM) *
Yep, this suggests to me that the Wireless bonuses presented in the books aren't a matter of DRM, but are instead a matter of technical necessity. My interpretation is that in 2075, they can't make a compressed air tank system good enough to give you a precise readout of air volume without serious on-demand processing power, the kind of processing power it's just not feasible to walk around with.


Fixed that for you. wink.gif

By the way: the +2 dice pool bonus needing the wireless: no one's disputing that. Everyone agrees that that is a Reasonable Thing. It's the extending baton, the laser sight not working for a bow and arrow (but does for a throwing knife), the internal air tank's ludicrously pointless bonus, and the other crap.
Bogert
QUOTE (Draco18s @ Feb 9 2015, 10:22 AM) *
By the way: the +2 dice pool bonus needing the wireless: no one's disputing that.

Plenty of people seem upset about the idea of Wireless bonuses in general. Some in this thread have said, "All the wireless bonuses are bad…"

I don't disagree that there are bad wireless bonuses. I think the air tank is bad, I think color changing on the Tiffany Needler is bad, and I think, in general, all the Wireless bonuses that try to re-explain or override the distinction between 'Change Linked Device Mode' and 'Change Device Mode' just serve to confuse what could have been a nice neat mechanic. (DNI=Free, otherwise=Simple) The baton falls into this last category.

QUOTE
It's the extending baton, the laser sight not working for a bow and arrow (but does for a throwing knife), the internal air tank's ludicrously pointless bonus, and the other crap.

That's a very confused reading of the argument about laser sights and thrown knives, though, to be fair, that has been a very confusing argument.

Thrown knives don't benefit from a laser sight. They benefit from the user having a smartlink. Presumably, they have onboard sensors that report back on their trajectory, wind, etc. and the information they send to the user can help improve later throws.

Medicineman asks, essentially: If there are sensors to do this on a thrown knife, why not include them on an arrow as well? My response is that there are potential technical reasons why things that would work with a thrown knife might not be practical with a (much faster) arrow.

Medicineman argues: But, you can get Wireless bonuses with a laser sight, so, the fact that an arrow moves faster than a thrown knife is irrelevant. My response to that is to throw my hands up and despair, basically.

Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (Draco18s @ Feb 9 2015, 09:22 AM) *
Fixed that for you. wink.gif

By the way: the +2 dice pool bonus needing the wireless: no one's disputing that. Everyone agrees that that is a Reasonable Thing. It's the extending baton, the laser sight not working for a bow and arrow (but does for a throwing knife), the internal air tank's ludicrously pointless bonus, and the other crap.


Don't count ME in the everyone category Draco18s... The fact that on Dec 31, 2074 you did not need such garbage and on January 1st, 2075 you do [need such garbage] shows me that the people responsible for world verisimilitude are smoking some really good stuff, and they are not willing to share it. smile.gif
Draco18s
QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Feb 9 2015, 12:38 PM) *
The fact that on Dec 31, 2074 you did not need such garbage and on January 1st, 2075 you do [need such garbage]


Uh. In-setting none of that happened at all. I think you're confusing the meta with the fluff. As far as the characters inside the setting are concerned, nothing changed. That was stated, by Catalyst, when 5th came out. It was a retcon that "the wireless bonuses were always there, we just changed the way rules work."
Bogert
QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Feb 9 2015, 11:38 AM) *
Don't count ME in the everyone category Draco18s... The fact that on Dec 31, 2074 you did not need such garbage and on January 1st, 2075 you do [need such garbage] shows me that the people responsible for world verisimilitude are smoking some really good stuff, and they are not willing to share it. smile.gif

I think a smartgun system with Wireless turned off is just as good as an old smartgun system. Now they represent it's boost as giving you +2 Limit, when it used to give dice, but that's just a change in the game mechanics.

Changes to skills, Limits, Edge; lots of things change how many dice people are throwing around and what those dice mean. Changes to the game system don't necessarily represent any kind of change to the underlying setting.

Which was the edition shift where they changed the way Wired Reflexes worked, so that street sams no longer got to act 3-4 times before ordinary people were able to act once? Did you also interpret that as Wired Reflexes technology actually getting worse in-setting?
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (Draco18s @ Feb 9 2015, 10:59 AM) *
Uh. In-setting none of that happened at all. I think you're confusing the meta with the fluff. As far as the characters inside the setting are concerned, nothing changed. That was stated, by Catalyst, when 5th came out. It was a retcon that "the wireless bonuses were always there, we just changed the way rules work."


Which was stupid... smile.gif
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (Bogert @ Feb 9 2015, 11:02 AM) *
I think a smartgun system with Wireless turned off is just as good as an old smartgun system. Now they represent it's boost as giving you +2 Limit, when it used to give dice, but that's just a change in the game mechanics.

Changes to skills, Limits, Edge; lots of things change how many dice people are throwing around and what those dice mean. Changes to the game system don't necessarily represent any kind of change to the underlying setting.

Which was the edition shift where they changed the way Wired Reflexes worked, so that street sams no longer got to act 3-4 times before ordinary people were able to act once? Did you also interpret that as Wired Reflexes technology actually getting worse in-setting?


I disagree... smile.gif Mainly because I think Limits (the way they were implemented) suck and highly despise them. smile.gif
Of course, we never threw so many dice that Limits were a necessity to control stupid-high Dice pools either, so...

I always considered Wired Reflexes in 2nd edition to be stupid to start with, and was glad it was changed. I think multiple passes are also generally stupid. I always liked the cyberpunk conceit that those who were wired acted faster than those who were not, but adding multiple passes just clouds a lot of things. In my opinion, Cyberpunk 2020 got it right in that those who were wired had the high probability that they went first. smile.gif
Smash
QUOTE (Not of this World @ Feb 7 2015, 08:00 AM) *
The Wifi penalties are so horrifically bad that it should just be hauled out back, shot out of its misery, buried, and then pour the proverbial concrete over it. Nobody is going to fully implement this in any practical game session and they need to get real about it.


I do and because the party has a full time decker and the bad-guys generally don't, it tends to work in the party's favor.
Warlordtheft
Thinks I liked in 5th:
The initiative system
The change to drain codes over 4E

THings I hated in 5th:
The limits on everything
Bricking
Wireless Bonuses
The dropping of the difference between impact/ballitic armor

Everything else:MEH!

I'm in the 4th ed camp as the things I like are easily house ruled over to 4th ed.

Sternenwind
QUOTE (Bogert @ Feb 9 2015, 05:06 PM) *
Yep, this suggests to me that the Wireless bonuses presented in the books aren't a matter of DRM, but are instead a matter of technical necessity. My interpretation is that in 2075, they can't make a smartgun system good enough to give you +2 Limit and +2 Dice without serious on-demand processing power, the kind of processing power it's just not feasible to walk around with.


And her we are in the "Danger zone".

If you look what todays aim assist system can do, and how advanced the computer technology in SR is, than there is no problem to just build this stuff without online-demand.
Or don’t. Let’s ignore what we can today and take a look on the price, size and capability for drones, commlinks or cyberware. Sure it is not feasible to put this kind of technology in a 200 bucks pistol, but assault rifles up wards or weapons like urban combat HP is another thing. And at this point professional criminals will just ignore the cheap online-demand weapons. Big Data and stuff is not healthy for a criminal.



QUOTE (Smash @ Feb 9 2015, 10:07 PM) *
I do and because the party has a full time decker and the bad-guys generally don't, it tends to work in the party's favor.


Until a GM just thinks that job was hot enough that someone start to analyze the traffic. The corporation(s) use their Bigddata to identifying, marking and finding the runners.
Medicineman
QUOTE
My interpretation is that in 2075, they can't make a smartgun system good enough to give you +2 Limit and +2 Dice without serious on-demand processing power, the kind of processing power it's just not feasible to walk around with.


rotfl.gif
well in 2074 they could.....

QUOTE
Medicineman asks, essentially: If there are sensors to do this on a thrown knife, why not include them on an arrow as well? My response is that there are potential technical reasons why things that would work with a thrown knife might not be practical with a (much faster) arrow.

Sorry, thats wrong wink.gif You like to interprete things (and sometimes You interpret wrong. You'd better stick to the ...RAW )
what I wrote:
If an Item that moves with the Speed of a throwing Knife gets a Bonus and an Item that moves at the Speed of Light, than all Items that move with a speed inbetween those two should get the Bonus too
and I'm not asking it. I'm extrapolating this
(and it's purely from the ingame logic .this is not from a common sense point of View, but sinse all Wireless Bonuses are NOT from a common sense point of view it makes kinda sense

QUOTE
Thrown knives don't benefit from a laser sight. They benefit from the user having a smartlink. Presumably, they have onboard sensors that report back on their trajectory, wind, etc. and the information they send to the user can help improve later throws.

no they don't have anything like that. theyre just a pece of Metal ,aerodynamic and with a edge and a point, just lthey've been for 100's of Years.
there is no electronic inside, no mechanical parts, no boosterjets, or Gyroscope, they're just a fucki plain peace of Metal


he who likes to dance with common sense
Medicineman
Medicineman
QUOTE
By the way: the +2 dice pool bonus needing the wireless: no one's disputing that.

only with cybereyes ;9
most of the time its a mere +1 (just like a Laserpointer )

CODE
Which was the edition shift where they changed the way Wired Reflexes worked, so that street sams no longer got to act 3-4 times before ordinary people were able to act once?

that was the third edition.
and the wired streetsam still had 3 IPs when joe normalo had only 1, its just the sequence that got changed (and it was accepted by the players because it was A) a good change) and B) not a real change at all !!)

QUOTE
Did you also interpret that as Wired Reflexes technology actually getting worse in-setting?

it .did.not.change. at. all !!

with still the same Dance
Medicineman
Sendaz
QUOTE (Medicineman @ Feb 9 2015, 05:03 PM) *
:no they don't have anything like that. theyre just a pece of Metal ,aerodynamic and with a edge and a point, just lthey've been for 100's of Years.
there is no electronic inside, no mechanical parts, no boosterjets, or Gyroscope, they're just a fucki plain peace of Metal

And there in lies the real question, why haven't we added boosterjets to our knives yet?!?

ROCKET POWER BABY!!! biggrin.gif

*starts submitting to the R&D dept*
Bogert
QUOTE (Sternenwind @ Feb 9 2015, 03:43 PM) *
If you look what todays aim assist system can do, and how advanced the computer technology in SR is, than there is no problem to just build this stuff without online-demand.

I have no idea what "today's aim assist" systems can do. Could you describe the kinds of systems you're talking about? Would you say they give the equivalent of +2 Limit, or +2 Dice, or what?

I suppose I could see an argument that smartgun systems in Shadowrun just aren't good enough, and never have been, if that's what you're saying?

But, if that's not what you're saying, arguing about how much processing power they'll require in 2075, and how easy that processing power will be carry around with you, that seems like a much more uncertain proposition.

QUOTE (Medicineman @ Feb 9 2015, 04:18 PM) *
and the wired streetsam still had 3 IPs when joe normalo had only 1, its just the sequence that got changed (and it was accepted by the players because it was A) a good change) and B) not a real change at all !!)

Going from being able to act 3-4 times before the opposition can respond, to only being able to act once before they respond, that's a huge nerf. Way bigger than going from dice adders to limit boosters.

I mean, if you think it made the game better as a game, that's totally fine, but I think you have to agree that it's nonsensical to argue that every change to the game mechanics has to reflect some kind of in-setting change as well.


(I'm gonna leave off the throwing knife stuff for now, I think my existing posts explain my position about as well as I can hope to. I'm sorry if I misstated your position.)
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