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Diesel
Hello everyone, I'm just now getting back into Shadowrun after an extraordinarily long hiatus and am attempting to come to terms with Shadowrun's Fifth Edition ruleset. The last version I played was Third Edition, so it seems I missed a lot of the framework for "the wireless world" introduced in Fourth Edition, and am now trying to come to terms with it cold turkey in SR5. I have several questions relating to how the average non-decker interacts with the matrix:

  • Assuming neither a passive nor asshole GM, how big of a threat is matrix damage / bricking to your average shadowrunner, especially someone like a street samurai, weapons specialist, or rigger?
  • It is my understanding that deckers either need to be physically close to you (100 meters), or on the same host you are to actively attack your devices if you have them running silent. Is that correct or are there ways to attack equipment at greater distances, like a room full of malicious deckers in Detroit burning up every kitchen appliance of some dude in Seattle?
  • I know two methods of defending against this are to slave your gear to your commlink, improving its defense, and having the gear run silent. Can I do both of those things together?
  • If a piece of equipment offers a wireless bonus, can I still obtain that bonus if the equipment is slaved to another device? If it's running silently? If it's doing both?
  • Are there any other downsides for your average gun-bunny running silent, or do the penalties largely affect only deckers?
  • Is there any indication to your average, non-decker Shadowrunner that their gear is being hacked and damaged before it becomes bricked?


My final thought - am I just blowing the threat of bricked gear out of proportion, or is it a legitimate concern in your games? I know that the GM could, if he wanted to, just drop a pile of rocks on my runner from space and that would be it, game over, but there's also a huge portion of the text that talks about security deckers, Grid Overwatch Division, etc., and it just seems like matrix threats are a very legitimate risk for your average runner. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Medicineman
QUOTE
Assuming neither a passive nor asshole GM, how big of a threat is matrix damage / bricking to your average shadowrunner, especially someone like a street samurai, weapons specialist, or rigger?


If you go against a big or Megacorp it is safe to assume that once discovered the Runners will be attacked en masse not only by one or two but as many Deckers (and their Agents) as the Corp can gather.
This might take a moment or two but Deckers can be at any point in the Corp, the City, the Country and then gather in the Matrix.
a smart security officer/manager wil get all Deckers at his disposal to attack, maim and destroy the matrix capabilities of the intruder !

On a dalily basis a Matrix Attack and attempts to brick the Streetsam's 'ware is rather rare because Deckers (especially Freelance Deckers) are rare, but a Corp owns dozens, hundreds or even thousands of Deckers (depending oon the size of the Corp).

Trying a Run, an extraction or Industrial Espionage the old Fashioned way against a (Mega)corp is/could be suicide with Wireless Equipment and 'ware
( but luckily you can switch everything off or have it even removed and instead of Comlinks you can use a wireless Microtranceiver)

with a not-so-rare Dance
Medicineman
FriendoftheDork
Speaking of microtransceivers: I can't find any rule on how their signal (its radio) can be intercepted or not, their level of encryption, and how they are protected against such. In SR4 they seemed to work as matrix devices, had a set signal rating, used rating as firewall, and were considered to be in hidden mode. I guess older versions had some sort of rules for detecting, intercepting them, since they also had rating and were somewhat more expensive.

How do you actually intercept traffic in SR5? Is only getting a "mark" on the device required?
Medicineman
When they're turned off the WiFi (range only 1 KM ) a Decker can do naught, as they're not emiting any Matrix signals.
As soon as they#Re Wifi connected (range worldwide) a Decker can do the usual shit (Bricking, Dataspike etc,etc).
And I'm quite sure that Microtranceivers did NOT work via Matrix in SR4(A)


HokaHey
Medicineman
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
Indeed... Microtransceivers with no matrix access and signal dark on all other stupid wireless bonuses is the only way to fly as a shadowrunner.
Never had a problem with that in SR5. Stupidly emmitting matrix signals whilst trying to infiltrate is beyond ingorant. cool.gif
FriendoftheDork
Yeah it is rather silly. Since I am playing 2050 though I can ignore all wireless Matrix, so we are back to wireless radio devices instead. Deckers can't do much hacking with that, but the Electronic Warfare skill still exists, signal scanners exist, bug scanners exists etc. so they should be possible to detect even with no Matrix. After some googling I can't find any way that military can conceal their own radio signals, so Encryption and radio silence seem to be the only way even today. Please correct me if I'm wrong and it's possible to somehow conceal your signal. You can use weird frequencies, but afaik they can all be detected with the right kind of equipment.
Bigity
QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Sep 30 2016, 10:42 AM) *
Indeed... Microtransceivers with no matrix access and signal dark on all other stupid wireless bonuses is the only way to fly as a shadowrunner.
Never had a problem with that in SR5. Stupidly emmitting matrix signals whilst trying to infiltrate is beyond ingorant. cool.gif


I guess the matrix book for 5E didn't reconcile any of the wireless hacking stuff vs. how an actual shadowrun team would operate in the game reality?
Mantis
It did not. Seems they have decided to just double down on the whole everything is connected to the matrix even though it makes no sense.
KCKitsune
Diesel, if your GM is going by the book and no house rules then from the cyberware splat book you can get a "Internal Router" and that allows you to get some of the wireless bonuses for your gear even while disconnected from the Matrix. Things that absolutely need a matrix connection of course will be disabled if you shut down your connection.
SpellBinder
Reminded me of a recent gaming session (2050's era) a friend told me about. The crew was trying to track down a car involved in an accident. One of the other party members asked him if he wanted an earbud so they could communicate while trying to sneak up on the rigger's garage where they had found said car (pincer move; two in front, three in back), to which the reply was something like, "Really? You think open comms is smart against a rigger?" so they went in radio dark. The rest of the mission quickly spiraled downhill from there.

He got slipped a note from the GM that said "+1 karma for intelligence"
binarywraith
QUOTE (Bigity @ Oct 7 2016, 04:06 PM) *
I guess the matrix book for 5E didn't reconcile any of the wireless hacking stuff vs. how an actual shadowrun team would operate in the game reality?


Nope, the devs doubled down on the poor choices in game design.
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