Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Rules and such => Topic started by: manchuwook on <03-16-17/1356:44>
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So, I'm just running numbers and a few things seem difficult for me to understand:
Overwatch
So, every 15 minutes after performing an illegal action you get 1d6 (so 4d6 or a range of 4 Rabbit's Foot to 24 Albatross to get hours). That means you can be (out of 40 OS) online for between 10-1.6 hours after doing nothing else even if your target netted 0 hits. Next up, you have the actually doing stuff:
Scenario #1
Say every action is an illegal sleaze action, for 4 passes, and you're going up against the Seattle Metroplex Administration who roll Rabbit's Foot, average (1:3), or Albatross as Rating 7 with Firewall 9 (16).
For that combat turn, you've earned yourself:
Rabbit's Foot, everything glitches - 1-6 every 15 minutes
Average (5:16 * 4) 20 OS - so the most you can hold out for is 6 seconds (20 OS x2 Turns) before Convergence.
Albatross: Convergence in 3 passes (48 hits) ~2.75 seconds
Scenario #2
Every action is an illegal sleaze action, for 4 passes, and you're going up against the local Stuffer Shack who roll Rabbit's Foot, average (1:3), or Albatross as Rating 3 with Firewall 5 ( 8 ).
For that combat turn, you've earned yourself:
Rabbit's Foot, everything glitches - 1-6 every 15 minutes
Average (2:8 * 4) 8 OS - so the most you can hold out for is 15 seconds (8 OS x 5 Turns) before Convergence.
Albatross: Convergence in 5 passes (40 hits) ~4.5 seconds
My Conclusion
The reason I am asking this is because Overwatch seems to be out of the player's control as far as what they can do about it, in addition to the scale of time synchronising with meatspace runners. Technomancers can probably thread Cleaner (if the fading wasn't already really punishing). How do higher karma deckers/TMs deal with runs on higher level hosts? It seems at least 1 of your actions has to be the obligatory Mark, up to 3 depending on needs. Do you try to get more than mark to reduce rounds? How much edge do you end up burning? Is there a special piece of equipment you use? Do you run with more than 1 decker in your RL troupe? Do you have to go in with a band of NPCs? Do you get your non-decker buddies to log in with you?
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Fly on the Wall helps to alleviate some this.
But yeah, the de la Mar Matrix is not someplace you hang out casually if you're breaking the rules. It's a brutal place. If you're plan is to break into a host, the actual time it takes to do it is under 1 minute, just don't stay online and play Street Fighter CIX afterwards.
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My general Practice with my Technomancer is to always go for a minimum of 2 marks. If I feel I have overstayed my welcome a bit, I start processing her Cleaner Complex Form.
RARELY do I EVER Stay on a Hack more than a minute or two... I have only been "Converged on" in a Host once... It was unpleasant, and was very much a learning experience in NOT staying "Just a few more seconds, look, I found something really, really interesting". Hacking in 5th is all about knowing what you are looking for before you go looking, lest you get sidetracked and converged upon.
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Do note that a lot of what you are apt to do is not illegal sleaze actions (or attack actions) -- until you end up in combat.
In other words, a lot of what you are normally doing is getting that first mark, then using matrix perception, edit file, command device, and other data processing activities. This is one of the annoying parts of file protection is that it makes you use an attack action, and control device is sleaze, so you will often be adding to your overwatch score some of the time, but not normally in every action (again, barring combat)
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Do note that a lot of what you are apt to do is not illegal sleaze actions (or attack actions) -- until you end up in combat.
In other words, a lot of what you are normally doing is getting that first mark, then using matrix perception, edit file, command device, and other data processing activities. This is one of the annoying parts of file protection is that it makes you use an attack action, and control device is sleaze, so you will often be adding to your overwatch score some of the time, but not normally in every action (again, barring combat)
Do note that acquiring a Mark (not given to you) is an Illegal Sleaze or Attack Action unless you are on a legal system that invites you. As such, the second you place that mark, you are on a timer.