Ok first off a response to Beta.
1) When I was making this I wasn't just looking at corporation RnD, storage facilities and the like but everything a corporation could be running which includs things like bar's, hotels, family living, museums and the like. Your probably right that most important places wouldn't have non lethal only but I would think there'd still be the equivilent of bouncers or security guards that aren't carrying lethal weapons at sporting events or facilities where vandalism could be a problem but aren't likely to see actual firearm armed attackers because they don't have anything important enough to justify it or are in a AAA neighbourhood where they're not likely to need it. I could be wrong but that's the impression I have. Imagine the PR if a security guard on a university campus shot an important persons kid because they panicked especially if they were from another corporation.
2) I'm not 100% sure what you mean by human security guard's to be higher unless you mean having a person patrol the area would be more common. In which case bear in mind while grunts are cheap you still need to pay said grunt enough to live on otherwise they quit so lets say a low lifestyle (grunt) that would run around 30,000 yen a year and would see a high turnover as well because people are going to want at least a medium lifestyle if they can get it so 60,000 year and those values are after taxes. On the other hand a security shutter is no real annual cost and a camera or two? quite a bit less I'd think but again it depends on what your after. I mention that in my revised listing.
3) With regards to wards I was actually talking more maintained security i.e. a mage on site or summoned spirits that things like that I've factored that into the revision I've done here so thanks for pointing that out.
Ok now that's out of the way here's my new revised template. First off I have revised this a bit to match up with the suggestion of having the classification match up with the professional rating so you can use it as a bit of a guide to what kind of opposition you can expect there. So here you go, feedback still appreciated.
Also remember that this is just a generic template and you can always modify it for specifics.
@ EVERYONE
To those who are interested in using this for your own games please remember I'm still developing this so I'd advise waiting till its finalized before copying it for local use. At the very least in the next few weeks (around work) I'd like to develop it a bit more to a "class, description, X protections yes/no" type deal.
CLASSIFICATION DETERMINATION
Determing what class of security a facility has is a judgement call that can be broken down into 4 general areas location, contents, cost and effectiveness.
LOCATION
The physical location where a facility is being placed can affect what level of security it requires based on two factors protection and risk. Protection is a broad category that deals with any defenses the location may provide with no involvement by the owner. Examples include a remote location that provides protection against casual intrusion or access e.g. in space, on an arctic ice shelf and the like or it being placed in a AAA neighbourhood where there will be regular police security in the area providing a deterrent against general vandalism or disorganized criminal gangs. The correlating point here is risk as in how much risk a facility will be placed under based on its location. A store in a shopping centre in a AAA neighbourhood will generally have a very low risk because it has a high protection from its location, the same store placed in the barrens however would have very low protection and high risk. Based on how these levels relate it is possible to assign an initial classification to the security level required the higher the protection and the lower the risk the lower the security level can be. Most facilities based on location will have a value of 1 to 3 ranging from standard protections up to security guards equipped with lethal weapons.
CONTENTS
This initial rating is then modified by the contents of the facility and how likely they are to make the place a target.This threat value ranges from a negative modifier up to a high positive modifer. a warehouse that had been abandoned and contained nothing of value would have a negative modifier as there is nothing there of interest and its just being kept for the land more than anything else so it would lower the initial rating. The same warehouse holding couch's, beds and other household furniture would have a low target threat as those are typically not of interest to thives and thus not modify the initial rating. On the other hand a luxury hotel regularly hosting visiting heads of state and other dignitaries or a warehouse holding valuable items such as cyberdecks would have a moderate threat rating and raise the initial security rating to ensure their protection. A state of the art RnD facility pursuing cutting edge research that has progressed to the verification phase and could see a potential return of billions would have a high threat rating and raise the security level significantly.
COST VS EFFECTIVENESS
The final stage in determining a security classification and the protection a site gets is by looking at the revised rating and determining whether that level justifies itself. This is determined by comparing it to the values of cost and effectiveness. The security provided has to be cost efficient that is if its necessary to maintain a highly trained and well equipped para-military force on site to protect a furniture warehouse the cost vs the rewards is far too low (in the negatives) to justify maintaining the warhehouse and rather than providing that security it would be more likely to be closed down. Similarly if the proposed security level would not be effective in protecting the site it may be necessary to increase the security classification and conduct a new cost analysis. Note this is not always cut and dried as some PR related sites may be run at a deficit in order to make the corporation look good.
There are 6 levels of security a site can be classified as with increasing levels of protection provided. These facilities can change classification depending on the circumstances for instance while a major gold depository is always a worthwhile target major regional centres for the corporation may become classified this way if their is a valid terrorist threat determined and then revert to secured or manned when it is dealt with or a holiday resort may increase their security while hosting a visiting head of state.
CLASS 0 (Unsecured)
This classification is generally given to abandoned facilities that are only kept for possible future use and have no funds spent on security often vandalized and broken into by homeless people seeking a place out of the weather.
CLASS 1 (Standard)
The facility has no real importance and is only likely to be the target of casual vandalism. The security is largely automated relying on security shutters, CCTV, alarm systems, commerical firewalls and anti-virus software and the like. Often these protections are retroactive rather than proactive that is they are more likely to be used by police in investigating a crime after it has occured than preventing one in progress.
CLASS 2 (Secured)
The facility is important to general operations e.g. shipping centre or a local bank but unlikely to have any high security or hazardrous items present or a location that may see occasional vandalism or trouble from customers. In addition to the standard protections it also has regular security presence on site either 24/7 or after hours. However these security officers are intended to handle casual vandalism or angry customers not dedicated attacks. They are usually either unarmed or equipped with a taser/pepper spray/non-lethal options. They will usually have 24/7 offsite monitoring by a local security facility, private security company or police station in case of a major situation. Although unlikely to have site specific magical or matrix support they will usually have some shared offsite response organization e.g. tech support for all offices run by a corporation in that city. In the event of a serious issue these guards will often seek cover or attempt to contain the situation till external forces arrive.
CLASS 3 (Police)
These facilities usually contain important operations such as a high security facility, military base, major bank or other location that could be a viable target for armed assault even if its just a local go gang seeking medical supplies. The security officers here usually have basic armour and lethal firearms to protect the location. They will always have 24/7 onsite monitoring and may have offsite monitoring their situation as well. These facilities are still unlikely to have a dedicated mage or matrix specialist on site but if they do this individual will be performing their security duties in addition to their normal role. They are more likely to be relying on protections such as summoned spirits, agent programs and other similar defenses to alert the external security to a problem they need to respond too. In addition to which they may have automated drones patrolling. Although able and trained to use lethal force guards in these facilities are still likely to call on external heavier support if a major situation arises however for minor situations they are often trained to arrest and secure the trouble maker. Matrix security is more likely to be customized specifically to the corporation than general commercial programs.
CLASS 4 (Heavy)
These facilities typically are limited to state of the art research facilities, major depositories for valuable resources, primary command facilities, holiday resorts for nobility and the massively wealthy where they carry out functions that make major assaults or extractions not just a possibilities but a likely event. They will always have 24/7 offisite and onsite monitoring for external reinforcement if necessary. Security forces typically have medium armour and/or heavy firearms with a dedicated onsite magical and matrix security specialists although they will still have other duties in addition to their security ones. Automated defenses are also common in these facilities and matrix security is almost always customized specifically to the corporation involved. Unlike Class 1-3 security the forces in these facilities often have the training and equpment to stand up to anything short of a major military assault. Drone and spirit patrols generally suppliment metahuman ones and there will be passive magical and matrix defenses in place to provide short term security till the security forces can respond. Additionally although trained to arrest and contain a threat they will often give one warning before using lethal force unlike lower security levels where arrest or containment is the usual priority.
CLASS 5 (Military)
These facilities are distinguished from class 4 facilities in that they typically are under a specific clearly defined threat or are a centralized facility monitoring multiple other locations over a regional or worldwide scale. They will always have 24/7 onsite monitoring but are unlikely to have dedicated offsite security monitoring as they are the centralized location from which reinforcements are dispatched to other trouble spots. Security forces may be equipped with anything up to and including state of the art milspec gear and will always have onsite dedicated magical and matrix support. Unlike the lower classifications these onsite specialists are specifically trained and dedicated solely to security duties. Automated defenses are almost universal in these facilities and matrix security is always customized specifically to the corporation involved and often solely to that specific facility and in many cases any programs (databases, operating systems, word programs, etc) are also specifically created solely for that facility to help hinder attempts from external sources to deck in to them. In addition they may contain vehicular and site mounted defenses such as surface to air missles, tanks, aircraft and other defenses to hold off even a major assault by an opposing miltiary for the short term. Furthermore again unlike lower classifications these facilities are likely to have multiple security teams on site as the individuals dispatched in response to an alert from other installations are based here in addition to their own security forces. The forces guarding these facilities are often unlikely to give even one warning before utilizing lethal force on an intruder as they would have already been alerted to the presence of anyone authorized to be on site by their passing through security checkpoints.
CLASS 6 (Zero Zone)
Only present on certain usually highly classified facilities or corporate headquarters. These facilities have security forces equipped with the very latest state of the art armour and equipment in addition to powerful mages and skilled deckers with rumours of other darker protections. These are locations the corporation feels must be protected at all cost and the usual concerns about budgets and often ethical considerations are suspended on these facilities. People targeting a class 5 facility should be aware that they could quite literally face anything protecting these facilities and will often only have a short time frame from an assault being detected to even more heavy forces military forces showing up to secure the site and kill anything that moves (often including the facilities staff). Often any loss in external or internal monitoring will automatically trigger an alert to call these forces in addition to manually trigerable alarms and any unusual situation detected by the protections. Security forces on these sites will only give a warning before opening fire if they have a reason to do so e.g an escaped test subject who must be recovered alive.
