[brombur]

I understand the 100 meter rule but lets say our decker wanders beyond this, say by jumping from the UCAs to their favorite district in Japan. Once their they decide to see what local music is on the commlinks around the location their persona is in Japan. They roll matrix perception and get a hit and ask if there are any commlinks near them playing music files, a reasonable question. How far around their persona does this perception check reveal? In a more run oriented sense what if they are infiltrating a large facility and the decker wants to sweep the entry lobby several floors away for an ambushing kill teams weapon icon? how much could they see?

 

[HP15BS]

First, I'm assuming the decker has a satellite link to keep his distance-based noise to -5.


There doesn't seem to be anything about how much distance a matrix perception can cover.  Here's the relevant quote:

You can automatically spot the icons of devices that are not running silent within 100 meters of your physical location... no matter where you are in the Matrix.  Beyond this distance, you need to make a matrix perception test to find a specific icon.
- Core, 235

So in other words, it doesn't actually matter where your persona is, you still need matrix perception to spot any icon that's further than 100m away from your body / device.  RAW seems to say that you need to spend an action to spot each individual icon.  (I'd personally let each hit spot one non-silent icon, though.)  This all goes out the window if, and only if, you're on a host with the stuff you're trying to perceive.

However, there doesn't seem to be any limit on how much distance a matrix perception can cover.

RAW also seems to say that you can only look for details on one icon per action.

So, with your examples:
- They need to use matrix perception to spot icons in the first place, even though their persona is right there. But the good news is you can use it to perceive stuff as far away as you want... somehow.
- Once spotted, RAW implies that each matrix perception can only provide details about one icon at a time. (But if you had to use it just to spot a non-silent icon, then you probably had enough hits to find out whether it's playing a music file or not.)

-- Since there's somehow no limit, it doesn't matter if the gun icon is 101 meters away or 1100, your matrix perception can still spot a non-silent icon that you're specifically looking for (you just take a distance-based noise penalty depending on how far away it turns out to be).


I know this doesn't make a lick of sense, but that's what raw seems to say.

Someone, please, correct me if I'm wrong.  I really want to be wrong this time. 

[Jack_Spade]

Matrix perception is nothing but applying and removing the correct filters so your display.

This works IP by asking the right questions. A valid question is: How many devices are there within 300m that are playing a specific kind of music?
You can also ask: How many as weapons identifiable devices are within the confines of such and such coordinates.

Done correctly, this is a tremendous boon for every character (which is why imho computers as a technical skill is the most important one for almost every character - never leave home without it.)

[brombur]

thanks for the replies. My primary purpose was to figure out the hidden Icons at a distance. Here is the scenario

Decker is in the Teams vehicle over 100 meters away from the target site. She goes VR mode and is providing matrix overwatch. When she runs a perception check for hidden devices on the floor of the building the team is infiltrating, not within her 100 meter scanning radius. How far does it detect them? I assume the decker can limit her search range to a specific area, say a single room without issue but what is the max she can scan? could she sweep a whole floor, a whole building? as written it almost feels like they could sweep an infinite distance for icons.

 

[Jack_Spade]

You can define the parameters of your search freely.
In this case she can say: Search for devices within the confines of these given coordinates that are running silent.
Don't forget though that she probably has to contend with noise penalties for distance/obstructions/jamming, penalties if she isn't on the same network as the devices she is looking for, resistance through LOG+Sleaze and finally the old standby of having dozens of stealth tags around.
Given enough time you can get around all of this, but then, given enough time you can also scout out the building with a spy drone...

[brombur]

Just a quick followup to my question, I have solved the puzzle.

What I will be going with is that Silent icons must be within 100 Meters of the Decker's physical location or be within 100 meters of a device the Decker has a mark on and can run the Spoof Command option through or a device they have access to.   

this solves all of my logistical and reality based issues. given that the decker will have a team to support or likely have access to numerous wireless devices which are not silent they now have a clear limit to range that works for everyone.

Thanks for the other replies, i appreciate the input.

[HP15BS]

Wait, what? No.

How did you even come up with that? Those things aren't connected at all.

- A mark has no bearing on perception whatsoever, except that you can always see your marks (not the other icons around your marked icons).

- What does Spoof Command have to do with anything?

- "a device the Decker has a mark on and can run the Spoof Command option through or a device they have access to" ... Sounds like you're wanting to use marks as a sort of Retrans Unit?  But instead of dealing with noise, marks would just...
... actually, I really don't know what you're trying to go for there.

[PiXeL01]

He’s trying to force a device further away than 100m to do a Matrix Perception to discover hidden icons near it. Sort of like a remote beckon. Personally I would allow it, although noise should be calculated as the distance between said device and physical location, and limits should be based on the device being used.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

I understand the 100 meter rule but lets say our decker wanders beyond this, say by jumping from the UCAs to their favorite district in Japan. Once their they decide to see what local music is on the commlinks around the location their persona is in Japan. They roll matrix perception and get a hit and ask if there are any commlinks near them playing music files, a reasonable question. How far around their persona does this perception check reveal? In a more run oriented sense what if they are infiltrating a large facility and the decker wants to sweep the entry lobby several floors away for an ambushing kill teams weapon icon? how much could they see?

In the matrix your perception is global.  Yes, you can "see" an icon physically in Japan from your physical location in the UCAS.  Think of it like the real life "matrix"... you can google up websites (hosts) or talk to someone on the phone (commlinks) in Japan exactly as fast as you can for websties/phone numbers in the US...

The key part of Matrix Perception is you have to know what you're looking for.  So if the Runner wants to know, say, who in the Harajuku District of Tokyo is currently streaming the hottest new J-Pop single, they'll do a matrix perception search:

First of all, if he's physically in the UCAS he'll have distance based noise, even if he grid jumps into the Tokyo local grid.  We're absolutely in the 100+km distance band, so -8 dice.  (or -5 dice if he's got a sat uplink)  If he wants to know about every persona in Harajuku, not just the ones on the Tokyo local grid (there are plenty of poor people on the public grid, and rich people on the AAA grids) he'll be taking another -2 penalty for "wrong grid" for those personae as well. So if after -11/-7 dice, he gets any hits at all, he can start asking questions based on that matrix search. 

As a GM, here's how I'd handle the question (assuming the Runner didn't care about silent personae).  In order to know how many personae in Harajuku are publicly broadcasting the J-Pop hit song, he'd need 2 hits on the matrix perception test.  1 hit to know how many personae currently present, then 1 more to narrow down how many of those icons are broadcasting the song.  Again, silent running personae and personae that may happen to be listening to the song without broadcasting it to everyone would not be included in that answer.  If the runner feels he HAS to know how many people are listening to the song, even those not obnoxiously broadcasting it openly to the matrix:

For those not silent running, but listening to the song without obnoxiously broadcasting the song:  the runner will now have to run through however many icons are present but NOT obnoxiously broadcasting.  In a major district, we're likely talking thousands of personae.  That's thousands of matrix perception tests, omae.  But on any given successful check, I'd probably go with 2 hits.  First hit says are they currently listenting to music  to themselves, and the second hit says what song.

For those silent running:  good fragging luck with all the noise you have to deal with.  Of course, the silent running personae in Harajuku will be dealing with noise in the form of being inside a spam zone, so you never know.. you might spot someone.