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Hacking the Matrix

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Smoo

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« Reply #30 on: <01-15-12/2120:23> »
I added some more technomancer stuff.

Kat9

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« Reply #31 on: <01-20-12/0028:03> »
Am I missing where probing a target is listed?

Slow hack is sometimes good hack!

Sichr

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« Reply #32 on: <01-20-12/0521:13> »
Yeah, splitting off situational parts might be a good idea.
...

The first is by far most useful - you kick people out. They can log back in, mind you, but this buys you time to...

2) Ban their Node/Access ID - this will stop people with that AID/from that node from getting on even to a different account
3) Delete their account - this will stop anyone from getting on that account even with a different Access ID or from a different node

Note that neither of these on their own terminates connections. You have to take an action to kick them by editing the active account list first. The reason both exist, not just one, is that they do slightly different things. If you delete a hacker's account, they can make a new one. If you AID/node ban someone, but leave their account, they can change their access ID/use a different node and then log back in (or another person can log into the same account).

Yes, you're right about Jamming on the Fly (it's also important to note Technos can jam on the fly like this to kick themselves offline in an emergency).

For a Jammer, you actually need Jammer rating > signal rating. Note, though, that you almost always can just Jam on the Fly if you want to boot yourself (or do something even simpler, like turn your wireless off, unplug, etc). I mention it mostly as an alternative if for some strange reason you can't use Jamming on the Fly with your commlink (or yourself, as a technomancer), or I guess maybe if you wanted to jam someone else offline when they got KO'd by Black IC.

Note that both those things:

Deleting account - like when Alert response is Terminate connection, or when Admin/hacker terminates connection by commanding node to Terminate connection to certain ID or delete active connection manualy

Jamming on the fly with your own commlink - When used for Jamming on fly commlink commlink is unavailable for anything elese so it is also disconnected from Matrix

Both of those things lead to dumpshock. In the first case for tone whose connection was terminated, since that is not proper Log Off action, the second case because every subscription from the commlink/node to another nodes is severed, also without propper Log Off action.

EDIT: i forgot to say...beautifull work there Smoo :)
« Last Edit: <01-20-12/0522:46> by Sichr »

Smoo

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« Reply #33 on: <01-20-12/1855:17> »
@Kat9  Probing the target is incleded in the Hack actions.
@Sichr I included your changes

I also made a few more fixes and additions. Notably I added Remote targeting and Rush Widget actions.  I also added opposed tests for some of the compromised node activities.

Danmor

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« Reply #34 on: <03-05-12/0554:30> »
First of all, kudos for the very nice write-up. It includes a couple of things I've been wondering about for some time now.

But I still have an issue with the subscriptions. I looked at your references and I couldn't find the point where it says that a public account does not take up a subscription.
I see the rules as inconsistent here.
Unwired, page 55:
Quote from: Unwired55
In the case of full AR and VR connections, a simple data request is not enough. In these an other cases a fast, two-way, maintained connection called a subscription is needed.
Also Unwired (page 53):
Quote from: Unwired53
From your persona interface, you may access other nodes. If you are simply making a comcall or data request, accessing a public site or profile, or otherwise connecting to a public account, no subscription or login is required—your access ID suffices. If you are logging in to a user/security/admin account, communicating with encryption, controlling an agent/drone, or making some other bandwidth-intensive connection, a subscription is required.
So if I enter a node in VR via a public account, page 55 tells me I need a subscription while the sidebar on page 53 tells me I don't need one.


Sichr

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« Reply #35 on: <03-05-12/0559:41> »
making a commcall or datarequest doesnt require subscription because you dont have to enter the node. Once you need to entr the node, you need subscription. Works OK?

Voshay

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« Reply #36 on: <03-05-12/2106:37> »
Noob hacker question here.  When calculating your dice pool for a hacking program that is associated with a skill do you use the skill dice pool or just the ranks in the skill?

ex.  Exploit is listed with the associated skill Hacking.  So when calculating your dice pool is it

Exploit (rating) + Hacking (ranks)  or
Exploit (rating) + Hacking (ranks) + Logic



KarmaInferno

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« Reply #37 on: <03-05-12/2110:06> »
Just Hacking + Exploit.

The program more or less replaces your attribute in most Matrix actions.



-k

Sichr

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« Reply #38 on: <03-06-12/0038:56> »
and possibly hot/VR modification

crisses

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« Reply #39 on: <03-08-12/1220:51> »
I've got questions about subscriptions too, but let's see if this works:

A "public" account --really just an Access Level -- is available on some (not all) nodes.  These are nodes that may be routing public traffic to other nodes.

You do not need to be in MSR of some distant node -- there only needs to be a string of these routing public-access-enabled nodes between you and the destination, and you get a subscription at the destination node.

SOME nodes, such as the node at the local Starbucks, actually have something you can usefully DO in their public-access-enabled area, such as the "Make your own Soy Latte" menu, so you can order-to-go without bugging a meat body about it, or being on-site to use their AR system.  I think the example in the book is booking your flight at the airport node.  THIS requires a subscription, because you're actually communicating with this node (i.e. it is your destination node).

I look at it this way:

You have a persona.  Your persona (generally) is only on your commlink.

Then you spawn "icons" (subscriptions) that hook-up on destination nodes on the web.  These route through publicly available public-access-nodes -- whether in a streetpost, or at a megacorp's front foyer.  It does not subscribe to these nodes, it is simple data traffic at that point, and splits up into bitty packets of data until it reassembles (think Star Trek transporter) at the destination node.

You spawn these "destination node icons" whether in AR or in VR.  On your end you are either swapping between these destination nodes in VR OR you are viewing different "windows" in your AR interactions.  Your commlink has a maximum number of subscriptions (windows or icons) that you can have "open" at once.  That's how many "destination nodes" you can have a connection to at once.  So you can be logged in at Dictionary.Node, Starbucks.Node, Sea-TacAirport.node, Ares Macrotechnology Personal Defense Ordering System.Node, etc. all at once, whether you're viewing them "in first person" via VR OR you're fiddling in floating windows that you can move around within your AR field of vision.

That help?  Hope so....

crisses

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« Reply #40 on: <03-08-12/1235:56> »
Here are 2 of my matrix-questions:

Does a technomancer's "signal" rating follow him/her through the matrix, or are they "borrowing" the signal rating of nodes they visit?  Frankly, it makes no Resonance sense for the latter, but it probably IS the signal of the node they visit...

Does response work like Signal?  i.e. as the character's icons are subscribed to different nodes, does initiative change per the load/response of the node?  I think the answer is no, because the persona is still on the commlink... -- but then doesn't a slow node slow down the subscribed icon?

Lethe

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« Reply #41 on: <03-08-12/1522:24> »
Everyone only need their signal rating to get to the nearest node. From there it doesn't matter anymore, you just jump from node to node as they are connected, building a chain.

Initiative does not change. A slow node would slow down all icons equally. But changing all or none is the same, so the latter one is used for simplicity.

crisses

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« Reply #42 on: <03-08-12/2356:57> »
Everyone only need their signal rating to get to the nearest node. From there it doesn't matter anymore, you just jump from node to node as they are connected, building a chain.
uh... --Here's how I understand this issue:

If you're in a destination node and looking for hidden nodes "nearby" you would use the signal rating of the node at the destination end.  Example: if you hack into a public-access node in the foyer of a building, which has a really good Signal rating, but you really want to get into a datastore in the building, you'd have to find it -- if it's wired you have to do it the "old fashioned-way" with analyze and "detect hidden access" hopping from wired node to wired node (to my knowledge...)  And if you're in a more "modern" building with poor security (or the data is on someone's commlink in the building), that destination node might actually be wireless and hidden.  You would get into the public-access-node, hopefully with a security or admin account -- then scan for hidden nodes, borrowing the intermediary node's Signal rating (which might well be better than your commlink's signal...).  You can't hop to the destination node, because you haven't detected it (but presumably you know it's there somewhere...).  [Which signal you use to determine MSR matters for intercepting wireless traffic, for scanning for hidden nodes, capture wireless signal, detect active/passive wireless nodes, initiate decryption, etc. -- so this question is pertinent to all of these actions...]

This is how the wireless world works.  My question was about technomancers.  What signal rating do they use?  Their own, or that of the node they're in.  i.e. are they their own wireless transmitter even when outside their living node?  Or are they restricted to using the wireless antennae of the node they're in just like a hacker?

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Initiative does not change. A slow node would slow down all icons equally. But changing all or none is the same, so the latter one is used for simplicity.

So you're saying that the matrix icon DOES slow down, and we don't bother calculating it into initiative.... but the hacker/technomancer is juggling some 10-20 potential icons at the same time (now presumably out-of-sync....), and attempting to sync actions with their meat-world friends at times... hrm.  I know it's too much overhead in the meat world -- just wondering whether I should account for it in my application since the app does the heavy-lifting and one of the points of creating it is for use at the table for on-site missions (in lieu of an "assistant GM" which I think is unrealistic).  If canon is simply "who cares" then I can just forget it. 

I'm asking these questions because I'm programming the matrix simulator...

Sichr

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« Reply #43 on: <03-09-12/0046:53> »
Everyone only need their signal rating to get to the nearest node. From there it doesn't matter anymore, you just jump from node to node as they are connected, building a chain.
uh... --Here's how I understand this issue:

If you're in a destination node and looking for hidden nodes "nearby" you would use the signal rating of the node at the destination end.  Example: if you hack into a public-access node in the foyer of a building, which has a really good Signal rating, but you really want to get into a datastore in the building, you'd have to find it -- if it's wired you have to do it the "old fashioned-way" with analyze and "detect hidden access" hopping from wired node to wired node (to my knowledge...)  And if you're in a more "modern" building with poor security (or the data is on someone's commlink in the building), that destination node might actually be wireless and hidden.  You would get into the public-access-node, hopefully with a security or admin account -- then scan for hidden nodes, borrowing the intermediary node's Signal rating (which might well be better than your commlink's signal...).  You can't hop to the destination node, because you haven't detected it (but presumably you know it's there somewhere...).  [Which signal you use to determine MSR matters for intercepting wireless traffic, for scanning for hidden nodes, capture wireless signal, detect active/passive wireless nodes, initiate decryption, etc. -- so this question is pertinent to all of these actions...]

This is how the wireless world works.  My question was about technomancers.  What signal rating do they use?  Their own, or that of the node they're in.  i.e. are they their own wireless transmitter even when outside their living node?  Or are they restricted to using the wireless antennae of the node they're in just like a hacker?


"They are restricted to their own Signal rating anywhere they move, they cannot use sattelite uplink and so they never reach orbital network."

Because previous statement is false, Technos signal rating only matters to determine mutual distance from hidden nodes he is trying to locate aroung himself, and distance of the nearest wireless node connecting him to the meshwork

And for the response issue: Since it is "Your commlink" that is used to determine matrix initiative, Technomancers own Response rating apply in any situations. I dont understand why the node should affect this (the only way how to affect your initiative without applying damage mods is to win Reality Filrter test)

crisses

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« Reply #44 on: <03-09-12/0819:44> »

"They are restricted to their own Signal rating anywhere they move, they cannot use sattelite uplink and so they never reach orbital network."

So much for the technomancer being able to travel the seattle-to-japan route for one of the sample systems I put in my game.... :/

But yes, I do remember something about that.  Thanks!  And I just re-programmed Scan to use the current node's signal ;) drat.

Quote
Because previous statement is false, Technos signal rating only matters to determine mutual distance from hidden nodes he is trying to locate aroung himself, and distance of the nearest wireless node connecting him to the meshwork

To clarify, though, if there were a complete chain up through Alaska & the Bering Straight, the technomancer might still make it from Seattle to China or Japan?  i.e. they can still follow the chain, as long as it doesn't require Satellite?  (In my simulator, I used a satellite to hop from a UCAS gateway to orbital to a Japan gateway...i.e. "Long distance, how may I route your call?")

Quote
And for the response issue: Since it is "Your commlink" that is used to determine matrix initiative, Technomancers own Response rating apply in any situations. I dont understand why the node should affect this (the only way how to affect your initiative without applying damage mods is to win Reality Filrter test)

OOooook...  So, I guess the icon-end of the connection (versus the persona-end) is simply a "projection" and it doesn't actually run on the destination node?  Not trying to be difficult, I'm actually trying to visualize what this all "looks like" on the hacker/technomancer end.