Hi there guys
I know this topic has been discussed to death, but I'm struggling with balancing run-silent devices.
Here's the layout:
Rules Official:
As the rules are written, a run silent device can be detected within 100 meters of a device that performs the matrix perception action. 1 hit is required to notice that there are run silent devices in the area. To identify what they are, the searcher needs to do another matrix perception vs the devices' sleaze + intuition (I think). If there are multiple devices running silent the GM chooses randomly.
Problem with this is that it can kill the action economy of a decker. All they want to do is hack a smartlink and it takes a bunch attempts to just find it amongst other run silent devices.
Unofficial Homebrew:
What a lot of other pages recommend is that the matrix is an overlay of the physical world. You know there are run silent devices, and know there is one over that gun, so you can make an educated guess that it's a smartlink and can therefore choose to perceive that one.
Problem: the problem with this is that it makes stealth tech silly. That infiltrator with ruthenium polymer is invisible to the naked eye, but on a matrix perception they have a run-silent icon moving about the matrix (overlaid on the physical). "How odd that I don't see anyone moving across this empty lawn, but a run silent device is moving along just fine..."
Help
So how do you balance it out? I've recommended a slight homebrew that allows the matrix perception to be conducted on a narrow band. So you choose to only focus on that gun, so you only detect one run-silent device. I would love to have you guy's input. How do you handle it, and do you foresee any unbalanced things in my homebrew? I don't like to homebrew where possible, but when a sec team may have all their smartlinks, eyes, and a pocket full of stealth tags each, it's impossible for a decker to be effective.