Shadowrun General => General Discussion => Topic started by: DeathStrobe on <05-11-20/0035:24>
Title: The Host Game
Post by: DeathStrobe on <05-11-20/0035:24>
The Host Game There are no guidance on how to make host systems in SR6. This is an attempt to make a mini game for GMs to design corporate hosts.
The idea is to simulate a real (fictional) Matrix security concerns and balance it with the resources you have. This way it avoids perfect and impossible to penetrate Matrix security. And forces the GM to design with trade-offs, much similar to how real (fictional) mega corp would have to allocate resources.
Terms ¥ (Nuyen) : This is the resource used to make and maintain hosts. 1¥ = 100,000 Nuyen
WAN : Wide Area Network. The network that all the interconnected hosts are on.
Boot-up : The cost for adding a host to a WAN
Upkeep : The cost for maintaining a host at it's current rating
Profit : This is the ¥ a Host resource produces that can be used on more Matrix security over the upkeep cost. Hosts technically generate a LOT more nuyen, but for this mini game's purpose this is the profit that is rolled back in to Matrix security. All WANs need to generate at least half of their starting resources in profit.
R# : Where # is a number between 1 to 12. This represents the Rating of a Host
A : Attack attribute of the Host
S : Sleaze attribute of the Host
D : Data Processing attribute of the Host
F : Firewall attribute of the Host
#/#/#/# : The ASDF attributes of a Host
Security Host : These Hosts are cheap and designed to secure devices in a LAN (Local Area Network). They do not generate ¥
SAH (System Access Host) : These Hosts are even cheaper and cannot slave devices. They also do not generate ¥.
Office Host : These Hosts are pretty expensive, but generate ¥ with diminishing returns
Consumer Host : These Hosts are the most expensive, and generate the most ¥. They also require an Office Host to support them
Starting Resources First pick a level of corporation you wish to design your Matrix system for. There are 5 categories of corporations you can pick from.
Ma and Pa : The small local business. (probably a front for organized crime...just saying...) 20¥ WAN requires 1 Host
Sub A Corp : This business is pretty big in the local sprawl, but has no influence out of this area. 40¥ WAN requires 2 Hosts
(Single) A Corp : A national player. This corp has a presence in a few sprawls and maybe even in a few countries. 60¥ WAN requires 3 Hosts
(Double) AA Corp : The Megas. These are extra territorial and multinational mega corporations. 80¥ WAN requires 4 Hosts
(Triple) AAA Corp : The Big 10. A seat on the Corporate Court. These guys write the rules to keep themselves in power. 100¥ WAN requires 5 Hosts
These are just rules of thumb. Some AAA Corp subsidiary might have a (Single) A Corp budget for their facility. So tweak it how you see fit.
All WANs need to generate at least half of the starting ¥ back to represent that the network is profitable.
There must be 1 host for ever 20¥ starting resource (round down). So if you'd like to try designing with starting resource of 125¥ that's mean you'd want 6 hosts in the WAN (125/ 20 = 6 rounding down).
Boot-up Starting up a host on a WAN becomes more and more expensive the more hosts you have. This prevents making large endless maze of Hosts and represents that there is a cost to supporting more Hosts.
The cost to start a new host on a WAN is (Host Number) x 3.
This means that booting up one host only costs 3¥. While booting up two hosts costs 9¥ (host1 3¥ + host2 6¥).
Here is a table to help illustrate the idea.
# of hosts |
Cost for that host |
Total ¥ spent for all hosts
1
3
3
2
6
9
3
9
18
4
12
30
5
15
45
Hosts There are 4 different types of hosts. Security Hosts, System Access Hosts, Office Hosts, and Consumer Hosts.
Security Hosts Security Hosts are pretty cheap hosts. They don't require a great deal of processing power, are not under a lot of stress to perform a lot of calculations. But are designed to secure devices from being hacked on the open Matrix. Usually all physical devices to control a facility are slaved to a security host. Lights, air conditioning, elevators, doors, etc etc.
Upkeep R# x 1
System Access Hosts System Access Hosts are hosts that are the cheapest and bottleneck hackers from being able to get farther into a WAN. They do not support a LAN so cannot slave devices to them.
Upkeep R# / 2
Office Host Office Hosts are where day to day business happens. They cost quite a bit more to maintain. They'll usually contain valuable paydata and generate revenue for a corporation.
Upkeep R# x 3
Profits Is calculated based off of the different Matrix stats of the host. The formulas are listed below. If the ¥ generated is over the Upkeep, the difference can be used to put back into Matrix security to improve the rating of security hosts or system access hosts.
Data Processing Data Processing represents how fast and responsive the host is. It generates the most profit but diminishes over time. And assuming you don't want to deal with logarithmic formulas, here is a more simplified formula to show the diminishing returns per attribute.
R1-R4 : (D x 2)
R5-R8 : (4 + D x 1)
R9-R12 : (9 + D / 2)
This means if Data Processing is 4, it generates 8¥ of profit.
No rounding if there is a remainder. So D9 would generate 13.5¥.
Attack Attack represents pure number crunching for highly specialized tasks. Hence why it's used for brute force actions. It generates a linear amount of profit.
A# x 1
Sleaze Sleaze is used for monitoring employees making sure they're being productive citizens of the corporation. It's not as important, but it does still help with generating a bit of extra profit.
S# / 2
Consumer Host The consumer host is public facing. Similar to websites of old the public is allowed in with outside access and the corporation tries to sell the latest NERPS while watching the consumers every move and attempting to analyze and influence their behavior. This post has a connection to the open Matrix and usually a connection to the SAH which connects it to the Office Host.
An office host of at least half the Consumer Host's rating (round down) is required to support the Consumer Host.
Upkeep R# x 4
Profits Just like Office Hosts. Profit is calculated based off different Matrix stats. The formula are below. Any Profit over the Upkeep costs can be used to improve other Matrix Security.
Data Processing Works similar to the Office Host. DP is required to handle a large value of consumer requests and is the most profitable stat.
D# x 2.5
Sleaze Sleaze is used to gather valuable metrics on the consumer with subtly using subliminal advertising to shape consumer behavior to come back.
S# x 1
Attack Attack is used for less subtle advertising or other high specialized marketing spam.
A# / 2
Example Hosts Yakuza Store Front Starting Resources: Ma & Pa 20¥
Office Host R5: 6/5/7/8 = A6 + S2.5 + D11 = 20¥
Boot-up: 3
Upkeep: 15
profit: 2 (not enough to spend on anything else)
costs: 18/20(+2profit)
The AAA Corp Office Starting Resources: AAA corp 100¥