Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Rules and such => Previous Editions => Topic started by: Hanzo on <11-19-20/0801:28>
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Hi there, chummers!
I've been thinking about Image/Soundlink recently. As this feature helps to see AROWs and other Matrix objects then it must be turned wireless on on different devices like 24/7. This puts Cybereye/ears at risk of beeing bricked by enemy decker.
Do I understand correct that Cydereye/ears, contacts, glasses, goggles, earbuds, headphones are at risk when they work if they have Image/Soundlink ?
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All audio/visual devices are vulnerable to hacking if they're matrix-active. So yes, someone can brick cybereyes. I mean, if your cyberarm is wireless, it can be bricked too.
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All audio/visual devices are vulnerable to hacking if they're matrix-active. So yes, someone can brick cybereyes. I mean, if your cyberarm is wireless, it can be bricked too.
That really makes all the components of all the cyberlimbs as risky as hell, though providing little bonuses unless you make really huge amounts of investments! Cause if you have a cyberlegs with Hydraulic Jacks and other componenets that benefit from wirreless enabled an enemy decker can grill your legs and your party Sammy in a second turns into the disabled party Sammy. I like to think that everu single component of your leg - is a separate system module, that can be bricked, but you will still have your leg safe and sound.
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Get a datajack.
That way you don't need additional devices such as image links or earbuds etc.
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Get a datajack.
That way you don't need additional devices such as image links or earbuds etc.
But I still also need a commlink to get image/sound links, needn't I?
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You need to also have some sort of access the matrix yes. This is typically done by using a commlik. But riggers often use a RCC instead. And deckers use a cyberdeck. And technomancers have a deviceless living persona.
But as long as you are accessing the matrix and have DNI (which you get by wearing trodes or by implanting a datajack, control rig, commlink or cyberdeck) you will experience AR directly in your mind. No other devices such as AR gloves, image links, earbuds etc are needed. Just keep your commlink with you at all times and you will be good to go :-)
To experience VR (and BTL) you also need a sim module. Commlinks does not come with one default (unless they are implanted), but they can be modded with one. RCC also don't come with a sim module, but lucky for riggers the control rig implant do. Cyberdecks come automatically with a sim module (it is even modded for hot-sim by default, this is otherwise an illegal mod for your commlink).
If you have a both DNI and a sim module then you can also even experience smell and taste in AR, not just seeing, hearing and feeling.
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Thanks for the idea with the DNI!
In the first hand I was wondering not about how to get Image/Sound link, but if those mods (as well as all other mods for cybernetic aymentations like cyberhands, cyberears, cybereyes) put the augmentation itself at risk of complete bricking.
Fo instance Basic cybereye system comes with the Imagelink mod. I can turn in off and on. If a decker see its icon in the Matrix, will brick only the mod, will he put down my entire cybereyes system?
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Accessories typically share the same icon as the device they are part of.
Note that your cybereyes are connected via your nervous system (not to be confused with DNI). No wireless connection is normally needed. Unless your augmentation provide you with a wireless bonus that you need (in the case of cybereyes perhaps a smartlink accessory if you want to get a positive dice pool modifier while firing your smartgun).
Also.... If you have an Internal Router then you will still benefit from the wireless bonus even though your augmentation is wireless disabled.
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Wow ! I've completely forgotten about the Internal Router ! Thanks for the tips !
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Accessories typically share the same icon as the device they are part of.
Note that your cybereyes are connected via your nervous system (not to be confused with DNI). No wireless connection is normally needed. Unless your augmentation provide you with a wireless bonus that you need (in the case of cybereyes perhaps a smartlink accessory if you want to get a positive dice pool modifier while firing your smartgun).
Also.... If you have an Internal Router then you will still benefit from the wireless bonus even though your augmentation is wireless disabled.
I've yet to see a clear definition of how the Internal Router actually works. Has it been errata'ed, or is there an official clarification somewhere?
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Thanks for the idea with the DNI!
In the first hand I was wondering not about how to get Image/Sound link, but if those mods (as well as all other mods for cybernetic aymentations like cyberhands, cyberears, cybereyes) put the augmentation itself at risk of complete bricking.
Fo instance Basic cybereye system comes with the Imagelink mod. I can turn in off and on. If a decker see its icon in the Matrix, will brick only the mod, will he put down my entire cybereyes system?
I'd say that's up to the Decker. If he's an opponent and trying to take you out of the game he would take out your entire eye system, but if he's just playing around maybe he'd settle for your Image Link. Difficulty is the same as they're both protected by your comm or cyberdeck firewall.
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I've yet to see a clear definition of how the Internal Router actually works.
What do you feel is unclear with it...?
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I've yet to see a clear definition of how the Internal Router actually works.
What do you feel is unclear with it...?
I don't think it makes sense that you can run all your ware and gear on wireless and get wireless bonuses without actually being connected to the Matrix. So you run your own wireless network that can't be hacked because you're not on the Matrix, great. But where does all your cyberware and gear get their input from to provide those wireless bonuses?
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where does all your cyberware and gear get their input from to provide those wireless bonuses?
The internal router is connected to the matrix. It act as a router or proxy for your internal cyberware.
This is an explicit exception to the blanket rule that devices typically need to be connected to the matrix themselves.
Your internal cyberware are in turn connected to your internal router via your nervous system via neural interface (not to be confused with DNI).
While internal cyberware (like wired reflexes+reflex enhancers or your smarteyes etc) does not have to be wireless enabled your external devices (for example the smartgun in our smartgun system) still need to be wireless enabled.
Cyberware that are not directly connected to your nervous system (for example an Ocular drone that you disconnected from your eye socket) also still need to be wireless enabled.
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So then a Decker just targets your internal router and shuts everything down with it?
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So then a Decker just targets your internal router and shuts everything down with it?
Short answer: yes.
Longer answer has some nuance, but still ends up ultimately being mostly yes.
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So then a Decker just targets your internal router and shuts everything down with it?
The Internal Router just let your augmentations gain wireless bonus without being wireless enabled.
If the Internal Router is bricked then your augmentations no longer gain wireless bonus without being wireless enabled.
For example; Your reaction enhancers + wired reflexes will no longer break the +4 augmented limit (but they still increase reaction and initiative) and your smarteyes no longer provide your smartgun system with a positive dice pool modifier (but they still provide you with perfect eyesight and if you connect your smartgun with a wire to your datajack instead of wireless they also increase accuracy by 2 and let you fire around corners without the blind fire modifier etc).
Your augmentations still also have their own wireless capability that you can choose to turn ON...
...and if you do then they will once again provide you with their wireless bonus
(but without the Internal Router they will then obviously also get exposed to the matrix)
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Doesn't really seem worth it to me. If your internal router still shows up as a device on the Matrix then you're just as exposed as if you just ran wireless.
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It let you gain wireless bonus without risk of losing basic functionality.
Depending on how frequent wireless devices get attacked at your table and depending on how paranoid you (or your character) are this might or might not be a useful augmentation.
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I guess it's a bonus that you don't light up like a Christmas tree on the Matrix.
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My belief is that the intent was to allow cyberware to talk to each other without having to be wireless enabled. It's neat in theory that your cyberware can talk to each other without wireless, but in practice it's of very limited mechanical benefit... because you can already employ your cyberware via mental or muscular command anyway.
In practice, you'd have to find a combination of cyberware wireless bonuses that don't involve outside input... which is by definition nearly impossible!
Although one potential interaction I'd allow as a GM is Wired Reflexes and Reaction Enhancers. It passes my personal sniff test to allow their wireless bonus to not require any outside input from the matrix at large... and would be an example of an internal router permitting a wireless bonus without actually having any of the three pieces of cyberware being wireless on!
Edit: barring the possibility of making a home ruling that certain wireless bonuses don't need outside matrix input... there's still a couple perfectly RAW benefits to linking your cyberware to an internal router:
1) you protect all your cyberware at the cost of one device slot rather than every piece of cyberware eating into your device budget (see PANs and WANs, pg 233 SR5)
1a) of course the downside to putting all the eggs in one basket is all your cyberware can then be hacked without needing to be individually marked after the router is marked, but pros and cons, man.
2) You can already spend a free action to turn wireless off for ALL your devices (see Turning it Off, pg 421 SR5) but there is no corresponding ability to re-engage wireless for ALL your devices simultaneously. But if all your cyber is direct connected to your internal router, you only have to turn wireless back on for that 1 device to restore all your cyberware wireless bonuses! Important nuance for combat and other time-sensitive crises where you're also getting hacked!
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Actually re-reading the rules for internal router it seem as if the internal router does not have to be wireless enabled after all. Sorry for the confusion. Parts of 5th edition ruleset seem to have slipped my mind lately :(
Devices in SR5 dynamically self-organize, self-configure and automatically connect to other devices in their vicinity (Google Mesh Networking to get an idea of a 2020 technology that have similar traits). This give individual devices a huge boost in efficiency and performance (Google Distributed Computing to get an idea of a 2020 technology that have similar traits) and this in turn is one of the reasons why you are granted a wireless bonus when your device is wireless enabled and connected to other wireless enabled devices in its vicinity. With an Internal Router you get this benefit by connecting all your augmentations via your nervous system into an internal meshnet of sorts, without actually exposing your augmentations to devices outside your body or the matrix as a whole. This give your reaction enhancers and wireless reflexes the computing power and the increased performance to break the +4 augmentation limit, even though they are not wireless enabled and even though they are not exposed to the matrix as a whole.
CF p. 84 Internal Router
Using the body’s internal neural network as “wires,” the internal router allows the user’s cybernetics to communicate with one another as if they were wirelessly connected
Then you have augmentations that might need to connect to an external device of sorts (like your smarteyes that need to connect to your wireless enabled smartgun). With a wireless enabled datajack (or wireless enabled internal commlink, wireless enabled internal cyberdeck or perhaps a wireless enabled control rig) this can be made possible while your other augmentations are wireless disabled (if you have an internal router that is). For example, if you have a wireless enabled smartgun, an internal router (which can be wireless disabled, I said something else a few posts above - sorry) and a wireless enabled datajack then you get to establish a wireless smartgun system connection even if your smarteyes are wireless disabled (this will obviously stop working if someone brick your wireless enabled datajack or your wireless enabled smartgun, but at least your internal router, your smarteyes, your reflex enhancers and your wired reflexes are 'safe').
CF p. 84 Internal Router
...and, if expanded via a datajack or similar broadcast-enabled piece of cyberware, with the rest of the user’s gear.
This allows the use of some wireless functionality, such as the quick-loading function of a smartgun or the engagement of a smuggling compartment
A third reason why your devices tend to give you a wireless bonus is because they also, in addition to increased computing power and performance, get to access various matrix resources (like skillwires if you have a wireless skillsoft subscription). This is, however, not something that internal router will help out with (your skillwires still have to be wireless enabled if you wish to make use of your wireless skillsoft subscription - having an internal router does not change this fact).
CF p. 84 Internal Router
...but not those that require an outside network or similar function, such as skillwire downloads.