[Crossbow]

Do individual commlinks need their own individual OS and programs or can they share from one set?  I know there are hardware limitations to the effectiveness of programs, but if you run an Attack 5 on a comm that can only run a 3, it just acts like an Attack 3 right?

Also, I know a TacNet is some highend stuff, but a Hacker can create a group comm channel just by slaving comms and it is protected with his Firewall, right?

Rulebook refs would be appreciated.

[farothel]

-Normally you need an OS and programs for each commlink, unless you break the copy protection, in which case you can copy them onto as many as you want.  Of course, then they will degrade (-1 rating each month or each 2 months, see Unwired p108-109).

-system limits the rating of programs running on the device (SR4A p222), unless you have an optimization program option (unwired p115)

-for tacnets, you can either have all players run tacnet software (decentralised tacnet) or one commlink (centralised tacnet) in which case slaving of commlinks is needed (taken one subscribtion/slave for the master node).  The last has the problem that if the master node drops, the whole tacnet drops while in the former, you still keep the rest of the net.  Tacnets are explained in full in Unwired p125).

-Slaving is explained in Unwired p55 and 59.  Basically it means that the slave is protected by the firewall of the master, but doesn't allows any matrix connections except through the master node.  In short, all communications have to go through the master.

[olg707]

Running a attack 5 on a system 3 will not work at all. It does not auto-scale itself down.

[SpellBinder]

Running a attack 5 on a system 3 will not work at all. It does not auto-scale itself down.

Yes it does.

SR4a, page 222:  "System limits the rating of programs running on the device, and sets the limit on most devices for the number of programs that can be run without a Response drop.  The System program is limited by the base Response rating of the device it is on: if the base Response rating of the device is lower than the System rating, then the System rating is set to equal the Response rating."

System is also auto-scaled down if Response is lower.  And if software didn't get scaled down then this program option would be useless based on how it's worded.

Unwired, page 115:  "Under normal circumstances, a node’s System rating limits  the rating on any so ware run on that node (see System, p. 222,  SR4A). A program with the Optimization option is more effective at running on a system with limited resources. Add the Optimization rating to the rating of the System (to a maximum  of twice the System’s rating) to determine the maximum rating at  which the program can operate."

I know using real world references is opening a can of worms when it comes to games like Shadowrun, but think of something like Attack 5 running on System 3 like running a program like PhotoShop that requires (just throwing out  numbers here) a minimum of a dual core 2.0GHz and 2.0GB RAM on a computer running a single 1.8GHz processor with 1.5GB RAM.  It very well will run, but nowhere near even minimum capabilities.