[Unahim]

Disclaimer: With Aaron's answer about diagnostics on Muscle Replacement being that it'd basically work on anything you'd use muscles for, I thought it'd be amusing to try and see what the best streetsamurai technomancer is that we could make. This does not mean I think this is a good ruling, or that it is one that I employ. What actions "use" Muscle Replacement is vague, but since it, you know, replaces your muscles I've just taken it to mean all physical actions, since they all do. Let's not turn this into a debate about the ruling; it's just a thought experiment.

I did some messing around, and with A Technomancy, B Resources, C Attributes, D Metatype, E Skills (tried shuffling it around, but the only possibility I see is swapping A and B. We need Resonance 6, we need Edge for registering/compiling, and we need money. Not too far you can go with that. I hate wasting those complex forms though, but I suppose you could use -some- of them with a low Software + Edge...) I ended up with a build that has decent dicepools, though it's very... rough and single minded, let's say.

First numbers are before augmentations/specializations. Apart from main battle skills, skills were haphazardly chosen:



I got there by applying Alpha grade Muscle Replacement R2, Alpha grade Wired Reflexed R2 and a standard R2 Reaction Enhancer. That leaves us with only 1 Resonance, but 9 dice for Compiling and Registering Sprites -should- be enough, especially with some Edge, since Diagnostics can run basically forever. Could probably even crank out some other sprites for some versatility every now and then (preferably during downtime when we can afford some mishaps).

Now, a L6 Machine Sprite will get 4 hits on Diagnostics on average, but we can benefit of up to 6 hits at a time. We'll get that eventually, so 6 hits is what I'll base the snapshots at:

Shooting Assault Rifles: 6 (skill) + 2 (specialization) + 8 (Agility) + 6 (Diagnostics) = 22
Dodging: 8 (Rea) + 3 (Int) + 6 (Diagnostics) = 17

And like 13-17 dice for Gymnastics and stuff.

You have 10k left for your gear and such... better spend some karma on nuyen? :p

It's a pretty painful build, I've got to say, but at the end of it you are -very- good at what little you do. I don't think Street Sams tend to get to those numbers. With some downtime you could get Diagnostic buddies for allies' guns too, or some Matrix-help. Anyone got a better idea for streetsam Technomancer?

[MaxKojote]

Query: As sprites are limited to being compiled at twice your Resonance rating, wouldn't that thus limit you to compiling R2 sprites?

[RHat]

Query: As sprites are limited to being compiled at twice your Resonance rating, wouldn't that thus limit you to compiling R2 sprites?

Thrice Resonance, actually, but that may be an error.

[Ren]

Well, this reminds me of a crazy idea of mine for a Mystic Adept hacker.

For this to work, you really should limit your essence loss. The others are right, Sprite level is limited at twice your Resonance value. So, if you exchange priorities to A resources and B technomancer, you might be able to use bioware instead some cyber mods (eg. R2 Synaptic Booster instead of Wired Reflexes - which, by the way, you cannot buy in alpha grade at character creation because of availability - and R2 Muscle Toner and Augmentation instead of Replacement). This would leave you at 3 Resonance, able to register level 6 sprites, at the cost of 2Edge and 2 skill points at character creation. You can still apply Diagnostics to Reaction Enhancers and your Shotgun (if the GM approves these in the first place). at

[Csjarrat]

yeah thats a pretty funky ruling. what happens with convergence and GOD though? i was under the impression that sprites generate OS through time unless registered (which would take 6 hours to do for each level 6 sprite according to pg254, also, you cannot do another action whilst undertaking this task.) registering is likely to end up with a lot of physical wound mods, given that its level will be higher than your resonance and you'd need a few sprites running to cover each different implant.
so we're looking at 12-18 hrs prep time and quite a few boxes of physical drain damage between compiling and registering tests. i'm not sold tbh, though it sounds like fun on paper :-)

[Ren]

I think GOD is the least of the problem as you won't use any illegal action so there won't be an OS. And you can use wired PAN to avoid going online (unless there is something in the book saying sprites can't go offline which would be logical). But prep time is serious, especially because Fading heals only naturally.

[RHat]

I think GOD is the least of the problem as you won't use any illegal action so there won't be an OS. And you can use wired PAN to avoid going online (unless there is something in the book saying sprites can't go offline which would be logical). But prep time is serious, especially because Fading heals only naturally.

You may wish to review the rules on sprites - accumulation of OS, for them, begins on compilation.  If no illegal actions are performed, only time based increases occur, but that still puts compiled sprites on a very short timer.

[Ren]

You're right, sprites start their OS by existing. The question is - and the book isn't clear on that  - if sprites can exist in an offline mode. For fluff reasons i'd say no but let's assume for the argument's sake they can. Just as an offline hacker, they wouldn't accumulate OS, and if they are in the node of the affected device, they could use their Diagnostics on it.

[RHat]

That...  Doesn't at all seem like it's intended, or remotely even implied by anything in the rules.  It's not that the book isn't clear, it's that there's no provision or implication for something like that.  The book being silent on something you can't do isn't the book being unclear.

[Unahim]

I'm not too worried on the alpha grade cyber. It's a thought experiment after all. Good catch on the max level of sprites based on Resonance though! Perhaps a priority B techno, A resouces, R1 muscle replacement (lose 1 dice, but we need this to pull the trick off) and then bioware for reaction enhancement. That'd push the cost down a bit. Obviously makes the end dice pools a tad lower, but still respectable.

I'm not too worried about the OS of the sprite. We have registering, and with one of our free CF we could take some software to run Cleaner on a low level regularly.

[Csjarrat]

what level are you wanting your sprites running at though? each sprite will take 1hr of registering per level, so a sprite running in your reaction enhancement + one in your muscles at R6 each is 12hrs prep time. prep time that you cannot do any other single task in. not even having a wee or a cup of tea.
its a lot of time to hold your bladder!!

[MaxKojote]

Assuming R1 Muscle Replacement and R2 Synaptic Booster.

Remember that you're expecting to guarantee a successful registration. Even at RES 4 (assuming you maxed out at 6) and Registering 6, you're rolling 10 dice in response to a R6 sprite's 12. And taking twice the sprite's successes in physical Fade which can only be healed by rest.
It's actually quite possible for an attempted registration to kill you. Let alone two. Remember your Fade Resist is Resonance + Willpower. Assuming the mentioned Willpower 4 at the start, that's 8 dice there. You probably don't want to register a sprite that's going to hit you for physical damage.