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SR6 Matrix Guide and FAQ

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Xenon

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« Reply #30 on: <09-29-20/1848:19> »
+3D6 for an R5 or R6 Cyberjack.
There are two tables in the book. They have different numbers.
Page 177 is the correct one.


Noise from distance can be negated ...
Yes.

In which case you can remote control over larger areas.



One of the key things elements to hacking something is that if you can see the icon, you can hack it...
Eh?

The signal originates from the device you used to access the matrix with (for a hacker that would typically be his cyberdeck).

If you are trying to gain access on a network that is 4km away then you have 3 points of noise due to distance. No matter how many drones that are part of your PAN.

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #31 on: <09-29-20/1904:46> »
Giving Cyberjacks extra initiative dice also seems to greatly devalue Hot Sim for deckers.  If you can get +3D6 and four minors in cold sim, then hot sim doesn't look so good in risk vs reward.  It actually makes me want to use Hot Sim as a tactical advantage Edge generator.  Matrix is hurting for non-AR/DR generation sources anyway.  I'd move the VCR edge generator to hot sim too.

"You're in Hot Sim" can win the Circumstantial Edge whenever the GM wants it to.
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

dougansf

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« Reply #32 on: <09-30-20/0916:58> »
+3D6 for an R5 or R6 Cyberjack.
There are two tables in the book. They have different numbers.
Page 177 is the correct one.

*forehead slap*
Right! Thank you.

dougansf

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« Reply #33 on: <09-30-20/0919:15> »
"You're in Hot Sim" can win the Circumstantial Edge whenever the GM wants it to.

I totally agree with this idea. Similar to "Has night vision, and opponent doesn't."

MercilessMing

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« Reply #34 on: <09-30-20/1218:55> »
Giving Cyberjacks extra initiative dice also seems to greatly devalue Hot Sim for deckers.  If you can get +3D6 and four minors in cold sim, then hot sim doesn't look so good in risk vs reward.  It actually makes me want to use Hot Sim as a tactical advantage Edge generator.  Matrix is hurting for non-AR/DR generation sources anyway.  I'd move the VCR edge generator to hot sim too.

"You're in Hot Sim" can win the Circumstantial Edge whenever the GM wants it to.
Anything can give edge whenever the GM wants to, but the CRB never mentions it as something worth edge. When I started playing SR6 I thought deckers got an edge for being in VR, and of course it was pointed out to me that this wasn't the case.  Thinking more on it, maybe this should be limited to tests vs personas, like a spider defender, so we're not getting 1 edge on every round of Probe for example or Matrix Searching in hot sim.  A hierarchy of Hot VR > Cold VR > No VR is probably a good rule of thumb and could apply evenly to riggers.

Xenon

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« Reply #35 on: <09-30-20/1242:07> »
....or, you know, just be satisfied that higher initiative dice give you access to more minor actions.

Which, after all, is kinda the main reason why the street samurai might opt for wired reflexes or why the physical adept is using the improved reflexes power....


Personally I like when hackers (but also and snipers and riggers and astral magicians and faces etc and all other 'remote' characters) join the rest of the team inside. In case of the hacker, doing most their hacking directly via AR.

If the GM start to hand out edge just for being in hot sim then you are diminishing the incentive to hack from AR.

Banshee

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« Reply #36 on: <09-30-20/1250:59> »
personally I would only award edge for being in hot sim VR only when you are going against a target or opponent that isn't, but I would also award being in VR in general if going against a target in AR ... it is all about representing who has the upper hand just because of circumstances.
Robert "Banshee" Volbrecht
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Former RPG Lead Agent
Catalyst Demo Team

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #37 on: <09-30-20/1309:54> »
...
If the GM start to hand out edge just for being in hot sim then you are diminishing the incentive to hack from AR.

It's a funny place to be, but I find myself thinking there's more than reason enough to be hacking from AR as is.  So... the attempt to get the "decker out of the van" that's been in the works ever since 4e (if not earlier) has FINALLY been achieved as of 6e!  That's actually a bit of a feather in a cap, really.

However, I think that "yeah we're finally there"... but it might have overshot just a SMIDGE and leaves too-little reason to use VR.  Who needs the +init dice for VR when you can just have drugs or wired reflexes in AR to get an even better init score. 

personally I would only award edge for being in hot sim VR only when you are going against a target or opponent that isn't, but I would also award being in VR in general if going against a target in AR ... it is all about representing who has the upper hand just because of circumstances.

Yes, this is exactly what I was alluding to...  "you're in hot sim and the other guy isn't" is what I was implying in my last post.  Hot Sim awards edge when your target is not.  Cold Sim awards edge when your target is in AR.
« Last Edit: <09-30-20/1311:42> by Stainless Steel Devil Rat »
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

MercilessMing

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« Reply #38 on: <09-30-20/1419:31> »
....or, you know, just be satisfied that higher initiative dice give you access to more minor actions.
Hot Sim's got a risk associated with it though - Physical biofeedback and BTL addiction (in fluff only for now).  When that was the only way to get a 2nd Major in VR, the risk/reward was good.  If a cyberjack user gets a 2nd major in Cold sim, there's very little reason to embrace those dangers of Hot sim.  Besides like I said, there's only one established way to accumulate Edge round-to-round in the Matrix.  It could use more. 
« Last Edit: <09-30-20/1430:30> by MercilessMing »

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #39 on: <09-30-20/1424:06> »
...Besides like I said, there's only one established way to gain Edge in the Matrix.  It could use more.

Well. There's Matrix Attack Rating vs Matrix Defense Rating... and there's Analytical Mind.

There's also programs, but on reviewing those they appear to all be use-or-lose Edge gains.
« Last Edit: <09-30-20/1426:07> by Stainless Steel Devil Rat »
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

Banshee

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« Reply #40 on: <09-30-20/1435:12> »
....or, you know, just be satisfied that higher initiative dice give you access to more minor actions.
Hot Sim's got a risk associated with it though - Physical biofeedback and BTL addiction (in fluff only for now).  When that was the only way to get a 2nd Major in VR, the risk/reward was good.  If a cyberjack user gets a 2nd major in Cold sim, there's very little reason to embrace those dangers of Hot sim.  Besides like I said, there's only one established way to accumulate Edge round-to-round in the Matrix.  It could use more.

I have yet to run a scenario where a decker is not maximizing his edge on every action, unless he was in actual cybercombat with an "equal" opponent.
Robert "Banshee" Volbrecht
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Catalyst Demo Team

MercilessMing

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« Reply #41 on: <09-30-20/1508:49> »
I have yet to run a scenario where a decker is not maximizing his edge on every action, unless he was in actual cybercombat with an "equal" opponent.
I ban Analytical Mind, so yeah I forgot about that "established" way to gain edge on most every action a decker does ever, but yes once you're up against someone that is moderately challenging, there's no way to gain edge.  In physical combat, if your target has a high DR, there's still a million situational things you could do - get high ground, shoot out the lights, give them a status effect, flush them out of cover, flank them.  In matrix you don't have those interesting options.  When you come up on something challenging, you have no edge options.

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #42 on: <09-30-20/1545:33> »
All those things you mentioned could work just as well as Matrix analogues.

High ground = bringing the cybercombat to a familiar host/grid/etc.
Shoot out the lights = hack the security file so that the spider's credentials are called into question by the Host/IC
Flank = Superior numbers on your side (Spider + IC, Hacker + Sprites/Agents and/or more Hackers)

When it comes to hacking access rather than cybercombat:
Doing homework, doing homework, doing homework!

Learning the login procedures/patterns used by employees
Doing research on the physical matrix infrastructure of the building
Doing research on the specific software the host(s) use

and of course, having appropriate knowledge skills should be a common way to be awarded edge!

edge as an advantage is ultimately about creativity, not being codified in the rules.
« Last Edit: <09-30-20/1558:32> by Stainless Steel Devil Rat »
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

MercilessMing

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« Reply #43 on: <09-30-20/1608:22> »
All those things you mentioned could work just as well as Matrix analogues.

High ground = bringing the cybercombat to a familiar host/grid/etc.
Shoot out the lights = hack the security file so that the spider's credentials are called into question by the Host/IC
Flank = Superior numbers on your side (Spider + IC, Hacker + Sprites/Agents and/or more Hackers)

edge as an advantage is ultimately about creativity, not being codified in the rules.
Matrix chapter needs suggestions like these to lay some ground rules, because we're dealing with an environment that is completely foreign to us IRL and honestly, a completely arbitrary space that will be different from gm to gm. 
I could see your suggestions making sense with some people and not with others:
Flank =/= superior numbers, its about positioning and there is no such thing in matrix, and besides matrix activity is usually a 1 PC affair.
Hacking security file of spider: sounds good but if the hacker can do this, they probably don't need to cause that's a matrix run in itself
bringing combat to familiar host/grid - not usually an option, since matrix work is often about breaking into a digital castle not cyberbattles across the matrix.
Quote
Learning the login procedures/patterns used by employees
Doing research on the physical matrix infrastructure of the building
Doing research on the specific software the host(s) use

and of course, having appropriate knowledge skills should be a common way to be awarded edge!
Now these are good suggestions, again the matrix chapter needs suggestions like these to lay some ground rules that gm's and pc's can have expectations around.
« Last Edit: <09-30-20/1615:06> by MercilessMing »

Xenon

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« Reply #44 on: <09-30-20/1759:49> »
If a cyberjack user gets a 2nd major in Cold sim, there's very little reason to embrace those dangers of Hot sim...
Some people will invest essence and resources to get a cyberjack. In some cases they will be in cold sim. In some cases
they might still want that extra minor action beyond their two major actions and opt for hot sim. Similar to technomancers that go for the Overclocking echo.

Others will will not. Placing their priorities elsewhere. Perhaps they will compensate by using hot sim instead (which comes at its own price).

And then, on the other side of the spectrum, you might have a third group of people that have such a high focus on AR initiative (from adept powers, spells, chrome and/or drugs) that will be as fast (or perhaps even faster) in AR than they are in VR. But that typically mean they make other sacrifices...

Everything has a price.


(I am not totally against rewarding edge during an encounter if one side is having some sort of advantage over their opponent, for example by using hot sim while the other side is not, - I just don't think it is needed to reward a point of edge every turn just because someone happen to be in hot sim...)
« Last Edit: <09-30-20/1809:40> by Xenon »