Shadowrun

Shadowrun Play => Rules and such => Topic started by: Red Herring on <02-08-19/2001:05>

Title: Semi Autonomous Knowbots, What are they?
Post by: Red Herring on <02-08-19/2001:05>
So to make a long story short I've been digging through the old books and have bumped into mentions of Semi Autonomous Knowbots (or SAKs) on more than one occasion. They are emphasized to have a very high hacking skill, very high matrix attributes, and can create programs on the fly. Yet we see no mention of them whatsoever after 3rd edition. I'm wondering why? My first assumption was that they just translated into powerful agents, since agents can hold as many programs as they like until they actually run the program. But we also had agents in 3rd edition from what I can tell.

So my big question is what exactly are the differences between SAKs and agents and how would I run them using the 4th edition rules? Would I treat them as high rating (or even rating 7+) agents or are we talking about an entirely different beast here?
Title: Re: Semi Autonomous Knowbots, What are they?
Post by: Ixal on <02-08-19/2100:55>
SATs were a bit more than mere agents, they were basically proto AIs.
Title: Re: Semi Autonomous Knowbots, What are they?
Post by: Red Herring on <02-09-19/0024:33>
I suspected they might've been, any idea for how to stat them out for 4th edition?
Title: Re: Semi Autonomous Knowbots, What are they?
Post by: DeathStrobe on <02-09-19/0511:07>
My assumption is as tech got better agents became closer to SKs. Kind of like how in SR5 the Matrix actually looks real without needing to be in a UV host anymore (which is a bad call IMHO, but never the less there it is). Like wise, there are literally AIs now, so what used to make SKs special is diminished when there are true AI running around semi-commonly.
Title: Re: Semi Autonomous Knowbots, What are they?
Post by: Red Herring on <02-10-19/0053:13>
From what I've seen it sounds like SAKs are most comparable to military grade agents (ratings 7-10) with the ability to create whatever program they need at that point on the fly. Seeing as how memory isn't nearly as big an issue in the wireless matrix this trick (while useful) doesn't seem nearly as valuable. After all an agent could have as many programs loaded as it likes.

However the huge difference is an SAK could switch these programs around as a free action, which is a hell of a game changer compared to the complex action of running a loaded program. It seems then that corporations and militaries might still want to build the equivalent of SAKs in the wireless matrix if only because of their adaptability. After all no one can make AIs and they are certainly far more difficult to control than SAKs. Additionally most AIs lack this nasty trick that SAKs possess (I'm sure some NPC AIs do, but that's a thread for another day).

So when it comes to this ability I think basing it off 2e's depiction of SAKs might translate the most easily. Give the SAK a number of points it can allocate into whatever programs it likes as a free action and base that pool of points around the SAK's rating. I was thinking the SAK's rating x3 that it can move into whatever programs it likes as a free action? Any thoughts on this interpretation? Also do you think I missed another big quality SAKs have that would separate them from milspec level agents?