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DocWagon bracelets, Ratings and Thresholds

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Jack_Spade

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« Reply #15 on: <03-24-18/1645:16> »
The solution lies not in the signaling device but in the receiver: Doc Waggon just needs a shit load of noise reduction equipment at their end to be able to cut through any jamming.
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farothel

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« Reply #16 on: <03-25-18/0459:26> »
If I recall correctly (I don't have my books at the moment), the device rating is an abstraction of 4 different attributes, to make it easy for simple devices.  But a DR of 3 doesn't necessarily mean that all it's attributes are at 3.  It can well be that it's signal rating is a lot higher, and some other attribute you don't need is only at 1.  That way those bracelets can still cut through a lot of noise, while technically DR3.
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Jack_Spade

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« Reply #17 on: <03-25-18/0508:52> »
You are thinking of SR4 - where this was a bit more complex but much more sanely handled.

In SR5 there is no separate signal rating, only device rating and the ASDF attributes.
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Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #18 on: <03-25-18/1119:26> »
The solution lies not in the signaling device but in the receiver: Doc Waggon just needs a shit load of noise reduction equipment at their end to be able to cut through any jamming.

Sure, it's true that you flat out ignore noise on the "far end" of a communication and only have to cancel noise based on distance and static local to the communicator.  So if you say the bracelet's data passes over a communication originating from Doc Wagon you absolutely could ignore local noise around the bracelet.  There's problematic implications for the viability of jamming as a tactic if you do so, however.

And regardless the fact remains that localized jamming of a sufficiently intense level on the bracelet will shut down the bracelet's wireless capability.  All the noise reduction in the world doesn't let you talk to a device with no (working) wireless capability.
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.

farothel

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« Reply #19 on: <03-25-18/1245:41> »
You are thinking of SR4 - where this was a bit more complex but much more sanely handled.

In SR5 there is no separate signal rating, only device rating and the ASDF attributes.

Probably, I've played a lot more 4th then 5th edition.

As to losing the wireles, again I'm not sure if it can be done, but depending on where you have your commlink and how you have to wear the bracelet (and if it even is a bracelet and not some implanted chip or something), maybe you can run a cable from the device to your commlink and then use your commlink to connect to Docwagon.  It can lose all the wireless it has if you can wire it up somewhere.

I guess it all comes down to how your GM sees these issues, but I'm sure there are ways to make sure the Docwagon thing stays on, otherwise what's the point in getting it.  Of course, if you're out in the boonies, it might be different (and more difficult), but that's probably also in the fine print of the Docwagon contract anyway.
"Magic can turn a frog into a prince. Science can turn a frog into a Ph.D. and you still have the frog you started with." Terry Pratchett
"I will not yield to evil, unless she's cute"