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Datajacks, Datajacks, Datajacks - How many do you guys allow?

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8-bit

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« on: <10-30-14/2129:42> »
Datajacks are, at least in my opinion, one of the more useful augmentations. It's cheap in both cost and Essence, and it provides quite a few bonuses. Now here's the question. Technically, and according to Aaron, you can stack as many datajacks as you want to accumulate noise reduction. Except this means you can have so much noise mitigation you never take noise penalties. So, how many does everyone allow? My personal max is 3, but I've never implemented it yet, because it has never come up.

I can see the argument for only one, which is all most people will ever need. However, deckers and riggers can greatly benefit from having multiples. I mean, they are so cheap; here's the math.

10 datajacks at used grade - 7,500 nuyen | 1.25 Essence
10 datajacks at standard grade - 10,000 nuyen | 1.0 Essence
10 datajacks at alphaware grade - 12,000 nuyen | 0.8 Essence

I mean, pretty much any Rigger or Decker can fit that in their budget. I am really lenient on stacking rules (I am kind of a munchkin...), but this seems extreme even to me.

What are your opinions?

PiXeL01

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« Reply #1 on: <10-30-14/2222:14> »
In the old days never runners, especially deckers and riggers had multiple jacks in their heads, sometimes as many as four. So I guess four would be my limit. However, I would never allow them to stack at my table no matter what others say.
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Imveros

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« Reply #2 on: <10-30-14/2301:02> »
I set the limit at my table to 4 as well. My decker wanted 6 of the darn things. I kinda just wish i had said nope they don't stack, but its so much harder to take away the toys than give them ~_~
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« Reply #3 on: <10-30-14/2352:53> »
I don't let my players stack the wireless bonus, so they usually tend to have just one.  Not often they have a bunch of things they need DNI to but not have wireless.  Fifth Edition kind of made that non-existent for everything but smartguns.
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« Reply #4 on: <10-31-14/0229:27> »
Yeah I have no problem with someone wanting as many datajacks as they feel they "need" but they only get the wireless bonus once.
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Csjarrat

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« Reply #5 on: <10-31-14/1139:59> »
seconded.
For me, the bonus to having multiple datajacks is the ability to wire up multiple cabled connections. there is no further wireless bonus, but if a player wants to walk around looking like something out of a museum piece, then so be it.
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8-bit

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« Reply #6 on: <10-31-14/1200:37> »
Thanks for the answers everyone! Removing the stacking of wireless datajacks does get rid of their most exploitable feature, while still allowing them to be useful.

Tarislar

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« Reply #7 on: <10-31-14/2041:47> »
Well multiple jacks has been in SR since the beginning.

If Aaron says they stack then I'd go with that.

In the end they are giving up Cash & Essence, sure its not much, but that is a permanent loss to the character.
I'm not up on decking rules in 5E but isn't Noise just a big set of Negatives to dice pools?
So basically it makes you worse at things?  So its going to slow the game down, meh, I say let it stack.

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« Reply #8 on: <10-31-14/2051:16> »
Well multiple jacks has been in SR since the beginning.

If Aaron says they stack then I'd go with that.

In the end they are giving up Cash & Essence, sure its not much, but that is a permanent loss to the character.
I'm not up on decking rules in 5E but isn't Noise just a big set of Negatives to dice pools?
So basically it makes you worse at things?  So its going to slow the game down, meh, I say let it stack.

It is a penalty to your dice pool, but that's the point. There is supposed to be some lag and data that gets lost due to distance/spam (aka high traffic)/static (aka no connection) zones. If you stack 10 datajacks, you can quite literally never be affected by noise; something that multi-thousand nuyen devices have to deal with as the norm, for only a bit of essence, money, and a metahuman body to put them in.

Shaidar

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« Reply #9 on: <11-02-14/0134:59> »
Personally, as my groups GM I'd rule that you'd only receive Noise reduction from the jack that is in the connection chain for a single wireless device.  So, 1 Noise reduction for your Deck on Datajack channel 1, 1 Noise reduction on your Comlink on Datajack channel 2, and so on.

All4BigGuns

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« Reply #10 on: <11-02-14/0237:43> »
Personally, as my groups GM I'd rule that you'd only receive Noise reduction from the jack that is in the connection chain for a single wireless device.  So, 1 Noise reduction for your Deck on Datajack channel 1, 1 Noise reduction on your Comlink on Datajack channel 2, and so on.

And what if you get someone who figures out a way to chain every one of them through a device (somehow, no clue how)?
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« Reply #11 on: <11-02-14/0341:32> »
Personally, as my groups GM I'd rule that you'd only receive Noise reduction from the jack that is in the connection chain for a single wireless device.  So, 1 Noise reduction for your Deck on Datajack channel 1, 1 Noise reduction on your Comlink on Datajack channel 2, and so on.

There's no reason to believe that a datajack (with wireless connectivity) is limited to one device.  And without the wireless, there's no noise reduction anyway.
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Shaidar

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« Reply #12 on: <11-02-14/0841:02> »
Each individual Datajack is still only a single connection to your one and only brain.  Please forgive me for any smugness or pedantry that might become evident in the post to follow.  My reasoning chain follows:

1)
Quote from: SR5 pg 233
PANS AND WANS
If you want extra protection for some of your devices, you can slave them to your commlink or deck. Your commlink (or deck) can handle up to (Device Rating x 3) slaved devices, becoming the master device in that particular relationship. The group consisting of your slaved devices plus your master commlink or deck is called a personal area network, or PAN.

So, therefore Commlinks or Cyberdecks are Required to form a PAN and possibly attain connectivity to benefit form Wireless Bonuses.

2)
Quote from: SR5 pg 421
WIRELESS BONUSES
Because nearly every piece of gear and ’ware is wireless capable, it means nearly every piece of gear and cyberware benefits dramatically from being “meshed” into your wireless personal area network and the Matrix as a whole. When an item has additional functionality when connected to the Matrix, it’s described under the “Wireless” entry in the item’s description. This functionality only applies when the device has access to the Matrix, which is most of the time unless your gamemaster says otherwise, like if you’ve entered a wireless static zone. If there is a Noise Rating from a situation that is greater than the item’s Device Rating, not including distance, the item temporarily loses its wireless functionality (see Noise, p. 230).
These benefits only apply when the item’s wireless mode is on. Your Ares Alpha can’t auto-adjust for the wind direction and speed if it can’t download local upto-the-second weather conditions, and your Eurocar Westwind 3000 doesn’t know the status of the next three traffic lights if it’s not connected to GridGuide. A wireless device is always vulnerable to subversion and control by a hacker within wireless handshake range. You can defend your gear with a good commlink and a personal area network (see PANs and WANs, p. 233). Even better, defending against threats from the Matrix is part of your team hacker’s job. If she’s not available, you might occasionally want to turn wireless off.

Consequently, while everything can send data out to HOSTS for data analysis to optimise situational performance, not Every device has processing power/Device Rating to handle the data transfer to the Matrix.  IF it is connected to the Matrix via a PAN.

3)
Commlink and Cyberdeck charts on page 439 of SR5.

We see clearly, and explicitly, that Commlinks and Cyberdecks have Device Ratings and thus processing Power.

4)
Quote from: SR5 pg 452
Datajack: A datajack gives you a direct neural interface (p. 222), which can be handy in a lot of situations. It also comes with a retractable spool of micro-cable (about a meter long) that lets you directly interface with any electronic device via a universal access cable. Datajacks are equipped with their own cache of storage memory for downloading or saving files. Two datajack users can string a fiberoptic cable between themselves to conduct a private mental communication immune to radio interception or eavesdropping.
Wireless: The datajack gives you Rating 1 noise reduction.

A Datajack can only interface with A (singular) electronic Device.

5)
Headware chart on page 453 of SR5.

Datajacks definitely have NO Device Rating or it would be listed in the table.

Now we pair up SR terminology with some RL terminology that mot tech-heads understand to contextualize their functions.  Interface (input and output hardware)/DNI, Router (center point for a small-scale network)/PAN, Processor/Device Rating, and Connectivity (benefits gained for communicating between hardware)/Wireless Bonus.  So Datajacks and their forefather the electrode serve a the user's Interface, while the Commlink and their big brother the Cyberdeck serve as the PAN's Router, and the Wireless Bonus is the benefits gained from connectivity with the Matrix.

A Datajack is NOT a PAN in and of itself, it has no Device Rating and no processing power only neural connection and optical memory storage.  Only Commlinks and Cyberdecks have Device Ratings and processing power in the chain of hardware.

BUT, if they are connected to the Matrix via being meshed into a PAN they can send their current data transfer requirements to the manufacturers HOST and receive back optimization protocols which allow your connection to be more resistant to random RF interference/Noise.

So'ka?
« Last Edit: <11-02-14/1017:51> by Shaidar »

Herr Brackhaus

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« Reply #13 on: <11-02-14/1039:00> »
Shaidar
A datajacks device rating is determined by its grade.

See Device Ratings table, page 234.

Basic cyberware begins at DR 2, with Delta grade ending up at DR5.

St Evil

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« Reply #14 on: <11-02-14/1341:38> »
Seth Dietrich has 4 Data Jacks.  So I would see no problem w/ that.