Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => Gear => Topic started by: Slipperychicken on <01-11-17/1636:08>
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So, commlinks and cyberdecks can be quite powerful and are smartphone to tablet-sized. Have there ever been rules for hardware that trades miniaturization for increased computing power?
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Generally no. Commlinks are quite powerful machines, and they or a deck can accomplish anything a user would need. Sort of "industrial strength" computing goes beyond what any single person could need to use and would be a plot-object rather than a specific statted thing.
But even then, with the "invention" of Hosts, they tend to take the place of such computers. A R9 Host can accomplish things no cyberdeck or commlink ever could, in addition to being more secure and acting as a virtual landscape for an entire facility.
As hosts don't (or rather, can't) have physical locations, there's no machine to upgrade for a host to become better. They don't even seem to require physical resources to sustain (just time and effort), which makes them cheaper in the long-run as well. Upgrading a host is an entirely different process that's definitely not known to many people, even many runners, and even the corp hackers don't all know it. It's very much a "need to know" thing.
TL;DR: Hosts are the next step if you somehow can't do what you're doing on a commlink or cyberdeck (which isn't many things).
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Well, as intermediary between a full blown host and a commlink you could have an RCC. They are described as briefcase sized, can run cyber programs and are ideally suited for research since they also can benefit from commlink apps (as they have all the functionality of commlinks)
Not to mention that you can slave drones and sensor arrays to it, so they are an ideal fit for workshops.
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Plus, with AR interaction you can set up your "desk" with moniter and keyboard and such can be pulled up at any place your sitting or laying as long as your commlink is sitting nearby. I'd imagine a hard desk setup would simply be were someone who uses the full set of gloves/goggles/headphones to interact with AR/VR would have their equipment set up.
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Desktops were around in earlier versions as "cyberterminals" but now those are never needed . If you want stats for one (they give you similar stats to a commlink for cheaper), check out the Hong Kong sourcebook.