[The_Gun_Nut]

Dozens of milliseconds is hundreths of a second.  Hundreds of milliseconds is tenths of a second.  If it only takes 10 milliseconds for a pulse laser to dump its energy into a target, then the barrier in question needs to pop up in nanoseconds.  Because that's how long the beam will be in route through the barrier area, putting energy into the target.

Personally, I say if someone created a specific spell to detect laser pulses and linked it to a protective spell, then they should benefit from it.  It won't detect any other kind of attack, as it is hyper-specialized for coherent photon stream detection.

[Mirikon]

To be fair, a pulse laser does not fire automatically. So there will be some delay between the trigger being pressed, and the weapon discharging. Capacitors have to build a charge, you have to focus and release the energy, etc. Also, there's the metahuman element, and transmission speeds.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Understand that it is not 'detect intent to fire a bullet/laser/whatever'; the triggering detect spell is 'Detect Bullet'.

I'd give the detect spell a speed equal to the mage's astral speed, i.e. Magic x 1000 kph.  I'd also define it as being 'always on', always detecting, not 'detect once per simple action the mage has'; it's going off every free action of every action that everyone has.  "There a bullet?  No?  Okay.  There a bullet?  No?  Okay.  There a bullet?  No?  Okay.  There a bullet? Yes? Hey, Shield Spell, wake up!!'  Which means your standard assault rifle bullet (920 m/s, or 3312 kph) is going to beat the spell only if you have a Magic under 4.  Pistols are only gonna beat the burnout with Magic 1 ...

[Phylos Fett]

I love this new, simplified SR4

[ARC]

Understand that it is not 'detect intent to fire a bullet/laser/whatever'; the triggering detect spell is 'Detect Bullet'.

I'd give the detect spell a speed equal to the mage's astral speed, i.e. Magic x 1000 kph.  I'd also define it as being 'always on', always detecting, not 'detect once per simple action the mage has'; it's going off every free action of every action that everyone has.  "There a bullet?  No?  Okay.  There a bullet?  No?  Okay.  There a bullet?  No?  Okay.  There a bullet? Yes? Hey, Shield Spell, wake up!!'  Which means your standard assault rifle bullet (920 m/s, or 3312 kph) is going to beat the spell only if you have a Magic under 4.  Pistols are only gonna beat the burnout with Magic 1 ...

in that case, I agree.  but if the trigger for the shield is being attacked...

[JustADude]

I love this new, simplified SR4

Oh, it's very simple, really; People just want to nitpick about the details of physics and reinvent the wheel instead of actually paying attention to what the book says.

As Fringe said, the stated definition of the effect's speed is "immediate". "Immediate" is a real, meaningful word that has an actual definition, which is a fact that everyone seems to be forgetting in the joy of showing off how much they know about physics.

Allow me to quote a few sources' definitions of "immediate" for everyone's reference:

Merriam-Webster: "without interval of time"
Reference..com: "without lapse of time; without delay; instantly; at once; without intervening medium or agent; concerning or affecting directly."
Google Search: "At once; instantly; without any intervening time or space"

Seems pretty cut and dry to me, really. "Without lapse of time" is faster than even a slivered fraction of an entosecond, so the barrier will always go up before the effect. If the designers had intended for some things to be too fast, they would have mentioned something about it.

[Phylos Fett]

That, sir, is well played!

[Mirikon]

I love this new, simplified SR4

Compared to 3rd, it is much simpler.

[Phylos Fett]

I love this new, simplified SR4

Compared to 3rd, it is much simpler.

I loved SR3 because RAW and RAI were not the distant cousins like they are now (in SR4A they are like Larry Appleton and Balki Bartokomous - let's see who gets that reference without the use of the internet )

[ARC]

I love this new, simplified SR4

Compared to 3rd, it is much simpler.

I loved SR3 because RAW and RAI were not the distant cousins like they are now (in SR4A they are like Larry Appleton and Balki Bartokomous - let's see who gets that reference without the use of the internet )

Perfect Strangers.  Excellent show.  Used to watch it all the time.

[Phylos Fett]

I love this new, simplified SR4

Compared to 3rd, it is much simpler.

I loved SR3 because RAW and RAI were not the distant cousins like they are now (in SR4A they are like Larry Appleton and Balki Bartokomous - let's see who gets that reference without the use of the internet )

Perfect Strangers.  Excellent show.  Used to watch it all the time.

Well, of course you did, don't be ridiculous!

[Mirikon]

Yeah, never heard of it. But I prefer 4th because the whole moving target number thing reminded me all too strongly of THAC0, and not in good ways. 4th is much cleaner, in my opinion.

[Phylos Fett]

Yeah, never heard of it. But I prefer 4th because the whole moving target number thing reminded me all too strongly of THAC0, and not in good ways. 4th is much cleaner, in my opinion.

I'm guessing you weren't a big fan of Staging and stuff, either?

[Mirikon]

Not really. Didn't get much chance to play 3e, though. I also found the priority system to be a real pain. You want to be an elf with magic and money? Too bad you have no abilities or skills.

But I started gaming with D&D 3.5, and later spread into Hero System and Shadowrun 4th, so the d20 system definitely played a role in my thinking about rpgs.

[Phylos Fett]

Not really. Didn't get much chance to play 3e, though. I also found the priority system to be a real pain. You want to be an elf with magic and money? Too bad you have no abilities or skills.

You don't want to know what SR2 and SR1 CharGen was like