SR4 and how the gear works

[spasheridan]

So my group is gearing up for a Shadowrun campaign. We're looking over rules and options - I'm not sure we're going to use enough Matrix this time through to warrant Frank's alternate rules though.

I'm trying my hand at a build and I'm running into an issue - maybe you guys can give me some insight on how the gear all interacts. My concept - an Orc with a cyberarm who has a little fight in him (orc stat buffs and smartlink, some inititiave boosts) and can use drones & hack a little. Somewhere between a combat hacker & a B&E thug.

So, to be a hacker I need to be able to get AR & VR. A commlink with a simsense rig gets you AR, hack the rig and you can make it so you can do the hot VR side of hacking.

SO - if I understand this, I can use a cell phone with a simsense rig built into the phone and connect this to my brain with a datajack. When I run the phone into AR mode it superimposes images & sounds over my realworld view. Just like a display link? Just like a soundlink? When I run the phone in hot VR I get tactile information as well as visual & sound from my datajack?

Now I want to rig drones. I need a simrig. A simrig translates vehicle data into some kinesthetic data so when I go VR into my drones I feel it while I fly it. So, what does the simrig do that the simsense rig doesn't do? Better yet, what does the simsense rig do that the simrig doesn't do? Why do I need both?

Now I want to shoot my smartgun. Smartguns need you to have a display link in your eyes and a smartlink in your eyes. The smartlink is slaved to the gun and translates the smartgun info in some way, then sends it to your display link so you can see where the smartgun is firing.

What does the display link do that the the simrig doesn't do? If a simsense rig can insert AR data into my visual cortex, why do I need a display link to insert data into my eyeballs? If a simrig for rigging can insert VR & AR data into my body for rigging, why do I need a simsense rig for hacking?


Final question - do wired reflexes increase your speed while hacking or rigging?

[CatharzGodfoot]

SO - if I understand this, I can use a cell phone with a simsense rig built into the phone and connect this to my brain with a datajack. When I run the phone into AR mode it superimposes images & sounds over my realworld view. Just like a display link? Just like a soundlink? When I run the phone in hot VR I get tactile information as well as visual & sound from my datajack?

I could be wrong, but I think that by the RAW the sim module does full VR only, and in fact paralyzes you when it's on.

Now I want to rig drones. I need a simrig. A simrig translates vehicle data into some kinesthetic data so when I go VR into my drones I feel it while I fly it. So, what does the simrig do that the simsense rig doesn't do? Better yet, what does the simsense rig do that the simrig doesn't do? Why do I need both?

The control rig gives you +2 to dice pools when rigging. A simrig is a simsense rig.

Now I want to shoot my smartgun. Smartguns need you to have a display link in your eyes and a smartlink in your eyes. The smartlink is slaved to the gun and translates the smartgun info in some way, then sends it to your display link so you can see where the smartgun is firing.

What does the display link do that the the simrig doesn't do? If a simsense rig can insert AR data into my visual cortex, why do I need a display link to insert data into my eyeballs? If a simrig for rigging can insert VR & AR data into my body for rigging, why do I need a simsense rig for hacking?

As before, I think that the simrig is fully immersive and will keep you from pulling the trigger of a gun held in hand. For a smartgun all you really need is the mod on the gun and a pair of fancy glasses. Given that smartlinks can be somewhat verboten in many jurisdictions, you're probably better off doing that.

Final question - do wired reflexes increase your speed while hacking or rigging?

Only in AR (yes, this means that you can actually hack faster in AR with fully tricked-out wired reflexes.


But seriously, you should check out The Ends. It does address some of your points.

[Heath Robinson]

This whole shebang got significantly easier in SR4 so far as I hear.


There are two ways to experience the digital universe: AR and VR. So far so simple. You can get your AR fix using all of the Senselink hardware, like Imagelink and Soundlink. You can buy Touchlink clothing, too. That's actually the expensive way to do things, since you can get full-channel (including emotive) AR using a Sim Module and a DNI as well as getting the option to go full VR if you need to. Most people in the setting walk around with Sim Modules and 'Trode nets on all the time.

A DNI is one of the following: 'Trode net, Nanopaste 'Trodes, Datajack. There is little reason to get a Datajack if you're not a Rigger since its benefits are quite marginal unless you happen to be using it for critical tasks whilst on the move over rough terrain. Most of the time a 'Trode net suffices.

In order to rig Drones you need to be able to enter VR and take the "Jump In" action. That seriously doesn't require anything but VR since it's just a basic facet of the rules now. It used to be that you'd have to get all this hardware, but that's no longer necessary.


Imagelinks don't do anything that a Sim Module can't do. Welcome to the first stupidity you'll encounter in the rules. I believe they allow Technomancers to learn Smartlink as a Rating 1 Complex Form, but it's never stated that it's available as a Program. Yes, these rules are fucking 'tarded.


Physical IP enhancements can increase your speed when Hacking, but not when Rigging. You can Hack from AR using your Phsical IPs, but Matrix IPs are generally much cheaper, especially as the game now stands (spend 5 BPs from your Quality budget and another 2-3 from your Gear budget to get the Unwired IP enhancer).

With a Hot-modified Sim Module and one of the Matrix IP enhancements you begin the game at 4 IPs, letting you Rig rings around the Sam. Until your GM realises that the really badly worded rules in the Vehicle combat section mean that you suffer a -3 to shoot the things you care about (people) unless you take an Active Lock (may not be the proper name) action (which also adds the number of Hits on a Sensor Perception test to the attack roll).


Also a Sim Rig is a different piece of kit to a Sim Module. A Sim Rig is used to record Sim data from your nervous system, a Sim Module can only prepare Sim data for your brain.

[spasheridan]

Sorry - I had the sim rig and the control rig confused.

So - the short version is yes, the image link, sound link, and touch link are all contained in the sim module. And the game, being what it is, requires you to buy an image link to use a smartlink.

THe control rig has nothing to do with the sim module.

As far as extra IP, being a gun-shooting combat hacker means I need IP in meatspace, so I'm getting em. I should be able to rig in AR as well, right? If I'm just telling my drones to fly to the left to get a better view or fire on the guard they've been aiming at for the last 3 rounds...

[Heath Robinson]

Sorry - I had the sim rig and the control rig confused.

So - the short version is yes, the image link, sound link, and touch link are all contained in the sim module. And the game, being what it is, requires you to buy an image link to use a smartlink.

THe control rig has nothing to do with the sim module.

As far as extra IP, being a gun-shooting combat hacker means I need IP in meatspace, so I'm getting em. I should be able to rig in AR as well, right? If I'm just telling my drones to fly to the left to get a better view or fire on the guard they've been aiming at for the last 3 rounds...

A Sim Module duplicates all those, and more. You also get emotional, taste, and smell tracks. You can get taste and smell links by using the Olfactory and Taste Booster ware iirc. The other thing is that using a Sim Module may make you vulnerable to getting hit by Biofeedback attacks even if you're not in VR.

You can't Rig in AR (Rigging refers to using the Jumped In mode iirc), but you can use the Command program to control Drones (Remote Control is the name here, I believe). The difference is that you replace nearly all the attributes in your DPs with your Command Program Rating when you use that mode - and everything costs a Complex to do as well iirc.

Control Rigs give you +2 Skill for all Vehicle skills whilst Jumped In (aka Rigging). If you're planning on Remote Controlling your Drones then it's strictly unnecessary.

[Username17]

The short version is that I've been in contact with the other writers off and on for years and they don't have a fucking clue how it works. And most of them even agree that it needs to be reworked from start (at least, in private). 5th edition Matrix Rules, like every other set of Matrix Rules will be a restart from page one, carrying over just a few terms (and likely fewer concepts).

But here goes:

• A Sim Module converts computer gibberish into SimSense data and back again, essentially allowing you to interpret the Matrix as projected from your Sim Module and for you to send commands through the Sim Module to affect the Matrix.
• A SimRig is a SimSense recorder used to make SimSnse movies, and it includes a SimModule.
• In order to do VR, you need the signal from a SimModule to be sent through a DNI. In order to do AR, you need the signal from a SimModule to be sent through any sensory interface - there is sme "cyber-is-better" ranting in the book, but there are no game mechanics for that, nor are there game mechanics for multi-sensory AR being in any way superior. Seemingly, a display link on your glasses is plenty.
• A DNI is provided by a Datajack, or nanopaste trodes, or a trode net, or probably Altskin. I say "probably" because what it actually says is that it provides a Skinlink, and some of the authors have told me that that statement only applies to the "front end" of the skinlink where it communicats with the device and not the "back end" where it communicates with your brain - meaning that text is totally fucking meaningless because your hand already provides that.

So as you may have noticed, all of the required bits to transport yourself into a computer generated wonderland are available as external devices flipped on with a switch that all work automatically with no die rolls. So you'd think that you could just carry them up to someone, turn them on, and put them in a computer generated world of your own devising. Like a Star Trek style mind prison. For historical reasons, this is called the "MomHammer" and whenever I bring it up, I get a lot of BAWWing.

-Username17

[cthulhu]

The retarded thing is that it is already cannon in the setting you can do that because thats how the jails work. Well, some of them.

I mean what the hell?