I am attempting to GM my first EP game and going back and forth with a player on how things will work. I have a few questions to put to all of you to get some perspective.
1) Can networking be a skillsoft? To me it doesnt make sense.
2) A networking/rep favor is needed to get access to different levels of information. He thinks he can do this using his research skill and possibly hacking. I think he could get access to some of the info, but without networking/rep it would take much longer and be less successful.
3) If he's an informorph in an Eidolon recently traveled to anywhere. Does he need to pay for server time? Is he then effectively, stuck in a physical location? If all of the other characters go to a party in a bar, how can he come along without ghostriding in one of the other characters? If he uses the mesh and spymes to participate in the scene, how are npc's able to interact with him?
More to follow
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a handful of questions
Fri, 2015-09-18 04:19
#1
slickMundane
a handful of questions
Fri, 2015-09-18 04:46
#2
Trappedinwikipedia
1: RAW yes, and it makes some
1: RAW yes, and it makes some sense. what contacts someone actually has is their rep, Networking is basically a catch-all skill for working those contacts. I'd expect that Protocol and such are fairly similar skills.
2: It's basically the difference between googling something and asking around to see who knows. You can do without, but it's a lot easier to just ask if you know who. Some information should only require research test, while some isn't going to be found without a favor, or a raid into an air-gapped server. It'd probably take longer to do pure research in most cases yeah.
3: It depends, there are a lot of things an Eidolon can run on. They can rent a server, ghostride, live in mesh inserts, ride in an ecto, use time on all local devices for a distributed computer, or similar. Assuming that there is a contiguous mesh between whatever device the infomorph is in and the party than they can come along via telepresence yeah. That's usually not a big deal.
Assuming they're using spimes and such for sensors, they can use mesh communications with whoever is there, or even project an AR body into the entopics of anyone who allows it.
Fri, 2015-09-18 15:36
#3
DivineWrath
1. I would say yes. They can
1. I would say yes. They can be skillsofts. Who you do business with might change over time, but knowing how to navigate the bureaucracy and corporate ladder are important skills. It allows you to change jobs or do business with different companies and figure out whose who.
If networking didn't do that, then I don't know what skill does.
2. Skills can work complementary. If you have a sufficient wealth of ability in a related skill, it can give you a bonus. It doesn't take a lot of even a small bonus (0 - 30 for a +10 bonus). See Core Rulebook p. 173 for more information.
3. An infomorph can run on many different kind of systems, including as a program running on the open mesh. I wouldn't opt for running on the open mesh, as it leaves you very open to being hacked and copied. I would prefer to run on devices that I own or rent time on a server from someone who cares about their rep and remaining in business in the long run.
Transhuman has more information on what devices can run a Transhuman ego. It even has some rules on running on a system built out of scrap.
Yes, you can operate long distances over the mesh. You can interact with people using Augmented Reality. You could also use holographic systems if available. You can also remotely pilot a robot, drone, or a morph with the puppet sock augment. It doesn't work well when light speed lag takes effect. You definitely aren't to participate much in a party when it takes an hour for the signal to arrive and another hour for your response to return. You should try to be on the same habitat that you intend to have real time interactions on.
Fri, 2015-10-02 23:59
#4
Noble Pigeon
I have questions of my own
I have questions of my own that aren't really worth making another thread asking more questions:
-So what's the point of having tool kits if wrist-mounted tools/utilitools do the job just fine apparently? Actually speaking of which, do those two stack? Having both wrist-mounted tools AND utilitools gives you a +30 to tests total? That seems kinda silly since I don't think you get better at fixing stuff by having even MORE tools.
-Can AIs use complimentary skills? Does that mean that AIs with Knowledge: Security Systems 80 have an effective Infosec skill of 70 all the time?
—
"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.”
-Abraham Lincoln, State of the Union address
Sat, 2015-10-03 00:16
#5
UnitOmega
I would say that a Utilitool
I would say that a Utilitool and WMT don't stack. The whole point of Wrist-Mounted is that it acts like a utilitool, only you can't drop it or lose it. Just as I would say holding two or four utilitools doesn't stack.
As for Tool Kits, I don't recall if those even actually give a hard bonus. I think the idea is more that you have the appropriate tools for a job in that field without the rules needing to identify and price every little tool you might find in a roboticist or electrician's tool box. Utilitool can help with minor repairs and tasks in a pinch, but it's not a replacement for a specialized piece of equipment.
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Sat, 2015-10-03 04:42
#6
DivineWrath
I think that Utilitools,
I think that Utilitools, Wrist Mounted Tools, and related hardware, can only do mechanical work and maybe some limited electrical work. Utilitools does mention that specialized versions can do other stuff, such as cook food, but probably only because they are specialized. They also can't provide spare parts. They are more or less the swiss army knife of the transhuman age.
Lets try to get some examples of stuff that you want better tools for. Surgery. Sure a utilitool might be handy for many jobs. However, does a utilitool give you x-rays or allow you to do blood work? Even if it could physically do that stuff, does your tool have the programs to make sense of the data? How about archaeology, such as deciphering an alien language? What kinds of things would you expect to find in a science kit? Can you carry spare parts in your toolkit? Maybe some spare electrical wiring for an electronics kit.
So with tool kits, I think you can expect to have right tool for the job (unless the tool is too big for the kit). With multi-purpose tools, you can't be sure of what you have. Since the wrist mounted tools give bonuses, I would carry both it and proper tools. Use the wrist mounted tools as often as I can so I can get the bonuses, and resort to using tool kits when that doesn't work.
Sun, 2015-10-04 14:20
#7
consumerdestroyer
On AI, I'm pretty sure they
On AI, I'm pretty sure they can both provide and benefit from aid to/from other people's skills as well as get complimentary effects from their own skills, or at least that's how I've run security AI post-alert when real live infosec specialists jack in. Hacker characters can really min/max if they can get the right modifications to their morph (depends on what's available where they're resleeving, but still), so I always toss whatever advantages I can onto security AI so that might be more me ramping up challenge than the rules stating it anywhere.
Sat, 2015-10-10 02:05
#8
slickMundane
Where is the frickin picture of the portable server?!???!??
I have been going through the books and I cant find it. I know there is a piece of art on a portable server in one of the books and I have been going through but cant turn it up. Now I am highly annoyed. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Sat, 2015-10-10 02:39
#9
Trappedinwikipedia
Should be Transhuman page 114
Should be Transhuman page 114.
Sat, 2015-10-10 05:58
#10
slickMundane
Thank you very much! Now I
Thank you very much! Now I can stop flipping through pages like a madman.
Sat, 2015-10-10 17:22
#11
ShadowDragon8685
slickMundane wrote:I am
Yes, it can. Ironically, I would expect the antagonists of various groups to be the ones who produce the best ones of these.
The kind of person who's likely to be a cutthroat, mercenary hypercorporate operative is probably [b]not[/b] going to be very good at interacting with collectivists, autonomists, and technosocialists, so some hypercorp would probably make skillsofts designed to allow those people to network with that sort of person.
- This would also probably lead to an arms race, with people using Kinesics/specialized software to detect if someone is using a Networking skillsoft, which would mean that there's a damn good chance they're not who they say they are. (Firewall would also badly want these skillsofts, for obvious reasons.) That having been said, just because someone's using a Networking skillsoft does [u]not[/u] automatically equate to them being a hostile infiltrator; someone who's extremely socially awkward might use a skillsoft, or even have their muse do their networking for them, to ensure that their honest intentions are conveyed through something that won't cause an upset.
No. No. No. No. NO!
Using a Networking/Rep Favor to get access to information should be a last resort. Some information may not be available publicly, but you should always space-Google something first, and if you feel it necessary, hacking some computers. You don't need to call in a rep favor to read things which are posted to the mesh, you call in a rep favor to consult a specialist, or track down someone who has first-hand information and is willing to share it with you.
And anywhere in the Autonomism sphere, most information [i]will[/i] be public, one way or another - either because the people who have it are the kind of transparency-minded folks who lifeblog their lives, or because some transparency-minded snoop discovered someone hiding $SECRETS and exposed said secrets all over the mesh.
* Depends on where he is. Most places which aren't 100% shitty give anybody who shows up at least server time without demanding they compensate them for it. So basically, anywhere that everybody's first instinct upon meeting someone isn't "how can I exploit this person for money," IE, anywhere [i]not[/i] Extropian/Hypercapitalist/Ultimate. If he's anywhere on Mars, the LLA, most Venusian habitats, any Extropian hab, he'll probably be forced to pay or sign an indenture contract or something.
⁑ Yes, if he has to pay for server time, unless he's going to go off-grid and spread himself throughout various systems in a distributed fashion. I think the details for that are in either Panopticon or Transhuman, but I can't be arsed to look for chapter and verse at the moment.
⁂ He's "present" anywhere he can perceive, such as via public spimes, or through the team's tacnet.
✺ NPCs (and for that matter, PCs,) probably won't talk aloud to him, but unless he's hiding himself, he can appear in AR in people's entopics however he likes, assuming they're choosing not to filter out non-instantiated persons. At bare minimum, he can chat at people and they can chat at him.
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