Hello All, Im trying to wrap my head around mental actions, speed and hacking. Hacker and Skill implants - TH pg 114 - details speed implants, and MRDR, Hih Will and Drugs. This is ok but doesnt give details about the speed factors in hacking.. Speed and Mental Actions - TH pg 96 - " The maximum number of extra mental actions any character may have is two per Action Phase. Anything that increases a character’s Speed also serves as a multiplier for extra mental actions. A character with the mental speed implant (receiving the maximum extra 2 mental actions per Action Phase) and a Speed of 4 (the maximum allowed) would have 3 actions each Action Phase (1 standard action, 2 mental only) for a total of 12 actions per Action Turn (4 standard, 8 mental only)." Speed and Task Action Rules - TH pg 97 - "If the gamemaster deems that a given task could be conceivably shortened in duration by the character being able to move and/or think faster, then reduce the base timeframe by 10% per extra point of Speed. A character with Speed 3, reducing a base timeframe of 10 minutes by 20%, would finish in 8 minutes" Extra Mental Actions - TH pg 97 - The same logic applied to Speed here also applies to implants, psi, or other effects that provide extra mental actions. In situations where the gamemaster deems that thinking faster by itself should reduce a task’s timeframe, it should be reduced as appropriate. In this case, treat every extra action per as a 10% reduction. For example, a character who has two extra mental actions thanks to the mental speed augmentation could reduce the timeframe by 20% as if they had a Speed of 3. Mental actions committed to Task Actions are considered used. Note that characters with extra mental actions can engage in multiple Task Actions at the same time, as long as those extra tasks only require mental effort. A character with the mental speed implant, for example, could hack two separate sites with Task Actions at the same time. Combined Effects Timeframe-reducing effects such as Speed, rushing the job, and gaining an MoS on the Task Action are treated cumulatively; add the reductions together before applying to the timeframe. As noted above, Speed and extra mental actions also have a cumulative effect; more Speed means more mental actions in an Action Turn. A character with Speed 2 (10% reduction) and mental speed (20% reduction per Action Phase, so 40% with Speed 2) that scored an MoS of 20 (20% reduction) would reduce the timeframe on a mental Task Action by 70%. Even when combined, however, accelerated mental and physical speed only go so far. No timeframe can be reduced lower than 10% of its base timeframe. Let me say that again: No timeframe can be reduced lower than 10% of its base timeframe. SO why the specification about combining effects if it cant be lowered less than 10%? Now lets go to TH p 115 - "Mental speed is the superior implant for attacking enemies with malware in combat. The time-dilation reduces the Task Action of brute-force hacking down to a matter of turns rather than minutes." .... Im sorry,.... "WHAT??" If your doing purely mental calculations, such as referencing internal knowledge about what hacks and viable for what systems and software and analysing the results of probing attempts, then I dont see why the Hard Limit on timeframes for mental actions. As I figure it. if that last statement is correct: 10 minute hacking attempt: * speed 3 (base 1 plus neurachem 2), + mental speed + MRDR = mental speed 4 Equals 12 mental actions. Thats 200 action turns (10 minutes / 3 second turns) divide by 12 mental actions = 16.6 (17) action rounds. So the last line then becomes viable if the other PCs move forward to attack a position, then the hacking can take place and when they gte to the door/position they hold it for a few rounds whilst the others in the group attack and get out again.... But the other sources tend to be quite restrictive in their use... Or shoudl they other sources have specified between physical and mental actions... I would have thought speed = physical (ie this works ok for hardware:robotics building a new morph cant be done in turns, but is still a long process that can only be sped up so much), but as a multiplier to hacking this fails spectacularly with no clarifier.... As I am starting a hacking character tonight, is there someting Im missing or a clarification that is stated "officially (ie in red), that shoudl have been specified?? Thanks in advance. Jason Brisbane