1: There's a lot of rules on how to use this, and really only useful if you are planning on playing a hacker. If you want, I can write out your usual flow chart so you know how to do it. Later. The short of it is: Programming allows you to create (bleh) or modify (yes!) your existing programs. You can use Programming to tune your Exploit software from the base value (lets you be a git) to giving you a +10 to even a +30 (being a really *sneaky* git). It also lets you modify the outputs for mass production (memory serves, by tweaking blueprints). It's not useful to anyone who isn't playing a hacker. Infosec is your offense/defense skill. You use Infosec to resist or instigate a cyberbrain hack, to maintain security in your tacnet, and to keep trolls from trashing your simspace. It also lets you make use of manufacturing machines that you aren't allowed to use. Interfacing is how you interact with machines and programs that you control. If you want to tell your drone to pull a barn swallow or to fly at your enemy and detonate all the grenades you superglued to the hull, that's Interfacing (if you are actually piloting the drone virtually, that's Pilot []). It also lets you putz with manufacturing more directly. Hardware: Electronics is getting arms deep in the guts of the machine. You can then physically break or repair it. Nothing more, nothing less. If you want the quick and dirty "how to destroy all the cameras in the area" skill, then choose this. If you want to do it sneaky-like, then you'll need to hack them. Further explanation: Infosec, Interfacing, Programming, and Research are all computer skills. They are not *complimentary* because that's actually a game mechanic, and entirely different. They are, however, interlinked. Programming lets you modify the tools you use (with Interfacing) to hack (infosec), defend (infosec), or research (duh). Programming is not useful if you do not have the 2 I's, and Research is less useful if you have none of the others - instead just invest in Networking and keep a good rep. 2 - As above, it depends on the location. Seekers tend to be restricted, so keep it in your pack if you don't need it (or better yet, leave it in a hideaway somewhere). Pistols are fairly ubiquitous, so you'll get fair warning before you end up in a habitat that doesn't allow them. The crasher suit might get you some funny looks, but it is basically just a high end vacsuit. No more nor less. You might actually get some nods of approval from bio-Brinkers because you're obviously the sort of person who knows to *invest* in gear instead of just *having* it. Of course, a true Brinker is going to be a synth and laugh at your need to poop. As far as restrictions go, you're really only going to face routine issues with legality if you're rolling in military hardware. That means Reapers, Fenrirs, and Combat Exos. You can't expect to hide yourself as a civilian while you are literally a walking tank. 3 No good smuggler is famous, no famous smuggler is good. You can also opt to keep your g-rep intentionally concealed, or attach it to a pseudonym that your legit alt-identity would absolutely *never* have, because he's a law abiding citizen who loves mom, apple pie, and chess-boxing. In the latter case, that's an Anonymous Account. 4 the major approaches you have there: Networking - you can use the Networking skill to poke the people around you to see if they know anything. You will take a penalty if you want to be sneaky about it, especially if you intend to find the Bruiser and do all manner of violence to him. Research - If you want to find out what resleeving facilities stock Bruiser morphs, this comes in handy (Networking also works). If you know who you're looking for, then Research can also give you background information, which combined with Psychology (or a similar program + Interfacing) you can figure out where they *might* be. Interfacing - Use the Facial Recognition software on any spime network that you have access to. This will not work if they are hiding out in a blackout zone. You can also use the Radio Motion Detector program to track their movements if you already know where they are. Investigation would be hitting the bricks yourself, and getting it done by your lonesome. It's sneakier, but it's also slower and considerably harder.

Re: Cameras in an OPEN anarchist society

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Open Example: Locus As the premier anarchist habitat, Locus embodies many of the ideals of an open society. Publicams and other sensors are everywhere, accessible to everyone. There are no private sensors outside of private residences, as anarchists do not acknowledge property above the level of necessary or sentimental personal possessions. There are no government or police authorities to monitor, but the various collectives, cooperatives, and syndicates that play major civic roles are all transparent and accessible. Almost everyone lifelogs and posts much of it publicly; X-casting is also common. The individual residents collaborate on keeping an eye on things together. If something goes wrong or an anti-social crime or act of sabotage is committed, one or more volunteer response groups will spring into action. Mesh privacy mode, anonymization services, cryptography, and crypto-cred are all available though sometimes discouraged. Nanotat IDs for morphs are not required, but many people use them anyway in case something happens to their morph. Likewise, brainprint and digital code ID are not required, but are used as a matter of course for simple logistics. The residents of Locus do require that visitors declare any allegiance to hypercorp or government interests when you arrive, but there is no vetting of IDs. Security scans ensure only that no one is bringing aboard weapons of mass destruction.

So it's probably a Research or Interfacing to sort through the thousands of possible spimes and cameras to find the useful ones.

slickMundane wrote:

I am new to EP and really enjoying the playing system. There is just so much to take in, it easy to get bogged down in the details. I have been actively reading through these forums and it has helped a lot to get a better understanding of many of the rules. I still have a few questions that hopefully can be answered here. 1) Infosec, programming, interfacing, and Hardware: Electronics. I would love to hear what people think are the differences between how each of these skills is used including some specific examples of each.

[b]Infosec:[/b] The arts of information security, including hacking, cryptography, and electronic warfare. [indent]You roll Infosec when defending against an attempt to hack your mesh inserts, when attempting to defeat an opponent's jamming signal and get a message out, and when attempting to defeat encryption.[/indent] [b]Programming:[/b] The arts of, uh, well, computer programming. [indent]You roll Programming when attempting to create your own computer software, when setting up a nanofabricator to produce something, when cracking DRM on something electronic and when attempting to create, or create an antidote for, computer viruses.[/indent] [b]Interfacing:[/b] When you need to get a computer to do something that's beyond idiot-simple to do. [indent]Roll Interfacing whenever you are required to interface with computer systems unfamiliar to you and which your muse can't trivially translate for you. (For example: Archaic computer systems, alien computer systems.) Interfacing is also called for when sifting through huge reams of data (for example: searching Spime records) to find the information you require.[/indent] [b]Hardware: Electronics:[/b] Hardware: Electronics is the skill required to design, build, repair, modify, upgrade, and otherwise physically monkey with electronic systems. [indent]Roll Hardware: Electronics when you are attempting to bypass an electronic lock by physical means (ex. popping the case and rewiring it so it thinks it's still locked but the door opens,) when you are attempting to repair a broken piece of computer hardware or put it back together enough to pull data off it, when you are designing a new piece of computer hardware, and when you are attempting to sabotage a piece of computer hardware.[/indent]

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2) I'm involved in gatecrashing and exploring so wanted to be kitted out as a bit of a badass. I started sleeved into a remade morph wearing a crasher suit (quite a handy chunk of awesomeness for a GCer with its in built smart vac suit, armor, and wrist mounted tools) and a survival belt, a seeker armband, and a couple of heavy pistols (its good to be ambidextrous). I know as a Remade that I am better than everyone and therefor stand out in the crowd a bit (uncanny valley). My question is, How much do I stand out by being fully kitted out? I know it would depend on location but could someone outline what might be a reasonable reception in some of the larger locations?

Among Gatecrashers, you won't stand out at all. Those with the means to get them are going to prefer biomorphs like Remade, Theseus, Crasher, Furies, and the like. Among Anarchists, you'll stand out a bit, but nobody should raise a fuss. Among Scum, you'll stand out for being plain and somewhat ugly compared to everybody else, unless you turn your crasher suit into a riot of color. Among Ultimates, you won't stand out at all, unless they catch a hint that you're a poseur, in which case you will get shrekt. Among inner-system types, you'll stand out, and can expect the cops to hassle you, especially over the seeker armband, unless you can produce (or fake) documentation calling yourself some kind of mercenary. Among biocons, you'll stand out like a sore thumb, and can expect to be shunned and/or shot on sight.

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3) I have a high Ⓐ-rep, as well as moderate G and R rep. When people ping my rep score, how easily can they find out that I have G-rep? I am involved in smuggling but to my understanding its not a great idea to be a famous smuggler unless you have a wookie with you... Also it seems like that could impact people's interest in working with me on legitimate GCing ops if they were worried I might be involved in black market activities along the way.

This is one of the bits where the core rulebooks fails to adequately give you an explanation, but I would say it's quite hard to connect someone to their g-rep. Presumably, you don't link your Guanxi profile to your RNA and Ⓐ-List profiles, nor do you broadcast it along with your Ⓐ-list and R-list profiles, nor does your Guanxi profile actually have your real name, a description of your morph, or a list of your favorite foods. So your activities on the G-List should be entirely conducted under pseudonym. As long as you don't run into someone G-Listing who knows who you are and then goes and posts it on the G-List for some reason, and as long as you don't let enough details about yourself slip onto the G-List (posted by yourself or others,) you won't be known. But if you do blow it and your real name gets known, your G-Rep will be linked to your other reputation scores, which can result in some or all of them taking a dive... Or having nothing at all untoward happen, depending on who you work with and what you do. Ex: A serial rapist who gets off violating other people, an ego hunter who drags escaped indentures back to their slavemasters, a bounty hunter who tracks down and destroys AGIs or uplifts on behalf of those whom they escaped from can expect their Ⓐ-Rep and probably R-Rep to enter a nose-dive. A bounty hunter who tracks down DRM crackers, a second-story man who sabotages open-source research projects, an ego trader who extracts forks of scientists to sell to corp research labs, can expect their R-Rep and probably their Ⓐ-Rep to enter a nose-dive. And if you get known for cooperating with the law or the local power structures, (especially if you are the law!) your G-Rep will tank. But if you're just smugglin'? Anarchists and RNA won't care, but your G-Rep might suffer a hit for being such a newb as to get your G-Rep profile linked to your other profiles.

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4) I am on Portal hunting for a Bruiser morph. Considering it is largely an Anarchist hab, can I assume that there are a wide variety of public security networks easily accessible? Should I be able to find a bruiser using facial recognition software in a pretty rapid fashion and be able to walk up and lay hands on them with the information I pull? What kind of time frame is reasonable? Would it stand to reason that I could essentially have access to a live feed of many areas of the hab? Can people offer some ideas as to how they ruled on this type of information in different areas? Maybe I should split this into 4 different topics but I will post it as is and see how the discussion develops. Feel free to respond to any of the questions you feel you can offer perspective on.

Ego hunters are very, [b]very[/b] unloved on anarchist habitats. Unless you can prove that the ego you're hunting for is an absolute shitstain, of the violating-other-people's-autonomy variety, your Ⓐ-Rep will take a nose-dive if you go bounty hunting on Portal, and you'll probably wind up facing down the guns of many, many Reapers if you make a move. It is, after all, a hab with lots of Pandora Gates through which Odin-knows-what could come stomping at any minute. They're going to have top-flight security. That said: Yes, there will be a wide variety of public spimes available for access. Bruiser morphs won't need facial recognition (except to identify between individual Brusiers,) because they're friggin' Large morphs. It's like picking out the Wookiee in a crowd of Ewoks and Bothans. Anyway, this is a prime example of rolling an Interfacing test, to parse all the spimes and find the huge guy. Get your Muse(s) to do it if you don't have Interfacing, or if their rolls are better than yours, and provide assistance. (Or have them assist you.) Searching all the spimes to find the Bruiser shouldn't take too long, assuming they're on the spimes anywhere; maybe a few minutes. Some areas might not have public spimes, such as people's private quarters (then again, it's an anarchist hab, they might be broadcasting their lives 24/7.) Finding the Bruiser won't be hard, assuming there's not a lot of them that look identical. Presumably, once you've tagged the Bruisers (and there might be as many as two dozen, probably considerably less,) you can run facial recognition, gait analysis, etc, to find the one with the ego you're looking for. Walking up to them would probably be simple, unless they're behind locked doors. Laying hands on them, however, will be anything but simple. First off, you're trying to apprehend a freaking combat morph that can whale on you whilst singing Lordi's Bigger than You. Secondly, this is an [b]anarchist habitat![/b] If you don't have a [b]damn[/b] good reason - by Anarchist standards! - to grab the guy, folks [b]will[/b] oppose you! If his Ⓐ-Rep isn't too high, you can just expect mass Ⓐ-Rep pings, sending your Ⓐ-Rep down and getting you a reputation as an ego hunter. If his Ⓐ-Rep is fairly high, everyone and their smart baboon will pull out Shredders and open fire on you. And either way, once you've started a fight like this in the middle of Portal, the habitat's appointed security collective [i]will[/i] show up to put this fight to an end. Since it's an exoplanet with lots of resources just waiting to be exploited and no government or corps to tell them they can't, you can expect the security guys to be sleeved in Reapers, Furies, Bruisers, and other combat morphs, and they [i]will[/i] be loaded for bear with heavy machine guns, Battlesuits or Heavy Synth Combat Armor, plasma rifles, and the like. This is not a fight you can win. Your best bet is to follow the guy through the next gate he goes through, honestly. Failing that, it's to jump him somewhere the spimes aren't looking, pop his stack, and set off some of those DNA grenades and/or a few Cleaner Nanoswarms.

FrivolousVector wrote:

Shadowdragon, you always have the best ways of phrasing things. I think I'm becoming a fan. Just a note, Interfacing is also used for offensive matrix actions. I'd encourage you (Mundane) to read the sections on cyberbrain hacking in the core rules to get a feel for how the test works. Also also wik, this is where having a very high skill and a ghostrider can really come in handy. My namesake character had an Infosec and Interfacing skill of 90 (brute force hacking +10), and tended to keep at least 1 copy of himself in a ghostrider. With teamwork bonuses, you can rush the job for a -30 penalty in 1/3-1/2 the time and beat down systems.

Er... I don't see Interfacing mentioned anywhere in the cyberbrain hacking rules. Am I being blind here? I can be blind sometimes.