comStar Firewall alert - PhaseThrough

igger trickS
Like hackers, riggers have their own bag of tricks. The following
rules expand on the options presented in SR4 and other
Shadowrun products on rigging, with an eye to answering lingering
questions on cyberware, jamming, biodrones, and cyborgs.
Jacking Biodrones and cyborgs
A biodrone’s control ‘ware (see Biodrone Control ‘Ware, p. 152,
Augmentation) has a Device rating (see Device Rating, p. 213, SR4)
that serves as its firewall, but players may wonder if the lack of a Pilot
program (except for biodrones including a stirrup interface) makes
them easier to hack or spoof. The answer: yes it does. A biodrone only
rolls its Device rating when resisting spoofed commands or hacking.
Cyborgs may also be jacked, but in this case the rigger is setting
their skills against a skilled hacker. The obvious point of entry
is the cyborg’s integral commlink—perfect for sending spoofed
commands or to hack the cyborg’s drone body wirelessly, which
you can be damn sure the cyborg is going to resist, probably
through cybercombat (see Hacking, p. 161, Augmentation). If the
cyborg feels sufficiently threatened to shut off its commlink, the
rigger has no option but to get in close and physically jack in—and
face the prospect of a pissed-off cyborg in meat-space.
A safer bet is to try and jack a cyborg body during its
maintenance downtime. For the brief period when the cranial containment
unit isn’t attached to it, the drone body can be jacked as
normal (treat it as a regular drone with a Pilot of 0), though most
require the rigger to physically jack in to the drone body.
Jamming on the fly
More than almost any other character, riggers are dependent
on wireless signals in order to use their specialty, which means
that few riggers are strangers to electronic warfare. Sometimes
you need to shut down another rigger or hacker and don’t have a
jammer available; in such circumstances you do the best that you
can with whatever radio or wireless transmitter you have on hand,
spitting static into whatever channels or bands the opposition is
using. Jamming on the fly tends to be a noisy and difficult affair,
but it can work—and that’s the important thing.
Jamming on the fly is a Complex Action and requires some
device with a Signal rating (such as a commlink, radio, or drone)
to act as an impromptu jammer. Make an Opposed Test between
the rigger’s Electronic Warfare skill + Signal rating and the target’s
Electronic Warfare + Signal rating; the target adds the rating of any
coMMon rigger/drone teStS
Action Jumped-In Rigger Dice Pool Autonomous Drone Dice Pool Remote-Controlled Dice Pool
Initiative as rigger Pilot + Response as rigger
Attack Sensor + Gunnery Pilot + Targeting Command + Gunnery
Melee Defense Response + Melee skill Pilot + Defense Command + Melee skill
Ranged Defense Response Response Command
Full Defense as above + Dodge as above + Defense as above + Dodge
Damage Resistance Body + Armor Body + Armor Body + Armor
Infiltration Response + Infiltration Pilot + Covert Ops Command + Infiltration
Maneuvering Response + Vehicle skill Pilot + Maneuver Command + Vehicle skill
Perception Sensor + Perception Sensor + Clearsight Sensor + Perception
Unwired
ECCM program she has running to her dice pool for the test. If
the Opposed Test is successful, the signal is jammed; otherwise it is
unaffected. Jamming on the fly is area jamming and affects a spherical
area—the impromptu jammer’s Signal rating is reduced by 1 for
every five meters from the centre.
A device being used as an impromptu jammer cannot use its
wireless capability for anything else. A commlink, for example,
could not connect to the Matrix at the same time it is being used
as an impromptu jammer.
eMp An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is detrimental, if not destructive,
to the operation of electronics. An EMP erases standard
RFID tags but not optical-based storage media like datachips. Any
non-optical and non-hardened electronic circuits within the area of
effect will also be disrupted or damaged. Most “electronics” in 2070
are optical-based, but interfaces, power systems, and the like may still
be vulnerable, especially on archaic systems. Affected systems may
suffer data loss, power outages, or burn out entirely at the gamemaster’s
discretion. Wireless reception and radio communication will
also be disrupted for a brief instant, which affects any wireless-only
nodes, commlinks, and technomancers in the area.
EMPs have a rating that determines their intensity and area of effect.
To determine the damage to a specific device, make an Opposed
Test between the EMP’s rating and the Device rating (see Device
Rating, p. 213, SR4) of the vulnerable electronic device. If a character
is aiming the EMP at a specific device, add the character’s Electronic
Warfare skill to the EMP’s rating when making the Opposed Test.
Use the number of hits garnered to gauge the damage done to the
device. Compare the EMP’s rating to the Signal Rating Table on p.
212 of SR4 to determine the area of effect. Flying drones and vehicles
affected by an EMP may also crash (see Crashing, p. 161, SR4).
The moment of wireless disruption is not sufficient to drop an
icon from the Matrix; it lasts less than a second in real-time. However,
the affected icons cannot act (or be affected) during the Combat Turn
that the pulse hits. Many older cyberware implants and vehicles are
vulnerable to EMPs and should test for damage. Individuals and devices
within a Faraday cage (a metal box or wire mesh that completely
surrounds the character or device) are completely protected from an
electromagnetic pulse; a cyborg’s CCU is thus completely protected,
but the drone body it drives may not be. If an individual or device is
in a volume surrounded by wireless-inhibiting paint or wallpaper, add
dice equal to their rating to the Device rating on the Opposed Test.
Simon Wentworth (order #1132857) 9
105
hacker’s handbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .