[WIP] Major Feature: Otaku Prestige Class

[biscuitWizard]

Added Otaku per Matrix 3 to AwakeMUD, CE. Design notes included below:

Per Khai:

Proposed houserules:
No sprites. No tribes. Magic doesn't affect the living persona. MPCP and personas are capped at 12. Persona attributes don't face permanent damage (just log out and back in to recover). Damage to an otaku's MPCP deals physical damage to the otaku, regardless of neurofilter.

Otaku details:
Computer and channel skills follow skill limits and so max out at 12. Hardening is capped by MPCP, and complex forms are capped by both mpcp and computer skill. Those on the cyberadept path get +1 to the effective rating when using complex forms. Those on the technoshaman path get -1 TN when using their channels (i.e., system tests). Otaku also get an extra +1 to detection factor (DF), so taking rounding into account, the cyberadept (12 masking, 12+1 sleaze complex form, round up) can reach DF 14. Total persona ratings are not capped to 3x MPCP, so they don't dump evasion like most deckers do.

Otaku vs IC:
Where IC would deal damage to a cyberdeck's condition monitor, it instead deals damage to the otaku's stun track (which I understand to mean that the medic program has no effect).

Khai's commentary, part 1:
The damage to the otaku's stun track from standard damage is maybe a bigger deal than it initially appears. Where a decker would just run medic once or twice and then move on, an otaku may need to log out entirely to recover. That is to say, taking any hits at all will substantially increase the difficulty of some runs (spoiler: there's a GDQ run where you need to get through 9 consecutive red/black hosts, or more if you don't know exactly where you're going). The higher DF or lower system test TNs do help to reduce the amount of IC that need to be faced, but I'm not sure they'll have a large enough effect to be considered balanced. The houserule to apply physical damage from damage to the otaku's MPCP would have a similar effect.

Not dumping evasion does allow the otaku to use parry and evade detection maneuvers, but the way they're implemented (you need to be in combat with the IC before you can attempt a maneuver) means that the IC may often get an attack in before the otaku can maneuver.

Host Maximums:
From SR3 pg 205, hosts have max security rating = 12 and max subsystem ratings = 18. When a passive alert is triggered, all subsystem ratings are raised by 2.

Success rates vs host maximums:
With a maximum subsystem rating of 20, a decker with r12 programs roll system tests against a max TN of 8, whereas a technoshaman can reduce it to TN 7. If we assume mpcp 12, int 8, encephalon 2, and math spu 3, that's a maximum hacking pool of 11 with a default allocation of 3. So, we can expect top end deckers (and otaku) to roll 12 computer skill + 3 int task pool + 3 hacking pool =  18 dice. The host resists by rolling their security rating against the decker's DF.

  Decker: 86% success rate, +0.33 tally per system test
  Cyberadept: 87% success rate, +0.28 tally per system test
  Technoshaman: 91% success rate, +0.33 tally per system test

Khai's commentary, part 2:
Not surprisingly, the otaku do better on individual tests than the decker, but are they enough better to offset the stun boxes from standard IC attacks?

Physical combat:
Otaku get -1 to physical attributes and +1 to mental attributes. The net result compared to an equivalent decker is -1 soak, -0.5 max worn armor, -1 melee power, +0.5 cpool.

Chargen:
Per Matrix pg 136-137, otaku always start with 5k nuyen in resources, so they can't start with cerebral boosters, encephalon, or math spu (note: mud implementation allows int task pool for matrix tests, so a cold asist decker does get 3 dice out of these). They can start with computer 8 and are able to use hacking pool dice immediately, so they're a bit ahead on dice for matrix tests. However, they can only have one channel at rating 6, one at 5, and the rest at 4. So compared to an array of r6 utility programs, a technoshaman is net even on system test TNs (of the three relevant categories, better in one and worse in one), and a cyberadept is mostly worse.

In terms of mpcp + hardening (to avoid mpcp damage), the wakyambi (8 mpcp, 3 hardening) and gnome (7 mpcp, 4 hardening) are comparable to a CMT Avatar, but any other metavariant is worse.

In terms of DF, otaku (assuming maxed out charisma and willpower) tend to be equivalent to the decker (note: there's no difference between DF 6 and 7), though cyberadepts that are elf metavariants or gnome can be a point better (DF 8).

Khai's commentary, part 3:
I think it's reasonable to claim that otaku without sprites are not better than mundane deckers in either the early or late game. It's possible that they are noticeably worse depending on how much of an impact their weakness to standard IC attacks may actually have. In addition, it takes a great deal more time and effort for an otaku to progress: compare 250 TKE and 800k nuyen for a decker to complete an mpcp 12 deck + r12 programs, against 3400 TKE and 14.3m nuyen for a living persona to match. I would not be inclined towards making any further nerfs (beyond the proposed house rules at the top) at this time.

I support making this a prestige role. As Lucien described, "not better, just different and usually harder".

Khai:

I would say that an intelligent sprite implementation (where you could order them to intercept IC instead of risking taking wound penalties that might prevent you from going any deeper into a network) would solve the otaku's biggest weakness and allow the otaku's strengths to be more meaningful.

[biscuitWizard]

todo list:

• mpcp damage overrides
• gray ic damage overrides
• submersion & echos
• otaku channel trainer

[biscuitWizard]

Progress update: All of the echoes are implemented and have mechanics. Submersion needs testing but should work exactly like initiation.

Complex forms should be designable but I forgot to declare the command so it's not possible to actually learn them, though that should just be 1 line of code. And then a whole lot of bugs. As I'm pretty sure I used the design ticks vars instead of the design prog ticks vars. Probably lots of bugs.

Connecting to the matrix should work and have all the right MPCP scores. Channels should work on any system test. Tarbabies can't affect channels as per the book. Complex forms are loaded as programs onto the deck. So assuming you can make a complex form, the form should work as appropriate.

The channel skills have all been added. Need an NPC and room / quest gate to learn the actual skills. The limits for chargen channels needs to be added (6, 5, 4, 3, 3)

Chargen priority system is working with otaku. Resources are always capped at 5000. The UI has a bug where it says you get 20000 but you only get 5000. I probably missed a ternary somewhere.

Chargen prestige system works with otaku, it's a toggle under the races menu. It asks for a prestige character as it should. all works. SQL migrations done for adding otaku to the game. You can save/quit/load correctly.

Chargen points system does not work at all with otaku. TODO.

Remaining major action items:
MPCP damage mechanics
Gray IC stun track mechanics
Learning channel skills
Review and debug complex forms