Noble Drake, you're forgetting that you CAN get Cybereyes Rating 3 at chargen (quite easily), which, with it's capacity of 12, will get you:
[2] Low-Light Vision
[3] Smartlink
[2] Thermographic Vision
[3] Vision Enhancement Rating 3
[2] Vision Magnification
The only thing missing is Flare Compensation, which you could easily install in a pair of contacts or sunglasses.
So, what were you saying about not being able to get "the best of the best" at chargen?
Thanks for the nitpick - I should certainly have double checked my facts (maybe even finally taking the shrink wrap off my special edition finally) before making a vague statement.
Cybereyes get a free pass from me as a "loophole" to getting around the availability cap where vision enhancers are concerned because they cost Essence, which is a much higher cost in the big picture than nuyen... not to mention that the cybereyes you mention cost twice as much as getting tricked out glasses/contacts
before adding any enhancements tot hem.
And again, how is having all of these vision enhancements in one cybereye AT ALL different from "wirelessly enabled devices interfacing with your PAN and displaying the information in your AR"?
Being as both of those are incredibly ill-defined fictional things, the only answer I can give is to say that cybereyes are described in a way that implies a vision style like that shown in the various Terminator films could be an accurate example... and AR is clearly depicted in various bits of art as being more like looking at a hologram or a floating, two-dimensional monitor screen.
Remember, Shadowrun does not = the real world. Magic and technology cannot be equated to real world physics. So, while your example of optics certainly applies, the application of the technology does not.
That Shadowrun is not exactly the real world does not necessitate that we assume nothing from the real world be applicable in any case. Anywhere there is clear statement or vague implication that the SR world differs from ours, I freely let anything fly... but that isn't the case with the operation of optical devices, even though it is the case with their existence in the first place.
I could easily argue that instead of "seeing" through thermovision, the thermovision enhancement gives me an AR overlay that my brain (if image link is implanted) or eyes (if I'm wearing glasses with image link) translates. This could logically then be extended to the combining of effects, with your commlink (or image link, if that makes you feel better) doing all the necessary computing to display an AR overlay that:
Reduces glare/flash, displays gun info, provides more detail (sharpens the image), zooms the view up to 50 times, and shows me either an infrared or light-enhanced view.
You can easily argue anything you wish... that doesn't mean that I have to accept any assumptions you make, just as you have no reason to accept any of the assumptions I have made.
Are you seriously going to tell me that you draw the line at having a computer overlay various sensor data in a format that my brain can understand, when we're talking about a world where I can mentally eject the clip from the gun installed in my cybernetic arm while running 12-18 meters per second because my hydraulic legs are super-strong and fast, or where I can fully project my consciousness into a virtual reality by having a hole drilled in my head and literally plugging myself into the machine?
Absolutely. The game material does not specifically address the topic of whether your brain can translate such a complex set of overlaid sensory input - but it does expressly state that you can eject the clip, run faster, and project your consciousness into VR with the appropriate augmentations.
The difference is that I fill any blanks that the game materials leave with explanations and interpretations based on what I know in real life, rather than saying "there theoretically could be some explanation as to how this stuff works differently than the real world that I don't know, so I will just assume that to be the case."
Neither approach is wrong.
If you answered yes to the above; no offense intended, man, but this is a science fiction game, emphasis on the fiction. Real world physics do not always apply...
Not always, of course not... but since the fiction is specifically an alternate development of the real world, real world physics do apply at times. I just happen to think that real world physics apply in every case that they are not specifically contradicted by the game rules or description.
