[prionic6]

I remeber reading that space stations develop a mana sphere after a while. Not sure how many people are neccesary for that.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

It's a matter for ongoing experimentation by pretty much every corporation with a presence on a space station.

[Herr Brackhaus]

As of Run & Gun, the following is known about magic in space:

Due to the lack of mana in space, spellcasting becomes challenging away from the surface of Earth. Element-based spells do not function in a vacuum, so they cannot be cast across empty space. Space locations function as astral voids, meaning spellcasters receive a dice pool penalty when they attempt any test that uses their Magic attribute. The penalty ranges from –8 (for places with decent concentrations of life for non-Earth locations, such as the Moon or a large space station) to –18 (for deep space). Note that the corps have noticed this difference and are encouraged by the fact that at least some extension of mana into space is possible. They are hard at work looking for ways to enhance magical abilities away from Earth, but the amount of severely impaired mages they keep sending back to the surface indicated their success is mixed at best.

If a large space station is -8, and deep space is -18, there's a decent chance that a small space station would be somewhere around the -13 mark. There's very little information in the sourcebooks regarding how many people inhabit each station, or any sort of note about whether they add significant amounts of flora and/or fauna, but with a lot of space exploration being dedicated to research I wouldn't discount the possibilities of either.

[Nath]

Renraku's doing a lot to shed the *image* of a Japanese company while still keeping the *structure* of one. Their new focus on teh service industry, for instance, uses local people for the 'footsoldiers' who report to local-ish managers who, in turn, report to Asian higher-ups. Thus, they companies *look* local but aren't.

The three Japanacorps who had regional structures were Renraku Computer Systems, Fuchi Industrial Electronics and Yamatetsu (which is also the structure of Aztechnology and Saeder-Krupp). That is, the three corporations who were a mix of Japanese and other nationalities. The "pure" Japanese corporations, Shiawase and MCT (as well as Sony, Yakashima, Yokogawa...) have sectoral structures.

Also, the increased number of Japanese managers at the top-level is quite recent and only dates back to 2067-2068, as Orito Sasaki replaced Sherman Huang at Renraku America and Noriko Sakai replaced Lucy Don at Renraku Australasia, while Karl Stadt remains the head of Renraku Europa.

[Senko]

What's a sectoral structure please?

[Ursus Maior]

That a megacorporation structures itself not primarily by the region or countries it operates in, but by the industrial/economic sectors each division handles. E.g. the AAA corporation Renraku is strutured into multiple AA division including a North America, a Europe division etc. Shiawase AAA on the other hand is structured into Shiawase Atomics/Energy, Shiawase Envirotech etc. Each division thus handles either a whole region, but is heavily diversified itself, or it can focus economically on a certain branch (e.g. aerospace technology), but is spread over the whole world.

Most AA-divisions of AAA megacorporations handle their own divisions or subsidiaries, though, which allows them to buy back some of the flexibility lost by the paradigmatical division of the AAA corporation. But the main paradigm of division tells you a lot about hierarchy and how the corporation defines itself.

[BetaCAV]

I don't suppose anyone has (or wants to) take a stab at making an updated set of corporate profiles (a la Corporate Shadowfiles, p. 118) for the 2070s' batch of megas?

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

I imagine that's likely to be in the works at some point or another.  Out of five editions, I consider three (2nd, 3rd, and 4th) to be 'complete', and all three of them had a full-on corporate sourcebook.

[iduno]

Didn't Aztech get rid of the blood mages a while back? Maybe after they tried to take over the company (also, the world)?

They're cheap and easy bad guys, which makes them boring. Their major strength to the game is the culture, but I'm not sure how much you can focus on the pyramids and blood sports without them getting overplayed. I'd vote for them getting their nose bloodied and shedding some of the negatives to see if it makes them multidimensional.

To be fair, before Wakshaani's description, I still thought of Renraku as the corp that had an AI get out of hand many years ago. It might take some doing to change player perceptions. The history of the game is a big strength, but it can stagnate the game as well.

[psycho835]

That was the Blood Mage Gestalt, and they were kicked out in... Actually, I don't remember. Sometime between 2055 and 2064? Anyway, they are back. These days they call themselves "The Smoking Mirror".

[Zukkel]

what about a fully blown out war?
I remember reading about the Omega Protocols being stolen. Any chance a Mega feels in position for world dominance?

[Senko]

Thanks.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

what about a fully blown out war?
I remember reading about the Omega Protocols being stolen. Any chance a Mega feels in position for world dominance?

That ... honestly sounds like a comic-book thing.  In Shadowrun there is such a thing as an Omega order, which permits full-out economic and physical war against a corporation without repercussion.  They are only issued (or issueable) by the Corporate Court; this is one of the things that the Court was originally created for, to prevent the chances of full-blown war among the AAA corporations.  (The Ensenada Strike was a Corporate Court 'Omega order' warning shot.)  From what I remember, one particular corporation can be made the Court's executor, usually a AA or AAA that was recently and directly harmed by the company to be so 'executed'; the Court also has the option to simply declare open season.  To my uncertain knowledge it's only ever happened once, though I can't remember who was the target, who the executor.

So while 'protocols' might be stolen, it isn't going to change anything, and no single megacorporation, or even a minority subset of the Big 10, is going to be able to wage all-out war against the rest in order to dominate the world.  Too much collateral damage, and who the hell would you sell your products to?  Remember, the corps are about making money, not about blowing shit up - unless the latter is an advertisement for the former. 

[Wakshaani]

Didn't Aztech get rid of the blood mages a while back? Maybe after they tried to take over the company (also, the world)?

They're cheap and easy bad guys, which makes them boring. Their major strength to the game is the culture, but I'm not sure how much you can focus on the pyramids and blood sports without them getting overplayed. I'd vote for them getting their nose bloodied and shedding some of the negatives to see if it makes them multidimensional.

To be fair, before Wakshaani's description, I still thought of Renraku as the corp that had an AI get out of hand many years ago. It might take some doing to change player perceptions. The history of the game is a big strength, but it can stagnate the game as well.

Luckily for Renraku, Crash 2.0 wasn't long after thier "little incident", and now, 15 years later, most people just sorta assume that it was all tied together.

Because people hate the past.

Renraku's current ad campaign focuses on teh human side of things (And, yeah, human. And pretty humans at that. No uggos on teh corporate payroll! Hie thee to a Renraku-backed clinic for some bio-upgrades, young man!) with the service industry. Anytime you contact a Renraku branch, you get a real live person on the comm, you meet real people in the store, and, in general, it's fleshy city everywhere you turn. Computers and droids are serving people and are completely- harmless.

They make sure of it.

Renraku pampers the HECK out of people and uses their massive database to make sure that everything you like is available for purchase every time you turn around. WIth predictive analysis, they even provide you things before you even know you need them.

Renraku: How may we serve you?

[Angelone]

The Azzies were the target of the Omega order. Also it was them who stole the thor shot protocols trying to or succeeding to frame another corp (I want to say Horizon ) depending on how well the players did. I'll try to remember to dig up that adventure.