[JmOz01]

What is the best hacking device for lets say under 100k.  Some kind of comlink?  a Little hornet with the right mods/programs?  You tell me your opinion...

[firebug]

I'd say the Little Hornet.  Its attributes can be modified to be less pointed, but mainly that while a commlink with a dongle can be quite good, attribute-wise, you can't discount being able to use multiple programs.  They are the bread-and-butter of what makes a cyberdeck so damn good...  Fork, Baby Monitor, Signal Scrubber, etc...  A lot of very valuable ones.

[Novocrane]

Evotech Himitsu, no questions. So long as you're only using it for hacking. Sleaze 5 for 11k¥, Attack 4 as an extra 48k¥. If you don't need Attack 4, it's even cheaper.

It also acts as a pistol-sized faraday cage.

[Hobbes]

Vulcan Liegelord RCC, Add Sleaze, increase Sleaze, (ATT: 0, SLZ: 2, DP: 5, FWL: 6)  Throw in Smoke and Mirrors.  With Antenna and Datajacks and the RCC itself you can negate the noise penalty from Smoke and Mirrors.  Runs you around 75k by the time it's all said and done.  Can't brute force or attack, biggest problem is encrypted files.  Since unencrypting them is an Attack action you need to spend edge to push the limit.  For under 100k you've got decent Sleaze, DP and Firewall, runs 5 Programs, rating 5 device.  Tough to beat.  Although the Evotech Himitsu is a phenomenal deal if you don't care about firewall or programs.

Little Hornet is a solid value if you have Perfect Time  and Overclocker, I'd throw on two Program Carriers, Encryption and Stealth.  Keep Virtual Machine handy for when you need to run 3 programs. 

[JmOz01]

Can a rcc take a dongle?

[Hobbes]

RAW Dongles are Commlink only, so RCCs can't take a Dongle.  Per one of the editors RAI is that RCCs can't have dongles.

[Whiskeyjack]

I still do not understand why singles were made a Thing if such an apparently big part of the edition was going back to source roots where hacking was with a deck, not a commlink...and then they went and made a cheap workaround for it.

[Csjarrat]

To get a decent hacking setup you're spending a fortune on a high level dongle, plus you either need to miss off a stat (usually attack) for cyberprograms or pick up the stat and lose the ability to run them. It's not really that great a solution tbh and it certainly doesn't threaten the deckers place in the team, more just adding a bit of utility to links that they didn't have before

[Hobbes]

I still do not understand why singles were made a Thing if such an apparently big part of the edition was going back to source roots where hacking was with a deck, not a commlink...and then they went and made a cheap workaround for it.

Evotech Himitsu, Attack Dongle, Program carrier Virtual Machine with Smoke and Mirrors + Stealth.  Toss in stacking noise reduction Cyberware.  Sleaze 11 for running silent.  Electronic Warfare skill specialized in the Hide Action.   Perfect Time to lower then raise Smoke&Mirrors as needed.  Human Decker with a 5 or 7 edge can pretty well get away with an Attack Attribute of 2 or 3.  Yeah.  You'd likely need another Commlink for Legwork because of Data Processing limit.  Hello Nixdorf DP 6 and an Agent.  Yeah, I just don't see the need for a Cyberdeck if you're willing to take some risks.  Firewall is only for if you get caught.  And with 19 ish Dice to resist Matrix Perception when running silent?  You're only ever going to get busted if you blow a roll.  *sigh* 

Hell, I think you could just about put together a Mystic Adept Hermetic Decker/Mage with D resources?  Almost.  I think you'd wind up short on Skills or Magic Attribute, but it's awful close.  Prime Runner for sure could at resources E?  No problem. 

Yeah, cyberdecks are for chumps.  Dammit. 

[ScytheKnight]

The cheep ass cyberdecks do make a good option for a street level Technomancer looking to hide.

[Jimmy_Pvish]

I still do not understand why singles were made a Thing if such an apparently big part of the edition was going back to source roots where hacking was with a deck, not a commlink...and then they went and made a cheap workaround for it.

Evotech Himitsu, Attack Dongle, Program carrier Virtual Machine with Smoke and Mirrors + Stealth.  Toss in stacking noise reduction Cyberware.  Sleaze 11 for running silent.  Electronic Warfare skill specialized in the Hide Action.   Perfect Time to lower then raise Smoke&Mirrors as needed.  Human Decker with a 5 or 7 edge can pretty well get away with an Attack Attribute of 2 or 3.  Yeah.  You'd likely need another Commlink for Legwork because of Data Processing limit.  Hello Nixdorf DP 6 and an Agent.  Yeah, I just don't see the need for a Cyberdeck if you're willing to take some risks.  Firewall is only for if you get caught.  And with 19 ish Dice to resist Matrix Perception when running silent?  You're only ever going to get busted if you blow a roll.  *sigh* 

Hell, I think you could just about put together a Mystic Adept Hermetic Decker/Mage with D resources?  Almost.  I think you'd wind up short on Skills or Magic Attribute, but it's awful close.  Prime Runner for sure could at resources E?  No problem. 

Yeah, cyberdecks are for chumps.  Dammit.

Can commlinks use cyberprogram (Virtual Machine, Smoke and Mirrors, Stealth) ?
And doesn't program carrier only work on cyberdeck?

[ScytheKnight]

I still do not understand why singles were made a Thing if such an apparently big part of the edition was going back to source roots where hacking was with a deck, not a commlink...and then they went and made a cheap workaround for it.

Evotech Himitsu, Attack Dongle, Program carrier Virtual Machine with Smoke and Mirrors + Stealth.  Toss in stacking noise reduction Cyberware.  Sleaze 11 for running silent.  Electronic Warfare skill specialized in the Hide Action.   Perfect Time to lower then raise Smoke&Mirrors as needed.  Human Decker with a 5 or 7 edge can pretty well get away with an Attack Attribute of 2 or 3.  Yeah.  You'd likely need another Commlink for Legwork because of Data Processing limit.  Hello Nixdorf DP 6 and an Agent.  Yeah, I just don't see the need for a Cyberdeck if you're willing to take some risks.  Firewall is only for if you get caught.  And with 19 ish Dice to resist Matrix Perception when running silent?  You're only ever going to get busted if you blow a roll.  *sigh* 

Hell, I think you could just about put together a Mystic Adept Hermetic Decker/Mage with D resources?  Almost.  I think you'd wind up short on Skills or Magic Attribute, but it's awful close.  Prime Runner for sure could at resources E?  No problem. 

Yeah, cyberdecks are for chumps.  Dammit.

Can commlinks use cyberprogram (Virtual Machine, Smoke and Mirrors, Stealth) ?
And doesn't program carrier only work on cyberdeck?

Normally no, but a Comlink can be fitted with a Program Carrier allowing it to run a single Cyberprogram. Or two if the program is Virtual Machine, remembering it does make it more vulnerable to bricking.

[Jimmy_Pvish]

I still do not understand why singles were made a Thing if such an apparently big part of the edition was going back to source roots where hacking was with a deck, not a commlink...and then they went and made a cheap workaround for it.

Evotech Himitsu, Attack Dongle, Program carrier Virtual Machine with Smoke and Mirrors + Stealth.  Toss in stacking noise reduction Cyberware.  Sleaze 11 for running silent.  Electronic Warfare skill specialized in the Hide Action.   Perfect Time to lower then raise Smoke&Mirrors as needed.  Human Decker with a 5 or 7 edge can pretty well get away with an Attack Attribute of 2 or 3.  Yeah.  You'd likely need another Commlink for Legwork because of Data Processing limit.  Hello Nixdorf DP 6 and an Agent.  Yeah, I just don't see the need for a Cyberdeck if you're willing to take some risks.  Firewall is only for if you get caught.  And with 19 ish Dice to resist Matrix Perception when running silent?  You're only ever going to get busted if you blow a roll.  *sigh* 

Hell, I think you could just about put together a Mystic Adept Hermetic Decker/Mage with D resources?  Almost.  I think you'd wind up short on Skills or Magic Attribute, but it's awful close.  Prime Runner for sure could at resources E?  No problem. 

Yeah, cyberdecks are for chumps.  Dammit.

Can commlinks use cyberprogram (Virtual Machine, Smoke and Mirrors, Stealth) ?
And doesn't program carrier only work on cyberdeck?

Normally no, but a Comlink can be fitted with a Program Carrier allowing it to run a single Cyberprogram. Or two if the program is Virtual Machine, remembering it does make it more vulnerable to bricking.

Doesn't Program Carrier is cyberdeck module?

Data Trails p64

CVBERDECK MODULES
A cyberdeck module Is a prefabrtcated component that
extends the capabilities of your deck. Each cyberdeck has
one module slot Inside Its case. Inserting, removing, or
swapping modules requires a Hardware + Logic [Mental]
( 1) Test and about half a minute of time ( 10 Combat Turns).
Modules aren't as robust as your average deck and
are vulnerable to Matrix damage. If your deck Is ever
bricked, any module In It becomes a useless hunk of
slag, even If you repair the deck.

It does not mention commlink can use them.

[JmOz01]

It's a mod, takes two components and only one mod per device.

What about this...just an idea mind you and would love opinions

21,000  Radio Shack PCD 500
  1,000  Mod a stat (New Array 3,2,1,0)
    900  Program module (smoke and mirrors)
    240  Configure, Browse, encryption 
    500  Decryption, stealth
---------
23,640

or you can replace the mod with raise an attribute for +250 (and -2 damage) (Array 3, 2, 1, 1)
or replace module with a vector signal mod and move the Smoke and mirrors to programs for +150

[Jimmy_Pvish]

It's a mod, takes two components and only one mod per device.

What about this...just an idea mind you and would love opinions

21,000  Radio Shack PCD 500
  1,000  Mod a stat (New Array 3,2,1,0)
    900  Program module (smoke and mirrors)
    240  Configure, Browse, encryption 
    500  Decryption, stealth
---------
23,640

or you can replace the mod with raise an attribute for +250 (and -2 damage) (Array 3, 2, 1, 1)
or replace module with a vector signal mod and move the Smoke and mirrors to programs for +150

You're right, it's on page 66 "Add Module under DEVICE MODIFICATIONS."

Well, it seem like my combat decker don't need expansive cyberdeck after all. (evil grin)