[DigitalZombie]

Sadly there arent any cost for Hosts in data trails. 
Therefore I think I will be houseruling their price and availability instead
While vanilla runner teams would have little use of a host. I presume that more specialized games could see a use for them. Like Matrix teams/gangs, organized crimes, corporate/law campaigns etc.
I was thinking of something like this:

Host (rating 1-6)  Availability = Rating*2  Cost= (rating*rating)*5000
Host (rating 7-10) Availability = Rating*2R Cost= (rating*rating)*5000
Host (rating 11-12) Availability = Rating*3F  Cost= Rating*rating)*5000

A host has 4 matrix attributes at lvl, lvl+1, lvl+2 and lvl+3 distributed as the host designer sees fit. (this cant be easily changed)

Each IC would also have their own price and availability. I guess the patrol IC would be the cheapest, while those that could kill intruders would be the most expensive.

I also suppose that some maintenance cost would scale with the rating of the host.

So, what do you guys think about pricing/availability/legality/maintenance cost of hosts and ICs? 

[Jack_Spade]

I'm happy to say that when I read your post's title I immediately thought to price hosts similar to stealth/attack dongles with 5000 as the base. So... well done. Maintenance and rent would be 10% base cost per month. I'd include one IC program per rating point with patrol IC as the basic feature. Every additional IC would increase the monthly cost by 1% base cost.

I'd set Ava at Rating*3 with 1 to 4 - 5 to 8 R and 9 to 12 F

So it would be just possible for a team of runners to maintain a R 4 or 5 host to protect their gear and data

If one of the Freelancers working on the Technomancer book is reading this: Private Host rules would be really, really appreciated 

[fseperent]

I would move the first tier from 1-6 to 1-4.
IC would be restricted, with black or psychotropic being forbidden.
Inclined to suggest a business license be required to get a host.
Also, would advise scaling the base cost.
For Example:
R1-4=R*R*3000
R5-8=R*R*4000
R9-12=R*R*5000

[DigitalZombie]

Cool:)
Yeah I think splitting the rating up the way you two did it would work better.
Although I think the price might need to be increased, at least for the higher rating ones. Otherwise a Rating 12 über Host would only cost 720K to acquire. Thats less than a Fairlight paladin cyberdeck. :/ a rating 12 host would be something nigh unreachable like multi-million cruisers etc.

So maybe something like this:
Host (Rating 1-4) availability = Rating*3   Cost= (Rating*Rating)*5,000 
Host (Rating 5-8) availability = Rating*3   Cost= (Rating*Rating)*8,000
Host (Rating 9-12) availability = rating*3   Cost=(rating*Rating)*20,000

This would give us something like:
R1 avail 3       Cost 5K
R2 avail 6       Cost 20K
R3 avail 9       Cost 45K
R4 avail 12     Cost 80K
R5 avail 15R   Cost 200K
R6 avail 18R   Cost 288K
R7 avail 21R   Cost 392K
R8 avail 24R   Cost 512K
R9 avail 27R   Cost 1,620K
R10 avail 30R Cost 2,000K
R11 avail 33R Cost 2,420K
R12 avail 36R Cost 2,880K 

Im inclined to increase the 9-12 hosts even more in cost and make them F, but then again I doubt any of my players would get their hands on one of those anyway.

Regarding ICs Im thinking something like this:
Patrol               avail 6      Cost 5K
Track               avail 9R    Cost 10K
Bloodhound     avail 12R  Cost 15K
Acid                 avail 12R  Cost 20K
Binder             avail 12R   Cost 20K
Jammer           avail 12R   Cost 20K
Marker            avail 12R   Cost 20K
Shocker          avail 12R   Cost 20K
Scramble        avail 12R   Cost 20K
Probe             avail 12R   Cost 20K
Crash             avail 12R   Cost 20K
Tar baby         avail 15F   Cost 30K
Killer               avail 18F   Cost 50K
Catapult          avail 18F   Cost 80K
Sparky            avail 18F   Cost 50K
Blaster            avail 18F   Cost 70K
Black IC          avail 21F   Cost 100K

@Jack_Spade I think I would lower the maintenance cost, otherwise a host would cost more to run for a year than it would cost to buy it in the first place.
Maybe 2% of Host+IC? that would still be 4k each month for a R5 Host with no IC on it.

If one of the Freelancers working on the Technomancer book is reading this: Private Host rules would be really, really appreciated 

agreed

[Jack_Spade]

Oh, but support is where all the software companies get the real money from. You want to encourage customers to buy the expensive thing and rake in a steady revenue (also it discourages players from getting complacent  with their own host)

[fseperent]

Forgot about it initially, but what are you going to do about the foundation of the host?
Is maintenance of that up to the runners or is it getting outsourced?
Or are you going to skip all of that?

[DigitalZombie]

Hmm ok. What if we combined Jack_Spades concern for a too low maintenance cost and fseperents comment on the foundation. The maintenance cost is 5% of the total cost of the host- but only 3% if the group manages the maintenance themselves. (being the spider, the task force to shoot up tracked intruders, managing the deep runs themselves etc).

Im not sure how much the host owners have to say about the layout of the host itself? As the foundation changes the paradigm every times you enter it (unless you have an anchor) you dont have a lot of say in it :/
But I guess most GM would be happy to let their players design and describe their host and maybe also what paradigm they have anchored.

But I do have one concern though. Players could easily just acquire a rating 1 host for a mere 5K. And then always have a backdoor ready for any other host they may come across, if they get to the foundation. Thats a pretty big bonus (if you are in a matrix  centered game) and dirt cheap.

Oh We should make a Random 100 list of various paradigms.

[fseperent]

Your comment about having a back door would only apply if your host is connected to another grid, then only to other hosts on that grid.
Even then, a cheap host would be suspicious and subject to more focused security attention to protect the rest of the grid.
Commercial hosts would use R3 or R4 hosts, possibly stronger depending on customer information on the host and volume of matrix traffic.
In other words, keep the use of your host for hacking to a minimum, maybe once or twice a month, or get ready to deal with GOD and local cops.

[Tym Jalynsfein]

GOD does not patrol hosts, nor even monitor them. If you are hacking Host to Host through the Foundation, GOD will never know.

[DigitalZombie]

hm My understanding is that through the foundation you can access all other hosts anywhere with no test at all. As long as you have an anchor in both of them. But getting into the hosts and their foundations in the first place to even place the anchors can be extremely tough and dangerous.

I imagine that some mum&pops shops have their own low rating host on the public grid. And personal sites are listed as having rating 1-2. I dont think GOD or anyone else has invested many resources in finding potential "Runner hacker" hosts at rating 1-2.

But I dont know if a rating 1 host is too cheap or not?
because a hacker team could acquire a rating 1 host set its firewall at a measly 1. And then they would have to roll skill+attribute against 2 dice (rating 1+firewall 1) to place a permanent anchor in their own host. And suddenly they are much stronger when up against any other host in the world, if they have to do some deep runs in them.

hmm actually that leads me to another question- can you track or somehow identify anchors? Is there someway that MCT can use your anchor in their RAT9 host against you if they find it?

[fseperent]

According to the book, unless you sign an anchor, you can't tell who owns it.