[AnotherUser]

These decisions happen all the time by people with a C in their title that because they don't know tech but still fall for the snake oil salesmen's pitch.

I see where you are coming from and I would (wholeheartedly) agree that even in the real world inefficient, corrupt and downright stupid systems can persist for quite some time, be it by inertia, shortsightedness and something akin to institutional tradition. Or fear to change a (hardly) running system. I also understand the `too big to fail` route, especially when it comes to bad guys.

But there are three types of people at meetings such as the fateful one with de la Mar. Strategists, lawyers and bean counters. And not having at least one bean counter perk up and ask about something as obvious as `so, about these maintainance costs?`

That would be too much for my group.

If it were something subtle, something requiring lateral thinking, maybe we could swallow it. But this is too basic. And it is in a way too sensitive area, requiring way too much investment. Hosts are where all the dirt is buried. Hosts are where business is done. They are the source of power.
If the corps would be bumbling buffoons at even their core competencies the next thing my players would ask me would be how these frags even became the Top Ten.

I am not trying to convince you that you´re doing it wrong. Whatever works for you is fine. But I don´t see your approach reflected in a lot of canon sources. Maybe that is what bothers me the most with the `deadly hosts.` It is not in line with the rest of the worldbuilding. The corps may be portrayed as uncaring, soulless and oppressive, but never as comically stupid and gullible as this. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

'The Hosts grew sentient and went to war with the Monads, so we blew it all up and tried again, with less success'.

Actually I would prefer that to what we have right now. (don´t forget to shoehorn the nulls into it somehow.)  Also, one can only hope for an end to the strained effort for complete matrix/magic symmetry. It robs both of flavour.

[Opti]

.

[Hobbes]

Add to that the loss of things like storage limits and things really took an odd turn, with, for instance, wireless shoelaces that would let you download a copy of the entire Matrix inside of them.

That really needs to be fixed but I don't know if you can get away with a clarification that won't be seen as a massive, if needed, retcon.

Terabyte sized SSDs are three hundred bucks and are about the size of a MtG booster pack, here IRL.  A TB is a lot of data.  The Library of Congress is an estimated 10 TB.  Digital storage stopped being a significant issue a few years back here IRL.  I think it's okay to abstract most of that.  Keeping track of the storage capacity of your left sock seems unnecessary. 

There are many other issues I have with the Matrix rules.  Getting rid of MegaPulses of storage wasn't a big deal.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Add to that the loss of things like storage limits and things really took an odd turn, with, for instance, wireless shoelaces that would let you download a copy of the entire Matrix inside of them.

That really needs to be fixed but I don't know if you can get away with a clarification that won't be seen as a massive, if needed, retcon.

Terabyte sized SSDs are three hundred bucks and are about the size of a MtG booster pack, here IRL.  A TB is a lot of data.  The Library of Congress is an estimated 10 TB.  Digital storage stopped being a significant issue a few years back here IRL.  I think it's okay to abstract most of that.  Keeping track of the storage capacity of your left sock seems unnecessary. 

There are many other issues I have with the Matrix rules.  Getting rid of MegaPulses of storage wasn't a big deal.

Between that, and things "on" your devices aren't really stored in physical drives within your devices (what we call cloud computing irl)...

Technically, that hacking app you're running "on" your cyberdeck is in truth probably stored as 1s and 0s on some physical data storage device in a Renraku Data Farm somewhere...

[DeathStrobe]

I do think the concept of storage is pointless, even in our modern times, so by the 2070's I'm fine with storage becoming a solved problem.

In my Matrix rewrite, I fluffed it as all data is actually distributed in redundant blockchains to every other device around you, making downloads, storage, and loss of data obsolete, and offering some degree of security as you need to read multiple blockchains which gets around SR4's encryption being an obsolete concept.

[Ghost Rigger]

Technically, that hacking app you're running "on" your cyberdeck is in truth probably stored as 1s and 0s on some physical data storage device in a Renraku Data Farm somewhere...

That's fine for wageslaves who never leave the arcology, but this is a game about shadowrunners. I need my programs to work in a Faraday cage at the bottom of the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

[Shadowjack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtcHfpf5SQU&feature=em-uploademail

6th edition is on the way this year apparently. I really wish there was more community interaction about wants and needs but I guess we'll just have to see how it turns out. Looks like a lot of the needless crap is being removed, like marks, overly complicated vehicle rules, etc. Sounds like the game will play faster and be more fun, perhaps a middleground between Anarchy and 5th Editon in terms of complexity, which I think is great.

[wraith]

What, you're not enthusiastic about a brand that hasn't posted it's own announcement in the forum for it in two years?  Almost like you want to be marketed to or something.   

[PiXeL01]

Why waste energy and resources on something you can get others to do for free.

[wraith]

Depends, did you want an audience larger than the subset of a subset of players who are still paying attention at this point?   

[Ghost Rigger]

This edition isn't even going to be worth stealing. But hey, on the bright side, Catalyst isn't going to have to worry about losing sales to piracy!

[AJCarrington]

Why waste energy and resources on something you can get others to do for free.

You mean some people get paid for that? 

[Beta]

This edition isn't even going to be worth stealing. But hey, on the bright side, Catalyst isn't going to have to worry about losing sales to piracy!

Seriously, you are condemning the whole edition as trash based on the preview podcast?  Come on, at least save some of the nerd rage until the details come out!

[Michael Chandra]

Torches and pitchforks for sale, people! Just 49 nuyen each, and 99 for a combo!

[Ghost Rigger]

Torches and pitchforks for sale, people! Just 49 nuyen each, and 99 for a combo!

Nice try, but I've already know the prices of torches and pitchforks from No Future!