Post by rabidbite on Mar 7, 2013 7:37:34 GMT -5
Hello, as I dive further into Cyberknights I am coming up with questions to certain aspects which I want to verify. So I decided to create this thread to answer questions as they come up.
A LOT of people have contributed both questions and answers.
The [TB] are always thanked for their work clearing, designing, and helping us understand their world vision.
Noted thanks to:
rearick (guest), Gravling, JR8825, blackgauntlet, Swami, rivvin, Ahab, (everyone else I'm missing).
Without further delay
:
ALL ANSWERS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS CREATOR DEEMS NECESSARY
RED .........Questions still unanswered
ORANGE....Questions with Conflicting data or partly answered
BLUE........Questions mostly answered.
GREEN......Questions answered, or player submitted answers that are confirmed, by the developer.
CURRENT QUESTIONS IN Q/A
1. Where can I find X-Weapon?
2. Who/What are the enemies I might encounter in Cyber Knight world?
3. Where can i find 'X' armor, accessory, or Cybernetic implant?
4. If Cyber Knight Quantum Chip implants are highly illegal, why do public terminals have a specialized port for them?
5. Who makes the law?
6. I was under the impression that the New Boston Zone was a domed city. How can it be "toxic," have "acid rain", and have such 'crumbling infrastructure' that the first two (toxic and acid rain) become a factor?
7. Do people, fauna, flora exists outside the NBZ?
8. Who enforces the law, investigates murders, etc?
9. Kidd Blaze, who is not a Cyber Knight, hacks the Matrix. To what degree can Hackers Runners delve into the Matrix without the use of a Cyber Knight Quantum Chip?
10. Could one of the knowledgeable please advise as to the advantages/disadvantages of working with/against certain factions?
11. What is Nano-slag?
12. How do I allocate XP to survive?
13. What are some good ways to remove HEAT?
14. How much movement goes on between the domes? How do the elite of the world travel between domes?
15. Who are the rep. faction ladder NPCs?
16. What are runners?
17. Where are good places to hire runners?
18. Are there any prerequisites to hire runners?
19. Who are the Persona Fixers that give martial artists and where do we go?
20. What are all the different types of runners?
21. What are the different types of Rumors and how do they affect the game?
22. What are the different types of Conflicts and how do they affect the game?
23. What do the map icons mean?
24. When did the Pacific Corp Wars occur?
25. Going by advances already made in quantum processing, the classical approach would mean any encryption could be broken in minutes, How do Cyber Knight's processors avoid this?
26. What does "Nano-Ready" armor mean?
27. How is it possible that all members of my team use bullets from the 'cyberloader' at the same time?
----------
Answer by: Everyone who contributes to spreadsheet.
1. Where can I find X-Weapon?
I direct you to the EPIC Ck Reference Sheet with this information constantly updated. Sometimes outdated, sometimes not.
docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Asim4pSuJZrIdHhrVlBSSnFlVGFRa1NMbFBHdklrSVE&usp=sharing#gid=0
The spreadsheet thread can be found HERE:
startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ckrpgtalk&action=display&thread=2394&page=1
----------
Answered by: Cory Trese
2. Who/What are the enemies I might encounter in Cyber Knight world?
I've created an open spreadsheet with Cory Trese's list of enemies. It is accessible by anyone. I've added one or two personal details (race, hovering or not) which I use for creative purposes. Some fields are blank because, frankly, I don't know the answer and no one else has filled it in.
docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj_zYALBxhKrdFRrd05CTy13NVRNQ0laY3pjdDJIakE&usp=sharing
Original thread can be found HERE:
startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ckrpgtalk&action=display&thread=4053
----------
Answered by: Anyone contributing to the Ck Reference Sheet
3. Where can i find 'X' armor, accessory, or Cybernetic implant?
I point you once more to the EPIC CK Reference Sheet. It has pretty much everything except the menu in the CK eating establishments.
docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj5-txFmNCWgdHFpVHdKUjZ0SURtTWpNdmZSdk9MeUE#gid=0[/color]
----------
Answered by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
4. If Cyber Knight Quantum Chip implants are highly illegal, why do public terminals have a specialized port for them?
Public terminals DO NOT have a specialized port for Q-Chips.
[TB]
Data terminals provide communication access to Citizens in the zone and also are used for everyday, maintenance and security purposes. Due to the power of the Cyber Knights computer, the fundamental security protocols on the terminals can be overridden and the terminal can be used illegally by the Knight.
There are many legal uses for a Data Terminal. Data Port cyberware is not illegal and is possessed by many citizens. The Cyber Knight’s Quantum Chip allows a secure connection to be made using a V-Chip. This type of encryption cannot be trivially broken by any Faction, it is inherently illegal.
----------
Answered by:Fallen, Cory.Trese
5. Who makes the law?
[TB] The 1st tier mega-corporations view each of the domed cities in the way a multinational corporation views a country. Any major corporation operating in the Zone joins into the city’s treaty to gain access and rights to operate, produce and sell within the Zone. Mars, AzTek, and Yakashima were the first to sign the “Boston Accords” in 2184 which enforces a limited peace and structure for competition as well as establish a cooperative Corporate Council.
Civil Officials are primarily concerned with the contracts for supplies, security forces, electrical power, and structural maintenance that keep their particular Zone afloat. The contracts and treaties that define the relationships between the Security and Mercenary corporations vary from city to city and even zone to zone. They are negotiated with the Civil Officials and Governing Councils of the zones and are often historical or long-standing contracts.
The strict rules of the treaties signed in domed cities across the world require protection of Citizens, fair play, fair competition and due process of law. Everyone -- the great mega-corps, criminal elements, private citizens, and the gangs -- turn to Cyber Knights for anonymity and security when they skirt the rules … or break them outright. In this shadow war, Cyber Knights are the elite urban mercenaries: expendable, deniable and effective.
----------
Answered by: Fallen. Cory.Trese
6. I was under the impression that the New Boston Zone was a domed city. How can it be "toxic," have "acid rain", and have such 'crumbling infrastructure' that the first two (toxic and acid rain) become a factor?
[TB] The NBZ is a sealed metropolitan structure. Imagine a steel tent stretched over a tripod of massive skyscraper towers. The support towers are approximately 1km tall and have sunk almost 200m since they were first constructed 65 years ago.
The dome was built in stages to shelter the exiting Boston Core and the vast existing underground highway system. Entire neighborhoods were enclosed as the dome entered it’s final stages of completion. Those areas left outside of the dome were left to rot in poverty and pollution. Due to the toxic nature of the world, the infrastructure of the dome is aging and under daily assault. Only constant maintenance efforts allow keep the deadly elements at bay.
The zone itself is broken into many segmented areas. There are the tunnels beneath the city, where smugglers and survivors live in the remains of the sprawling underground highway system that was built below Boston through the 21st century. There is the street level, which is cordoned off into multiple sections by security checkpoints, walls, and gates. The environment of the surface level of the zone is made dangerous by the holes, gaps,and cracks to the outside world, as well as the buildup of internal pollution, smog, and deadly nano.
As you progress through the different levels of the street, from the gang-turf into those areas tightly controlled by security forces, and into the Boston Core, the conditions inside residences, towers, shops, and corporate enclaves improve. The external street can be just as dangerous. The safest and most clean areas of the NBZ are within the great mega-corp towers that fill the upper sections of the dome’s superstructure or deep beneath the city in buried mega-corp installations and bunkers.
To augment the above answer, the area “above street” level in the NBZ (that you cannot access in the game) is called “The Towers.” Those living in the upper levels of the corporate towers and residences certainly have the best water, air, light, food, and security. The towers provide the city’s R&D, indoor farming, computing centers, corporate living space. Each corporation maintains an independent Tower.
However, the very safest and most secure places to live or work are the private corporate enclaves that have been erected or excavated farther away from the dome. It is rumored that none of the leaders of the mega-corps actually reside in the NBZ or other domed cities.
The Dome extends over the bay by a substantial distance. International shipping is completed using cargo submarines instead of air travel.
----------
Answered by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
7. Do people, fauna, flora exists outside the NBZ?
[TB] There are floral, fauna, and even humans outside of the domes, but it all clings to the cities and their external infrastructure like parasites. It would be easy to underestimate the decimation that the world faced when the nano-pollution reached critical levels. Between Chicago and New Boston lie hundreds of miles of completely uninhabitable wasteland. These wastelands are ravaged by extreme environments, nano-pollution and mutants. There are stories of 600mph winds, mile wide nano dust storms and half-living creatures infected with self-replicating nanorobotic swarms.
The humans, plants, and animals that do survive in the waste stick close to the cities and their arteries. For example, those surviving in the NBZ tunnels are shielded by the dome itself. There are gangs and tribes that live within the shadow of the NBZ dome, in the wreck that was once Cambridge, and in the Allston Wastes. These survivors are close enough to parasite off the city’s existence, but too few to fight their way in. The Los Valentinos gang is an example of a Faction that recently made a power play and entered the dome from outside, based on their savagery, new armaments, and a willingness to fight a pitched battle for territory against Knight Horizon.
The industrial and utility sites which provide the NBZ with manufactured goods, weapons, and power also sustain populations. Many of the islands in the Boston Harbor are inhabited by looming factories and power-plants employing thousands of sub-Citizen workers.
Perhaps the most interesting survivalists are those that live within and around the transportation arteries. In the great underground railroad that runs to Chicago, the south-bound highway running out of the NBZ, and the Transatlantic Artery, small communities of destitute humans gather like fleas, sucking off the power grids to survive.
----------
Answered by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
8. Who enforces the law, investigates murders, etc?
[TB] Officially, the policy force in the NBZ is Brave Star and they have the 'Contracts of Justice' with the city, which they have held since 2172. The Laws of the NBZ are passed and voted on by the Civic Council (elected) in cooperation with corporate affairs appointments by the zone’s corporate sponsors and shareholders.
The duty of enforcing the Law, and of various types of crime is a complex issue. Given a correctly issued 'Warrant of Cause', a Brave Star or Knight Horizon agent can investigate, arrest or question any citizen or place of property (some properties and locations are specifically excluded in various Treaties.) For the most part, the laws of the NBZ are written to afford due process and other legal rights.
Very limited information is available about the history of Knight Horizon. The first records indicate that Knight Horizon Limited was employed to provide automated security forces for long-distance freight shipments. They arrived in New Boston years later with ground-breaking drone models, highly trained security forces, and innovative security technologies. In 2202, they won their first security contract over Brave Star, who had held exclusivity for more than 30 years. Once the door was opened, the Yakuza scored a security contract as well.
The number of yearly refugees entering the NBZ has begun to slow over the past decade, however there are still regular new arrivals of both the official and unofficial type.
----------
Answered by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
9. Kidd Blaze, who is not a Cyber Knight, hacks the Matrix. To what degree can Hackers Runners delve into the Matrix without the use of a Cyber Knight Quantum Chip Computer?
[TB] Data Port cyberware is not illegal and is possessed by many citizens and allows for Citizens and hackers to perform many actions, such as selling Paydata, processing data, writing or running Programs. Corporate and security deckers are Citizens equipped with a Data Port implants and charged with protecting systems and Matrix resources.
The advantages that a Cyber Knight provides are the unique and powerful CPU of the Cyber Knight computer and the encryption that only a Quantum Chip can make possible. This encryption provides a level of anonymity and protection that can only be gained by a Cyber Knight or a Runner who is plugged into the Cyber Knight’s computer.
However, even this encryption can only protect the Knight’s identity, but cannot prevent physical traces and other techniques from pinning down the Knight’s location or alerting other security countermeasures to his or her presence and raising their Heat due to illegal Matrix activity.
----------
Answered by Gravling, JR8825, OTHERS
10. Could one of the knowledgeable please advise as to the advantages/disadvantages of working with/against certain factions?
There are no corp ladder connectors yet, so no real advantage to work them except that each has some interesting people in their VIP rooms that you may want to buy things from. Some of them need a certain rep before they will talk with you.
Read more HERE
startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=ckrpgtalk&thread=3465&page=2
----------
Answered by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
11. What is Nano-slag?
[TB] Nano-slag is a slang term that refers to large volumes of elements of malfunctioning or non-functional nanorobotic systems. Nano-slag usually appears as either black or grey dust, foam or oil. Nano-slag is universally harmful to life and can range in effect from moderate irritation to instantaneous death. It has been 30 years since the peak of the fallout and 65 years since the Tokyo meltdown.
The best corporate science has offered is that the first generation nanorobotic components will decay completely within the next 50-100 years.
----------
Answered by Gravling
12. How do I allocate XP to survive?
This is subjective to the player, but one of the best guidelines I have read is here:
startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ckrpgtalk&action=display&thread=2569
----------
Answered by Gravling, JR8825.
13. What are some good ways to remove HEAT?
Note: * Reducing Heat is impossible if you are in a zone that is suffering a Heat Wave Rumor. Stay out of them if your goal is to reduce Heat.
1. To get rid of a little heat you can booze it up in a bar. (I need some refreshments, a meal and a drink). Useful if you need to get rid of a tiny bit of heat before Benni will pick you up. It's actually more useful to make time pass if Benni is going to be busy for 2 hours (because you rode him into the zone) and you need to ride him out, as well.
2. To get rid of more heat you can sleep in a hotel, as long as it is not the same one you slept in the last time you slept. (Keep in mind the noted rumor)
3. The best way to get rid of heat is to find the VIP suite of a faction you are friendly with, and spend the day drinking and listening to rumors. As long as the region is not under a heat wave, you can burn off a huge amount of heat in one session this way. And you will have a nice set of new rumors as a bonus, and may meet some interesting people. To do this you press the 'listen' button, and then when it is greyed out, you drink vudka or order a meal, and then press the listen button again. You can keep burning heat by staying and listening and drinking long after you are exhausted.
IF YOU HAVE TOO MUCH HEAT IT IS ALSO NECESSARY TO NOT -ADD- HEAT. 4 simple precautions to follow:
1. As mentioned before, stay out of Heat Wave Rumor areas.
2. Stop killing people. Avoid encounters when you can, run and escape away from them once they have begun if you cannot. Buy some non-lethal weapons and use them to stun and not kill. Nothing enrages the zone more than finding its sons dead in alleys.
3. Stop looting corpses. Instead of selecting 'Normal Exit' from your victory screen, select 'Stealth Exit'. You will generate a lot less heat that way.
4. If you do loot a corpse, press the 'Intimidate' button. This will cause you to generate less heat (assuming your intimidate skill is good enough that it makes any difference at all).
----------
Answer by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
14. How much movement goes on between the domes? How do the elite of the world travel between domes?
[TB] To the average Citizen, this answer is not easy to discover. It is clear that equipment and goods are transferred between the domed cities by freight transportation. Nano-shielded thopters, jets, and other types of air transportation exist, but their range is very limited because even with the besting shielding the damage caused by the pollution and nano is unavoidable. Freight submarines are used between certain cities, as top-side travel is impossible over open water of the oceans or “the Black Soup.”
There is an underground high-speed train between a hidden location in the NBZ and a corporate transport hub in Chicago. There are cargo submarines that transport goods and people between the NBZ harbor and West Africa, Hamburg and the SFRZ.
----------
Answered by: Gravling, Swami, Others
15. Who are the rep. faction ladder NPCs?
This list is just beginning so Orange until we get/confirm most Ladder NPCs.
Fennians - Cava Saint
Victor - Blue Ox (go ask around Oxland)
Texas Powers BS (go ask around BS land)
Kazuo Ichin - Yakuza (go visit Yakuza VIP rooms)
Cava Saint - Fennian - if not MnB go visit Fennian VIP rooms
Kass Bad-eye -- Los V -- check their HQ --
----------
Answer by: Swami, Gravling
16. What are runners?
Runners are hired individuals (thugs or specialists) who will accompany you on missions for a week.
You always hire them for a week.
If you like them enough you can <Convert> runners into allies at a cost in xp. This xp cost will be taken from the runner as well as the knight. The xp is dependent on how experienced the runner is at the time of conversion. A runner must have 50 xp total before s/he can be converted. At that time the cost is 15 xp from the knight and 15 xp from the runner.
If you convert higher level runners they will cost more than 15 XP to convert.
WARNING: 1 .After a runner leaves a party, to hire THE SAME RUNNER you MUST use the 'Locate Runner' button OR you will be hiring -another- runner. 2. If you hire 2 runners of the same template you can RENAME runners with a button under the TEAM screen (same place you change the runners into allies.)
----------
Answer by Swami
17. Where are good places to hire runners?
VIP rooms(where you need to find persona fixers), bosses and others have runners for hire. Look around!
----------
Answer by: Swami, Gravling
18. Are there any prerequisites to hire runners?
You need to have room to manage another runner (3 max).
You always need to have favor (+rep) with a faction to enter their VIP lounges. I think you only need a rep of 2, though it might be 3. Very tiny at any rate (Maybe a bug, so this might change).
----------
Answered by: Gravling
19. Who are the Persona Fixers that give martial artists and where do we go?
Martial Artists can only be found/acquired with:
A. Kris Heart at Brave Star
B. Sergeant Commence at Mars.
----------
Answer by:Gravling
20. What are all the different types of runners?
Two kinds of Cyberswords:
------a. Martial Artist/Hand to Hand specialists.
------b. Melee Weapons (Swords, Clubs, Maces, etc.).
Gunslingers - Close quarters ranged weaponry.
Snipers - Long Range specialists.
Faces - Negotiators, manipulators, charismatic folk, butt kissers.
Agent Xes - The infiltrators, stealth oriented, sneaky folk.
Hackers - Matrix thieves, crackers of secrets, information gatherers.
----------
Answered by: Game Manual via ncaoa who pointed it out.
21. What are all the different types of Rumors and how do they affect the game?
REGION RUMORS
These Rumors effect ONE entire Region and can change shops, encounters, back rooms and prices.
FACTION RUMORS
These Rumors effect all the Regions controlled by the Faction.
----------
Answered by: Game Manual[TB] via ncaoa who pointed it out.
22. What are all the different types of Conflicts and how do they affect the game?
Faction Conflicts
Faction Conflicts represent a contest between two political powers.
----------
Answer by: Help File, Game, Gravling
23. What do the map icons mean?
----------
Answered by: Cory.Trese via Paxdad
24. When did the Pacific Corp Wars occur?
Pacific Corp Wars ended in 2184, about 35 years before the games setting.
There were a series of small conflicts in Europe and America in 2202, about 15 years before the game setting.
----------
Answered by: rabidbite
25. Going by advances already made in quantum processing, the classical approach would mean any encryption could be broken in minutes, How do Cyber Knight's processors avoid this?
I have a theory written here:
The QCP provided a vault in a man’s mind; an unbreakable Fort Knox.
This Fort Knox was a place where information could be stored and encrypted, not simply by some mundane mathematical system, but by the very fabric of a human memory. Since memory was/is unique for each individual, each Quantum Chip Processor built its own unique encryption. It was an encryption that changed every single moment because as humans experienced life, memories changed. Two people could be at the same time, experience the same event, and they would always have different experiences.
----------
Answered by:Jamozk Ekhiss, Fallen
26. What does "Nano-Ready" armor mean?
Nano-Ready armor is armor that can make use of nano-ready med-kits which automatically heal the wearer if their life signs drop to a certain level.
Note -- nano-ready armor only kicks in on physical damage and cannot heal a wearer who is knocked unconscious or killed from mental damage.
----------
Answered by: Fallen
27. How is it possible that all members of my team use bullets from the 'cyberloader' at the same time?
Think of it as an "unpacked ammo" pool for the group. Once unpacked, the ammo is worthless to sell, but useful to the team.
Slowly finding questions and adding them to this thread. Would love for peeps to post questions to this thread so I can add them a little easier. If anyone knows other questions answered elsewhere direct me to them. I'll add.
rabid
A LOT of people have contributed both questions and answers.
The [TB] are always thanked for their work clearing, designing, and helping us understand their world vision.
Noted thanks to:
rearick (guest), Gravling, JR8825, blackgauntlet, Swami, rivvin, Ahab, (everyone else I'm missing).
Without further delay
:ALL ANSWERS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS CREATOR DEEMS NECESSARY
RED .........Questions still unanswered
ORANGE....Questions with Conflicting data or partly answered
BLUE........Questions mostly answered.
GREEN......Questions answered, or player submitted answers that are confirmed, by the developer.
CURRENT QUESTIONS IN Q/A
1. Where can I find X-Weapon?
2. Who/What are the enemies I might encounter in Cyber Knight world?
3. Where can i find 'X' armor, accessory, or Cybernetic implant?
4. If Cyber Knight Quantum Chip implants are highly illegal, why do public terminals have a specialized port for them?
5. Who makes the law?
6. I was under the impression that the New Boston Zone was a domed city. How can it be "toxic," have "acid rain", and have such 'crumbling infrastructure' that the first two (toxic and acid rain) become a factor?
7. Do people, fauna, flora exists outside the NBZ?
8. Who enforces the law, investigates murders, etc?
9. Kidd Blaze, who is not a Cyber Knight, hacks the Matrix. To what degree can Hackers Runners delve into the Matrix without the use of a Cyber Knight Quantum Chip?
10. Could one of the knowledgeable please advise as to the advantages/disadvantages of working with/against certain factions?
11. What is Nano-slag?
12. How do I allocate XP to survive?
13. What are some good ways to remove HEAT?
14. How much movement goes on between the domes? How do the elite of the world travel between domes?
15. Who are the rep. faction ladder NPCs?
16. What are runners?
17. Where are good places to hire runners?
18. Are there any prerequisites to hire runners?
19. Who are the Persona Fixers that give martial artists and where do we go?
20. What are all the different types of runners?
21. What are the different types of Rumors and how do they affect the game?
22. What are the different types of Conflicts and how do they affect the game?
23. What do the map icons mean?
24. When did the Pacific Corp Wars occur?
25. Going by advances already made in quantum processing, the classical approach would mean any encryption could be broken in minutes, How do Cyber Knight's processors avoid this?
26. What does "Nano-Ready" armor mean?
27. How is it possible that all members of my team use bullets from the 'cyberloader' at the same time?
----------
Answer by: Everyone who contributes to spreadsheet.
1. Where can I find X-Weapon?
I direct you to the EPIC Ck Reference Sheet with this information constantly updated. Sometimes outdated, sometimes not.
docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Asim4pSuJZrIdHhrVlBSSnFlVGFRa1NMbFBHdklrSVE&usp=sharing#gid=0
The spreadsheet thread can be found HERE:
startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ckrpgtalk&action=display&thread=2394&page=1
----------
Answered by: Cory Trese
2. Who/What are the enemies I might encounter in Cyber Knight world?
I've created an open spreadsheet with Cory Trese's list of enemies. It is accessible by anyone. I've added one or two personal details (race, hovering or not) which I use for creative purposes. Some fields are blank because, frankly, I don't know the answer and no one else has filled it in.
docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj_zYALBxhKrdFRrd05CTy13NVRNQ0laY3pjdDJIakE&usp=sharing
Original thread can be found HERE:
startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ckrpgtalk&action=display&thread=4053
----------
Answered by: Anyone contributing to the Ck Reference Sheet
3. Where can i find 'X' armor, accessory, or Cybernetic implant?
I point you once more to the EPIC CK Reference Sheet. It has pretty much everything except the menu in the CK eating establishments
.docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj5-txFmNCWgdHFpVHdKUjZ0SURtTWpNdmZSdk9MeUE#gid=0[/color]
----------
Answered by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
4. If Cyber Knight Quantum Chip implants are highly illegal, why do public terminals have a specialized port for them?
Public terminals DO NOT have a specialized port for Q-Chips.
[TB]
Data terminals provide communication access to Citizens in the zone and also are used for everyday, maintenance and security purposes. Due to the power of the Cyber Knights computer, the fundamental security protocols on the terminals can be overridden and the terminal can be used illegally by the Knight.
There are many legal uses for a Data Terminal. Data Port cyberware is not illegal and is possessed by many citizens. The Cyber Knight’s Quantum Chip allows a secure connection to be made using a V-Chip. This type of encryption cannot be trivially broken by any Faction, it is inherently illegal.
----------
Answered by:Fallen, Cory.Trese
5. Who makes the law?
[TB] The 1st tier mega-corporations view each of the domed cities in the way a multinational corporation views a country. Any major corporation operating in the Zone joins into the city’s treaty to gain access and rights to operate, produce and sell within the Zone. Mars, AzTek, and Yakashima were the first to sign the “Boston Accords” in 2184 which enforces a limited peace and structure for competition as well as establish a cooperative Corporate Council.
Civil Officials are primarily concerned with the contracts for supplies, security forces, electrical power, and structural maintenance that keep their particular Zone afloat. The contracts and treaties that define the relationships between the Security and Mercenary corporations vary from city to city and even zone to zone. They are negotiated with the Civil Officials and Governing Councils of the zones and are often historical or long-standing contracts.
The strict rules of the treaties signed in domed cities across the world require protection of Citizens, fair play, fair competition and due process of law. Everyone -- the great mega-corps, criminal elements, private citizens, and the gangs -- turn to Cyber Knights for anonymity and security when they skirt the rules … or break them outright. In this shadow war, Cyber Knights are the elite urban mercenaries: expendable, deniable and effective.
----------
Answered by: Fallen. Cory.Trese
6. I was under the impression that the New Boston Zone was a domed city. How can it be "toxic," have "acid rain", and have such 'crumbling infrastructure' that the first two (toxic and acid rain) become a factor?
[TB] The NBZ is a sealed metropolitan structure. Imagine a steel tent stretched over a tripod of massive skyscraper towers. The support towers are approximately 1km tall and have sunk almost 200m since they were first constructed 65 years ago.
The dome was built in stages to shelter the exiting Boston Core and the vast existing underground highway system. Entire neighborhoods were enclosed as the dome entered it’s final stages of completion. Those areas left outside of the dome were left to rot in poverty and pollution. Due to the toxic nature of the world, the infrastructure of the dome is aging and under daily assault. Only constant maintenance efforts allow keep the deadly elements at bay.
The zone itself is broken into many segmented areas. There are the tunnels beneath the city, where smugglers and survivors live in the remains of the sprawling underground highway system that was built below Boston through the 21st century. There is the street level, which is cordoned off into multiple sections by security checkpoints, walls, and gates. The environment of the surface level of the zone is made dangerous by the holes, gaps,and cracks to the outside world, as well as the buildup of internal pollution, smog, and deadly nano.
As you progress through the different levels of the street, from the gang-turf into those areas tightly controlled by security forces, and into the Boston Core, the conditions inside residences, towers, shops, and corporate enclaves improve. The external street can be just as dangerous. The safest and most clean areas of the NBZ are within the great mega-corp towers that fill the upper sections of the dome’s superstructure or deep beneath the city in buried mega-corp installations and bunkers.
To augment the above answer, the area “above street” level in the NBZ (that you cannot access in the game) is called “The Towers.” Those living in the upper levels of the corporate towers and residences certainly have the best water, air, light, food, and security. The towers provide the city’s R&D, indoor farming, computing centers, corporate living space. Each corporation maintains an independent Tower.
However, the very safest and most secure places to live or work are the private corporate enclaves that have been erected or excavated farther away from the dome. It is rumored that none of the leaders of the mega-corps actually reside in the NBZ or other domed cities.
The Dome extends over the bay by a substantial distance. International shipping is completed using cargo submarines instead of air travel.
----------
Answered by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
7. Do people, fauna, flora exists outside the NBZ?
[TB] There are floral, fauna, and even humans outside of the domes, but it all clings to the cities and their external infrastructure like parasites. It would be easy to underestimate the decimation that the world faced when the nano-pollution reached critical levels. Between Chicago and New Boston lie hundreds of miles of completely uninhabitable wasteland. These wastelands are ravaged by extreme environments, nano-pollution and mutants. There are stories of 600mph winds, mile wide nano dust storms and half-living creatures infected with self-replicating nanorobotic swarms.
The humans, plants, and animals that do survive in the waste stick close to the cities and their arteries. For example, those surviving in the NBZ tunnels are shielded by the dome itself. There are gangs and tribes that live within the shadow of the NBZ dome, in the wreck that was once Cambridge, and in the Allston Wastes. These survivors are close enough to parasite off the city’s existence, but too few to fight their way in. The Los Valentinos gang is an example of a Faction that recently made a power play and entered the dome from outside, based on their savagery, new armaments, and a willingness to fight a pitched battle for territory against Knight Horizon.
The industrial and utility sites which provide the NBZ with manufactured goods, weapons, and power also sustain populations. Many of the islands in the Boston Harbor are inhabited by looming factories and power-plants employing thousands of sub-Citizen workers.
Perhaps the most interesting survivalists are those that live within and around the transportation arteries. In the great underground railroad that runs to Chicago, the south-bound highway running out of the NBZ, and the Transatlantic Artery, small communities of destitute humans gather like fleas, sucking off the power grids to survive.
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Answered by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
8. Who enforces the law, investigates murders, etc?
[TB] Officially, the policy force in the NBZ is Brave Star and they have the 'Contracts of Justice' with the city, which they have held since 2172. The Laws of the NBZ are passed and voted on by the Civic Council (elected) in cooperation with corporate affairs appointments by the zone’s corporate sponsors and shareholders.
The duty of enforcing the Law, and of various types of crime is a complex issue. Given a correctly issued 'Warrant of Cause', a Brave Star or Knight Horizon agent can investigate, arrest or question any citizen or place of property (some properties and locations are specifically excluded in various Treaties.) For the most part, the laws of the NBZ are written to afford due process and other legal rights.
Very limited information is available about the history of Knight Horizon. The first records indicate that Knight Horizon Limited was employed to provide automated security forces for long-distance freight shipments. They arrived in New Boston years later with ground-breaking drone models, highly trained security forces, and innovative security technologies. In 2202, they won their first security contract over Brave Star, who had held exclusivity for more than 30 years. Once the door was opened, the Yakuza scored a security contract as well.
The number of yearly refugees entering the NBZ has begun to slow over the past decade, however there are still regular new arrivals of both the official and unofficial type.
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Answered by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
9. Kidd Blaze, who is not a Cyber Knight, hacks the Matrix. To what degree can Hackers Runners delve into the Matrix without the use of a Cyber Knight Quantum Chip Computer?
[TB] Data Port cyberware is not illegal and is possessed by many citizens and allows for Citizens and hackers to perform many actions, such as selling Paydata, processing data, writing or running Programs. Corporate and security deckers are Citizens equipped with a Data Port implants and charged with protecting systems and Matrix resources.
The advantages that a Cyber Knight provides are the unique and powerful CPU of the Cyber Knight computer and the encryption that only a Quantum Chip can make possible. This encryption provides a level of anonymity and protection that can only be gained by a Cyber Knight or a Runner who is plugged into the Cyber Knight’s computer.
However, even this encryption can only protect the Knight’s identity, but cannot prevent physical traces and other techniques from pinning down the Knight’s location or alerting other security countermeasures to his or her presence and raising their Heat due to illegal Matrix activity.
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Answered by Gravling, JR8825, OTHERS
10. Could one of the knowledgeable please advise as to the advantages/disadvantages of working with/against certain factions?
There are no corp ladder connectors yet, so no real advantage to work them except that each has some interesting people in their VIP rooms that you may want to buy things from. Some of them need a certain rep before they will talk with you.
Read more HERE
startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=ckrpgtalk&thread=3465&page=2
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Answered by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
11. What is Nano-slag?
[TB] Nano-slag is a slang term that refers to large volumes of elements of malfunctioning or non-functional nanorobotic systems. Nano-slag usually appears as either black or grey dust, foam or oil. Nano-slag is universally harmful to life and can range in effect from moderate irritation to instantaneous death. It has been 30 years since the peak of the fallout and 65 years since the Tokyo meltdown.
The best corporate science has offered is that the first generation nanorobotic components will decay completely within the next 50-100 years.
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Answered by Gravling
12. How do I allocate XP to survive?
This is subjective to the player, but one of the best guidelines I have read is here:
startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ckrpgtalk&action=display&thread=2569
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Answered by Gravling, JR8825.
13. What are some good ways to remove HEAT?
Note: * Reducing Heat is impossible if you are in a zone that is suffering a Heat Wave Rumor. Stay out of them if your goal is to reduce Heat.
1. To get rid of a little heat you can booze it up in a bar. (I need some refreshments, a meal and a drink). Useful if you need to get rid of a tiny bit of heat before Benni will pick you up. It's actually more useful to make time pass if Benni is going to be busy for 2 hours (because you rode him into the zone) and you need to ride him out, as well.
2. To get rid of more heat you can sleep in a hotel, as long as it is not the same one you slept in the last time you slept. (Keep in mind the noted rumor)
3. The best way to get rid of heat is to find the VIP suite of a faction you are friendly with, and spend the day drinking and listening to rumors. As long as the region is not under a heat wave, you can burn off a huge amount of heat in one session this way. And you will have a nice set of new rumors as a bonus, and may meet some interesting people. To do this you press the 'listen' button, and then when it is greyed out, you drink vudka or order a meal, and then press the listen button again. You can keep burning heat by staying and listening and drinking long after you are exhausted.
IF YOU HAVE TOO MUCH HEAT IT IS ALSO NECESSARY TO NOT -ADD- HEAT. 4 simple precautions to follow:
1. As mentioned before, stay out of Heat Wave Rumor areas.
2. Stop killing people. Avoid encounters when you can, run and escape away from them once they have begun if you cannot. Buy some non-lethal weapons and use them to stun and not kill. Nothing enrages the zone more than finding its sons dead in alleys.
3. Stop looting corpses. Instead of selecting 'Normal Exit' from your victory screen, select 'Stealth Exit'. You will generate a lot less heat that way.
4. If you do loot a corpse, press the 'Intimidate' button. This will cause you to generate less heat (assuming your intimidate skill is good enough that it makes any difference at all).
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Answer by: Fallen, Cory.Trese
14. How much movement goes on between the domes? How do the elite of the world travel between domes?
[TB] To the average Citizen, this answer is not easy to discover. It is clear that equipment and goods are transferred between the domed cities by freight transportation. Nano-shielded thopters, jets, and other types of air transportation exist, but their range is very limited because even with the besting shielding the damage caused by the pollution and nano is unavoidable. Freight submarines are used between certain cities, as top-side travel is impossible over open water of the oceans or “the Black Soup.”
There is an underground high-speed train between a hidden location in the NBZ and a corporate transport hub in Chicago. There are cargo submarines that transport goods and people between the NBZ harbor and West Africa, Hamburg and the SFRZ.
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Answered by: Gravling, Swami, Others
15. Who are the rep. faction ladder NPCs?
This list is just beginning so Orange until we get/confirm most Ladder NPCs.
Fennians - Cava Saint
Victor - Blue Ox (go ask around Oxland)
Texas Powers BS (go ask around BS land)
Kazuo Ichin - Yakuza (go visit Yakuza VIP rooms)
Cava Saint - Fennian - if not MnB go visit Fennian VIP rooms
Kass Bad-eye -- Los V -- check their HQ --
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Answer by: Swami, Gravling
16. What are runners?
Runners are hired individuals (thugs or specialists) who will accompany you on missions for a week.
You always hire them for a week.
If you like them enough you can <Convert> runners into allies at a cost in xp. This xp cost will be taken from the runner as well as the knight. The xp is dependent on how experienced the runner is at the time of conversion. A runner must have 50 xp total before s/he can be converted. At that time the cost is 15 xp from the knight and 15 xp from the runner.
If you convert higher level runners they will cost more than 15 XP to convert.
WARNING: 1 .After a runner leaves a party, to hire THE SAME RUNNER you MUST use the 'Locate Runner' button OR you will be hiring -another- runner. 2. If you hire 2 runners of the same template you can RENAME runners with a button under the TEAM screen (same place you change the runners into allies.)
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Answer by Swami
17. Where are good places to hire runners?
VIP rooms(where you need to find persona fixers), bosses and others have runners for hire. Look around!
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Answer by: Swami, Gravling
18. Are there any prerequisites to hire runners?
You need to have room to manage another runner (3 max).
You always need to have favor (+rep) with a faction to enter their VIP lounges. I think you only need a rep of 2, though it might be 3. Very tiny at any rate (Maybe a bug, so this might change).
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Answered by: Gravling
19. Who are the Persona Fixers that give martial artists and where do we go?
Martial Artists can only be found/acquired with:
A. Kris Heart at Brave Star
B. Sergeant Commence at Mars.
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Answer by:Gravling
20. What are all the different types of runners?
Two kinds of Cyberswords:
------a. Martial Artist/Hand to Hand specialists.
------b. Melee Weapons (Swords, Clubs, Maces, etc.).
Gunslingers - Close quarters ranged weaponry.
Snipers - Long Range specialists.
Faces - Negotiators, manipulators, charismatic folk, butt kissers.
Agent Xes - The infiltrators, stealth oriented, sneaky folk.
Hackers - Matrix thieves, crackers of secrets, information gatherers.
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Answered by: Game Manual via ncaoa who pointed it out.
21. What are all the different types of Rumors and how do they affect the game?
REGION RUMORS
These Rumors effect ONE entire Region and can change shops, encounters, back rooms and prices.
| Gear Shortage | Increases the purchase price of equipment for sale in the region. |
| Weapon Shortage | Increases the purchase price of weapons for sale in the region. |
| Armor Shortage | Increases the purchase price of armor for sale in the region. |
| Gear Surplus | Reduces the purchase price of equipment for sale in the region. |
| Weapon Surplus | Reduces the purchase price of weapons for sale in the region. |
| Armor Surplus | Reduces the purchase price of armor for sale in the region. |
| Matrix Outage | Data Terminals and all Matrix uplinks in this region are offline and cannot be used. |
| Toxic Leak | Toxic encounters will be more common and more dangerous. |
| High Paying Jobs | Jobs to and from the area are paying extra. |
| Superior Personnel | The Runners & Soldiers in this region are of elevated quality. Hostile patrols and runners-for-hire benefit from the boost. |
| Busy Back Rooms | The VIP Back Rooms in this Region are particularly active and full of traffic, dealers, agents and Connectors. |
| Heat Wave | Region is crawling with enforcement, surveillance, drones and informers. No Cyber Knight can reduce their heat. |
| Taxi Lockdown | For one reason or another, Taxi cannot drop-off or pick-up in this Region. |
FACTION RUMORS
These Rumors effect all the Regions controlled by the Faction.
| Gear Shortage | Increases the purchase price of equipment for sale in all regions controlled by the faction. |
| Weapon Shortage | Increases the purchase price of weapons for sale in all regions controlled by the faction. |
| Armor Shortage | Increases the purchase price of armor for sale in all regions controlled by the faction. |
| Gear Surplus | Reduces the purchase price of equipment for sale in all regions controlled by the faction. |
| Weapon Surplus | Reduces the purchase price of equipment for sale in all regions controlled by the faction. |
| Armor Surplus | Reduces the purchase price of armor for sale in all regions controlled by the faction. |
| Valuable Pay | Pay data related to this Faction has an increased value and can be sold for higher prices. |
| Heavy Hitter | Payments for Contracts working for this Faction are increased. |
| Priority Target | Payments for Contracts working against this Faction are increased. |
| Superior Personnel | The Runners & Soldiers in this Faction’s Regions are of elevated quality. Hostile patrols and runners-for-hire benefit from the boost. |
| Matrix Lockdown | Expect stiff resistance if Hacking the MATRIX HOST controlled by this Faction. |
| Heat Wave | No Cyber Knight can expect to reduce HEAT in any of this Faction's Regions. |
| Taxi Lockdown | For one reason or another, Taxi cannot drop-off or pick-up in this Faction’s Regions. |
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Answered by: Game Manual[TB] via ncaoa who pointed it out.
22. What are all the different types of Conflicts and how do they affect the game?
Faction Conflicts
Faction Conflicts represent a contest between two political powers.
| Net War | Two Factions engaged in a struggle for Matrix superiority. (Causes Matrix Lockdown, Matrix Outage, Valuable Pay, Taxi Lockdowns) |
| Arms Race | Two Factions engaged in a struggle for manufacturing superiority. (Causes Surplus and Shortage) |
| Street War | Two Factions engaged in an all out violent struggle for power. (Causes Priority Target, Heavy Hitter, Heat Wave, Toxic Leak) |
| Info War | Two Factions engaged in a propaganda war to control the hearts and minds of the public. (Causes Heat Wave, Matrix Lockdown, High Paying Jobs) |
| Trade War | Two Factions engaged in a struggle to isolate the other from foreign supplies. (Causes Matrix Out, Taxi Lockdown, Shortages) |
| Alliance | Two Factions temporarily aligned along shared objectives. (Causes Superior Personnel, Busy Back Room) |
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Answer by: Help File, Game, Gravling
23. What do the map icons mean?
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Answered by: Cory.Trese via Paxdad
24. When did the Pacific Corp Wars occur?
Pacific Corp Wars ended in 2184, about 35 years before the games setting.
There were a series of small conflicts in Europe and America in 2202, about 15 years before the game setting.
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Answered by: rabidbite
25. Going by advances already made in quantum processing, the classical approach would mean any encryption could be broken in minutes, How do Cyber Knight's processors avoid this?
I have a theory written here:
The QCP provided a vault in a man’s mind; an unbreakable Fort Knox.
This Fort Knox was a place where information could be stored and encrypted, not simply by some mundane mathematical system, but by the very fabric of a human memory. Since memory was/is unique for each individual, each Quantum Chip Processor built its own unique encryption. It was an encryption that changed every single moment because as humans experienced life, memories changed. Two people could be at the same time, experience the same event, and they would always have different experiences.
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Answered by:Jamozk Ekhiss, Fallen
26. What does "Nano-Ready" armor mean?
Nano-Ready armor is armor that can make use of nano-ready med-kits which automatically heal the wearer if their life signs drop to a certain level.
Note -- nano-ready armor only kicks in on physical damage and cannot heal a wearer who is knocked unconscious or killed from mental damage.
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Answered by: Fallen
27. How is it possible that all members of my team use bullets from the 'cyberloader' at the same time?
Think of it as an "unpacked ammo" pool for the group. Once unpacked, the ammo is worthless to sell, but useful to the team.
Slowly finding questions and adding them to this thread. Would love for peeps to post questions to this thread so I can add them a little easier. If anyone knows other questions answered elsewhere direct me to them. I'll add.
rabid
