Part 20: Life in the upper crust
Life in the upper crustWe've got all the amenities any reasonable person could want, but we've gotten so far into our own coding space that we can't actually enjoy any of it.
Our first contract at 85% difficulty provides a veritable bonanza of rewards. This makes closing the gap in our Programming and Chips Design skills almost trivial.
With our stolen Attack program already at 14, I decide to put off its upgrade. Also because deck space is at a premium.
The next step up from Node Master is, predictably, System Master...
...followed by the much more awesome Ghost in the Machine. Although we're less of a ghost and more of a lumbering beast, maybe a Frankenstein or mummy?
I make the Attack program when our Programming hits 17. I also decide, given how few of these high-rating programs we can actually run, to raise Chip Design exclusively until it hits 20, then fully outfit our deck.
This is the awesome result. With rating 20 CPU and Coprocessor, a light load on our deck is anything under 400MB.
Ghost in the Machine is our maximum reputation in Upper Class. To truly be seen as the best of the best, we have to live surrounded by the best of the best: Luxury lifestyle, baby!
It'll cost 30,000 nuyen to get there, plus 8k per month to stay there. But we have to get there to unlock the maximum reputation.
This is where we're at. I went ahead and saved here, so I could do a little test...
...And it turns out you can raise your deck and programs above rating 20. So, we have some voting options.
Option A - Upgrade to Luxury immediately! We're so close to being the best of the best, we can get there! We can do it!
Option B - Polish the deck! Before we claim we're the best, our deck needs to be rating 25, with rating 25 programs in it! We will truly be as nerds!
Option C - Always the box! We're still getting skill points here, and our Stealth and Analysis skills still suck! Get the deck to 25 and then max out our skills before we even think about luxury!