Part 21: Getting dangerous proves dangerous

Getting dangerous proves dangerous



Instead of being called Luxury like in... every single edition of Shadowrun, the highest lifestyle is called Elite for some reason. Also it costs ten grand per month.



It isn't long before we hit the next reputation level, Digital Dream. Which sounds awful but makes more sense upon seeing the next one.



With some trepidation, I opt for a timed contract to be our first attempt at a 100% difficulty contract.



And we even succeed at it! Holy fuck look at all those skill points. I'm going to raise Chip Design and Programming to 25, because frankly, we need to. Everything goes fine until I blow a Silence and then the penalties start to stack up.



Aztechnology is another AAA megacorp, but they don't have much in the way of Matrix presence. I would have preferred to see them at rating 15 and Yamatetsu up here at 17.



Fucking hell. I can't wait until we start raising Stealth and Analysis.



What follows a Digital Dream but a Digital NIGHTMARE!



Rating 19 or 20 servers with additional options means difficulty can actually go over 100%. Remember that skill point rewards are based on difficulty, not rating.



Speaking of rating 20 servers, Mitsuhama (AKA MCT) is appropriately rating 20. MCT leads the pack in terms of Matrix hardware and technology. But can I possibly pull off a run in a rating 20 server?



No, no I cannot. But in the process, I get to show off Killer IC! The two bars next to the heart are actually separate tracks: the lower track is my meatbod health; the upper track represents the Surge Suppressor optional hardware. So I kinda lied about the Shield program being the only thing between you and bleeding from the ears. Hey, this is Shadowrun, information is power!

You can also note here that Killer IC don't damage your icon. They just go straight for brain cells.



Not for all the nuyen in the world would I mess with this company.



Second time is the charm, right? Especially with four days to do it, giving me four chances at it!



GOD DAMNIT SECOND TIME IS NOT THE CHARM! But here you can see Grey IC just straight up crashing my programs. So naturally it crashed my Armor program, making me about as vulnerable as possible. Needless to say, I didn't stick around.



After some mixed results, we finally can cook up a top-of-the-line deck! With three months' rent in the bank, I start with the hardware.



But the software gets designed while the chips cook. Which means I need some names! Please name the following programs for rating 25, AKA the best rating:

Attack
Area Attack
Piercing Attack
Armor
Shield
Hide
Silence
Smoke

Also note that I can finally raise Stealth and Analysis. I doubt they'll get to 25 before maxing out our Reputation, though.