The world is wireless. Almost every device you can
think of has been computerized and equipped with a
wireless link, including your microwave, your gun, maybe
even your eyes. Every gear item has a wireless-enabled
computer built in. Even non-electronic items
without any moving parts have built-in computers, so
now your pants can store your favorite music (and tell
you when it’s time to do the laundry). The few devices
that are non-wireless are most likely tagged with RFID
tags (p. 440).
Wireless-enabled items can prevent theft or monitor
the item’s functionality and alert the user of any malfunctions
via their personal area network. For instance, in bone
lacing, sensor tags are a convenient way of monitoring for
stress fractures and other complications. A hacker can’t
hack into your bone lacing and break your bones, but a
hacker can tell your bone lacing that your bones are broken,
causing your bone lacing to tell your commlink to call
DocWagon, or tell your medkit that you need painkillers.
Every item being wireless means that nearly every
item has a device rating. Unless otherwise specified in
an item’s description, the general Device Rating can be
found on the Device Ratings table.
Wireless Bonuses
Because nearly every piece of gear and ’ware is wireless
capable, it means nearly every piece of gear and cyberware
benefits dramatically from being “meshed” into your
wireless personal area network and the Matrix as a whole.
When an item has additional functionality when connected
to the Matrix, it’s described under the “Wireless”
entry in the item’s description. This functionality only
applies when the device has access to the Matrix, which
is most of the time unless your gamemaster says otherwise,
like if you’ve entered a wireless static zone. If
there is a Noise Rating from a situation that is greater
than the item’s Device Rating, not including distance,
the item temporarily loses its wireless functionality (see
Noise, p. 230).
These benefits only apply when the item’s wireless
mode is on. Your Ares Alpha can’t auto-adjust for the
wind direction and speed if it can’t download local upto-
the-second weather conditions, and your Eurocar
Westwind 3000 doesn’t know the status of the next
three traffic lights if it’s not connected to GridGuide. A
wireless device is always vulnerable to subversion and
control by a hacker within wireless handshake range.
You can defend your gear with a good commlink and
a personal area network (see PANs and WANs, p. 233).
Even better, defending against threats from the Matrix is
part of your team hacker’s job. If she’s not available, you
might occasionally want to turn wireless off.
Turning it Off
Toggling an individual device’s wireless functionality
off is a Free Action, as is toggling all of your wireless
devices to “wireless off.” You lose wireless bonuses,
but the items can no longer be wirelessly hacked. Otherwise,
you can rely on your team’s hacker to provide
wireless defense to your personal area network and get
the best of both worlds, keeping your wireless bonuses
on while maintaining a defense from the digital world.
Throwbacks
Some devices are throwbacks, devices that do not have
wireless capability. While they still exist, they are becoming
more and more rare in the 2070s. Throwbacks cannot
be accessed by wireless connection, and so can neither
be controlled remotely nor gain a wireless bonus.
If you consider a device’s wireless link to be a nuisance,
you can turn it into a throwback with a Hardware +
Logic [Mental] (8, 10 minutes) Extended Test—or simply
purchase the device as a throwback in the first place (always
an option, though it may get you some funny looks).
While throwbacks are immune to hacking via the
wireless Matrix, all devices have a universal access port.
Devices can be connected with a data cable with little
problem. If you’ve got a datajack, you can use its included
spooled data filament to connect to a throwback directly,
which means nothing is completely safe from a
hacker with a datajack. Of course, if a hacker is able to
sneak up to you and plug into your gun, you might have
bigger problems than hacking attacks from the Matrix.
Incompatibility
When two items are incompatible—like a shotgun and a laser
sight, or wired reflexes and synaptic boosters—you cannot
use the effects of both items at the same time. If one
item of gear says it’s incompatible and the other doesn’t,
they’re incompatible. You can have both items if you want,
you just have to pick what piece of gear to use at what time.
