Hacking Software

[MasterGwydion]

You don't put your ability into the Spec Modified Price table. Skill Level +Dm from Purchase column -DM from Sale DM Column -DM Supplier's Broker Skill (assumed 2)

You don't use ability modifiers for all checks that involve a skill. So, this doesn't disprove it.

Also, it is a case of the more specific rule over-riding the general rule.

It is specifically stated as being a skill check in the Task Chain example. So, it is a skill check.

It specifically lists which modifiers apply to this skill roll. Ability modifiers do not. It also specifically states that you roll 3D6 as opposed to the normal 2D6. This doesn't make it not a skill check. This means that for this specific skill check, you roll 3D6 instead of 2D6.

I just wish they put all of this information together in a more clearly written Trade chapter.

So, simply put, it is a skill check that uses different rules than general skill checks.

 

[MasterGwydion]

The way it should have been written is the same as all of the other skill checks, make it an opposed roll versus the opposing broker with all modifiers included, then base the price chart off Effect. Way simpler than they do it now.

 

[Terry Mixon]

The way it should have been written is the same as all of the other skill checks, make it an opposed roll versus the opposing broker with all modifiers included, then base the price chart off Effect. Way simpler than they do it now.

They keep making noises about a Merchant Prince book. When they do that, hopefully @MongooseMatt and crew will change speculative trade and broker rolls to be opposed like the rest of the skills.

 

[hopsnbaer]

The way it should have been written is the same as all of the other skill checks, make it an opposed roll versus the opposing broker with all modifiers included, then base the price chart off Effect. Way simpler than they do it now.

That would be simpler. I think the task Chain Rule you mentioned was an error by someone who did not quote the rule correctly. As far as I am concerned trade is still broken with the lower numbers I quoted. Adding the ability modifiers in, just results in even crazier results. Even with a maximum mortgage payment as long as you get a strong start, money is unlimited. It's the GM call, but no reason not to add more -DM's as the larger merchant companies buy out all the good deals. Any trade lower than 80% percent retail should have some type of RP reason.

 

[MasterGwydion]

That would be simpler. I think the task Chain Rule you mentioned was an error by someone who did not quote the rule correctly. As far as I am concerned trade is still broken with the lower numbers I quoted. Adding the ability modifiers in, just results in even crazier results. Even with a maximum mortgage payment as long as you get a strong start, money is unlimited. It's the GM call, but no reason not to add more -DM's as the larger merchant companies buy out all the good deals. Any trade lower than 80% percent retail should have some type of RP reason.

Anything less than a 200+% increase on some goods and they cannot be transported and still sold anywhere near the prices listed on the Trade Goods Chart. So, in that the rules need rewritten, I agree completely.

As to RP reasons, there could be RP reasons, but if the PCs don't investigate, they may never know what those reasons are. More fun for the Referees...

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

As I understand it, from the CSC, all software in Imperial Space is basically proprietary. Correct? When I was young, and did things that may not be entirely legal, you could pirate software and then hack the software so that it thinks it is legally being used.

What is needed to do this in Traveller? What is the Electronics (computers) Difficulty? Is it one check, and extended check or what? My players have not asked for this information yet, but as one of them just wrote up a hacker after the last PC died, I figure that this question will come up eventually and I would rather be ready for it.

Don't forget this rule:

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

Don't forget this rule:
View attachment 5282

I used the task chain from CT to enable software writing. During one of my longer running campaigns, the players would offer reduced fare high-passage in exchange for an expert working with their coder monkey to create new programs. It was incredibly lucrative.

 

[rinku]

Modern experience suggests that even without hacking propietary code someone is likely to provide a third party solution. Possibly even by using first party tools, within the context of the license.

3I has a lot of Vilani influence, as mentioned, but also Solomani and alien. Vargr computers might not be the most technically advanced, but I'm guessing they may be the tool of choice for the enterprising programmer-of-negotiable-virtue...

 

[Condottiere]

Has anyone tried Ubuntu Warp?

 

[Sigtrygg]

Another setting detail that is questionable.

The Vilani wrote software protocols, fine. But they stagnated at TL11.

Then the Terrans came along. The Terrans reverse engineered Vilani technology, did they also adopt their software protocols?

The Terrans then started to advance in TL, first to TL12 with brand new paradigms and likely new sowtware fo the new computer and robot brain architecture the Vilani didn't have.

Then the long night.

The Syleans are still steeped in Vilani tech, but the ruling class and technological superiority of the Terrans are what gave them their status.

By TL13 there are going to be at least two different standards - the Third Imperium dictated rules, and the Terran sphere. Within the Terran sphere worlds that obeyed Third Imperium dictats likely had to comply, but there would be many regions that didn't.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Don't forget this rule:
View attachment 5282

It is hacking, so obviously the Law Level part applies, but I doubt any of the other parts would apply. I have never had performance issues with software that I cracked with a fake registry program. The price of that software never went up either. Not harder to use either. It boots up and runs the same as the uncracked program. I could see the others applying if I wrote a cheap knock-off of the program, that could be harder to use, or I could charge a higher price, but none of those costs would apply to a hacker.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Another setting detail that is questionable.

The Vilani wrote software protocols, fine. But they stagnated at TL11.

Then the Terrans came along. The Terrans reverse engineered Vilani technology, did they also adopt their software protocols?

The Terrans then started to advance in TL, first to TL12 with brand new paradigms and likely new sowtware fo the new computer and robot brain architecture the Vilani didn't have.

Then the long night.

The Syleans are still steeped in Vilani tech, but the ruling class and technological superiority of the Terrans are what gave them their status.

By TL13 there are going to be at least two different standards - the Third Imperium dictated rules, and the Terran sphere. Within the Terran sphere worlds that obeyed Third Imperium dictats likely had to comply, but there would be many regions that didn't.

What? You just got a Canon reason for making all 3I computers easy to hack, regardless of their TL, since the interface is only TL 11 or so at best. Congrats to Traveller writers for again writing stuff and not thinking it though.

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

It is hacking, so obviously the Law Level part applies, but I doubt any of the other parts would apply. I have never had performance issues with software that I cracked with a fake registry program. The price of that software never went up either. Not harder to use either. It boots up and runs the same as the uncracked program. I could see the others applying if I wrote a cheap knock-off of the program, that could be harder to use, or I could charge a higher price, but none of those costs would apply to a hacker.

That is a twofold answer.

Those rules from the CSC are for the "knockoffs" and generic versions of software.
For the hacker, you might encounter the same result because you have to have an emulator running (taking up more bandwidth while also requiring skill to use), you might need a computer with a DMZ environment that doesn't attempt to check for updates or validate the license cyclically with a blockchain hash (costing more), etc. High-priced hacker decks are a trope for a reason, and Traveller can be very supportive of this,

 

[MasterGwydion]

That is a twofold answer.

Those rules from the CSC are for the "knockoffs" and generic versions of software.

Agreed.

For the hacker, you might encounter the same result because you have to have an emulator running (taking up more bandwidth while also requiring skill to use), you might need a computer with a DMZ environment that doesn't attempt to check for updates or validate the license cyclically with a blockchain hash (costing more), etc. High-priced hacker decks are a trope for a reason, and Traveller can be very supportive of this,

Computer prices are a whole separate conversation.

 

[Condottiere]

The software that they use for the Scout/Courier, after a millenia, should be pretty generic by now.

Security protocols probably do get regularly updated.

However, as a free trader, I'd probably take the Sword Worlder approach, and disconnect everything electronic that's not necessary, and the Galactica one, compartmentalization.

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

The software that they use for the Scout/Courier, after a millenia, should be pretty generic by now.

Security protocols probably do get regularly updated.

However, as a free trader, I'd probably take the Sword Worlder approach, and disconnect everything electronic that's not necessary, and the Galactica one, compartmentalization.

Especially true in the Age of Singularity