Is the rules team aware of how bad Defensive Hacking Devices are?

Perhaps this isn't really the place for it, but I was thinking that DHDs (or WHDs should they just get rid of DHDs) should force enemy hackers to target them if possible, kind of like a pseudo-inverse-impetuous. You would take one when fielding hackers you really don't want to get killed right away. The WHD's job is then to stall the enemy hackers as long as possible before getting fried.

Thinking on it more, though, this would probably be way too powerful. You would be untouchable until the WHD is down and are free to get normal rolls on the enemy hacker if they are in your hacking area.

 

I already mentioned that I remember reading on the old forums some official clarification stating that Asura suffering Maestro => Asura Unconscious and no NWI can be activated (like with Shock inflicting the last wound).

Unless I am missing a paragraph hidden in the book, 0 wounds => Unconscious, but Unconscious=/=> 0 Wounds.

Or written another way:
if Wounds == 0, then apply [Unconscious State]; this is true and stated on the Unconscious rules.
if [Unconscious State] applied, then Set Wounds = 0; this is a rule I've not found on the rulebook

A paralelism between healing states OR recovering "wounds/STR" can be found on the Engineer skill, where you have to choose between removing all states but Unconscious (for example, IMM2 and Isolated at the same time) and recovering a point of STR "until the target has recovered his full STR" (a condition not present on Medic, since you can only apply it on Unconscious troops with Wounds)...

 

I know, and I'm dissapointed I'm not able to find the source, but the search system on the old forums tends to disagree with me :/

 

Just a friendly reminder about maestro. The first effect of failing the bts save is to lose all your wounds.

THEN it knocks you unc or equivalent.

 

I think that defensive hacking devices would be better if they were designed around making AROs based on other troops being targeted.

Which U-Turn already does, and is practically the only useful Defensive Program on the list, hence the idea, so just that applied to other attack types. Similarly, Kaleidoscope and Reboot from the EVO list. You make it so that when your troops are targeted by certain attack types, you can impose a penalty to the enemy roll, or reduce their Burst, or provide a bonus to the friendly trooper's roll, or increase their BTS, etc.

And then have the Cyberalert systems in there too, so it's kind of like Sixth Sense 1.5, where you can delay AROs against troops in your hacking area, but it works (like it already does) on both hacking and non-hacking. Add in the Gadget and Support Programs, and you're basically looking at the same roll as a regular HD, but instead of being able to launch Claw and Sword attacks, you are able to protect yourself and other hackable troops on the board from hacking attacks, and you have a greater awareness of troops within your infowarfare zone of the battlefield. That'd be cool.

 

Infinity Wiki: IDLE, last paragraph

The DHD Hacker can always declare to use his programs. If the Hacker isn't targetted it'll perform an Idle, hence the quasi Sixth Sense on the WHD. A Hacker won't be able to do the "try hacking and get shot" trick with WHD hackers.

But in general the actual use of those two devices is basically nonexistent (except fielding a specialist troop and doing Data Scan / HVT: Espionage) due to applicable hacking attacks' nature. The possibility to defend or support the own troops in within the hacker's hacking area without being targeted itself would be a real advantage (as @Solar already pointed out) e.g. Tohaa would be able to protect their HIs or the Gorgos pretty well without the need to always deploy nullifiers.

 

Yeah thanks to the requirement text it's RAW that your only option is to declare a Reset which is stupid³. And it weakens the DHDs even more as well as the HD+'s defensive skills.

RAI (=how we actually played it) it should be more focussed on following:

Making it a requirement of being targetable would solve at least this problem.

 

I kinda remember something about DHDs being a stopgap to allow armies without access to regular hackers a way to achieve hacking-based objectives.

 

If DHDs are basically mega-cheap shitty hackers used by factions who live in caves and throw mud at each other, then that's fair, but they should probably cost like, 1-2pts and be 0 SWC on account of the fact that they basically made you vulnerable to hacking if you weren't already... and that's it.

 

name a DHD that cant get SS.

Hint: there is 1

as for "what benefit are they"

Hack Transport aircraft
Uturn

 

Oooh!

Oooh!

I found it!

Tohaa
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

1
HATAIL AELIS KEESAN K1 Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Flash Pulse, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 32)

0.5 SWC | 32 Points

Open in Infinity Army

But I bet she's not going to be one for long.

 

Name a DHD that can declare an ARO against an enemy hacker that ignores them.

It doesn't matter that in 2 cases of 4 the DHD can get SSL1 (if memory serves Isobel isn't forced to link and can't if taken in vanilla), the effectiveness of DHD does not correspond to cost.

 

They were dubbed Ghetto Hacking Devices when they first came out