Do hacking attacks always cause a wound? According to the rules critical hits with a BS or CC attack always do damage. It does not mention hacking programs. I would rules this as No, hacking programs do not auto crit unless stated otherwise. For example a crit with Brain blast still allows the target a BTS roll. "When a Critical success is rolled in any Attack Roll (Being a BS or a CC Attack) the target directly loses one point of his Wounds Attribute value without any ARM Roll required." -Page 11 of the N3 rule book v 1.8 Is this correct?
Hacking attacks only cause the effects described on each program. Right now only claw programs may cause wounds and only against other hackers, like those on the killer hacking device. Edit: you're right, most programs dont ignore the BTS roll on a critical. There might be a case for those programs that use the double trouble ammunition, that ammunition ignores the first BTS roll on a critical, but still apply only the effects of the program http://infinitythewiki.com/en/Double_Trouble_(DT)_Special_Ammunition
Hmm, looks like I missed out a chart on the wiki, from Human Sphere, which lists Critical effects for all the older Hacking Programs. If you look at the later Hacking Programs like Lightning or Redrum, they all list a Critical effect. Roughly speaking, a Hacking Critical does exactly what you'd expect - bypass the first BTS Roll and suffer the same effects as having failed it, and only Hacking Programs that can cause damage will cause damage on a Crit.
