[The Matrix v1.0]

[Kaj]

[ICE Classifications]

ICE is based on four levels, these being Blue, Green, Orange, and Red, and may carry the subtypes clean, sticky, or black.

An ICE has only three different active stats to keep track of, being MPCP, Hardening, and Alarm Routing Speed. MPCP and Hardening work the same as they do for a decker, and ARS is how many turns it takes before it sends out an alarm signal, turning the security level of the system up. ARS starts counting when the ICE becomes hostile. The three levels of an alarm are None, Passive, and Active.

An ICE may be equipped with a level of Attack program no higher than it's level divided by three for Green ICE, it's level minus one for Orange ICE, and it's level plus two for Red ICE, with a minimum of one. Also, an ICE of Orange or Red type of max level may be equipped with a Shield Program of Level 2 or 3, respectively.

[Blue ICE - Level 0 only ]: Blue ICE is a passive ICE system that makes a log file for each user Identification Access Number as they enter the system. A hacked cyberdeck will have its I.A.N. suppressed, but Blue ICE will still note the fact that a codeless user has entered the system if the access logs are monitored. Blue ICE is only found in the entry nodes of a system.

[Green ICE – Level 1 to 9 ]: Green ICE is a low-level defensive system, that upon being “attacked” by a user will become hostile, or in the case of a full alert. Green ICE is the lowest classification, and can only be of a clean subtype.

Type/Level	MPCP	Hardening	Alarm Routing Speed
Level 1 Green	15	0	10 rounds
Level 2 Green	18	0	10 rounds
Level 3 Green	18	1	10 rounds
Level 4 Green	18	1	9 rounds
Level 5 Green	21	1	9 rounds
Level 6 Green	21	2	9 rounds
Level 7 Green	21	2	8 rounds
Level 8 Green	24	2	8 rounds
Level 9 Green	24	3	8 rounds

[Orange ICE – Level 1 to 5 ]: Orange ICE is a higher-level defensive system that upon even a passive alert will become hostile. It is stronger than green-class ICE and may come in either a clean or sticky subtype.

Type/Level	MPCP	Hardening	Alarm Routing Speed
Level 1 Orange	20	2	8 rounds
Level 2 Orange	24	3	8 rounds
Level 3 Orange	28	3	7 rounds
Level 4 Orange	32	4	7 rounds
Level 5 Orange	36	4	6 rounds

[Red ICE – Level 1 to 3 ]: Red ICE is the highest classification of intruder countermeasure electronics. It gives one round for user input before becoming hostile, and will be automatically hostile on a passive alert or greater. Red ICE is capable of being clean,sticky, or black

Type/Level	MPCP	Hardening	Alarm Routing Speed
Level 1 Red	35	4	7 rounds
Level 2 Red	45	5	6 rounds
Level 3 Red	55	6	5 rounds

[Kaj]

[ICE subtypes]

ICE comes with three possible subtypes, known as Clean, Sticky, and Black. Clean is the most common choice for smaller companies, because it is less expensive, easier to program, and does not come with the ethical complications of some of the harsher subclasses.

Clean ICE will damage a user’s MPCP until their cyberdeck system becomes unstable and they crash, forcing a cyberdeck reboot and dumping them from the matrix.

Sticky ICE is a more complex program that causes electrical shorts and circuit traps within the user’s cyberdeck, causing chips in the Expansion Slots to burn out, or erasing programs from the Cyberdeck altogether. Sticky ICE, upon scoring a successful hit against a User’s MPCP, has a 10% chance to perform a burnout attack against the User’s cyberdeck, destroying one of their Expansion slot chips. The chip is decided randomly. The Sticky ICE also has a 10% chance of erasing a program from the Cyberdeck entirely, forcing the user to reinstall it, which cannot be done in the matrix. The Program is chosen randomly.

Black ICE is the highest level of subclass, and the one with the most ethical grey-area. It is used to guard specific information in high-level buildings, such as data nodes which contain prototype information, information that could be used to blackmail the company, or the main CPU. Black ICE is of such controversial usage simply because it is the subtype able to induce fatality in unauthorized users who are plugged into the matrix.
Clauses of Black ICE:

• Against Black ICE alone, the user is not dumped from the system when their MPCP is reduced to 0.
• Black ICE, once engaged and hostile, will not allow the user to jack out until their MPCP is reduced to zero.
• If Black ICE reduces the MPCP of a user to zero and they escape, their entire cyberdeck is burned out, and all expansion chips, upgrades, and the deck itself are lost. However, if a user remains to fight the Black ICE after his MPCP has been reduced to 0 and wins, they avoid this complete burnout.
• A user’s MPCP score that has been reduced to zero by Black ICE is thus replaced by the user’s HP, and their hardening is treated as thereafter treated as 0 until after battle.

[Kaj]

[Cyberdeck Stats, terminology, and their meanings]

[Cyberdeck]: A piece of hardware that enables a wired person to enter the matrix and engage in cybercombat. The power and capability of the deck are defined by MPCP, Hardening, I/O Speed, Storage, Ex Slots, Hardware upgrades, and Programs.

[MPCP]: Master Persona Control Program. The makeup of the user's "body" in the matrix, and how much cybercombat damage the deck can suffer before suffering a crash and needing to be rebooted. Similar to HP.

[I/O Speed]: Input/Output speed. The rating of how many teraflops of programs can be booted up for use in a round. Although only one program can be executed per round, excess I/O capacity can be spent loading a larger program to be used later.

[Hardening]: The deck's ability to reduce and resist malicious code inputs, thus keeping the MPCP from taking damage. Similar to Armor.

[Storage]: The amount of data in Teraflops that a cyberdeck's drive or drives can store. Used for program space and to store copied/stolen files.

[Ex Slots]: Expansion slots built into the motherboard, allowing input of ability enhancing chips.

[Hardware Upgrades]: Upgrades to the case and motherboard that allow resistance to particular types of attack and boost the Cyberdeck's attributes.

[Programs]: Executable files stored on discs that are loaded into the Cyberdeck's memory that allow the user to engage in Cybercombat. These include a number of methods of attack, deception, and defense.

Okay, so now you know what everything is, but do you know how to use it?

[Programs]

Let's start with programs. Before you plug into the matrix, you should load your hard-copy programs onto your cyberdeck. These, of course, take up memory equal to their program size, so that may become a mild problem later on if you need to jack a massive file. Now your new memory maximum is equal to however many TF you have left over. To use a program, you need to load it up. Programs cannot be used unless they're fully loaded, by the way.

[Input/Output Speed]

This leads us to input/output speed. I/O affects two factors within the matrix. This is how quickly you can load programs, and how quickly you can download and jack files. Okay, let's say you're loading up a 30 TF (Attack) and a 10 TF (Mask) Program, and your deck has an I/O speed of 20. We assume you want to use the mask first, right? This means that you can use the Mask program this round, and the remaining 10 TF that your I/O can handle go into loading the Attack program. Next round, you use all 20 of your TF from your IO to finish loading up the Attack program, and then you fire away. In short, I/O speed dictates what programs you can use and how often. Secondly, it dictates how long it takes to download a file from someone's datastores. Take the amount of TF that the file is, let's say 125, for the sake of assigning a number, and your I/O speed is still 20. This means that it'd take 6.25 rounds, rounded up to 7, to completely copy the file.

[Storage and Dumping]

Now, that's all well and good, taking you 7 rounds to completely jack the file, but you forget that you only have 150 TF of max storage, and your Attack program and mask program are taking up 40 together, leaving you with 110. This, of course, is not enough to take the whole file, so what do we do? We perform a program wipe, removing the (Attack) program from our storage to make enough room for the files. A program wipe is a free action, so don't feel bad about overloading on programs and then dumping them later on to make room for files, since the way out is usually clean.

[Being Dumped and Coldplugging]

... And that's all you need to... Hm? I forgot something? Ah, right. Seeing as you're newbies, you're likely to get tossed out on your back by some overpowered ICE you weren't smart enough to trick or avoid. When your MPCP is reduced to zero by anything but Black ICE, you're kicked from the system. This is referred to as "Being Dumped", and you'll suffer 4-6 rounds of disorientation after it occurs, at which time your ability to attack will suffer a -3 penalty, you'll lose any dodge bonuses to Armor, move at 1/4 speed, and all the files on your Cyberdeck will be lost, including loaded programs. Of course, players might decide that they need a quick way out to avoid hostile company or Jade Star deckers sent in to hand them their behinds. They voluntarily dump themselves from the system, which is referred to as "coldplugging", and you suffer all the same disorientation bonuses as being dumped, but your hardware retains it's loaded programs and files. This, however, is usually used as a last resort, since the disorientation is most debilitating if you need to pick up and get yourself out of there in a hurry to avoid real-life counterparts with guns.