Cyberpunk Discussion Thread

[LaserPrecision]

Got both the MHS+ calculations accepted.

 

[Qawsedf234]

Got both the MHS+ calculations accepted.

I'll make the thread when I get off work.

 

[Qawsedf234]

So if you bought Cyberpunk 2077 on Steam, you can download a free bonus content DLC. It comes with a story from 2071 called 2AM: She Calls. I liked it, but it also features a mostly normal person using a Sandevistan:

Slow and steady, as if reaching for my gun, I slide my hand inside my jacket.

Another nod. Even smaller. Microscopic, so much so it should go undetected.

I sense it.

A rush of movement behind me. The ‘Tino’s fast. I’m faster.

The world plunges into the warm, gelatinous wine of Sandevistan. I spin around at full boost and pray my muscles can take it. If they can’t, they’ll tear clean off my bones.

Hand. Gotta get the hand. Hand with the gun. The hand pulling the Unity out of its holster, aiming to empty it in my gut. I strike his elbow. The sickening snap of breaking bone. I strike his wrist. A heavy boot on broken glass. The gun falls, falls from fingers open wide in surprise. A swift parting kiss to his jaw, and I reach for my gun.

Too late. Corto’s beside me. The dull jerk of the knife as it sinks in under my right rib. That’s it. This is how it ends...

Or it would be if I didn’t have a metal plate in lieu of a rib. A lucky charm from the time a Maelstromer decided to test his mantis blades. I got two months in the ER and a medal.

F- the gun. I grab Corto’s shoulders and channel my entire boosted might through my forehead, into his face. The knife drops. Corto slumps.

Sandevistan courses through my muscles, pulsing, fading. Tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll wake with the biggest f-ing hangover. Like I’d pounded back a whole convoy of Centzon and lived to regret it. Pain shoots through my body, like someone strung me up piñata-style to whack the sh- outta me with a telescopic baton. Christ. I can feel it already.

Choom whose arm I snapped in three is back... He shrieks in Spanish and bolts out the door. Deep breaths. One. Two. Three. Better. I grab a plastic folding chair and take a seat at the table. Cejas has separated face from hands. He eyes me like a beaten cur. Can’t say I blame him; he just rose from the dead, too.

“Got a couple questions,” I say, glancing at Corto to be sure he’s lying where he fell. Good boy. “Cejas?”

Another long, dark corridor. To the left – one door, three rooms. To the right – one door, two. Choices. Last one on the right is Timmy’s “office.” Can I take two shots of Sandevistan in 24 hours? No idea. Rather not chance it.

“Easy there, pal,” I hear through the door. A voice, so familiar. Familiarity – the only reason I don’t fire up Sandevistan and shred myself. “Easy. Put it away.”

He doesn’t see my fist. It smashes his nose. Doesn’t see my boot. It kicks his knee out. He doesn’t see a thing, he’s blind. He doesn’t see hit after hit
after hit as I drive him down into the wet earth. The baton falls from his hand. Ribs snap and crack like dry twigs.

I don’t see him either. I see red. I see Brian, who they’ll kill or stuff in a cage to rot. I see Cejas, a leper, a pariah among his blood brothers. I see Emilio, his heart shattered into a million razors, never getting his revenge on Jones. I see Pedro – huh – his numbers finally lining up. Least I hope they will.

I don’t stop until the Sandevistan falls from my eyes, fades from my veins. Kid cop lies crumpled on the ground, barely breathing, bathed in blood.

I breathe deep.

I can barely stand.

I feel no relief.

So with this we have some indications of the 2070s Sandevistan:

• Presumably even an average Sandevistan (MC was a former NCPD Officer so nothing super major) speed you up enough that your muscles can be ripped off from the speed
• He can shatter his limbs with punches
• The MC considers it very questionable if he can survive two activations in one day without killing himself

 

[Qawsedf234]

So the preview for the Edgerunner Mission Kit is out

You witnessed David Martinez’s meteoric rise. But the thing about meteors? They come crashing down to Earth. David’s gone. Now it is time for you to step up and earn a seat in the Afterlife.

In the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit you’ll tell the story of a new Crew of Edgerunners hungry for eddies and glory. When a Fixer named Dakota Smith calls with a gig, it seems they might just find both.

The Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit comes complete with seven pregenerated characters designed and illustrated by Hiroyuki Imaishi, the director of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners! You can grab a character and leap right into the action or customize their history with the help of the Lifepath: R. Talsorian Games’ famous background generator

So this takes place between David dying and the start of CP2077

Curious about Rebecca’s past? Want to know more about Lucy’s life before she met David? We’ve got you covered. The Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit will contain biographies of David, Lucy, Rebecca, Maine, and the rest of the crew straight from Bartosz Sztybor, story writer for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

And we aren’t stopping there. The world of Cyberpunk is an alternate history, starting with the Collapse of the 1990s, pushing through the 4th Corporate War of the 2020s and the Unification War of the 2060s, and slamming straight into the roaring 2070s. We’ll lay it all out for you: the back story, the technology, and even what daily life is like in Night City. All as told by world creator Mike Pondsmith and the writers at R. Talsorian Games and CD Projekt Red.

With this we can probably make profiles for the other members of Maine's gang. In addition it probably wouldn't hurt to make like, a profile for Johnny and other 2013/2020 characters.

Also this will apparently talk about the jump between RED's post-nuke time to the modern NC we see in the game. Wonder if they'll include BARGHEST or Adam Smasher in the list.

A full tabletop roleplaying experience in a single box. There’s no need to worry about buying multiple handbooks to play the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit. Everything you need will be right in the box. That includes a lore book to tell you about the world, a rulebook to show you how to play, and a brand new gig, The Jacket, to provide you with hours of Edgerunning action and exploration. Plus maps, standees, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunner-themed dice to help you on the way.

Watch this be some convoluted way to explain how the Captain got David's jacket with Falco

The Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit comes complete with rules for plugging all included 2070s weapons and technology into your existing Cyberpunk RED game! Add Power, Smart, and Tech Weapons to your arsenal. Visit a ripper and implant neuroports, mantis blades, gorilla arms, and more into your meat. And for Netrunners, the time has come! Distract, damage, and even control your enemies via Quickhacks. Also included will be a guide for adjusting Roles, economy, and even Humanity for play in the 2070 era.

According to another preview this should cover the Neuroport Cyberware and how it replaced the NeuralLink.

Also it'll be cool to see the canon version of Quickhacks. Though it probably means that V's hacking may be nerfed if it requires dedicated effort to Quickhack rather than being a single action thing.

Releasing in the first few months of 2024: Interface RED volume 3! The latest volume of the Interface RED series collects the DLC content we shared with the world in 2022: everything from new weapons and gear to rules for bicycles to digital dating in the Dark Future. Plus, a new bonus article not available anywhere else: Full Body Conversions. Is your Edgerunner ready to trade [almost all of] their meat for metal? Interface RED volume 3 provides everything they’ll need to plug their brain into an IEC Alpha starter model, a sleek Militech Eclipse, a combat-ready IEC Dragoon, or one of ten other totally chrome bodies!

So as a note:

1. IEC Alpha Class
2. R.M.C Gemini
3. NovelTech Samson
4. Militech Enforcer
5. MD Tech, Inc. "Kildare"
6. IEC Dragoon
7. IEC Wingman
8. Dynalar Aquarius
9. Militech Eclipse
10. Militech "Spyder"
11. Cybermatrix Copernicus
12. Adrek Robotics "Burroughs"

All the previous Conversions put together is only 12, so they're going to add a new conversion robot. Maybe a Arasaka conversion? Or maybe ten is an inclusive number and they'll be dropping some of the random ones like the fire fighter or mars robot version. EDIT: Looking at it, the wiki forgot the Brimstone Firefighter body. Which would be the 13th.

 

[Qawsedf234]

Because I'm a Sandevistan pleb I never tried out Quickhacking on Smasher after the 2.1 update. I was shocked to find out he has a Trace and Counterhack ability now. If you don't constantly pressure him, he'll counterhack V and temporarily blind/disable their hacks.

So that's pretty cool.

 

[Naito-desu]

Well that's consistent with Edgerunners now, the Devs really worked hard to bring him up to speed with how he is in the lore.

 

[Qawsedf234]

Well this is a big bump.

The Edgerunners Mission Kit for RED next week. Going by previews we know the following items:

• All of Maine's crew will get backstories
• The explanation for Quickhacking is that nearly everyone by default has a Neuroport, which acts as a multi-device that controls Cyberware amongst other functions. I bring this up because it seems like without that Neuroport or an AI controller you can't hack "dumb" machines like Cyberware. This does explain why AIs are so much more dangerous now though, since now literally >90% of humanity are vulnerable to hacking (it also track with the AI in RED which could only hack machines with NET connection or people using a BD headset). In addition the Neuroport feeds information directly into your optic nerve, so the HUD/Phone stuff from Edgerunners/2077 is indeed real and you don't require Cybereyes and it seemingly doesn't cost any humanity.
• We'll get stats for some new Edgerunners and possibly some Legacy Characters. Following that:
• Adam Smasher will get stats as well. From a preview I saw he has no humanity score, is kitted with a bunch of items that are impossible to normally get and is now a +9 solo, making him comparable to world-class elites like Rogue or Shaitan score wise (though iirc Shaitan may have been a +10 like with Blackhand)
• The Sandevistan still hasn't been revealed anywhere afaik
• While we always treated them as canon, it should also be mentioned that Quickhacks are a confirmed in-universe thing
• The MedTek jacket that David wore not only has a location tracker but can also record bio-signs and medical data

For the tabletop you get a bunch of new stuff

• The three 2077 weapon types are put in the game: Power, Tech and Smart
• Gorilla Arms, Mantis Blades and Monowire are all things
• Examples of humanity gaining and losing events (like losing 1d6 for torturing someone)

Overall I'm pretty pumped for it. Though I do want to know how they're going to treat the 2077-era Sandevistan in the Tabletop crunch wise. From one reviewer it seems like it costs 25,000 or 250,000 eurodollars, which is more expensive then a lot of Fullborg Conversions and ACPAs (but the speed boost aspect is probably worth it). But I wonder if it just be an initiative thing (like, when Activated you always go first) or if it would give you something wild like additional actions.

 

[Qawsedf234]

Minor thing, but I found out about concept art regarding Agent Mosley from Netwatch, so he really does have the same gear as Songbird. Though now I wonder why they used this gear rather than the RavenTech Wiseman since you're seemingly replacing nearly as much of your body with chrome. Though I guess having your brain removed and put in a capsule doesn't sound that appealing.

 

[Sir_sun_man]

Minor thing, but I found out about concept art regarding Agent Mosley from Netwatch, so he really does have the same gear as Songbird. Though now I wonder why they used this gear rather than the RavenTech Wiseman since you're seemingly replacing nearly as much of your body with chrome. Though I guess having your brain removed and put in a capsule doesn't sound that appealing.

his stuff isn't nearly as high end nor as invasive as songbirds, she is more chrome than human at this point while mosley still has the vast majority of his body with the exaption of his hands, spine and part of his head while somi is more borg like.

 

[Qawsedf234]

head while somi is more borg like.

That's why I included the art. His entire torso has also been replaced like her. It's just that his cyberware is more aesthetically pleasing than Songbirds.

nearly as high end

I think they're both the same. It's just that Songbird is tapping into the Blackwall for her hacks, which are more powerful than normal netrunning.

 

[Qawsedf234]

Alright, so the expansion came out for RED which helped a lot to bridge the gap and explain some Tech differences.

With that in mind I also made a skill list and I was wondering if it look alright?

If its good we could basically just use it to justify skill ratings after making a CRT.

 

[AcidSilver]

 

[Qawsedf234]

Reviving a dead thread.

So Cyberpunk is getting a board game. They released a rule book to early backers and it includes some minor lore stuff.

Spoiler: SPOILER FOR THE BOARD GAME STORY

So the board game is an alternate timeline. Alt runs simulations and realizes that Mikoshi is a front for Arasaka. They are creating an AI called Raijin. Raijin is powerful enough to pierce the Blackwall and destroy the AIs from Bartmoss' DataKrash. Alt wants to prevent Raijin from destroying her sanctuary and uses V to do so, which is why she ended up saving them. Also Adam Smasher blows up a Basalisk tank.

Endings either have Raijin and Alt kill each other or Alt destroys Raijin with your help but causes Night City to collapse into anarchy from Alt obliterating the computer systems Raijin fled to.

 

[Alexander]

Reviving a dead thread.

So Cyberpunk is getting a board game. They released a rule book to early backers and it includes some minor lore stuff.

Spoiler: SPOILER FOR THE BOARD GAME STORY

So the board game is an alternate timeline. Alt runs simulations and realizes that Mikoshi is a front for Arasaka. They are creating an AI called Raijin. Raijin is powerful enough to pierce the Blackwall and destroy the AIs from Bartmoss' DataKrash. Alt wants to prevent Raijin from destroying her sanctuary and uses V to do so, which is why she ended up saving them. Also Adam Smasher blows up a Basalisk tank.

Endings either have Raijin and Alt kill each other or Alt destroys Raijin with your help but causes Night City to collapse into anarchy from Alt obliterating the computer systems Raijin fled to.

ANOTHER BAD ENDING?there can't be any ******* good ending in Cyberpunk franchise?

 

[Kilgorethecouch]

ANOTHER BAD ENDING?there can't be any ******* good ending in Cyberpunk franchise?

wrong city, wrong people.

 

[Qawsedf234]

ANOTHER BAD ENDING?there can't be any ******* good ending in Cyberpunk franchise?

Tbf, in this alternate timeline I guess V and Alt accidentally save Maine and his crew, and Jackie doesn't die (dunno how PL goes in this version yet).

So I guess character wise more people live, but in either ending things get bad.

 

[Sir_sun_man]

honestly having both alt and raijin destroy one another seems like a win-win no? we get rid of arasaka's hyper AI weapon and one of the biggest AI amalgams from beyond the black wall gets destroy'd in the process, meaning arasaka are weaker and the black wall AI are also weaker.


Although if I were a bettin man I'd say V just dies don't they?

 

[Qawsedf234]

honestly having both alt and raijin destroy one another seems like a win-win no? we get rid of arasaka's hyper AI weapon and one of the biggest AI amalgams from beyond the black wall gets destroy'd in the process, meaning arasaka are weaker and the black wall AI are also weaker.


Although if I were a bettin man I'd say V just dies don't they?

Spoiler

Alt is a mixed bag. She's one of the "Good" AIs who doesn't want to kill humanity. The novel No Coincidences explains that the AIs are currently fighting each other over database resources. Which is why some want to breach the Blackwall to get more resources. Having said that Alt doesn't like humanity either, so it can easily go both ways.

This V never gets killed with the Relic. So while you still steal it and have a Johnny Engram, you never have the Relic kill V either. So in this case V comes out on top in either ending from what I can see.

 

[Qawsedf234]

So this is a bit out there, but I thought it would be fun to share.

So, in 1992 Cyberpunk was actually licensed out to a Ianus Games (now called Dream Pod 9), who made seventeen books about it. The twist is that this was an alternate universe setting called "Night's Edge" where supernatural elements were around. So you had vampires, werewolves, and all that jazz.

Now, the thing is that the various magical super forms were made before the rampant power creep in the latter half of Cyberpunk 2020. So, for example, this is Dracula:

• INT: 11
• REF: 12
• TECH: 3
• COOL: 5
• ATT: 11
• LUCK: 6
• MA: 10
• BODY: (8)13
• EMP: 3
• PSY: 13
• Skills: Combat Sense +8, Awareness +6, Athletics +10, Handgun +6, Stealth +9, Melee +9, Seduction +8, History +4, Language: Romanian +8, Language: English +6, Driving +4.

This is Shaitan (American's #6 Solo):

• INT: 8
• REF: 15
• TECH: 8
• COOL: 9
• ATT: N/A
• LUCK: 6
• MA: 20
• BODY: 12
• EMP: 9/3/7
• Skills:
• Combat Sense +9, Aikido +8, Athletics +10, Awareness+ 10, Basic Tech +8, Cybertech +4, Demolitions +6, Driving + 7, Education +4, Tactics +5, First Aid +5, Handgun +9, Heavy Weapons +9, Hide/Evade +9, Intimidate + 7, Melee + 1 o, Pilot Boat +4, Pilot Fixed Wing +6, Pilot Vectored Thrust + 7, Rifle + 1 0, Shadow/Track +8, Stealth + 10, Strength Feat +2, SMG +8, Swimming +6, Weapons Tech + 7, Wilderness Survival +6

Now I hear you say "well what's the issue?" You see Cyberpunk 2020 had a rule that if you did 8 damage to a limb you'd destroy it and headshots did double damage. After the Night Edge book was released they also introduced "Military Grade" weapons, which were all D10 scale weapons.

So while very powerful at first, a Dragoon, ACPA Soldier, or high-tier solos (like Morgan Blackhand), or Borgs like Smasher would actually just straight up kill Dracula in a 1 vs 1 because they just obliterate him with a 7D10 damage burst that would cut through his armor and blow off a limb. Now he's not defenseless and has a bunch of psionic powers, but I find the idea of like, Dracula being killed by Morgan Blackhand or Adam Smasher during the Corporate War to be really funny. Guy is 500 years old and just gets slammed by some chromed-out New Yorker with a 14.7mm Assault Rifle or uppercuted into the stratosphere.

 

[Kilgorethecouch]

So while very powerful at first, a Dragoon, ACPA Soldier, or high-tier solos (like Morgan Blackhand), or Borgs like Smasher would actually just straight up kill Dracula in a 1 vs 1 because they just obliterate him with a 7D10 damage burst that would cut through his armor and blow off a limb. Now he's not defenseless and has a bunch of psionic powers, but I find the idea of like, Dracula being killed by Morgan Blackhand or Adam Smasher during the Corporate War to be really funny. Guy is 500 years old and just gets slammed by some chromed-out New Yorker with a 14.7mm Assault Rifle or uppercuted into the stratosphere.

Technocracy from World of Darkness type shit.

 

[DaReaperMan]

Arasaka's Boogieman vs The Warden of Ultramar

This seemed fun Rules Oh boy there's gonna be a lot... Speed is Equalized Smasher is High 8-C (2.07 Tons of TNT) vs Titus' 8-C (1.598655 Tons of TNT), which is a 1.29483847x advantage for Smasher. Titus has a Chainsword+Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Lascannon, and Plasma Gun (Plasma gun and Lascannon...

vsbattles.com

This seemed like fun

 

[DaReaperMan]

You know, reading about Smasher in the older RPGs, I sorta realize he was meant as a tool for the DM/GM/Admin/whatever who sees their players thinking their hot shit and going "Oh yeah?"

 

[Qawsedf234]

You know, reading about Smasher in the older RPGs, I sorta realize he was meant as a tool for the DM/GM/Admin/whatever who sees their players thinking their hot shit and going "Oh yeah?"

There's two "tiers" in Cyberpunk, there Edgerunner and Mercenary tier. Smasher in both editions is solidly in the Mercenary tier, which means generally curbstomps Edgerunners. In 2020:

• Smasher has a +22 Initiative Score. A hyper min-mixed character struggles to get +17 and requires enourmous amping of experience to get higher. Every non-Solo or Combat class makes out at +10 for Initiative
• In 2020 dealing 8 damage to a limb blows it up (unless it's Cyberware) and headshots deal double damage. Smasher's melee is 2D6+14AP or 3D6+8AP, meaning he'll one shot you without armor and if you do have armor the AP halves it (melee does not have an AP damage reduction unlike with bullets)
• Armor for Edgerunners at best tops out at 29 SP. Meaning Smasher kicking you will automatically bypass your armor and a headshot still has a good chance at killing you
• Smasher's armor is 42 SP. Assault Rifles' damage is 5D6 to 6D6+2. As the math implies, he's immune to small arms fire
• If your gun is Smart Linked, as a Red-Dot, or uses a Smart-Scope you've triggered Smasher’s dodge cyberware which is a 1d10+19. If he rolls a 6+ most characters cannot hit him with any ranged weapon that's not an explosive
• Smasher's Assault Rifle is a 7D10 weapon or a shotgun firing Sabot rounds. Most armor is in the 18-25 range without ACPA or armored vehicles.
• Smasher has a +22 to Heavy Weapons and a +21 to Rifles. All of his guns are either extreme damage or have stuff like a 6D10AP Sabot round

Additionally, Smasher in 2020 is actually unoptimized. A fully Optimized Smasher is a meme and realistically be unkillable outside of Morgan Blackhand and his cracked pseudo-Bolter

• Smasher is unoptimized for melee damage. A GM with adding hydraulic rams can boost his damage output from 2D6+14AP to 6D6+14AP
• If Smasher uses Cybersteroids his strength triples to 54. This makes Smasher stronger than his mecha. In this state, if he kicks you he would kick you for 9D10+6 AP. This one shots virtually every single ACPA in the game. Additionally Smasher's armor goes from 42 to 80 SP making him impossibly hard to damage in most circumstances.
• His guns are unoptimized. Smasher can get most of his weapons to have a 1.5x damage increase with Electro-Thermal Weapons

While Smasher isn't unkillable since like 10 dudes with Militech Commandos or 10 Dragoons with Railguns can basically kill anything, he's significantly stronger than the tier that 90% of PCs operate in.

 

[DaReaperMan]

There's two "tiers" in Cyberpunk, there Edgerunner and Mercenary tier. Smasher in both editions is solidly in the Mercenary tier, which means generally curbstomps Edgerunners. In 2020:

• Smasher has a +22 Initiative Score. A hyper min-mixed character struggles to get +17 and requires enourmous amping of experience to get higher. Every non-Solo or Combat class makes out at +10 for Initiative
• In 2020 dealing 8 damage to a limb blows it up (unless it's Cyberware) and headshots deal double damage. Smasher's melee is 2D6+14AP or 3D6+8AP, meaning he'll one shot you without armor and if you do have armor the AP halves it (melee does not have an AP damage reduction unlike with bullets)
• Armor for Edgerunners at best tops out at 29 SP. Meaning Smasher kicking you will automatically bypass your armor and a headshot still has a good chance at killing you
• Smasher's armor is 42 SP. Assault Rifles' damage is 5D6 to 6D6+2. As the math implies, he's immune to small arms fire
• If your gun is Smart Linked, as a Red-Dot, or uses a Smart-Scope you've triggered Smasher’s dodge cyberware which is a 1d10+19. If he rolls a 6+ most characters cannot hit him with any ranged weapon that's not an explosive
• Smasher's Assault Rifle is a 7D10 weapon or a shotgun firing Sabot rounds. Most armor is in the 18-25 range without ACPA or armored vehicles.
• Smasher has a +22 to Heavy Weapons and a +21 to Rifles. All of his guns are either extreme damage or have stuff like a 6D10AP Sabot round

Additionally, Smasher in 2020 is actually unoptimized. A fully Optimized Smasher is a meme and realistically be unkillable outside of Morgan Blackhand and his cracked pseudo-Bolter

• Smasher is unoptimized for melee damage. A GM with adding hydraulic rams can boost his damage output from 2D6+14AP to 6D6+14AP
• If Smasher uses Cybersteroids his strength triples to 54. This makes Smasher stronger than his mecha. In this state, if he kicks you he would kick you for 9D10+6 AP. This one shots virtually every single ACPA in the game. Additionally Smasher's armor goes from 42 to 80 SP making him impossibly hard to damage in most circumstances.
• His guns are unoptimized. Smasher can get most of his weapons to have a 1.5x damage increase with Electro-Thermal Weapons

While Smasher isn't unkillable since like 10 dudes with Militech Commandos or 10 Dragoons with Railguns can basically kill anything, he's significantly stronger than the tier that 90% of PCs operate in.

Yeah, when the "Not unkillable" bar is "You aim a full squad packing literal artillery at him he probably goes down" or "Have the character who is Adam Smasher's personal rival" that's basically unkillable lmfao

If you're familiar with Age of Sigmar, it's sort of like getting into melee with Gotrek on the tabletop. You can say goodbye to whatever got into range of the literal blender in one turn unless it's multiple giant monsters or Archaon. And you still don't want Archaon near the dwarf cause with even halfway decent rolls Gotrek will kill Archaon in like two turns.

 

[Qawsedf234]

So Cyberpunk has four non-canon spinoffs. To summarize:

• Night's Edge -> Cyberpunk 2020 but with low fantasy creatures
• Cybergenerations -> Cyberpunk 2020 but the main characters are the X-Men
• Cyberpunk v3 -> Original continuation of 2020. Widely hated and ignored
• Starblade Battalion -> Set 100 years after 2020. Honestly holds up in a lot of areas, other than some Corps being wrong. Still probably not canon, but hey the humans beat the evil AIs in this timeline

I've read the first, but haven't done the other three. Well I got Starblade recently and some notes from it:

• Earth suffered a mass ecological collapse in the 2070d. The world governments finally locked in and united to fix it. Subsidized all the Megacorps with military force over the course of 20 years
• The Megacorps that didn't want to be subsidized fled into outer space in the 2090s
• In 2111 they unlocked the secret of making giant robots. Turning the ACPAs from the early times into Gundum-style mechas
• They learned FTL travel in the 2140s
• 2180 the Megacorps that ran away combined with new Megacorps in the colony regions and are now fighting the United Earth government
• Heavy Cyberware has fallen out of fashion. But the gangs that remain on Earth still use them

Now I'm not saying that it is Adam Smasher, but I will say there is a giant robot called the Harbinger; Who's pilot hates all life, can withstand like 10Gs of instant acceleration, and is known for committing mass destruction of civilian targets (to be real he wasn't important enough to get ported to the expansion, but he could still theoretically be alive in the 2180s). Though you can't 1:1 port him, or the sheer REF he would have would shatter the balance of virtually every combat encounter.

Also, we have the rare example of a pre-Internet usage of a meme

The Gaians were rigid ecological defenders. determined that Humanity would never again outstrip its resources. Their meme: "Man must remain firmly part of the natural order."

 

[Kilgorethecouch]

Born to be the word that signifies broad, cultural ideas, forced to be the word that signifies Internet jokes.