“ We were out in the boonies, over on the edge of everything, looking for a data convoy from Messerschmidt to Militech in the US. We were gonna link up our trojan in the middle of the datastream and piggyback it into the security mainframe of Militech despatch, so that we could re-route some shipments of arms for the SNA. Jax had just set up her web program to catch the convoy when this fracking great datafort just appeared! Thing was the size of the frackin Death Star! It started spitting out these dark shapes, looked like sharks, and we hightailed it damnfine! That was the day the US Government kicked Militech’s butt for “Un-American Activities” and wiped three days revenue outa their records as a “fine”.
Voodoo, Mutate and Survive Runner.

Since 2016, when the Corporations made a splash during the Third Corporate War, the world’s militaries have quickly developed a strong presence on the Net. In this, they had as an edge the long evolution of electronic warfare and the many technologies developed under military black programmes. Today, Netrunners can be found in all levels of the military from strategic forces to Special Forces infiltrators. There are broadly four areas of operation:

1) ESPIONAGE AND COUNTERESPIONAGE:
One of the major activities of runners for both the military and the Corps. The US maintains a major military intelligence datafort on the Washington DC grid while Europe’s main fortress is in Munich. These fixed sites are the bases for regiments of top class runners and dedicated AI’s for espionage, analysis and all the usual spook functions.

2) STRATEGIC DEFENCE:
In times of war, the role of these troops is to ensure that as many as possible of their own weapons reach the target by crippling enemy SDI networks, Early Warning systems and Command/Control computers before the enemy does it first. The US has its main facility at Fort Leonard Wood.

3) TACTICAL OPERATIONS:
Perhaps the most disregarded of all the military netrunner branches, but the one with most prospects for expansion. In any military, this is the largest service involved in NetWar. Units serve alongside all major combat formations from regiment level upward, providing support and safeguarding their own computer systems. In combat, these runners work with small but powerful dataforts in aircraft, airships, sea vessels, subs, and armoured articulated trucks. The set-up will include equipment and specialists to wage electronic warfare on the enemy by tapping into supposedly secure military networks so as to allow the netrunners to run riot in the enemies Net. Conversely, these specialists will man jammers and highly sophisticated communications to ensure that the enemy has no access to their own side’s computer networks. If these EW troops manage to break into their opposite’s datanet, then the dataforts of the runners will suddenly begin to pop up on that net. They can then send out runners and highly dangerous programs to cause havoc with logistics, air traffic control, battle management, command and control and even individual weapons systems linked to the Network in question.
In 2020, any army that ignores electronic and Net warfare is going to be outclassed VERY quickly.

4) Special Operations

A highly skilled cadre of combat netrunners using cellular combat decks, usually military versions of the Headgear or Cybermodem Suit varieties. These runners accompany special forces on extractions, infiltrations and assaults in much the same way as their corporate or freelance cousins. However, often the point of the black-op is to plant a tap onto an enemy net by tapping a landline or capturing an enemy computer installation intact. In such cases, the solos are simply protection for the runners and techies on the team.
 

Operations and Tactics

By the very nature of the beast, military datanets are very secure. They are not usually linked to the world wide net but instead function as stand-alone nets, which are occasionally connected to the rest of Networld. Data communication is by encrypted signal over landlines, by tight-beam laser/microwave links or by frequency-agile radio links (often via satellite). The object of all the electronic warfare that surrounds military NetWar is to gain access to those secure links. If a force manages to capture a data signal on a radio link, the EW Technician must first have at his command some very classified equipment. This gear will monitor the signal and attempt to derive the algorithm that governs any frequency changes, then match his own data signal to the enemies and decode the encryption. That is four large items of gear and four “electronic security” rolls just to gain access to the enemy datanet. Even then, the runners on his team only have a limited time because when their intrusion is detected the enemy will almost certainly change their signal encryption and frequency hopping algorithms and the whole process must start again. All this means that military programs are usually fast, nasty and autonomous. Many are downright hostile but others are designed to compromise the enemy net by switching it over to frequencies and codes that your runners are expecting. The tactic here is to intercept, download lots of programs and wait for them to take effect. Off course, your enemy has lots of programs designed to prevent this while he’s trying to do the same thing to you.

The largest battles happen when a special forces team manages to tap a landline or capture a component of their enemy’s computer net. Then, using a specialised satellite radio link, they can connect their own tactical net to that of the enemy and allow their own runners to pour on the fire. As you can imagine, these special forces will become the centre of some very unwelcome attention, both on the Net and in the real world.

Every military Net must make a trade off between compartmentalisation to limit damage and the ability to tie all its troops usefully together. The Net and the signals that support it are an important part of the cyberpunk military world. Don’t forget it next time your players are having a rare old maxmetal time.
 

Coming soon: maxmetal stats for EW gear and vehicles, military programs, military runner gear.