Probably a dumb question, but on ICE cards that say the runner can spend "x" number of clicks to break a subroutine, does he still need to have an ICE breaker of the appropriate type, and the strength to encounter it?
ICE clarification
I believe you are speaking mainly of Bio-roid ICE. And, to answer your question, no breaker is needed. These ICE do serve the purpose of taxing the runners actions aggressively.
E3 Feedback Implants
Faction:
Criminal
Type:
Hardware: Mod
Cost:
2
Influence:
2
Card Text:
Whenever you break a subroutine on a piece of ice, you may pay 1 [Credits] to break 1 additional subroutine on that ice.
Set:
Trace Amount
Number:
024
No ICEbreakers required, bioroid ICE can be broken by clicks alone ("clicking through").
While this may sound bad in the first instance, the point to bear in mind that this ICE is designed to give the a choice: use their ICE breakers or their clicks? If by the end of a game the runner has spent 20 clicks just breaking through your ICE, they've done a good job of taxing the runner.
That said, it doesn't make the times where all you have is bioroid ICE available and the Runner just clicks through and grabs something important any nicer, so it is best to mix in some traditional ICE sources as well.
Edited by KhouriSo I should just look at like I have a choice to encounter it traditionally, or just pay the clicks and bypass it if I want to (assuming I have the clicks available)
So I should just look at like I have a choice to encounter it traditionally, or just pay the clicks and bypass it if I want to (assuming I have the clicks available)
Or pay Credits and break it with an Icebreaker, or some combination of the three.