I just got my copy of Android Netrunner yesterday and have started to learn the game. I read the rules last night and looked up some reviews where I could get a more handson look on things as well. In other words; I havent played the game yet, but shall soon.

With that said:

As Runner, you install cards on your Rig. You use these cards for various effects, among them doing runs. When you choose a server to make a run upon (remote or central) you have to resolve that run completely before attempting to make another action. Lets say I approach a remote server with 3 ICE on it. All of the ICE are rezzed. The only thing making me end my run is something that says "end run.." on a card, me flatlining or ending the run myself. However, lets say I manage to break through 2 of the ICE and decide to end the run before the 3rd because I made a bad decision; Do I keep all the cards or are the trashed? If I cant use a card because it is too weak (strength) do I still keep it or is it destroyed? I mean, is the Rig this computer that you keep building upon, and cards never really leave play, unless they are an operation/event or if the cards says otherwise in its text? How many cards do I use per Run? Is it 1 icebreaker per 1 ICE, or is it 1 icebreaker until it somehow leaves play (ege, can I use one Icebreaker on several ICE and still reach the server?)

Also;

Do the corporation just keep looking under his unRezzed cards to remember their costs/effects ? I've always wondered how this works, since it seems like a tedious process to me.

As I mentioned above, it seems to me that cards never really leave play, unless a card specifically says so. (I guess I am used to MTG where cards go in and out all the time) And this question is sort of a sub-question of the above question: How does the Rig really work? Do you keep building programs, hardware and resources, and use Icrebreakers to break into servers and never really loose any cards? (Unless tagged and the corp. uses an action to remove a resource and so on) ?

plolock said:

Your Rig does not have stuff removed from it unless some other effect causes it do so like the corp destroys one of your resources in your rig. Only events are trashed as soon as you use them. You can use however many icebreakers you want per ice. You can use an icebreaker as many times as you want per run as long as you can afford the cost of its abilities.

plolock said:

Yes the corp can look at its cards. Eventually will probably be able to just remember what they are.

Cards in your rig do not go away unless made to do so like in your example while tagged by the corp. You just keep adding to it to improve your rig. Note that programs are affected by your memory limit which starts at 4 MU but with hardware and stuff you can increase your MU to allow you to have more or bigger programs in your rig.

So, its like: Both the Corp. and the Runner are getting stronger and stronger, and building up bug networks/computers/servers/rigs for more sophisticated runs later on? And the Runner can use any number of Icebreakers as long as he can pay the cost/all the used icebreakers can be payed for for usage?

Thanks a lot man!

Any of the icebreakers used must have strength equal to or greater than the currently encountered piece of ice to interact with that piece of ice. For example if your icebreaker is strength 2 and the ice is strength 4 unless you can raise your icebreaker's strength it cannot be used with that piece of ice to break subroutines or any type of interaction.

So in theory, an Icebreaker could singlehandedly break all the ICE on a server, as long as the ICE would "weaker" than the single icebreaker ? But that would probably also mean that the Corp. have spent cash on something else, and that the Runner probably have spent a lot of cash on a great Icebreaker, but would have almost none left for the actual Run?

Well the thing to note with ICE breakers is that they tend to only be useful against subroutines vs. a certain type of ICE.

Also, its still going to cost credits to remove subroutines, so either way, you're going to need alot of money. Whats useful are ICE breakers that maintain their strength boosts across the entire run.

Yeah, true, thanks for confirming/clarifying! And that leads me to another questions: Does an Icebreaker maintain the cash/other things spent on it for the entire run? So If I boost the strength of an Icebreaker, is that boost for that particular ICE encounter or for the entire Run?

Only when the wording on the card says so.

Som ICE breakers say "1 credit : +1 strength" while others say "1 credit: +1 strength for the rest of the run," the later of the two keeps its strength upgrades. Also, once the run is over, they all lose it.

Amazing. Thank you so much for the help. This is really helpful for me getting to know the game. Thank you <3 <3

Okay, new question. Les say the runner has three icebreakers, with one two and three in strength. If i decide to make run on a server and the server has one or more unrezzed ice, and he decides to rez one with three strength when i run with the icebreaker that has two strength, ehat happens? Does therun end or can I choose the icebreaker with three strength instead? Or do you only use Icebreakers when you encounter ICE, and if the server doesnt have ice, I can just access its content without even bothering with the icebreakers?

plolock said:

This part is correct. You run with all of your icebreakers out, you can only use the ones that equal or beat the strength of the currently encountered ice. You don't pick the icebreaker for each run. They are all part of your programs row. If there is no ice you go straight to accessing.

Also, be aware that the Runner approaches the ICE from the outside in (i.e., in reverse installation order), so the Corp can't decide which ICE to rez. It's "oh, I'm approaching the first ice" - the Corp decides whether to rez *that* ice. "Ok, on to the next ice", the Corp decides whether to rez the second ice. And so forth.

Thanks a lot guys! You are very helpful :-) I will most probably reurn with more questions as I start playing the game. Thanks again!