Trace and its sagnificants

By Decker1613, in Android: Netrunner Rules Questions

So I have yet as a corp player to use my trace against someone. It seems they are able to bypass it all the time. It is only good to waste there 1 credit to pay to get pass the subroutine. So what good is it, I love the idea but I have not been able to tag anyone with it yet. Am I doing something wrong or is this all there is to trace. Because when I play the runner, I find paying 1 credit as opposed to 3+ credits is way better to bypass the subroutine don't you?

There's traces (and there will be more of those) that are not a subroutine on a piece of ICE, so the runner can't simply break a subroutine to avoid them. Also, there's situations (mostly in early game) when the runner doesn't have an icebreaker for ICE that has the trace subroutine. There's also situations where I've let a trace through because I needed the credits to continue the run and dealt with the consequences of the trace a different way. But yes, traces are situational that way.

Not really a rules question, I guess, but I'm no moderator. Few traces on subroutines are worth the runner not breaking them, but there are situations where there's a reason to let it through (usually only to avoid taking the tag anyway through something like Decoy). Look to cards like SEA Source and the forthcoming Ash !@#$%&123 (or whatev's) for traces that can't be avoided so readily.

On my Shaper deck with 6 Link, I don't even bother breaking the subroutine

I have found my corp opponents doesn't bother wasting the gold trying to trace me, not to mention I play crash space as well