How to do TAP Firewall Upgrades
 

I've been trying to use Hero Lab for my Interface Zero 2.0 character, but it appears to be lacking a key feature: The ability to upgrade your TAP's firewall rating. I could be just dumb and not know where to find this, so if that's the case, please point me in the right direction.

If I'm right, however, then I am attempting to add it in using the Hero Lab Editor. I would need to create 5 items for Equipment, each one corresponding to a Firewall rating above 4: 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. They would cost, according to the Player's Guide, 10,000 credits for each point above 4. However, they are not added to the TAP's Firewall; rather, each Firewall Upgrade sets the Firewall to that exact value. So if you paid 30,000c for a Firewall upgrade to 7, then you later wanted a Firewall upgrade to 9, you'd have to spring for the full 50,000c; not 20,000c.

So how should the Eval Script be, in this case? Using this does not work:

I figure timing might be an issue since, in the "Pre-Traits" phase, it just adds 6 to the character's Firewall. Same with the "Traits" phase. I guess that's because the Firewall starts at 0. The later "base" value of 4 is then added to it. The next phase, "Final," is too late, I guess; it doesn't affect the Firewall rating at all.

Is there any way for this new piece of equipment I'm creating to "set" the base Firewall value to 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 instead of 0? What am I missing?

I think I have it partially figured out. For any Interface Zero 2.0 and Authoring Kit people out there, please check my homework:

And that's for setting the character's base Firewall rating to 6, which costs 20,000. It does, indeed, seem to work, but there's an issue.

A character which has the Profession of "Programmer" is granted an "advanced firewall" at the start of play. This means their Firewall base value ("#traitbonus[trIZFirewa]") is increased by one. This is done with the following code:

If that character later decides to get a Firewall rating of 6, they will need to spend 20,000 credits and their Firewall rating should be at 6. With my "#traitbonus" code above, this just sets their initial Firewall to 6, meaning the Programmer bonus is applied, bringing the character's Firewall to 7. I think this is erroneous. However, using "#trait" or "#traitfinal" doesn't work.

I need this to ignore the Firewall bonuses granted by Professions ("Factions" in the code). "Programmer" is probably the only one, but still.

Ideas?

…And then I immediately stumble upon the answer: Change the Phase!

Instead of having the Eval Script take place during the Pre-Traits phase, I set it to Traits. That seems to do it. I could probably also have just changed the Priority of the script so it takes place after the Programmer Faction's Pre-Traits/5000 and achieved the same result, but for now, this seems to work.

I hope this helps someone else encountering a similar difficulty.

Also, perhaps I should upload this little Firewall patch somewhere… Any ideas on where the best place is? Perhaps this forum?

OK, I will get this fixed in the base file. I am in the middle of getting the 5.7 release out and working on the SWADE upgrade, so it'll have to wait for those.