A library alone is worth nothing. Only the fusion of a library and several procedures gives you power. The procedures called through the library are the attacks and defences in the cyberworld. Unlike libraries, procedures are not versatile at all. They only got one very special purpose. However the pure amount of them is enough to cause confusion. Again to make comparison easier all procedures share a template form as well.

Click to open sample procedure in separate window.

First there is the name of the procedure.

Right below there is the unlock code. The name of a procedure alone does not give you the ability to execute it. Only with the proper code you can use a procedure. Codes can be exchanged or traded between people as they wish. Note that when you give someone the code he will be able to use that procedure in the future...

Next you see the market price of a procedure. A procedure can be purchased at various shops for this amount of money. No negotiating about the price, sorry.

Then there is the school needed for a procedure. You need to have at least basic knowledge in said hacking methods to use the procedure. For some more advanced procedures you might need more then basic knowledge in a school.

The next field is the system component the procedure focuses on. This field is important in so far as together with the Effect section it is used to determine the success ratio and effect of a procedure (see below). Also some components are more effective for certain types of attack then others.

The type of a procedure is a rough classification of the function. There are millions of different attack forms. But most can be classified into less then 20 groups. The CLI^2 procedure for example is of type Attack. So it directly tries to reduce the enemy's sockets. See Procedure Types for more information on the different types of procedures and their working principles.

Next in the line is further information on the attacking method of the procedure. In most cases one will find a Target Mechanism here. Almost all procedures, just like the CLI^2, use a classical single targeting system. So they attack exactly one target, specified with the target commando. However there are also multiple attack procedures. Exhausting information about  Target Mechanisms can be obtained here. An exception is the Firewall class of procedures. Those do not have a target mechanism. They attack the host system itself. To reflect that difference this type of procedures has its search pattern in the information field. More information about Procedure Types can be found here.

The Processor Cycles tab tells how much power a procedure needs to be executed. Linked with that power is also the delay to load a procedure successfully. The information comes in 3 parts. First is the cost at basic knowledge in the school of the procedure. Then comes the advanced and the mastery values. So if one only knows the basics of standard hacking a CLI^2 call will cost him 7 processor cycles. A real master of the arts will only need 5 cycles however. Sometimes instead of the cost at a certain level there is a - . In this case the procedure cannot be used at that level of knowledge at all. Often a sign for very powerful procedures.

The Modification Value shares many similarities with the processor cycles one. It is a second cost one has to pay to release a procedure. Instead of the processor cycles the modification value measures the degree of chaos a procedure causes. The value is subtracted from the players Information value to reflect the changed system state. Again this chaos usually lessens with the knowledge in a given school. Also the more cycles a procedure needs the more precise it can work. So 'expensive' procedures tend to cause less chaos.

2nd last there is the Effect statistic of a procedure. The 10 values are by far the most important. They determine how effective a procedure does its job. There is a pair of values for every state of the attacked System Component. For example if the System Components of the target system are extremely insecure then the CLI^2 would work with 70%/25 efficiency. Or in words it will be able to work as desired in 70% of all cases. If it does, it causes 25 damage. That is pretty good. However in the case of high System security the chance of a hit are only 40% and even if it succeeds it only does 6 points. So it would be a better idea to use another procedure in that situation.

Finally there is the description of the procedure. It is just a text without any impact on the actual function of a procedure. It might however have some useful info like tactics or such.

Part 2