Tech Talk - The Helpful AI

Tech Talk is excited to start discussing the strengths and weaknesses of cards from the first Data Pack. There's a lot of good in What Lies Ahead but this week, we take a look at one of the least-liked cards in the set, The Helpful AI (What Lies Ahead).

DOCUMENTATION: How many times have you risked a run and hit a piece of ICE that you are just shy of breaking? Especially when you are running, let's say, Ninja (Core), where you need 3 credits to raise the Strength. Pretty often, no? Well, that where this week's card can be of assistance.

The Helpful AI is just that - helpful. It isn't going to win you a game (okay, it might, under the right circumstances), but it certainly isn't going to screw you up, either. First, its +1 Link Strength is, um, okay. In-faction, it can get you to +2 Link quickly so you can install ZU.13 Key Master (Core) for 0 MU. The truly "helpful" part of The Helpful AI, though, is the +2 Strength to one Icebreaker for the rest of the turn. That's +2 Strength on every run you make for the whole turn. That can be pretty huge, actually, since you can apply it to any icebreaker you choose. There are quite a few icebreakers which increase their strength at a rate other than 1-for-1. The Helpful AI, with its 2 Credit install cost, increases the efficiency of the targeted Icebreaker. It can be used at any time that paid abilities can be used, so you can trash it in the middle of a run to save you from a Corporate Troubleshooter (if the Corp forgot to take the +2 into account), which in turn can save your rig or your life.

INSTALLATION: The Helpful AI is a Resource, not Hardware, so it is susceptible to trashing if you get tagged. However, the +1 Link, which is, as stated above, okay, is only useful to you if it is on the table for a while, helping you through a couple of Traces, so you probably want to get it out early.

It can be pretty fun to drop with your first click on a late-game turn, when the Corp has done it's math down to the last penny. Suddenly, your Ninja or Peacock or Pipeline or Mimic or Yog.0 can get you through a few extra pieces of ICE and things are much, much more dangerous. If you play The Helpful AI early, you're deciding to use it defensively (the Corp knows you have it and can take it's Strength boost into account whenever it matters), to protect you from an unexpected or boosted piece of ICE. If you hold it until you need it, you'll want to do your own math to make sure that installing it will be, you know, helpful.

IMPLEMENTATION: At 2 pips, The Helpful AI is a little steep for its effect. That's too bad, since Criminals and Anarchs want this guy much more than Shapers (in fact, the +1 Link may have only been added to give an in-faction reason to run it). An Anarch deck powered by Wyldside (Core) would probably benefit from one played offensively. Coupled with a late-game Stimhack (Core), you could crack a Remote Server that the Corp had thought impregnable. The card works well with the Criminal icebreakers (well, not so much Aurora) but it is probably not worth the Influence for them.

COUNTERMEASURES: If the Strength increase granted by The Helpful AI was for one encounter or even for one run, we'd probably tell you to just not sweat it. Since it can hose you over multiple runs, it's probably a good idea to assume that the Runner can get one of her Icebreakers up an additional 2 Strength when you are assessing risk. Oh, yeah, and assume you need 2 extra Credits to fuel that Corporate Troubleshooter (Core).

Scud is a former editor in educational publishing and is currently working on his first novel and prepping for grad school. He played the original Netrunner, played Dreamblade competitively, and writes and self-publishes a couple of comic books at Lonely Robot Comics. Also make sure to check out his Android: Netrunner blog here at CardGameDB,Electric Sheep.