Control the Message. Control the Game.Second Thoughts Is Now Available for Android: Netrunner
“They don’t tell you about the dirty AI. They want you to think everything's just happy bioroids like Rex.”
–Tallie Perrault
What you thought you knew about the megacorporations of Android: Netrunner is about to get steamrolled by what you’re going to learn… Second Thoughts is now available at your local retailer.
In Second Thoughts, it’s time for keywords, on-target messaging, and doublespeak. It’s time for dirty tricks to get buried beneath the machinery of good PR. And it’s time for Runners to find new ways to complete their runs as the game’s juggernaut megacorps employ whatever methods they deem necessary to protect their information!
To Run, or Not to Run?
It’s no secret that the Criminal faction features many of the strongest, most impactful events in Android: Netrunner. Among the dirty little tricks at their disposal are a number that allow them to steal credits away from the Corp, derez ice, bypass ice, and force the Corp to rez a piece of ice or discard it. By forcing the Corp to make tough decisions about how to use its economy, 
these events allow Criminal Runners to apply constant pressure.
In Second Thoughts, the Criminals gain another strong event to help them bleed the Corp of its resources. Recon (Second Thoughts, 24) balances the Criminal’s aggressive nature with a foolproof escape plan. For a single credit, Recon allows a Runner to make a run against any server, then jack out if the Corp rezzes a piece of ice that’s truly problematic.
Of course, this only works against the first piece of ice the Runner encounters, meaning that you’ll want to target a server where the ice is derezzed, but if you do, you force the Corp to decide whether or not it’s worth revealing his secrets in order to stop you. For example, if the Corp has installed Archer (Core, 101), it’s unlikely to trash an agenda to rez the ice when you can simply jack out and avoid the ice’s harmful effects.
If the Corp doesn’t rez the ice, you can complete your run, and count it a win. If the Corp does rez the ice, you can jack out, avoid the harmful effects, chuckle as you bleed the Corp of valuable resources, and count it a win.
Still, the Corp comes out of Second Thoughts with a few new tricks of its own. Haas-Bioroid, for one, gains a new tool with which it can combat the types of resources that support the average Criminal’s economy.
Hellion Alpha Test (Second Thoughts, 31) allows the Corp to fight economy with economy! In Android: Netrunner, the Corp always goes first, and if you can generate an economic advantage early, you can prevent the Criminal from playing some of the resources, like Kati Jones (Humanity’s Shadow, 91), upon which it often relies to generate its economy. Then, if you can starve the Runner’s economy, your ice will do a better job of protecting your servers.
Of course, since Hellion Alpha Test utilizes the sort of black ops AI that the world isn’t supposed to know about, you had better be sure to win your trace. Otherwise, the reports the Runner leaks to the media may come back to hurt you…
Don’t Think Twice!
You’ll want to consider your strategies carefully as the cards from Second Thoughts enter the environment. Things are about to change. Bad publicity and good publicity matter more than ever before. Traces become more important. Runners continue to think several moves in advance, adding new Caïssa to their rigs.
The only thing you won’t need to rethink with Second Thoughts is whether or not it’s time to pick up your copy. This second Data Pack in the Spin Cycle is now available at your local retailer, so pick up your copy today!
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Control the Message. Control the Game.
