Can anyone help me and my friend out? We started playing Netrunner last night and we both took turns playing the Corp and the Runner (1 win for each side). Does anyone know what are the most common overlooked rules in the game that new players might be making? I'm pretty sure he and I are doing at least a couple. Thought I'd ask the A:NR community their thoughts and takes on it.

Some people make the mistake of thinking the Runner draws a card then gets 4 clicks per turn when it's really just 4 clicks without a mandatory draw.

One thing I've noticed new players misunderstanding is the timing of events, especially those that initiate a run such as The Maker's Eye. Either they use a click to play the event, and then try to use another to do the run (you don't need to… if the event says "Make a run [on X]" the event is already initiating the run for you, you just need to spend the click to play the event) or they try to play it in the middle of during a run (you cannot do an action such as playing an event while resolving another action, such as making a run -- actions here referring to anything that requires a click, as opposed to paid abilities such as those on icebreakers).

The mistakes we have made so far were not realizing that Wyrm had to match the Ice power before lowering its strength and that Medium ignores the first token.

I think a lot of people coming in from other CCG/TCG/LCG arenas will make timing mistakes, thinking they can "respond" or "react" to various things or that they can combine cards like Sneakdoor Beta and Stimhack.

Upgrades were the biggest thing that tripped me up, since the rulebook isn't very clear on them. It explains well that upgrades can be installed in the root of central servers (Archives, R&D, HQ) and accessed at the end of a successful run there. But they're also installed at the end of remote servers like Agendas or Assets (it's just not called the "root" of the server then). In fact, while you can have only one Agenda or one Asset in a remote server, you can have any number of upgrades *in addition to* that Agenda or Asset. Likewise, you can have multiple upgrades in the root of central servers as well. It just has to be clear they're separate cards and the runner chooses in what order to access them after a successful run.

Also, make sure you print out a copy of the FAQ with the updated timing structure. Another common mistake is that runners don't realize they have an opportunity right before accessing cards in a server to jack out of the run. Corp just avoided rezzing two pieces of ice in front of his double-advanced installed card? You can jack out before hitting his Project Junebug.

capbarclay said:

capbarclay said:

Just to be clear, Upgrades in remote servers are installed on the same "level" as agendas/assets (since there is no root in remote servers) and it does not have to be clear when installing a card in a remote whether it is an upgrade or an agenda/asset.

And I agree that upgrades trip new players up a lot of the time, but I find it unfair to blame the rulebook; I think the rulebook is sufficiently clear on how to handle upgrades. (Just as it is sufficiently clear on most other issues that new players struggle with, it's often just a matter of people not reading carefully enough)

Messenger said:

The simple reason is that there's practically no other place on the table to install them. In front of the server is the ice, to the sides of them there will likely be other servers, so behind the server is really the only spot where it makes sense to put an upgrade. And then the designer decided to give that area a name for flavor reasons.

Oh, I'm not referring to the physical location on the table. I was wondering why there needs to be a separate area, a distinction, between upgrade and server among central servers but not among remote ones, especially where a successful runner accesses both anyway in both servers. It's that cards in the central servers are always in flux- they're moving and changing and getting rearranged (R&D to HQ to Archives) while remote servers are usually pretty static (and clear in their movement when they do move). In all that movement, it's not hard for an upgrade to mixed into a place where it shouldn't be.

Messenger said:

Eh? I don't understand. How would you install an upgrade in a central server and not have it be in a distinct location?

If you think of it as the deck being the "asset" installed in R&D, for example, you'll usually come to the right conclusion.

Saturnine said:

Right. It just has to be clear to the Runner how *many* cards are installed in the server, and each with a distinction from the others so s/he can choose how to access them (you can't create an endless single pile of cards in a server, for example).

Saturnine said:

As such, it's easy for those upgrades to get mixed back into one's HQ, R&D and Archives, either to the unfair advantage or disadvantage of the Corp player. Occupying the same space, what's to stop an upgrade from being mistaken as simply the bottom card of one's deck or discard pile? In the hustle and bustle of moving cards around, it can happen.

The answer to this problem is to create areas within each central server that are still apart and distinct from one's hand, deck and discard pile. Hence, central servers have roots.

Couple things we've had to catch ourselves doing:

• corps paying credits for additional ICE installed on a server
• runners keeping track of their memory (as an aside, why didn't they add a graphic under Link for Memory Unit?)
• corps losing track of when they can rez assets/upgrades (outside of their three clicks)
• runners are not flatlined at 0 cards

BrandonCarpenter said: