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Whenever you break a subroutine on a piece of ice, you may pay 1 cred to break 1 additional subroutine on that ice.

When would I need this card? With most icebreakers, it's 1 cred to break a subroutine.

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3 Answers 3

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As of right now, there are two situations in which E3 feedback implants are useful.

The first is that it isn't always 1 cred to break a subroutine. Aurora, Peacock, Battering Ram, and Wyrm all cost more than 1 cred to break a subroutine. Two of these (Aurora & Peacock) are the same faction as E3 feedback implants. So it's feasible that you'd save a little bit of money over time.

The second use is against bioroid ice. Bioroid ice subroutines can be broken by spending a click. So with E3 feedback implants any bioroid ice can be bypassed by paying 1 click + 1 cred/remaining subroutine. Which makes things like Janus only cost 1 click + 3 creds.

If there are things added in the future that allow breaking subroutines via non-icebreaker methods, E3 implants would also be useful in those situations.

EDIT: There was discussion about whether or not E3 feedback implants could be used as the triggering condition for itself, so here's a link to a thread on BoardGameGeek where this got answered. (It does trigger itself) http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/910289/e3-feedback-implant-official-answer

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    Beat me by 15 seconds! As an aside, I believe E3 only allows you to break one extra subroutine, not as many as you wish, though I could well be wrong.
    – Johno
    Jan 21, 2013 at 20:37
  • Added link to BGG topic that addresses that! :D Jan 21, 2013 at 20:40
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    Also, now there are more other cards that let you break a subroutine (like Grapling Hook, Quetzal or D4vid) that work with E3 feedback implants.
    – sloth
    Jun 9, 2015 at 15:05
  • @Johno E3 lets you break any number, since the first one you break with E3 triggers E3 again, letting you break another one.
    – Andrew
    Dec 30, 2017 at 18:05
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As more cards come out, new synergies will obviously appear, but I think its best use at the moment is against some of the incredibly tough Haas-Bioroid ice which allow the runner to spend clicks to break subroutines.

For instance, Janus 1.0 is an 8 strength HB ice and has four subroutines which read Do 1 brain damage, but allows the runner to spend clicks to break subroutines, one click breaks one subroutine. It might be very expensive in credits to beef up your icebreaker of choice and break all four subroutines, or expensive in clicks (if you even have enough) but with an E3 Feedback Implants, you could spend one click and three credits to break all the subroutines, which is much cheaper.

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    I think it's even better than that, 1 click plus three credits to break Janus. (Breaking a subroutine with E3 Feeback Implants triggers a new opportunity to use E3 Feedback Implants.) Jan 21, 2013 at 20:39
  • Ah, OK. Seems like needlessly ambiguous wording to me, but I'll amend my answer.
    – Johno
    Jan 21, 2013 at 20:42
  • How would you have worded it, the card needs a way to turn on when you already break a subroutine on ice, but turn off before the next ice. The easiest way to do that is to activate it for one sub only on the same ice, allowing E3 to reactivate itself.
    – Andrew
    Dec 30, 2017 at 18:12
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The rulings on e3 Feedback Implants from the Official FAQ:

e3 Feedback Implants triggers itself, so the Runner can break all subroutines on a bioroid ice by paying credits after spending a single click.

Here are some situations where e3 Feedback Implants can really be useful.

  1. Click to break - Like the official ruling says, bioroid ice is a good use for e3, look at Janus 1.0, 4 clicks is expensive to break one piece of ice, impossible without extra clicks or a free run, but 1 click and 3 credits is not nearly as bad. Same is true for Always be Running.
  2. Free break - Quetzal breaks one barrier subroutine for free each turn, triggering e3 and letting you break the rest without an icebreaker at all.
  3. Discard to break - Using Faust to break the first sub then e3 and credits to break the rest keeps more cards in hand.
  4. Remove counters to break - D4v1d and the Cerberus breakers (Cerberus "Lady" H1, Cerberus "Rex" H2 and Cerberus "Cuj.0" H3) remove counters on the card to break ice, counters that are put on during install. e3 lets you use only one counter then credits, making them useful longer.
  5. Trash to break - the B&E breakers (Crowbar, Spike and Shiv) trash to break subroutines, you won't need to trash a second crowbar if the ice has more than 3 subs, just pay into e3.
  6. More expensive breakers - Some icebreakers cost more than one credit to break subroutines, they usually have effects or high power to offset the downside, but e3 can reduce that downside even more.
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  • It is worth noting that some of these cards have rotated or been banned, notably e3 itself is rotated and Faust is banned.
    – Andrew
    Jan 25, 2018 at 20:31

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