Hello

Quick question… can you put Ice down where there is no remote server?
For example, turn one I have zero remote servers and decide to spend my 3rd click playing Ice in front of a server that I have yet to have played (ie I plan to play it on a later turn)

Sure.  The remote server doesnt exist until you put something in it or on it.  By placing a piece of ice there, you have created a remote server.  Just that there is nothing 'in' at at that point.

To explain further; the Android Netrunner Rules of Play rulebook, page 6 states:

"

Remote Servers
The Corporation has no remote servers at the beginning of the
game. The Corporation creates remote servers by installing
cards. Cards in remote servers are active if rezzed and inactive
if unrezzed.
There is no limit to the number of remote servers the
Corporation can have at any given time.

Ice
The Corporation installs ice to protect his servers. Installed ice
is always dedicated to a particular server and placed in front
of that server. Ice can protect an empty server. Ice is active if
rezzed and inactive if unrezzed.

"

So you can create a remote server with any applicable card, including Ice and Ice can protect an empty server.

You can also run on an empty server just to see if the Corp is going to rez ice ;)

Unless you have an effect that triggers off a successful run on a remote server (like Bank Job), it doesn't seem very useful, especially given the risks.

Khudzlin said:

That could change depending on what future expansions may bring though…

TBossAZ said:

Well, what could change is the number of such effects. For now, there are only 2: Bank Job and Desperado (other successful run effects trigger only for central servers). Of the two, only Bank Job is enough reward in itself to run the risk (and my point is about risk vs reward).

As a follow-up to this - it seems that because ICE and Servers are related to each other you could theoretically have a remote server that had something (Agenda, Asset, whatever) that used to be there and was stolen and still have your ICE and Server continue to exist yeah?  Then you can install another Asset or Agenda into that remote server with all the previous ICE intact.

i.e. the ICE doesn't go away just because whatever it was protecting does.

As the rules say, a remote server exists when one of 2 conditions is true:

• there is a card installed there (agenda, asset, upgrade)
• there is ICE protecting it

Good point about a ICE not disappearing if the content is stolen/trashed. If there was no ICE and all content is removed, the remote server disappears, though (both of the above conditons are then false). The intent is to prevent the runner from attacking an unprotected empty server (no cost beyond the click and no risk) just to trigger bank job.