[X] My Assistant

[ArkonC]

In our current game, I'm the weakest character in the lot, body 1, UE Jumpsuit, reaction 3, dodge 4, and the 3 other players keep trying to die every time they get in a gunfight, when they get in melee, they usually manage without getting close to snuffing it...
I think this has more to do with the way you defend against these type of attacks than how many times you actually get attacked...
Against melee, your defense is your character, he needs only himself and his skill (and gear and ware), but against ranged, all that pales compared to the defensive value of a nice brick wall (aka cover)...
IF your 12 CorpSec Guards are just parading around the installation in taffata ballgowns, ignoring cover and common sense tactics, they deserve to be taken out by one (1) specialized gun-totin' maniac...
If, however, the CorpSec Guards use tactics, cover and armor, there's very little chance they'll get more than a few bruises from all that split DP shooting...
Giving an extremely unlikely situation with luck skewed towards one side will of course prove that ranged is Uber-leet...
IF you want to level the playingfield somewhat, don't make everything else weaker, make melee stronger, for example with a skill of 4+ melee attacks are a simple instead of a complex action, would that balance melee-ranged-magic more?

Now if you just feel people are taking too much IP enhancers because they're too good, it doesn't really pay to gimp everyone but melee characters, and it's not even that good a gimp, since, by my estimate, SMGs should, even given the very low rate of fire in SR, be able to fire 12 rounds in 3 seconds. So all it will do is have characters switch for slow guns to faster ones that can shoot a quickly as they can...
As for the gimp on magic, I can't agrue with fluff reasons, since they're taste, but gimping it for balance? See above... Either they'll start looking for a way around it, start abusing spirits, or start throwing grenades, and in each of those cases, you're back to square 1...
If you just want people to have less IPs, just talk to your players, tell them 2 IPs is normal for combat characters and 3 is only for the elite, 4 is only encountered when you send an insulting postcard to Lofwyr, usually, players listen to this and if they realize that they can still pwn regular mooks with "only" 2 IPs, well, you get the point... Just make sure that not eveyone and their mom had WR1, because than they'll feel like you pulled a fast one on them...

Anyway 2 more of my (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) ...

[Mr. Unpronouncea...]

I think this has more to do with the way you defend against these type of attacks than how many times you actually get attacked...

Eh, probably both:

melee defense = x + y, reduced z times
ranged defense = x, reduced 2z times
where x = reaction, y = melee skill, and z = # of attacks between your actions edit: should be z = # of enemies attacking you.

So for ranged defense, you start with the same or fewer dice, and tend to reduce the pool twice as often.

[Da9iel]

I should note that while I voted that mundane/non-cybereds should be able to get more than 1 IP, I was intentionally voting to keep the system as is. Edge use grants more than 1 IP and that is enough for me.

I also voted to keep initiative enhancement as is.

I also need to note that in voting for less than 1 IP I was intentionally voting to keep the system as is by including wound and other modifiers.

If Toturi knew my previous dabbling in house rules, he'd be very proud of my progress toward orthodoxy.