Streetsam loadouts at Chargen, Your personal preference? Options

[Elfenlied]

Hi all,
wanted to ask around what everyone's favorite streetsam loadout was? Obviously, Resources can vary from A to C (the bare minimum where I believe a Streetsam is still doable). Since used gear is highly controversial, I'll leave it out of my examples, although it can open some interesting avenues.

That said, here's a default item set that I assume every Sam will purchase:
R4 Fake SIN 10000
R6 Comlink 5000
Armored Jacket (Nonconductivity R6, Chemical Protection R6) 4000
1 Month Low Lifestyle 2000

This clocks in at 21k. Everything else (such as ware, fake licenses, weapon loadouts etc.) will depend on the Sam in question. That said, here are my favorites (based on humans; adjust as needed for other metas):

Resources A:
Cybereyes R1 4000
+Smartlink 4000
Synapse Booster R2 190000
Obvious Cyberarm 15000
+Agi Customization R3 15000
+Str Customization R3 15000
+Agi Enhancement R3 19500
+Str Enhancement R3 19500
+Armor R2 6000
=>90000 (x2 for two arms)
Platelet Factory 17000
Damage Compensators R4 8000

This leaves 26k+Karma for fake licenses, weapons and ammo. The latter are obviously up to personal taste, and vary greatly from character to character. My personal favorites in every category are:
Unarmed: Shock gloves for a non-lethal takedown (cyberarms do have drawbacks!), Knucks for extra damage
Clubs: Stun baton or telescopic staff are both interesting
Blades: Katana for weeabo mohawks, combat knife for professionals
Exotic Melee: Monowhip+Fingertip compartment. Maybe dump strength a little in this case.
Tasers: With the new way SS works, the Ex-Shocker clearly wins imo
Holdouts: None of them really stand out.
Light Pistols: Fichetti Security has reasonable damage and a huge clip; either Lightfire variant for a silenced, concealable gun
Heavy Pistols: Ruger Superwarhawk+APDS/Ex-Ex for pure power, Ares Predator for silencers; Browning Ultrapower for non-smartgunners
Machine Pistols: Ares Crusader for an automatics user without the pistols skill
Submachineguns: Ingram Smartgun as a disposable, out of the box weapon; FN Praetor+Mods for a keeper
Assault Rifles: AK-97 for something disposable, Ares Alpha for a keeper
Sniper Rifles: Remington 950 as an all-purpose sniping weapon. 1 DV less than the Desert Strike but 15k cheaper
Shotguns: T-250 for concealability, Enfield AS-7 for pure damage
Machine Guns: They all kinda suck...
Launchers: Assault Cannons are out of reach at chargen and the grenade launchers are all kinda meh.


So, what do you prefer on a Streetsam?

[phlapjack77]

My personal rule is now: always always always get an internal air tank

2nd the Ingram Smartgun as a good, cheap gun that comes with lots of useful extras as standard.

[ElFenrir]

I recently decided to make a Resources C sam for the hell of it here. Very basic, but I like how he runs.

[ Spoiler ]

Name: Kael Sudrach
Alias: Kaiser
Height: 6'11''
Weight: 300lbs
Age: 26
Hair: Dirty blonde, pretty long, some red/purple streaks
Eyes: Silver cyber
Race: Elf
Sex: Male


Priority 3 Resc Samurai:

Wired 1 Alpha: 1.6 essence
Muscle Replacement 2:
Aluminum Bone Lacing: 1 essence
Cybereyes 3 w/Fixings: .4 Essence, (w/Low-Light, Thermographic, Flare Compensation, Smartlink)
1 Essence Left
(+1 Rea, +1d6 Init, +2 Agility, +2 Str, +2 Damage Reduction, +2 Armor, Str+2P Unarmed Combat)

Elf Street Sam(Atr, Skills, Resc, Race, Magic)

Body: 5(+2 Damage Resistance)
Agility: 6(8 )
Reaction: 4(5)
Strength: 6(8 )
Charisma: 4
Intuition: 4
Logic: 3
Willpower: 3
Essence: 1
Initiative: 8(9)+1d6(2d6)
Armor: 14(Armor Jacket, Bone Lacing, 16 with Helmet Worn)
Edge: 2(10 Bonus Karma Spent)

+ Qualities: Guts(10)

-Qualities: Mild Allergy(Sunlight, +10), SINner(+5), Insomnia(+10),

+15

Skills B: (36/5)

Firearms Skill Group: 5

Unarmed Combat(spec): 6(+2)
Blades: 4
Leadership(Small-Unit Tactics): 1(+2)
Throwing Weapons: 2
Computer: 2
Pilot Ground Craft: 1
Gymnastics: 3
Running: 2
Sneaking(Urban): 2(+2)
Perception: 3
Heavy Weapons: 2
Swimming: 1
Etiquette(Street): 3(+2)
Negotiation: 2
Intimidation: 2
First Aid: 1
Armorer: 2(some Bonus Karma spent on skills)


Knowledge/Language Skills:

Safehouse Locations: 2
Area Knowledge(Berlin): 2
Area Knowledge(Seattle): 2
Security Procedures: 2
Action Movies of the 20th Century: 1


English: N
German: 3
Sperethiel: 2


Low Lifestyle(1 Month)-2,000

Katana:(11P, -3 AP, 1 reach)
Armor Jacket:
Helmet:
Combat Knife: (10P, -2 AP)
Knucks: (11P damage unarmed)
Ares Predator V-w/ 60 rounds regular, gel, APDS, conc. holster
Taurus Omni-6(smartlinked)-600, w/ 60 APDS rounds and concealable holster
HK227 SMG w/ Gas Vent 3(600), 90 rounds, 60 APDS, 60 Gel
Ares Alpha:w/120 rounds, 90 APDS, 50 Gel and Shock Pad
6 HE Mini Grenades:
5 Flash Bangs:
4 Throwing Knives:
Survival Knife:



Sunglasses(Capacity 4, with Vision Enhancement 3 and Vision Magnification):
Earbuds(Capacity 3, w/Audio Enhancement 1):
Licenses(3 at rating 4 each):
Sony Emperor Commlink:
Subvocal Mic:
Medkit(4), 2 refills:
Survival Kit:
Gas Mask:
Respirator(4):
Lined Coat: (Armor 9, +2 Concealability to anything under it)
3 Certified Credsticks(Silver):
Armorer Tools Kit-
Fake Sin(Rating 1)

Left: 50
Starting: 950

While he doesn't have the Initiative dice that his Priority A counterpart has(I wanted to test him both ways), I actually ended up liking this more because of his insane skill list. He can shoot any gun well, hits like a truck, and works for me. Also his stuff is all good to use wireless on top of it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Fyndhal]

I recently decided to make a Resources C sam for the hell of it here. Very basic, but I like how he runs.

While he doesn't have the Initiative dice that his Priority A counterpart has(I wanted to test him both ways), I actually ended up liking this more because of his insane skill list. He can shoot any gun well, hits like a truck, and works for me. Also his stuff is all good to use wireless on top of it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Not half bad. I like him!

[Dancer]

I've been considering a 'samurai' build with no init boosts at all - take a high Edge and spend one point to Blitz on the first round of combat (5d6 initiative), and on the first action phase use your spare simple action to take a dose of Jazz (+2d6 init +1 reaction).

[Voran]

I've been considering a 'samurai' build with no init boosts at all - take a high Edge and spend one point to Blitz on the first round of combat (5d6 initiative), and on the first action phase use your spare simple action to take a dose of Jazz (+2d6 init +1 reaction).

A valid approach, but you're jumping headlong into the addiction route pretty fast (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[phlapjack77]

I've been considering a 'samurai' build with no init boosts at all - take a high Edge and spend one point to Blitz on the first round of combat (5d6 initiative), and on the first action phase use your spare simple action to take a dose of Jazz (+2d6 init +1 reaction).

Look into using the adrenaline gland cyberware, could be another route to better initiative and the downsides might be less horrible than addiction and drug effects after wearing off?

[Bull]

I go for the basics:

Wired 2, Cyebreyes, Smartlink, something to boost agility and/or strength. Depending on money and essence, dermal plates or dermal sheathing.

Armor jacket, Ares Predator, Ares Alpha. APDS and Regular Rounds.

If I went for strength, swords. if not, maybe a monowhip.

that's pretty much it. I keep it simple.

[ElFenrir]

I actually find to my happiness that Wired 1 is a very good choice for a sam these days. While Initiative is always good-very good-being able to A. Spend some Edge if you have it(okay, you could in 4 but it wasn't as suggested it seems), and B. You can get multiple passes with even one die if you have a good base Initiative. Now having extra is nice-especially for defensive actions-but when someone with Wired 1 and a 10 Init can roll between 12(bad roll) and 22(best roll, up to 3 passes), it's actually pretty cosy. With the average roll being around 16-17 that's enough for 2 passes AND you're able to even take a Defensive action for -5 on top of it and still get your two actions. (11+3d6 is between 14-29-naturally, better, but still max of 3 passes, with an average roll of 20-21, and you have the ability to take an extra Defensive action or whatnot, but the difference between 2 and 3 passes aren't as breaking as SR4, I'm finding with testing.) In the older days I often didn't want to see less than 3 Initiative dice/passes in 4e on my sams, but this time around I'm quite content with the +2d6.

Resources A, I totally go for Synaptic 2(hey, again, more IS nice), 2 levels each of Muscle Aug and Toner, Orthoskin, Aluminum Bone Lacing, other odds and ends. I usually end up blowing through a good 370k-380k or so since i go for Bioware.

Resources B, with 275k, I'll go for Synaptic 1 instead and opt for Alphaware Muscle Replacement over the Aug/Toner which cuts out, between all of them, around 160k. (I might end up popping Bonus Karma on nuyen for this-though I don't have to if I go Wired 1.)

(of course, the odds and ends can be different depending on what I want from the sam, but I'd definitely like to run with that Kaiser fellow up there. Simple, but effective at both what he does and able to actually back up several other areas with competence.)