Build him Better, Faster, Stronger, We likes a good challenge.... Options

[Shockwave_IIc]

Ok, i was thinking back to teh SR Street Samurai Catalog and i thought of the "Ork Street Samurai" and his "Organic Approach" to things. So i wondered....

Given the follow, would would make the best (in your opinion) "Combat bunny" I know it's moving away from the Ork samurai, but that only got me thinking...

Right then
Ork= 5 Bp
30 Attributes = 60 Bp
40 Skills = 40Bp
200,000 Nuyen = 15Bp
3 Bp spare for merits.

Ok first let me explain the resson for the low cash on such a character, Say he came up from the street and could only get enough cash to get basic stuff, though over time he's got better stuff but still nothing overly eye rising or top line.

He's still mostly human so i was thinking that his Essence should be at least 3+
Bio index, not wanting that to high, so more more then 2?
Oh and no real cyber thats totally obvious.

Smart links a must.
Other things that fit, Bone lacing, Spurs, Low lvl Sheath perhaps. Erm Dr F's fababled Skill Wires 3/ ECD 3? What would you take? Bioware Cultured if you want.

Im thinking a solid street player but not someone who would ever be a prime runner.

[Ol' Scratch]

For starters, Priority C is only 90,000 nuyen. :) If you want 200,000 nuyen, you have to use the Build Point system and put 15 BP into Resources.

Since that's a big change, I'll wait to see what you want to do before offering advice. But if it were me, I'd swap my Skills and Resources priorities especially since you're interested in Skillwires.

[John Campbell]

Um, C Resources is 90,000¥.

[Shockwave_IIc]

Ah bollocks, second time thats got me..... (tooo many BP characters.....:D)

Sorted mate.


[EDIT]
The low resources is kinda what makes the character. The skillswires, i mention only cos they are effective, and hopefull Cheap (like the budgy)

[Ol' Scratch]

Hmm, so a street-level tough guy with enough cyber and talent to make him an up-and-comer? Let's see (be sure to double check the numbers, these are all coming out of my memory)...

Attributes: Bod 9(12), Qui 6, Str 6, Cha 2, Int 4, Wil 6

Active Skills: Athletics 6, Bikes 2 (Chopper of Choice 4), Brawling 6 [Close Combat], Etiquette 2 (Street 4), Pistols 5 (Specialty of Choice 7), Pistols B/R 4, Stealth 6, Thrown Weapons 4

Edges & Flaws: Ambidexterity 4, Good Reputation 1, Police Record.

Cyberware:
Boosted Reflexes 1 (0.50e, 15,000¥)
Bone Lacing: Plastic (0.50e, 7,500¥)
Cybereyes (0.16e, 10,000¥) (Alphagrade)
> Eye Light Systems (0.16e, 2,400¥) [essence covered by free space]
> Flare Compensation (0.08e, 2,000¥) [essence covered by free space]
> Image Link (0.16e, 3,200¥) [essence covered by free space]
> Low-Light Vision (0.16e, 6,000¥) [0.06e burned beyond the free space]
Dampener (0.10e, 3,500¥)
Datajack (0.20e, 1,000¥)
> Transducer (0.10e, 2,000¥)
Dermal Sheath 1 (0.70e, 24,000¥)
Obvious Cyberhand (0.35e, 20,000¥)
> Direct Neural Interface (0.10e, 4,500¥, 0.25 ECU)
> Two DNI Memory Chips (2,000 Mp total) (6,000¥, 1.00 ECU)
> Smartlink-2 (0.25e, 3,500¥, 0.50 ECU)
> Storage Space (0.25 ECU)
Skillwires 3/27 (0.60e, 40,500¥)
> Chipjack (0.20e, 1,000¥)
> Chipjack Expert Driver 3 (0.30e, 15,000¥)

Bioware:
Enhanced Articulation (0.60b, 20,000¥) [Used; just requires a little stretching each morning]

Equipment:
ActiveSofts (5 of Choice, Rating 3) (27 Mp each) (2,700¥ each)
Two Pistols of Choice
Hardliner Gloves
Form-Fitting Full Body Armor (Chemical Seal 4)
Armored Jacket (Fire Resistance 4, Nonconductive 4)
Chopper of Choice [Used Model; -60% cost]

I think that comes out pretty close to 200,000¥, and he has tons of room to grow (Essence just under 2.0). If not, buy some of the cyberware as Used implants, explaining them either as implants you've had forever and have been through wear and tear, or maybe you actually bought them second-hand. Whatever works. :)

I know you wanted a higher Essence, and that's certainly doable by stripping away a few implants (I'd probably lose the eyes and just stick with HUD shades for the image link)... but anything above 1.5 is pretty good for a sammy-type. Just note that a low Essence doesn't make you "more machine than man." That's a pure roleplaying thing. Beyond that, did I miss anything?

EDIT: Cripes, I missed the spurs. Replace Brawling with Cyber-Implant Combat 5 (Spurs 7), drop Pistols B/R all together and lower Thrown Weapons to 2, grab Pentjak-Silat 4 and take Close Combat two times and bind one of them to your Cyber-Implant. That should balance your skills. Now, juggle your implants around for the retractable spurs and ditch the Hardliner Gloves. Sorry...

[Eyeless Blond]

(Edit: n/m; I'm stupid. :P )

[Fortune]

[Ol' Scratch]

Yes, the entire Smartlink system is 0.5 ECU and 0.25 Essence. The induction pad by itself is only 0.25 ECU and 0.1 Essence.

[Arethusa]

Can you do that? At least one of the SL-2 systems needs to be stuck in your head, I thought?

[Glyph]

It still is: that's why a smartlink in a cyberhand has a reduced Essense cost but is not totally "free", Essense-wise.

[Dr. Black]

Arent Dermal sheaths obvious cyber?

[toturi]

Not as obvious as dermal plating.

[Fortune]

[tjn]

I've tried this little challenge... I found it actually rather frustrating. The problem lies in the fact that with only 200k and 3 points of essence to work with. Alpha takes too much for most of the choice pieces of 'ware, and with 3 essence, Standard grade eats that essence up too fast.

The character I ended up with was simular to Doc's, including going over the essence limit by one. Those skillwires aren't cheap in either nuyen or essence.

[ Spoiler ]

My commentary will be found in the spoiler of each section.

Attributes:
Bod: 9(12)
Qui: 6
Str: 8
Cha: 2
Int: 2
Wil: 6

[ Spoiler ]

My inclination is to lower Str to 6 and increase Int to 4 like Doc did. But as the character is supposedly an inexperienced street-tough, I had a hard time justifying the Int raise.

Active Skills:
Pentjak-Silat: 6 (maneuvers: Blindfighting, Close Combat, Whirling)
Assault Rifles: 6
Pistols: 6
Athletics: 6
Stealth: 6
Etiquette (Street): 1/3
(Vehicle Skill [Favorite]): 1/3

[ Spoiler ]

Assault Rifles would most likely be the first to go if there was some other skill more important to the character. I might go throwing weapons instead, but an Ares Alpha with a Grenade Link can work in a pinch. Pentjak is my favorite out of the options presented in CC, and it has an interesting background IRL (least for me).

Know/Lang Skills:
Fences: 2
Gang Id: 2
Safehouses: 2
Seattle Ork Underground: 2
English (Cityspeak): 2/4
English R/W: 1
Or'Zet: 1

[ Spoiler ]

This is kinda a personal thing, so I chose ones that would be the most useful IMO. That and as an Ork, I had to get Or'Zet. :silly:

Cyber (all standard grade) [4 Essence lost]:
Datajack [0.2]
Chipjack [0.2]
Expert Chipjack Driver [0.3]
Skillwires (3/27) [0.6]
Boosted Reflexes 1 [0.5]
Plastic Bonelacing [0.5]
Dermal Sheath [0.7]
Smartlink 2 [0.5]
+Pers. Safety
+Rangefinder [0.1]
Cyberears [0.3]
+Amplifier
+Dampener
+Spatial Recognizer
Flare Comp. (Retinal Mod) [0.1]

[ Spoiler ]

To get back to 3 essence, either drop the Dermal Sheath and the Cyberears (36,200 nuyen freed) or forgo the Chipjack, ECD, and Skillwires (56,500 nuyen freed). However, it's really hard for me to let either set go, your call.

Bio (standard grade) [0.6 BioIndex]:
Enhanced Articulation [0.6]

[ Spoiler ]

Bioware is just too expensive for a lower income runner. Cept Enh Art. Too good not to have. In the future, try to find a doc capable of cultured and install a Trauma Dampener and a Synaptic Accelerator 2 to push the BioIndex right to 2.

Gear:
Shock Gloves
Secure Jacket
FFBA (Chem Seal 4)
Real Leather Pants
Personal Comm [4]
Cell
5 Activesofts [3]
Morrissey Alta (SL2)
+36 Regular rounds, 2 Spare Clips, Silencer, Rangefinder, Quickdraw Holster, Pers Safety.
Ares Alpha
+94 Regular rounds, 2 Spare Clips, Gas Vent 4, Rangefinder, Grenade Link, Sling, Pers Safety

[ Spoiler ]

Kinda got sparse due to lack of funds. If sacrificing some of the cyber to get the essence back to 3, this would allow a lot more leeway here.

Vehicles:
None starting.

[ Spoiler ]

Steal one in game. Seriously. They're too fragging expensive to be utilized as simple scene movers. Use the public transportation if it comes down to it, and try to avoid the Scatterbrains if you do.

Lifestyle:
One month of Low.

Edges/Flaws:
Extra Contact x3

[ Spoiler ]

With the three points, I'd likely buy Extra Contacts since the character has little resources to spend on them and yet still have a focus upon combat. Other potential edges: Bonus Attribute, Good Looking and Knows it + Human Looking, or Quick Healer. Or if you want to mortgage the character, Ambidex. Flaws, I usually pick up a low level common phobia as it's a quick way to add depth of character without being crippling. Heights, crowds, confined spaces... insects. :D

Contacts:
Fixer, Cyberdoc, Guru (teacher of Pentjak-Silat), Arms Dealer, Decker

[Ol' Scratch]

[Fortune]

I wasn't refering to Essence. The .25 for the Processor would be in addition of the Simrig. And the Induction Pad has no Essence cost when implanted alone in a Cyberhand.

I don't doubt you are right though. It's just like I said ... it seems weird that the Processor/Pad/Part of the Simrig all take up the same amount of space as a Datajack.

[Ol' Scratch]

Smartlinks aren't that big, really. Unlike Datajacks, they don't have any external components other than an Induction Pad, and it shouldn't be that hard to just use the material used in Induction Pads as the palm of the cyberhand rather than the normal materials (hence no real need for ECU there, so only 0.25 for that part of it alone, leaving the other 0.25 for the rest of the system.. the limited simrig is probably already built into the arm, too, but just improved to account for the demands of the smartlink). SLs have a higher Essence, though, because they require more wiring into your system to power all the different parts. A datajack is pretty straight forward.

But yeah, the ECU rules are screwy. It's only 0.25 ECU to get a Direct Neural Interface, but if you want to put in a single microchip, it takes 0.50 ECU. Go figure. :)

[Fortune]

Damn ... I didn't notice the ECU cost for DNI! :(

It should be possible to hook up multiple DNIed devices via a Router of some kind.

[Ol' Scratch]

'Course. But you need the Direct Neural Interface to use DNI with anything you installed in the limb (in addition to paying the +50% cost for modifying anything not DNI-ready so that it will work with it, which is in addition to the x4 cost for making it a built-in accessory unless designed to be from the beginning).

It's also why I just get a Datajck. It comes with three router ports if memory serves, and I use that to route the Cyberlimb, the Chipjack/Skillwires, and the Cybereye (for the Image Link). All accessories are automatically routed together within the same implant.

[Fortune]

Ok, if something would normally already be DNI-linked when implanted (like, for example, a Biometer), would it need to be DNIed again if implanted in a Cyberlimb?

For the router, I was refering to routing several DNI-linked devices, thereby reducing the actual connections needed.

Wait, are you saying you need to DNI-link the Cyberlimb itself, as well as all implanted devices? If I had three devices in the Cyberarm that needed connections, how many DNI-links would I need?

[Ol' Scratch]

No, only items that aren't DNI-ready need to have the +50% price hike to make it so.

Define "DNI-linked devices." If a component is DNI-ready, it still needs the Direct Neural Interface to wire all those components to your brain unless they already are by default. A Smartlink doesn't require the Direct Neural Interface, but a Personal Comm Unit (despite being DNI-ready) would.

[Fortune]

Ok, let's take the Cyberware Orientation System as an example. As it stands, it is normally implanted with a connection to the brain. If I were to implant it in a Cyberlimb, would I need to also install another DNI Interface for it?

Because the Orientation System works hand-in-hand with an implanted GPS, would I need an additional DNI Interface for it as well?

Since the BattleTac Link works hand in hand with the Orientation System (even acquiring a reduction in Essence and cost when implanted together), would it also require an additional DNI Interface (for a total of 3 if all three were implanted)?

Would I need to add a fourth Interface if I implanted a PCU with that BattleTac Link?

[Ol' Scratch]

I would say that, by default, any cyberware installed in a cyberlimb is DNI-ready and includes everything you need to access it normally (even if it doesn't necessarily require any more Essence loss).

Any additional accessories you install need to be DNI-ready (+50% if not already so) and requires the Direct Neural Interface component. Pocket Secretaries, Remote Control Decks/Cyberdecks (as opposed to Cranial Decks), and Bug Scanners are all examples of accessories that need a Direct Neural Interface.

In the case of an Orientation System, you're better off just installing it normally if memory serves. I think the Essence cost is the same either way, so all it does is take up ECU.

[Fortune]

No Essence cost for the OS when put in a Cyberlimb (except for the DNI Interface cost).

My question really was ... do any of these components work together enough to share a DNI Interface?

[Ol' Scratch]

On, you only need one Direct Neural Interface to control everything in the limb. You don't need it for each component. But it only allows you to control DNI-ready components.