I just put together an Ork Samuria for an online game and I'm having trouble figuring out what to do with the last 150,000. I've got as much ware as I can handle, weapons, main apartment, two safehouse, a couple of close contacts, armor, and backup gear incase a job goes bad. What else do I need?

Spiffy threads, a vehicle, some nice comm gear...

If you have a datajack, you can get a cheap deck, or a drone to run in captain's chair mode.

Maybe buy yourself a 'partnership' in a local bar, restaurant, or similar place of business?

If you can't think you anything you'd really want, you can try getting about that much in 'loot' to represent the take from your first few runs... So maybe your have a bulldog stepvan full of electronics, or 1 gang's worth of second hand cyberware, or something like that.

A full closet of Armani is always nice. Some GMs frown on this, but you could always buy spare weapons and armor for other players who don't have as much cash. But a nice vehical is always a good thing. You might also think about getting another safehouse, and unless the GM is playing contact upkeep, you can never have too many contacts. A docwagon contract is also a good thing, but it requires you having a SIN and giving all kinds of info to DocWagon. Well worth it in my opinion though, as the SIN can be fake.

The Abstruse One

You can never have enough contacts!

Even seemingly overlapping contacts can be useful. Take bartenders for instance. One is the bartender at the Banshee, a run-down meet spot in the Barrens. The other works at the trendy corp bar two buildings over from the Ares building. One will be able to give you the skinny on any runs that have gone down, who's been talking to who that they didn't want anyone to know, etc. The other will be able to tell you about the new Knight Errant contract, the big merger between Corp A and Corp B, etc. Same archetype for bartender, but two totally different contacts.

You could have somewhere around 10 different Lone Star contacts without overlapping. Beat cop, detective, SWAT officer, pencil pusher, forensics, DED (drugs), homocide, robbery, organized crime, computer crime, magical, etc. etc. Same with Knight Errant or any other security/police corp. Also, don't forget long-distance contacts. Maybe the wageslave at the Seattle Yamatetsu building doesn't know what's going on, but the one back in Japan might.

And never overlook a level 3 contact or two. It's always good to have an NPC that's willing to put his neck on the line to help you out.

The Abstruse One

Contacts, contacts, and when you're done, a few more contacts.
Someday I'm going to have to make that face with the million, the vast majority of which goes into various L2 contacts.

~J

Thanks for the quick replies. I'd forgotten about Doc Wagon. I'm trying not to go too heavy with contacts because I know the GM will be enforcing the upkeep costs. But here's the ones I've got so far:

Ms. Johnson, Dwarf Smuggler, Street Kid, Street Doc, Loan Shark, Limo Driver, Fixer, Thaumology Professor, Drug/BTL dealer, ORC member, and Joy Girl.

Again thanks for all the help.

You're heavy on the street side, so at least one corporate or cop might be a good idea to diversify a little. I'd toss in the following contacts for sake of completion:

Decker, armorer and a corp type of some sort.

You might also look at the following:
Permanent low lifestyle (100,000)

Double check your "small stuff" gear:
subvocal mic, external transducer
transceivers (radios)
medkits
slap patches (tranq, trauma, etc.)
Maglock passkey 3 (150,000)
vehicles -- a car or bike of some sort might be useful if you have the skill to operate one.

-Siege

I think someone touched on it, but didn't come right out and say it. Get a good fake SIN. Two if you have the cash.

1) Tinkergnome has it right. A selection of fake IDs - 1 to live on, 1 to make risky purchases on, and 3 to launder money with.

2) Ever think of getting a house boat? It's a small conapt that you can move to different parts of the sprawl on a semiregular basis. Think of all those river marinas you could live at. And the bilge is a good spot to hide stuff (or under the boat in a bag).

3) Get a really wild stereo system.

4) Invest in the corner noodle stand. "Freindly turf" for meets, and if everything comes apart, they may let you hide in the big stockpot.

5) Ammo. Grenades. More ammo. More grenades.

6) Bribe a gang into being your freinds.

7) Get a small pile of bullion.

Mark it off as a donation to the mayor of Redmond's political campaign. He'll remember you, as Redmond is a poor town.

9) DocWagon & Crashcart acounts. Let'em fight over you.

10) Buy a few drones. modify them to accept a limited group of voice commands to trigger preprogrammed routines. Keep it simple enough that their teeny drone brains can handle it. As on option, simple radio codes will work too. You don't need a remote deck because they aren't networked. As an option, you could wear a remote deck plugged into your datajack. You don't need to be a rigger to operate drones in captain's chair mode.

Off topic: How do you do 8_) if it always comes out as ?

Only thing I can think of is leaving a space, so do all of your s as 8 )s.

~J

Or, just use the list features of the interface. Doesn't give you numbered lists, but can give you ones with dots. Or, don't use a parenthesis following the numbers, use a period, curly brace, braket, dash, etc.

Ummmm...after reading 2XS, Crashcart ain't coming anywhere NEAR my ass! I'd rather die on the streets!

The Abstruse One

As everyone else has said, more contacts are always good.

More false IDs are also a very good idea, and if you shell out some dough for a lifestyle for each ID (to represent safehouse upkeep and the like), that's a quick way to chew up money.

I'm always a big fan of buying an entire gang as a contact; it makes for a lot of fun RP opportunities.

Other than that, yeah, vehicles. Buy several - a slick sportscar, a nice big bike, an anonymous-looking Americar... etc. Don't forget speciality gear like Nightgliders and the like.

1. Docwagon, Docwagon, Docwagon. Buy yourself Platnium if you can, and don't leave home without it.

2. More lifestyles. Permanent Squatter lifestyles are cheap, and having five of them isn't a bad idea. You'll always have a backup safehouse. A Permanent Low isn't a bad idea either.

3. Ammo and clips. You'd be surprised how many players forget this little necessity. If nothing else, stockpile Great Dragon ATGMs now, while you still can.

4. A vehicle of some sort. Again, something players commonly forget.

5. Like Lady Jestyr said, you can never have enough fake ID's.

6. Drugs, drugs, drugs. Combat drugs primarily, but anything you can get your hands on.

A nice big stash of Long Haul, for when you really need to keep watch for the entire week.

~J

Consider the armor modifications from Cannon Companion. Thermal dampening can be very useful (especially since as a samurai you probably have a lower Signature than most of the group), as can the various specialized protection. If your GM allows it, ruthenium polymers on your armor are a great way to burn quickly through money, and a near-invisible samurai is just plain scary.

My personal fav:

Find the ammo/weapon with the highest street index that your GM will let you purchase and buy all you can, then sell it in the game. With luck, you'll make more cash than you get buy converting your left overs at 10:1 at chargen.

And yeah, good forged credsticks are worth the money.

Given that you get 30% of that, or up to 50% if you roll well, I'd say that trick doesn't work well. Better, admittedly, than the 10:1 ratio of unused cash.

~J

It's also a good way to get jacked at the meet to sell off the goods. If you're doing that, you're being munchy and GMs don't appreciate that. You're trying to get around a rule by finding a loophole. I usually don't kill characters that do that sort of thing, but I do make life hard for them to make up for it...

The Abstruse One

However, buying loads of wizzer bang-bangs and KEEPING them is perfectly acceptable...

I have these enduring images in my head of racks of identical guns. They please me...

Or, failing that - not identical guns... like this...

You should always consider that you might have team mates in need of weaponry/equipment. Some great standards:

Armour Vests (one size fits all, man)!

Pistols - probably light, with laser sights. And as many spare clips. And Ammo.

Baseline weaponry - the Cheapest SMGs you can find, same for anything else, though I tend to go for the M23 over other assault rifles.

Transceivers!!! If you can afford it, the old Tacticom system is great, with a base unit to get popped in the rigger's van. Otherwise, half a dozen at the same rating is handy!

Medical gear! Lots!

If you have a safe house you'll be using in co-operation with your crew, consider these for contents:

Containment Manacles. You KNOW you'll need them when you get back with the extractee...
Stabilisation unit.
FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And lots of spare bedding.
Big Box of Grenades. Also consider an independant grenade launcher with IR smoke. You can give it to your decker (who will be defaulting for lack of a Launch Weapons skill) and still be safe, and he can cover your exit when the corp goons arrive.
Spare Duct tape - hey, you might have run out! You DID buy a fifty roll box already, didn't you?
Dependant on what firearms rules you are using, either load up on commonly used calibers or "LP, HP, SMG, SG, AR" stuff...

And that's all she wrote!