Be careful you dont cross too many fields here. There are several mentions in places like SOTA which bring up that chips are only as good as their programming (specifically Im thinking of the languages in the backwater merc setion, and how it mentions some havent made it to chip yet so take a guide).

This is one area where the GM can step in with some logic and provide a bit of balance if you feel the situation is out of hand.

For example, using biotech. The guy with Biotech 6 might have learned from a school in Guatamala where he became familiar with the Guatamalan insaity peppers that appeard in the Simpsons. So, his skill of 6 covers training in how to treat the insane hallucinations brought on by said peppers of insanity. The guy chipping the skill Biotech 6 bought his chip from a UCAS based firm that programmed it in a Western Medicine style. So, he has no knowledge of the two-tone peppers. Now, the CED allows him to make expert use of his knowledge, easily being able to cross reference different fields and see how knowledge of one process can aid with another, and not roughly how much pressure to use but exactly, because its all programmed and carried out with computer precision (which is what skillsofts is, when you think about it). But, his skill of 6+6 cant treat the rare insanity pepper syndrome.

Now take the above example, plug in something relevent to your game, and you have some balance if you think its getting out of hand. For anything except possibly social skills, I really dont think its imbalanced. First aid only needs one success to succed, at best a combat skill frees up your pool (although with SL-2 and skill 6+1 for articulation you dont use much pool anyhow), etc. Social skills is the one area I might make some scessions that its a bit overpowered, but when youre negotiating with someone who has Charisma 6, skill 6 or skill 6+6 is only one success more on average. Netting 5% more nuyen per run, at the expense of the skillwire setup, isnt exactly game-breakingly good. But in some other social situations it might be a bit much.

So if my next character has a Photographic Memory, all his skills will get extra dice?

So the CED possesses artificial intelligence that makes you better at skills?

like i have allready stated, the unblanacing aspect of the CED comes into play only if the task pool can beaccessed outside of combat. the more i look into task and other dice pools i find the fact that they are suppose to work outside of combat a bit strange as when your outside of combat you can just take your time and get perfect results across the line while in combat the dice pools represent reactions and in the moment insights...

the point is that combat and rigger pools are very clear on when they kick in, but magic, hacking and task poolsare very unclear about the same (alltho the examples given for magic and hacking seems to indicate that you can use them at any time).

i have a feel that maybe the CED was suppose to be a replacement for pools like the combat pool, giving you a task pool to replace the pools you lost when chiping a skill. problem was that the wordings make it sound like you in fact get to double the skill (if you have the needed rating in CED that is). so i may well limit the CED to only affect skills that can be boosted by allready existing pools...

This whole discussion makes me glad that my group glares at anyone who wants a CED until they stop.

Use the taskpool for the skills that would be directly affected, mainly intellectual challanges. I mean, it's not likely that your pistol skill will increase greatly, right?

How about this for a spin:

The CED is a faster, smoother interface that allows the brain to better interpret and use the skillsoft.

Without the CED to smooth the input, the chip can only function at it's basic level -- the rating at which it was purchased. With the CED, the information is more easily accesible by the brain and relevant skillwires.

Now, since we're discussing pools:

What was the logic behind a combat pool? Or is it a "game thing?"

-Siege

what if, say, you houserules that chips + CEDs could never generate more total successes than the rating of teh skillsoft in question? That way, your Biotech 6 + CED 6 chip could never actually outperform the char with Biotech 6 that created the soft (as above).

my reasoning is along these lines: both the character and the chip have the exact same information at hand - but, the expert driver on the chip is able to cull teh appropriate info faster, remember information the character with biotech might not recall at that exact point in time, and never make a mistake - essentially, the CED increases the likelyhood that a character using it would "not have a bad day" - but could never outperform the natural skill (on paper).

or how about modifying the Availability and Street Index?
1-3: Availability(6)
4-6:Availability(9), and Street Index 4
7+: simply don't exist

For anything less than a high-powered campaign, newbie characters won't be so 'awesome'. After char gen, anyone willing to go under the knife to update their 'ware gets what they deserve .

combat pool represents how much attention you're giving the task at hand. if you're focusing solely on firing your weapon, you represent that in the game by allocating the maximum number of pool dice to your firearms tests. if you're also maintaining an awareness of your surroundings and generally trying to avoid being hit, you represent this in the game by spending CP on dodge / soak tests. of course, there are discrepancies--for instance, i can duck and dodge all i want, and never suffer a penalty when i'm trying to hotwire a maglock with my electronics skill. but, generally, CP represents how much attention you're paying to any given task in combat.