I was wondering what are good things for a rigger/hacker to be concerned of at chargen. If I play this character he will be rigger/hacker/team coordination expert and just provide additional support via hacking, drones, or information relay.

What stats are the most useful?

What skills should be emphasized?

What bio/cyber ware should this character try and get?

What software should he get?

What are good starting drones?

thanks!

Unless you're trying to be a Face or a sammy you can pretty much ignore Charisma, Strength, and maybe even Willpower. Agility, Reaction, Logic, and Intuition will be your primary stats.

Getting the Cracking group at 4 is a good way to start. Then the Vehicle skills, don't forget or neglect Gunnery if you intend to 'jump in' and shoot once in a while. The Electronics group at 2 should be decent for your needs.

An integral commlink and control rig are standard. You can get the new things from Augmentation such as the Control Rig Booster if you want. Beyond that, the sky is the limit. Or your Essence pool. I'd suggest the Radar implant too, that'll come in handy. Skillwires also make Hacker/Riggers shine, though they're not necessary and it's really true for anyone with Skillwires.

All the mundane software like Edit and Analyze are cheap. Buy all of those at rating 6 at chargen, 600 I believe. Then you need Exploit, Spoof, Attack, Decrypt, Stealth programs which cost a fair bit more. A high Firewall is necesary.

The drones are decent. Dobermans are good attack Drones if you can't get a Steel Lynx, the Autodoc too can be a lifesaver (give it a weapons mount and a grenade launcher full of thermal smoke and it can create cover for you and help out your teammates). I say get one of each of the spying drones, one rotodrone, and so on.

Remember to upgrade them though.

Skills
Hacker
Cracking 4

Rigger
Electronics 4 (high rating for hardware and software)
Dodge
Perception
Infiltration
Gunnery 1
Vehicle Skills 1-3 (only for your favorite drones, not literally ALL like a friend did)

Team Coordination
Leadership skill (your choice, not actually ever needed ingame)


Stats
Nothing that important. High initiative is nice in VR so intuition 5, anything else is optional, sadly including logic. I´d base my decision on the desired direct-combat performance, but given the software+hardware requirements of a hacker you are not going to be good at that anyway. (My hacker/rigger has 75k ¥ in software alone).


Ware
Skillwires are a nice option. As is an internal comlink(upgraded) with orientation system, math SPU and vehicle rig (name?). With smartlink and vehicle rig you are at +4 dice for gunnery, enough for most purposes.

Software
Pilot + clearsight, defense, all hacker softs, Response and System upgrades to the drones.... There is also the issue of agents, but you will be tight for money without.

Good starting drones
Kanmushi fittet with maxxed camera. Clearsight software.

Flyspy fittet with maxxed camera and directional microphone. CS.

MCT-Nissan rotordrone fittet with ares alpha for combat. CS (target aquisition), defense autosoft (if the drone has to fight alone), ECCM (to never fear ECM).

Doberman ground combat drone. Just like the rotordrone.

Silenced MA2100 Sniper Rifles can even kill vehicles and tough targets like a Steel Lynx... especially when using APDS ammo and are more forgiving when using expensive ammo like APDS on the credstick since they only need 1 round to kill a target and not a burst or grenade. The ability to fire almost a mile with sensor lock passed from a kanmushi is just a plus.

Either Electronic Warfare or Hacking for a typical hacker or Infiltration 5 and your favorite piloting skill at 5 since the piloting skills caps the infiltration skill.

Like all Niche characters the knowledge skills define the character too: Smuggler Routes and other knowledge skills like Electronics background can make a big difference in how well your character can do.

The autodoc can indeed be a lifesaver or life taker... having it deliver seditives to 'extracted' clients and using cyberware scanners to identify potential organlegging victims can make for a very dark rigger indeed. Autodocs can also be activated while in full VR when your biomonitor says you're condition is no longer perfect health. It can make a hard run a little bit less life threatening.

Lastly, any rigger needs a loot box with antiwireless paint. Dump what you get in there and sort it out later. That way RFID Security Tags and implanyted nastiness isnt as much of a threat during a getaway. I personally size mine for a high-Body attribute troll...