That's the question, though. Short of directly fighting an AI, Fastjack has never been beaten in a fair fight that we know of.

The question is also one of SR4 otaku vs Fastjack. People keep saying that, with enough karma, an otaku plus sprites and threading will dominate any decker. But where will that same decker be, once he's got the same amount of karma? We know what Fastjack will be like: he'll have 7's in all his appropriate skills and needed attributes, a legendary Response 7 chipset in an amazing modified commlink (and will have the processor from a Mac Firestorm operating the digital clock), insane programs, and so on and so forth. But how much karma will it take to get him to the point of 7's in all the needed skills? To be able to build that amazing modernized cyberdeck, and code all his own programs?

Once we know a karma total, we can make the comparison, and see if the new otaku can really keep up.

Here's my idea of Fastjack's relevant stats

Logic 7 (exceptional attribute)
Willpower 6
Intuition 5
Reaction 5

Skills:
Cracking 7
Computer 7

I remember fastjack mentioning he didn't want an encephalon, as he preferred to think for himself. However, he did mention having a math SPU, so lets say for cyberware:
Math SPU
Datajack

Qualities:
Codeslinger on EVERY action.
Aptitude on all cracking/electronics skills (hence the 7s)

Now due to his legendary status as a hacker, I imagine he has the contacts, skills and resources to invest in technology beyond the SOTA.

Commlink:
Firewall: 8
System: 8
Signal 6
Response: 8

Throw in every useful commlink mod such as a simsense accelerator, optimisation, etc.

Programs:
All programs at 8

Given this, his DP for any computer skill in hot VR is 19. Not bad, considering he doesn't have an encephalon, which would bump it up to 21 dice. If you threw in Neocortical nanite neural amplifiers at rating 3 you'd be up to 24. Add the PuSHeD genetic mod and you've got 25.

Now combine this with 50+ years of experience and knowledge.

Do you remember the source for Fastjack having cyberware (other than a datajack) ?

Page 52 of Shadowtech (1992, FASA 7110) implies he does not have a Math SPU, while page 57 hints he may have a C² deck (cyber-commlink)

I would guess that he has a fully tricked out delta grade cybercomm, and a fully tricked out "regular" commlink. The latter would contain his Apple chip (since it's too big to be part of an implanted commlink).

Sir_P: I like that writeup! That's more or less what I was looking for.

Now, for the million-nuyen question: how much karma would that cost?

This has been bugging me for a while, any reason YOU can't do such a write-up instead of bugging other people about it?

Yeah, my math skills suck and I stink at making characters.

It can take me days to do what some people here can do in seconds. And even then, I'd probably miss something or get something wrong. So why not go straight to the experts?