Mine is specifically about PACKS, why doesn't the Basic Gear Kit include any form of communication be it commlink or two cans with string? I would think communications would be part of the basics more so than thermal smoke grenades.

Methinks that the whole act of choosing a commlink can be such a can of worms that, in order to not make the Basic Gear Kit a total waste of time for anyone with hacking skills, commlinks were left out.

Personally, I'd want to buy up commlinks and programs on a separate kit. My Cyber Samurai needs good IC to keep his link clean, but my Phys Ad couldn't care less. All this while my Rigger / Hacker wants the highest speed bleeding edge SOTA machine that can fit in a pocket.

Etc.

Given the past record of matrix gear for sample characters and NPCs, the devs probably just gave up to spare themselves any more embarrassment

They do have commlinks as a separate kit but the alternate identity kit contains a commlink and the basic contains thermal smoke grenades... Thats what blows my mind. Grenades are standard gear but not communications (doesn't have to be a commlink, though that is the obvious choice)

It's a question of modularity. Commlinks are so important that they should have their own modules. Thermal smoke is good for *everyone*, and there's only one kind of thermal smoke grenade.

Everyone should already know you need a commlink, the list seem to be better for helping new players realize what kinda gear they should take. Different characters also have very different commlink needs, and it's not unusual for even your mage to have two+ links with different set-ups/programs.