Just did a little book-diving into SR3 to see what it cost there.

A rating 5 skillsoft (think 4ish) would cost 7500 nuyen and take up 75 Mp.

The skillwires system itself cost Total Mp x Max Rating x 500, so just to slot one rating 5 skillsoft it would cost 187500 , plus the price of the softs. Two would cost twice that, because you'd have to double the skillwire memory.

A rating 3 system would run 40500 per every activesoft you wanted to have running at a time. And these weren't like today's modern activesofts, where you get to roll Attribute + Activesoft. No, you couldn't use your extra dice pools. You just rolled the Activesoft and that was that.

Realistically you could only have one or two softs running at a time before you were bankrupt.

In SR4 it looks like the cost of the system is very cheap, while they've made the softs very expensive.

:O You mean the corps would purposely release software in order for me to keep paying? WHy would they do that?

do you really want to pirate activesofts that your GM can put in really nasty viruses into? That seems silly. Not to mention, you're talking abotu 44k/month to maintain your activesofts.

It's much better to buy them outright. They don't degrade, and most of the skillsofts you'll want won't have too horrendous restrictions on them.

I forgot in my original post that it was ratingx2 for the # of ranks you could run. It's a good character concept for down the line. One of my favorites really.

Since legally bought Skillsofts are updated constantly, I would agree with you. Best bang for your buck, just takes a bit of time to acquire all the skills you may want. And there are no legal ramifications to having a Skillsoft, like there are with the Hacking Programs (Tracing is easy with Legal Programs after all), which have reasons to have cracked programs.

Really, from a metagame perspective pirating the software and just paying the upkeep on it saves you money until you have been playing in game for several years. Remember, 440,000 nuyen vs 44,000 plus 10,000 a month. You're looking at 40 months before that 10,000 per month catches up to the 400,000 base cost. I dunno about you guys, but I haven't played a game that lasted 1 year in game, let alone 3 and a half.

There is your problem... Metagame Perspective. Is that perspective worth the possible addiction, brain fry, or compulsion that a Skillsoft, that you purchase on the black market, can give to you ?

We are at the 3 year mark (Late 2068-ish to Early 2072-ish) I am pretty sure. Though I Can't remember our exact dates currently.

Popped a few too many brainbenders, have we?

That's really the fault of the GM. If your team is doing a new high-paying run every week or so, that can be pretty game-breaking. Lifestyle costs are supposed to be a sizable money sink for most runners.

Those BTL's are tough...

Wow that's pretty impressive.



And if money gain is as low as you are implying where even a medium lifestyle is even a third of your monthly gains (to the point where you can't afford the 10k a month upkeep on software), then your characters are never going to have the 45k for the original software anyway, let alone anything else you may want, and you may as well play a mage because no mundane character can keep up.

if a GM lets you pirate clean, safe, activesofts from the black market at 10% cost, then he gets what he deserves if it breaks his game.

This ^^^^^^^

Some of the little gems that could be on in your activesoft

Psychotropic(Rating):
Psychotropic software uses brute-force simsense biofeedback to imprint a victim with a certain lasting
psychological effect. Each Psychotropic program inflicts a specific effect in the form of a Negative quality. In consequence, the victim’s subconscious is “programmed” with subliminal messages without his knowledge.

Addictive (Rating 1–2)
Program Types: Simsense (BTLs)
Dealers often sell special BTL programs to first-time customers that contain dangerous BTL signals that are more addictive than usual. In game terms, this option raises the threshold for Addiction Tests by its rating.

Psychotropic can only be used on programs that inflict 'Black' damage, but there's no reason an activesoft couldn't have a biofeedback option and a psychotropic one...
Also, Addictive can only be added to BTLs.

I think you can also have limitations, like 'don't shoot Ares personell', etc.? *If* Limitation is available for simsense/activesoft; too lazy to check.

You're telling me you don't think activesofts can't have BTL options? REALLY?

And yes, Limitations can be on simsense software (which activesofts are)
So you can add don't shoot Ares Personel, don't open S-K branded security locks.

Yep. Don't forget Timer as well. And remember that Registration, while allowing non-degrading programs, also makes you easier to track.

Only because it ups your data-trail. This is a non issue with my dodge skillsoft.