QUOTE (UmaroVI @ Mar 22 2012, 05:48 PM)
Why they suck can best be summed as "HERPADERP WHAT HOSTILE IC." They don't have Analyze, which is a huge drawback, because you can't even roll matrix perception without it. In return for that, they are, at best, mediocre at fighting. I tend to prefer Paladin sprites to Fault sprites, but Fault sprites at least have Analyze so they aren't complete derpsauce.
Consider a showdown between a r6 Paladin sprite (Attack, Expert Defense) and a r6 Tank sprite (Cascading, Shield). I'm assuming they're on a Response 6 node (Cascading checks the response of the node, not the agent).
Even with full Cascading, the Tank sprite is rolling a whopping 18 dice to hit, versus the 25 dice the tank sprite defends with. It can't even roll that many until pass 2 (assuming Assault on the first pass, which it should definitely do). Meanwhile, the Paladin sprite can disarm all of the Tank sprite's programs and then slap it to death (or just ignore it).
I suppose my problem is I started SR with 4a.
When the rules say I can have charisma in sprites, I take charisma in sprites. Given *any* amount of reasonable downtime between missions, there's little reason not to have the full entourage ready to go. So while perhaps you might feel a tank isn't a good match against a paladin, 3 tanks, a pally and a sleuth waiting to track your ass down should you decide to run make for quite the friends-list in the matrix.
There seems to be this idea that one sprite should be enough, or that more is overkill. I feel like it's something that's got to come from previous games. Your full compliment should be your standard array. It'd be like the team sniper leaving some parts of his gun home, figuring the scope should be enough to get the job done.