Okay, I have been doing some research on the Triads in Shadowrun and these guys are F***ing fierce. I mean, they make their own milspec gear and can smuggle it into a war zone with little effort. They are almost impossible to stamp out and tend to have numbers over most syndicates.

As I see it their strengths are numbers, good gear and magic. I don't see any major mention of extensive cyberware in Vice, so presumably they don't regularly have near-cyberpsycho muscle on the field.

Now as I understand it they have a long-standing feud of truly epic proportions with the Yakuza.

To the best of my knowledge the Yakuza have a primary strength of highly elite enforcers, excellent cyberware, and friendship with a little organization known as MCT. However, unlike the Triads i believe that the Yaks are still very much prejudiced against both women and metahumans, and I'm not sure on how they feel about magic but I'm not imagining their traditionalists are going to be that approving.

Now the reason I'm bringing this up is that our game has recently had a large power vacuum come into play and there's a real chance that the Triads and Yaks are going to go to war over who gets to fill it. I want to double check my understanding of both sides before that happens.

..not all Yakuza are prejudiced, it all depends what gumi they belong (followers of Old Way vs New Way)
also Mafia would be after the power too (depending the location of course..)

Just keep in mind that the Triads are also not just a criminal syndicate. They're an extended cooperative that offers aid to it's members of favors, shelter, beneficial business and personal loans, protection, etc. If anything, this legitimate side of Triad business absolutely dwarfs the illegal side and the loose structure of mutual beneficence willing to do quasi-legal stuff is what keeps the Triads from being wiped out. You'd have to carpet bomb 3/4 of Chinatown into the Stone Age to get even close to wiping them out, and even then you'd probably miss a few.

Psycho has it right. Triads are more like a giant trade union with a ton of perks like an arbitration system and enforcers. The Yaks are a criminal cartel (who also provide some level of social services). They're totally different animals, and I'd expect them to use very different strategies.

yea the yakuza are definitely very fierce in SR too. all about honor, they are prejudiced, but only against non japanese. they definitely think highly of magic users within the organization though. yakuza are extremely gangster and aren't above slicing a neck of another yak if the conditions deem it ok. their can be several different factions of yak in the same city working mostly seperately and can cross paths on conflicting areas.

if the triads wanna get you, you better be good at hiding cause they're very organized and have connections everywhere in the world