Dumpshock Forums > A noob looking for optimization help

DeadProxy

Sep 29 2015, 07:47 PM

Good day everyone

So as the title suggested I'm a new player looking for help with optimization in SR5. I'm looking to learn not just how to make characters good/great at their jobs but why those choices are made. I'm getting into a game soon and was told to make two characters and I decided on a Street Sam/Decker combo and a Combat Mage. I know a combat mage is always doable but what about the Battle Decker? Would it be possible to give them both enough social skills so they're not a detriment to the team in social situations or is that spreading too thin?

Now I've seen some characters on this forum and the official one but honestly most of it goes over my head in figuring out how they were made. While I don't expect anyone to do all the work for me I would love it if someone could guide me through a step by step process as to why the choices were made. My characters must have a few limitations though.

1) Nothing besides base races.
2) No stat can be a 1 unless modified to something higher.
3) All books and supplements are an option except Lockdown.
4) Stats can't be augmented too much in the beginning (this is a little vague but I think nothing beyond a +3 or +4 is safe.)
5) GM has final say in Restricted Gear and doesn't want anything too cheesy but I may be able to get away with a little cheese.

So does anyone feel like taking on the monumental task of making me adequate?

BlackJaw

Sep 29 2015, 10:04 PM

QUOTE (DeadProxy @ Sep 29 2015, 12:47 PM)

I'm getting into a game soon and was told to make two characters and I decided on a Street Sam/Decker combo and a Combat Mage. I know a combat mage is always doable but what about the Battle Decker? Would it be possible to give them both enough social skills so they're not a detriment to the team in social situations or is that spreading too thin?

Deckers are a hard archetype to hybrid-ize because the price foot print for good deck is high. Deck prices are so high that the it's hard to envision getting an upgrade without a massive amount of dedicated saving, which means the smart move is to start with a deck that is as potent as you are likely to need for a long time. Second, a low grade hacker isn't very useful. The Matrix in 5th edition isn't messing around, and low quality deck will keep you from being able fulfill the role of a decker for the group.

That said, you can still make a combat and social competent decker in 5th.

I don't have time to give you a full walk through, but the general ideas:
First, Build a good solid Decker. Maybe not the best. Not one that is 100% the highest decker dice pools possible. You're going to need some wiggle room for your side abilities.
Next, give the character a solid rating 6 in Automatics. Maybe take a specialty too.
WHY: It's a versatile gun skill. The weapons it covers go from machine pistols to SMGs to Assault Rifles. That's a "subtle" to "military grade" options, plus the advantages of automatic weaponry.
To build on that, get yourself a quality cyberarm with the highest agility you can manage. AKA: Arm of god. Go FULL ARM, and pack any leftover captivity full of useful things if you can afford them, like gyro stabilization, a couple of points of armor, etc.
WHY: Combined with your skill rating, the agility of this arm will let you be very dangerous with one handed automatic weapons. I recommend starting with a suppressed machine pistol, as they tend to be cheap and concealable.
Social wise, you can probably afford to have a single useful social skill at 4 or 5, and a single point in a few other key skills so you aren't going untrained when you need them. I'm talking about Con, Etiquette, Negotiation, etc. The stuff you will use as a Shadowrunner.
While your at it, make sure you have at least 1 point the basic shadowrunner physical skills for running, climbing, swimming, etc. I once played a 4th edition decker where I ignored the physical group too much, and it was a problem when he needed to run away. When your attributes are average, the difference between untrained and rating 1 is very important. It also opens up the possibilities of specializations on the nithces you are most likely to use.
For your initiative and defense, focus more on Intuition than on Reaction, as Intuition is used for both VR and meat body initiative. You are still going to be much faster in the matrix than in the flesh.

Hopefully someone else can give you a more detailed walk through.

DeadProxy

Sep 29 2015, 10:43 PM

Well damn, that kind of sucks. My GM showed me his combat hacker sheet from 4e and from the get go it was a good fighter and good hacker with decent enough social skills. I guess 5e made hybrid builds not as effective huh? Well when you say competent what do you mean? 10 dice? 12? 14? Ok, I can follow that easily enough. What about the prioritization system? I've asked people I know who have played the game and the best I got out of them was a shrug as to how you should properly do it. I assume Skills, Resources, Attributes, and then Meta type? Should resources come first since I want a good deck and combat implants?

Glyph

Sep 30 2015, 03:01 AM

The problem with Priority is that a good decker, especially one with a side of street samurai, needs Resources: A. Then, for all of those skills, you need B. So you are stuck with Attributes: C, which makes it hard to be a decker and still be any good at combat. I am assuming metatype: D and, of course, Magic: E. I have done a rough build:

[ Spoiler ]

For gear/augmentations, I used a PACK that I did, which lets you get your deck and the gear/augmentations to go with it. On top of this, add used Reaction Enhancers: 3, and a used obvious Cyberarm with customized Agility: 3 and armor: 2. This will set you back 56,250 more Nuyen, but that still leaves 43,750 Nuyen, which should be plenty for any remaining lifestyles, gear, etc.

Medicineman

Sep 30 2015, 05:46 AM

@ Glyphs Char
maybe he should keep his CHA at 1 ( raise it Ingame asap)
and get Athletics Group at rank 1
and Tough as Nails 1
to improve his Role as Streetsam ?
And instead of Pistols he should get Automatics (Sp Autopistols) to broaden his Firearms a bit

with an optional Dance
Medicineman

Glyph

Sep 30 2015, 06:03 AM

The Charisma would break one of his GM's rules (no Attributes of 1). Automatics is the broadest skill; pistols are slightly more concealable. It depends on player preference, but I think he should stick with just one ranged skill, either way.

Medicineman

Sep 30 2015, 06:11 AM

QUOTE

The Charisma would break one of his GM's rules (no Attributes of 1).

Shoot, I forgot that.
You're right. *Sigh*

Hmmm how about than keeping STR at 1 and adding Muscle Replacement 1 ( Alpha ) ?
That way he could also keep his AGI at 1 and use the Points for Skills

QUOTE

It depends on player preference, but I think he should stick with just one ranged skill, either way.

He'll still have one Ranged Skill

JahtaHey
Medicineman

BlackJaw

Sep 30 2015, 03:20 PM

QUOTE (Medicineman @ Sep 29 2015, 10:46 PM)

@ Glyphs Char
maybe he should keep his CHA at 1 ( raise it Ingame asap)
and get Athletics Group at rank 1
and Tough as Nails 1
to improve his Role as Streetsam ?
And instead of Pistols he should get Automatics (Sp Autopistols) to broaden his Firearms a bit

with an optional Dance
Medicineman

QUOTE (Glyph @ Sep 29 2015, 11:03 PM)

The Charisma would break one of his GM's rules (no Attributes of 1). Automatics is the broadest skill; pistols are slightly more concealable. It depends on player preference, but I think he should stick with just one ranged skill, either way.

QUOTE (Medicineman @ Sep 29 2015, 11:11 PM)

Shoot, I forgot that.
You're right. *Sigh*

Hmmm how about than keeping STR at 1 and adding Muscle Replacement 1 ( Alpha ) ?
That way he could also keep his AGI at 1 and use the Points for Skills

I recommend all of this.
As I said before, Automatics is generally the best option for "only one firearm skill" characters. He can use a Machine Pistol for concealed carry, and you really don't want a character that is untrained in the Athletics group skills. When it's time to run away, and climb a fence, you do not want to be looking at low attributes and an untrained penalty. This I learned from experience playing a 4th edition Decker.

DeadProxy

Sep 30 2015, 04:15 PM

First off thank you all for the assistance. It's greatly appreciated as this system is doesn't exactly explain itself well with what is mechanically feasible and what will screw over your team. Let me go over somethings I've gathered from this thread and correct me where necessary.

1) Deckers are bloody expensive and unlike 4e hackers don't hybridize well. You can't really make a combat decker, instead the best you can do is a decker who isn't useless in a fight.

2) Resources come first because of how expensive everything is for a decker. This also leaves very little left over for augmentations that make you a good fighter. The best I can hope for is a competent fighter, not one that's actually good.

3) Looking at the dice pools I probably won't hit much so suppressive fire is my only real offensive option.

4) Automatics is the most versatile skill and I should take that as my weapon. Mainly because MPs and SMGs are one handed, full auto, and useful.

Now I know 5e changed from 4e in making wireless something people pretty much have to do to get full bonuses but from what I know of my GM none of our enemies will be that stupid. I mean in a world where 12 year olds can control tech with their minds what fool puts their arm on the grid? Especially when an internal router is an option? Speaking of which should I get an internal router? Seems like a good idea.

On a side note I find it kind of funny that I was able to make more flexible hybrid builds in games with strict class systems than SR5 which is classless.

BlackJaw

Sep 30 2015, 05:29 PM

QUOTE (DeadProxy @ Sep 30 2015, 08:15 AM)

3) Looking at the dice pools I probably won't hit much so suppressive fire is my only real offensive option.

I disagree.

With the right build you should be able to use a chosen gun rather well.
With the right cyberarm you can have Agility 9 (in just that arm) at character creation. (This is because you can build the arm with an inherent agility of 6 and +3 enhancement. this is sometimes called the "arm of awesome".) If you work the skill selections right, you can probably get a rating of 6 with an extra +2 specialty. Lastly, you should be able to get a Smartlink setup for another +2 "Matrix bonus" (no, don't get us started). That's a 19 dicepool.

You won't be a street sam because you won't have the enhanced meat body speed and toughness to go with it. A street same build focuses a lot on reflex enhancement (to make you harder to shoot) and getting initiative bonus dice (to make sure you can take lots of actions), and typically doesn't skimp on the body, armor, and other damage compensation enhancements. You're not getting much of those.

But in a gun fight you can still shoot people with not little skill.

Even the more balanced & incomplete build posted in this thread is providing 12 dice, assuming no Smartlink, and it has left over cash you could use to increase the inherent agility of the proposed cyberarm by +3, and install the smartlink for the +2, easily getting you to 17 dice.

Lobo0705

Sep 30 2015, 05:42 PM

QUOTE

1) Deckers are bloody expensive and unlike 4e hackers don't hybridize well. You can't really make a combat decker, instead the best you can do is a decker who isn't useless in a fight.

The only thing that is truly expensive about them is their deck. The difference between the Renraku Tsurugi at 214,000 and the Sony 720 at 345,000 is not worth the extra 130,000

.

However, I think that the Tsurugi is about the lowest level deck you want if you want to be good at Decking. It also depends on what you mean by "useless in a fight" compared to "competent" compared to "combat decker"

QUOTE

2) Resources come first because of how expensive everything is for a decker. This also leaves very little left over for augmentations that make you a good fighter. The best I can hope for is a competent fighter, not one that's actually good.

Resources A is necessary yes, given that you want both a good deck and augmentations. I disagree you can't make someone who is "actually good". Again, not sure what you are looking for as far as a "standard" samurai.

QUOTE

3) Looking at the dice pools I probably won't hit much so suppressive fire is my only real offensive option.

I disagree, you have the opportunity to hit quite often.

QUOTE

4) Automatics is the most versatile skill and I should take that as my weapon. Mainly because MPs and SMGs are one handed, full auto, and useful.

It depends on your GM, and the level of security you normally play with. I personally think Pistols is a better skill in some groups, but Automatics is incredibly versatile and never really a bad choice

With regards to you being "barely competent" perhaps you should describe what your GM normally throws at you in terms of opposition? If his standard goon is Reaction 6, Intuition 6, Wired 2, throwing 18 dice to shoot, then yes, you are barely competent.

But if you look at what should be a "standard opponent" i.e. Professional Rating 3 or 4, you are looking at them throwing 8 to 9 dice when shooting, and only dodging with 7 to 8 dice.

Now lets look at you, using Glyph's build for everything but what you chose to buy with the money:

With that 475K - you could look at:

Renraku Tsurugi - 214,000
Cyberarm 15000
Augmentation to Agility 6 - 15000
Agility Enhancement Rating 3 - 19500
Wired 1 - 39,000
Reflex Recorder - Automatics - 14,000
Cerebral Booster 2 - 63000
Reaction Enhancer 1 - 13000
Datajack - 1000
Cybereyes Rating 2 - 6000
(inside eyes) Smartlink - 4000
Lowlight 1500
Thermo 1500

This still leaves you with @70,000 for armor, programs, weapons, lifestyle, equipment, etc.

Using Glyph's character sheet with these changes, it makes your stats:

Body: 3
Agility: 2 [9]
Reaction: 3 (6)
Strength: 2
Charisma: 2
Intuition: 4
Logic: 6 (8 )
Willpower: 5
Edge: 5

I would also take away the Pilot Ground Craft, and pump another point into Automatics and Stealth:

So now you are looking at rolling:
Agility 9
Skill 5
Specialization 2
Smartgun Link 2
Reflex Recorder 1

Or a total of 19 dice.

This still leaves you with @70,000 for armor, programs, weapons, lifestyle, equipment, etc.

Your Initiative goes up to 2d6+10
Your dodge is still 10 dice

Will you be able to use the variety of weapons a Samurai can? No. Will you be as physically competent as a Samurai? No. But you can be really effective in a gun-fight, as well as being an excellent decker. And the Samurai can't do anything in the realm of the Matrix that you can do.

And that isn't a bad thing - if you could be every bit as good a Samurai as someone who didn't want to be a Samurai/Decker, that would be sort of silly, wouldn't it?

My 2 cents anyways.

Lobo0705

Sep 30 2015, 05:43 PM

Lol - Blackjaw and I clearly were thinking the same thing - he posted while I was writing the above

DeadProxy

Sep 30 2015, 07:10 PM

Ahh, I see. I didn't know about all those bonuses. I also didn't know I could get a single boosted arm. That seems so cheesy...good thing I like nachos

When I said competent I meant 14 dice in something. Enough to be ok but not as much as a specialist.

Ok, I should probably be a better student and voice what I actually mean better. When I say decent in a fight I mean someone who can shoot and have a decent chance of not being shot. Idk what the average defense dice pool is so I can't say how much being "decent" is but from looking at the sheet provided it looks like I'll have 6 dice? That seems like I'm going to die fast even with cover. Or am I missing a stack of bonuses somewhere?

Based on past experience I assume we won't fight anything throwing less than 10 dice but probably not more than 15. At least for now.

Glyph

Oct 1 2015, 12:01 AM

The cyberarm of awesome is a viable way to make someone focused on another specialty (face, decker, etc.) really good with their chosen weapon - I toned mine down because of your GM's rule 4) about what he considers "excessive" augmentations. Still, even my build would give Agility: 6 + skill: 4 + specialization: 2 + smartlink: 2 for 14 dice, which is decent. For passive dodging, you use Reaction plus Intuition, so that build would have 10 dice, not 6.

Now, I was assuming a basic Priority build. If your GM lets you use Sum-to-Ten, I would recommend dropping Metatype to E and raising Attributes to B. Edge is nice, yeah, but you'll still have an Edge of 3, and you'll be trading 2 points of Edge for 4 points of Attributes, enough to raise Reaction and Intuition both to 5 and Body to 4 (or you could roll with a base Reaction of 4 and a Body of 5).

Halinn

Oct 1 2015, 12:28 AM

QUOTE (DeadProxy @ Sep 30 2015, 09:10 PM)

Or am I missing a stack of bonuses somewhere?

You're possibly missing that the defense roll is reaction + intuition

DeadProxy

Oct 1 2015, 08:40 PM

So I've been finishing my decker thanks to all your help and I got to the armor section and became stumped. It says your armor is limited by your strength. That means a human at the peak of cybernetic enhancement could just barely wear a subtly armored business suit. Am I missing something? Was there an errata or out of the way paragraph I didn't read?

Edit: Noticed it says bonuses on another read. So this only applies to shields, helmets, etc? Is there an armor limit besides this?

Edit 2: Dear lord there's a lot of logistics in this game. Which programs should I get? There are like 30+ of them and aside from Exploit, Defuse, and Stealth I'm not sure which I really need.

Glyph

Oct 1 2015, 09:54 PM

Right, the armor limit only applies to things like helmets and shields, and helmets are only +2, so your character will be fine unless he tries to use a shield.

Honestly, cyberprograms are dirt cheap, and you can have any number of them in storage (the deck's Program rating only limits how many you can have running at one time), so I would just buy all of them. The PACK I did already has all of the cyberprograms from the main book.

DeadProxy

Oct 4 2015, 02:19 AM

Ok, so this is my first version. Please critique away as I only have a rough idea of what I'm doing. Also I tried finding the info in the core book and chrome flesh regarding changing implants and i came up short. What I mean is if I yank out my arm for a better grade arm will that essence not taken up act as a buffer for future implants or is it lost?

[ Spoiler ]

Jaid

Oct 6 2015, 01:44 PM

QUOTE (Glyph @ Oct 1 2015, 05:54 PM)

Right, the armor limit only applies to things like helmets and shields, and helmets are only +2, so your character will be fine unless he tries to use a shield.

Honestly, cyberprograms are dirt cheap, and you can have any number of them in storage (the deck's Program rating only limits how many you can have running at one time), so I would just buy all of them. The PACK I did already has all of the cyberprograms from the main book.

i would go so far as to recommend buying multiple copies of the instant reconfigure one. have each copy set to configure your deck for a certain task you might need to perform in an emergency; combat, escaping combat, getting marks, etc. iirc, you are only permitted to have one copy of any program running at a time, but the instant reconfigure program only runs for a brief moment, and there is no rule limiting the number you have in general, merely how many you have running at one time.

BlackJaw

Oct 7 2015, 12:09 AM

QUOTE (DeadProxy @ Oct 3 2015, 06:19 PM)

Ok, so this is my first version. Please critique away as I only have a rough idea of what I'm doing. Also I tried finding the info in the core book and chrome flesh regarding changing implants and i came up short. What I mean is if I yank out my arm for a better grade arm will that essence not taken up act as a buffer for future implants or is it lost?

[ Spoiler ]

Am I missing the Skill groups? I'm guessing Athletics is somewhere in that?

I think 5th edition still uses the "essence hole" rules like past edition. If you remove your cyber arm, you don't get essence back, but you have a "hole" you can fill before you start loosing more essence.

DeadProxy

Oct 7 2015, 12:32 AM

I can't afford the athletics group. I could drop something for a point in running if it's necessary.

BlackJaw

Oct 8 2015, 05:03 AM

QUOTE (DeadProxy @ Oct 6 2015, 04:32 PM)

I can't afford the athletics group. I could drop something for a point in running if it's necessary.

Where did you spend your 5 points of skill groups?

I really do recommend putting at least 1 point in Running. Consider dropping the specialty "Wheeled" on Pilot Ground Craft. Your a hacker/shooter. You aren't going to be the rigger/driver, and you can always pick up the specialty later if you really want it.

I learned this the hard way: My hacker/shooter character (in 4th) was part of a team that went after an Aztech drone prototype at a facility in the middle of no where (Olympic Peninsula) where we discovered a ziggurat... and a seriously high force blood spirit. We show it hell, then blew up a propane fork-lift on it, and ran like hell while it went to go eat some security guards to heal.
The entire running across the runway and trying to climb a fence before it could come back to kill us was when I realized not having the Athletics group was a bad idea. I used up a lot of Edge before I finally hid in a pond (thanks to my internal air tank and really good stealth dicepool.)

DeadProxy

Oct 8 2015, 02:43 PM

All 5 went into the Electronics group. I mostly picked the specialty because I needed to be able to drive on my own. Experience has taught me always have a spare driver but I suppose I could tell our Sammy to take a couple of points in driving. Ok, so lose the spec and buying running at 1. I would prefer not to take a point from Electronics since right now my dice pool is only 12 in all of those. That seems incredibly low since all my friends are throwing 15 minimum in their specialties.

Lobo0705

Oct 8 2015, 02:56 PM

QUOTE (BlackJaw @ Oct 8 2015, 12:03 AM)

Where did you spend your 5 points of skill groups?

He took the Electronics Group at Rating 5

I don't want to encourage Roll-playing over Role-playing, but some of those skills you may want to look at unless you think they are part of your character - for instance:

Con - 1 skill point, a total pool of 3 - I'm not sure you will ever be able to successfully use this skill at this low of a rating, unless you are attempting to con someone who is socially backward (It is resisted by Con + Charisma, and with modifiers it is probably just a wasted skill point right now).

Pilot Ground Vehicle (Wheeled) - two skill points used, and remember that Shadowrun is a world where you can very easily let the car drive you itself from point A to B - in fact, the Pilot Rating on standard vehicles is actually better than you for all types of vehicles except Wheeled, and just as good as you for Wheeled. Buy a good enough Jackrabbit Maneuvering Autosoft, and your car is actually better than you are at driving.

Those are 3 skill points that can be used for things like:

First Aid - I know you have a rating 1 in the skill, but since you only roll 8 dice, and 2 hits on the test does nothing - you need 3 to be able to heal even one box, another point here might not be a bad thing.

Perception and Stealth can be crucial - with 5 dice in stealth you are quite likely to get spotted even when you are sneaking.

Lobo0705

Oct 8 2015, 03:04 PM

QUOTE (DeadProxy @ Oct 8 2015, 09:43 AM)

That seems incredibly low since all my friends are throwing 15 minimum in their specialties.

In my experience - which is a small sample size, I will grant you, Decking skills are as follows:

Primary
Computer
Hacking
Cybercombat

Secondary
Electronic Warfare

Tertiary
Hardware
Software

Computer - used for Matrix Perception tests constantly - very important
Hacking - Hack on the Fly - one of the other most used Matrix Actions
Cybercombat - whenever anything goes wrong (which it often does) - or if you are bricking someone else's gear.

Electronic Warfare - used for Control Device (the primary use as far as I've seen), Snoop, Jamming, and checking OS (But running Baby Monitor will do the same thing).

Hardware - Jack out test (which can be important, but hopefully you aren't doing this a lot), and fixing your deck
Software - Set and Disarm Data Bomb - I really haven't had a character set a Data Bomb, and I don't see this as something that gets used a lot. Disarming a Data Bomb is important, but again, not something that happens all the time.

Again - as a caveat, I GM two groups, not a huge sample size, and your GM may have you doing different things - but this may help you prioritize your skills.

DeadProxy

Oct 8 2015, 03:48 PM

Mostly I took skills at low levels so I could throw edge at them without defaulting. Maybe I'm mixing this up with another similar rule set but isn't defaulting your stat minus 1? So I picked up some skills I was afraid of defaulting on that screwed me over last time. We had a test session where my inability to lie nearly blew the whole thing because someone noticed me fiddling around with some electronics. We ended up having to shoot the guy.

First Aid is 14 dice, r6 medkit for emergency patchwork after missions. No one else has the logic to make a decent medic.

Driving - After killing people 3 times in one mission by messing with their agents I just don't trust them. I know my GM, if we did it so can they.

I have all of those skills you listed at a minimum of 5. Everyone has their specialty skills at 5 or so but it seems like they got bonuses easier. Maybe I didn't read everything but it says skill + stat +/- bonuses = pool. The only things I found that added to my pool are either too expensive or have an availability over 12.

Lobo0705

Oct 8 2015, 04:28 PM

QUOTE (DeadProxy @ Oct 8 2015, 11:48 AM)

Mostly I took skills at low levels so I could throw edge at them without defaulting. Maybe I'm mixing this up with another similar rule set but isn't defaulting your stat minus 1? So I picked up some skills I was afraid of defaulting on that screwed me over last time. We had a test session where my inability to lie nearly blew the whole thing because someone noticed me fiddling around with some electronics. We ended up having to shoot the guy.

No - you have it correct - without skill you roll Stat -1 die. Taking it just so you can Edge it makes sense, just don't run out of edge

QUOTE (DeadProxy @ Oct 8 2015, 11:48 AM)

First Aid is 14 dice, r6 medkit for emergency patchwork after missions. No one else has the logic to make a decent medic.

Thats fine - just bear in mind that without the skill point in First Aid, you can still use that Medkit and roll 12 dice instead of 14. Depends on how important the skill point is for you.

QUOTE (DeadProxy @ Oct 8 2015, 11:48 AM)

Driving - After killing people 3 times in one mission by messing with their agents I just don't trust them. I know my GM, if we did it so can they.

If you don't have your car connected to the Matrix, no one can hack it, unless they go to your car physically jack into it with a cable. If you think your GM is likely to do that to you, then you have a point. Otherwise, just run the car offline, and you are safe.

QUOTE (DeadProxy @ Oct 8 2015, 11:48 AM)

I have all of those skills you listed at a minimum of 5. Everyone has their specialty skills at 5 or so but it seems like they got bonuses easier. Maybe I didn't read everything but it says skill + stat +/- bonuses = pool. The only things I found that added to my pool are either too expensive or have an availability over 12.

You are correct - Primarily it is stat + skill + gear. However, I think you are overlooking some things.

1) Run in Hot Sim - this gives you a +2 die pool modifier for all Matrix Actions, as well as a very high Matrix Initiative. (There are risks involved, but worth it.)

This gives you the following pools:

Matrix Perception Int 5+Skill 5 + Hot Sim =12
Hack on the Fly - Hacking 6 + Logic 7 + Codeslinger + Hot Sim=17 dice - 19 if you are hacking a device
Data Spike - Cybercombat 6 + Logic 7 + Hot Sim =15 dice

Granted, Matrix Perception is a 12, but the other two are either equal or above your fellow runners.

In addition, if you need to shoot someone, you've got:
Agility 9 + Automatics 4 + Smartgun link 2 = 15 dice, 17 if you fire an SMG.

So you should be almost on par (if not on par) with the shooters in your group, at least in your chosen weapon.

2) Buy an Agent - depending on the action, I don't see why your GM would not allow you to use it to make Teamwork tests with you, which can give you a bonus couple of dice, depending on how well it rolls.

3) Unless I missed it, You don't have a Datajack. Get one. It provides a Noise Reduction of 1 if you run it Wireless. Antennae (retractable) for your ears - get rating 3, and between them and the Datajack you've got 4 points of Noise Reduction, for a total of 2,500

They don't give you bonus dice, but Noise can drain your dice pool pretty quickly. Add in the Signal Scrub Program (which you have) and you've got 6 points of Noise Reduction.

BlackJaw

Oct 9 2015, 04:40 PM

QUOTE (Lobo0705 @ Oct 8 2015, 09:28 AM)

If you don't have your car connected to the Matrix, no one can hack it, unless they go to your car physically jack into it with a cable. If you think your GM is likely to do that to you, then you have a point. Otherwise, just run the car offline, and you are safe.

Exactly.

QUOTE (Lobo0705 @ Oct 8 2015, 09:28 AM)

You are correct - Primarily it is stat + skill + gear. However, I think you are overlooking some things.

1) Run in Hot Sim - this gives you a +2 die pool modifier for all Matrix Actions, as well as a very high Matrix Initiative. (There are risks involved, but worth it.)

The hot sim bonus is missing, but so is the Running Silent -2 penalty. Sure, you can drop the run silent issue once things hit the fan, but it's going to be there in the beginning why you are trying to hack things without setting off alarms.

QUOTE (Lobo0705 @ Oct 8 2015, 09:28 AM)

3) Unless I missed it, You don't have a Datajack. Get one. It provides a Noise Reduction of 1 if you run it Wireless. Antennae (retractable) for your ears - get rating 3, and between them and the Datajack you've got 4 points of Noise Reduction, for a total of 2,500 :nuyen: They don't give you bonus dice, but Noise can drain your dice pool pretty quickly. Add in the Signal Scrub Program (which you have) and you've got 6 points of Noise Reduction.

Retractable Antennae ears? I think I missed those. Are they in Chrome?

Tymeaus Jalynsfein

Oct 9 2015, 05:57 PM

QUOTE (BlackJaw @ Oct 9 2015, 10:40 AM)

The hot sim bonus is missing, but so is the Running Silent -2 penalty. Sure, you can drop the run silent issue once things hit the fan, but it's going to be there in the beginning why you are trying to hack things without setting off alarms.

Thus a Hacking: Running Silent Specialty is worth its weight in gold.

BlackJaw

Oct 9 2015, 07:11 PM

QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Oct 9 2015, 09:57 AM)

Thus a Hacking: Running Silent Specialty is worth its weight in gold.

I thought the Hacking skill picked up specialties by target.

Lobo0705

Oct 9 2015, 07:17 PM

QUOTE (BlackJaw @ Oct 9 2015, 12:40 PM)

Retractable Antennae ears? I think I missed those. Are they in Chrome?

Yes, they are in Chrome Flesh, page 74.

Lobo0705

Oct 9 2015, 07:18 PM

QUOTE (BlackJaw @ Oct 9 2015, 03:11 PM)

I thought the Hacking skill picked up specialties by target.

That is my understanding as well - your options being: Devices, Files, Hosts, Personas.

Tymeaus Jalynsfein

Oct 9 2015, 08:29 PM

QUOTE (BlackJaw @ Oct 9 2015, 01:11 PM)

I thought the Hacking skill picked up specialties by target.

They are simply a non-exhaustive list of Examples.
Though Some would argue that... *shrug*

Tymeaus Jalynsfein

Oct 9 2015, 08:30 PM

QUOTE (Lobo0705 @ Oct 9 2015, 01:17 PM)

Yes, they are in Chrome Flesh, page 74.

Will have to look into those... missed them, but My Fresnal Fabric works out pretty well, otherwise.

PraetorGradivus

Oct 18 2015, 04:56 AM

I always thought about trying Restricted Gear to get the Calibann off the bat with a rating 6 Sleaze Dongle and Hot-Sim...
Sleaze 6 Data Processing 7 and Firewall 7 for under 30k....
Of course you miss out on the programs and no attack.

And you can save yourself the restricted gear b going transys avalon for 6/6/6 rating.

Tymeaus Jalynsfein

Oct 18 2015, 03:31 PM

QUOTE (PraetorGradivus @ Oct 17 2015, 10:56 PM)

I always thought about trying Restricted Gear to get the Calibann off the bat with a rating 6 Sleaze Dongle and Hot-Sim...
Sleaze 6 Data Processing 7 and Firewall 7 for under 30k....
Of course you miss out on the programs and no attack.

And you can save yourself the restricted gear b going transys avalon for 6/6/6 rating.

A Stealth Dongle is Rating (Squared) x 3,000 Nuyen (same with the Attack Dongle), so no, it is not less than 30,000 for the package you describe. The Rating 6 Sleaze Dongle costs 108,000 Nuyen by itself.

PraetorGradivus

Oct 18 2015, 06:59 PM

QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ Oct 18 2015, 10:31 AM)

A Stealth Dongle is Rating (Squared) x 3,000 Nuyen (same with the Attack Dongle), so no, it is not less than 30,000 for the package you describe. The Rating 6 Sleaze Dongle costs 108,000 Nuyen by itself.

Misread it as rating times 3000....

Tymeaus Jalynsfein

Oct 18 2015, 08:20 PM

QUOTE (PraetorGradivus @ Oct 18 2015, 11:59 AM)

Misread it as rating times 3000....

No worries.