[Furious Trope]

So, I've been playing SR since SR3 and never really got the appeal of Skillwires/jacks/softs.

Maybe I'm just being dense. What are some cool things to do with them?

[Kincaid]

In previous editions, I was a huge fan of KnowSofts, but Skillwires never quite did it for me.  I was in a group with a rigger who used Skillwires for the less common types of vehicles/weapons out there just in case the opportunity arose.  This was back when things like hovercraft, vectored thrust, and sailboat were all separate skills.

[SlowDeck]

Skillwires seem to be more for acquiring skills you don't want to spend karma on. They kinda come across as inferior to skills.

[mjack]

In SR4 we had many characters with Move-by-wire Systems (Skillwires were inclusive) and with the Skillwires Expert System from SR4 Augmentations you even got an Edge roll for Skillsoft. Still quite expensive, but an easy way to handle the balance of Karma and Cash expenses for Character Advancement.

In SR5, as Kincaid already stated, their best use - also from my experience - is to have quick access to Knowledge and Language skills. Where the latter come in handy, because the Skill rating of Language skills are the Limit for Social Skill tests now. Although it is arguable if an Edge roll is allowed for Social Skills with inherited Limit from a Skillsoft or not. At least Linguasoft provides you the possiblity to understand many more of the vast amount of different languages spoken around the SR world.

[firebug]

Skillwires are for the jack of all trades, without a doubt.  Even overlooking their limit of 6 (as opposed to how skills go to 12 now) they can't get specializations and you can't use edge.  They're good because you can collect a handful of them at a decent rating (4 is usually fine) for skills you may need, but don't want to invest Karma in.

One adventure has the PC's offered a Pilot Aircraft skillsoft to use with hang gliders they're required to use.  Another example would be something like Medicine, or Hardware or Mechanic skills, things you don't need to use a lot or be especially good at to get the job done.  For a Street Samurai, they would free up their Karma to be spent on improving their strongpoints, such as bringing weapons skills much higher or improving attributes, while they can devote a part of their money into widening their skill set.

In particular, Knowsofts and Linguasofts can be very, very useful.  They're cheap, and there's way too many knowledge skills to learn most of them.  It's also much faster to buy a Linguasoft to learn, say, Mandarin Chinese for your next job where you're working with/against the Triads.

For Karma-heavy characters like Mages and Technomancers, if you're willing to eat 1 point of Essence cost, you can get Used Rating 4 Skilljack and Skillwires are character gen.  This allows you to have a tangible thing to spend nuyen on from then out beyond the few things your archetype normally uses and lets you dump all your karma into your role without needing to spend a few to round out your skill set.

Additionally, if you are a technomancer, a Skilljack (which keep in mind, is where all your skillsofts are running, know- lingua- or active-soft) is a great target for the Machine Sprite's Diagnostics power, as you are without a doubt "using" your skilljack whenever you're using a skillsoft it's running--  With the new skill rating acting as the limit for the teamwork test.  With a Rating 4 Skilljack, you can easily have a Level 5 or 6 Machine Sprite get 4 hits to effectively double your 'ware's effectiveness.  I like to flavor it as the sprite funneling extra knowledge and experience from the Resonance itself to fill in the gaps in your software.

[Whiskeyjack]

I can't wait for MBW to be out in this edition.

Skillwires and activesofts are great for skills you may not need often, but you want to have when you need it. Like Drive/Pilot, particular weapons (i.e. you focus on Automatics, but want to be able to just load a soft when you're stranded and unarmed and find a shotgun). Or niche skills like the Athletics group which rarely come up but can be handy.

[Fedifensor]

Skillwires are wonderful for skills where you have a high attribute.  Agility and Logic cover the majority of skills in Shadowrun, and it's possible to get them very high (8+) at character creation with bioware or cyberware (and possibly Exceptional Attribute).  With an 8 in Agility and Logic, you can get 9 dice in any connected skill for a mere 5k nuyen.  With used Skillwires 4 (available at character creation) and a 20k expenditure, that's 12 dice, enough to make you an expert.  That many dice make glitches rare, and critical glitches almost impossible.

An example of a character built on this concept can be found here.

[JimmyCrisis]

I find they work okay for Riggers.  I wish they cost less... no one who would want them can afford them.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

"Can you fly that thing?"
"Not yet." Trinity snaps open her phone.
Back in the Real, Tank saw the icon, and smacked the 'receive' button.  "Operator."
"Tank, I need a program for a V-212 helicopter."
Moments later: "Let's go."

This is skillwires in a sound bite.  I, on the other hand, never really thought it was wise to go balls-to-the-wall that way; after all, all it takes is some glue and a skilltwitcher and you've just become a complete spastic incompetent ...

[Furious Trope]

Thanks everyone.

Move By Wire was always my exception for this. MBW was always good and the skillwires built in just made it a bit sweeted.

I'm thinking they could also be useful for picking up Exotic weapon skills for the lulz.

Yeah, @JimmyCrisis, I agree. 20k per rating point for both skilljack and skillwires seems a bit excessive. But that's just me.

[Xenon]

Skillwire is a bit expansive (and limited)
But Skilljack (for knowsofts and linguasofts) is actually pretty good on its own.
(the the point it is almost a must have for many face characters that plan to operate on the international scene)

[Tarislar]

I found in previous editions, and for that matter it seems in 5th too, is its a GREAT way to get those skills that maybe you don't have the Karma to go around for.

Got a Char with High Attr, High Resources, High Edge (AKA Most Sammies) who has crap for skills?
Add Skill Wires - 3 and walla, pick a few different Activesofts to rotate between as you need them.
Great IMHO for extra skills you couldn't afford at CharGen.  Got Pistols/predator at L6/Specialized since you use it most often, but now your in the barrens using a HMG on Gyro Mount - Slot Heavy Weapons-3, walla.

Sure, you can't run them all at once, but its great if you know your going to need something that you don't have on a certain run.

The Higher levels get really expensive but I found L3 to be really affordable for the utility of it.

[Whiskeyjack]

"Can you fly that thing?"
"Not yet." Trinity snaps open her phone.
Back in the Real, Tank saw the icon, and smacked the 'receive' button.  "Operator."
"Tank, I need a program for a V-212 helicopter."
Moments later: "Let's go."

This is skillwires in a sound bite.

This, exactly, I was thinking of that scene when I wrote my post too.

[Tenlaar]

It seems like these could be a cool way to work a generalist backup mage AND backup decker for a team in a long term campaign.  Start with a decent deck, R2 cerebral boosters, R3 or so skillwire/activesofts.  Work up to cerebral boosters R3 for 9 logic and R6 skillwire system and activesofts for the decker skills while you spend your karma on mage stuff.  Talk about having options, 15 dice isn't too shabby.

I might have to see how well I can plan that out.

[Furious Trope]

It seems like these could be a cool way to work a generalist backup mage AND backup decker for a team in a long term campaign.  Start with a decent deck, R2 cerebral boosters, R3 or so skillwire/activesofts.  Work up to cerebral boosters R3 for 9 logic and R6 skillwire system and activesofts for the decker skills while you spend your karma on mage stuff.  Talk about having options, 15 dice isn't too shabby.

I might have to see how well I can plan that out.

I'd love to see what you come up with for that. It's an interesting concept.