[Senko]

I was just wondering do experienced deckers think the farlight excalibur at 800k is worth it or are you better off getting a cheaper deck + cyber/bioware and other gear?

[Mirikon]

For a starting character? No, you can absolutely go with a cheaper deck. But in play? There's so many, many ways to 'acquire' an Excalibur without actually paying for it.

[Senko]

Hmmmmm . . .

[Kincaid]

The only time I've ever seen anyone actually pay for a Fairlight was back in 2nd edition (and it cost a cool 5,000,000¥!)*.  Everyone else "acquired" one.

*) The decking rules allowed for some crazy things back then.

[Senko]

Hard to aquire though, I can't see a company not chasing up a shipment of these going missing.

[martinchaen]

For a starting character? No, you can absolutely go with a cheaper deck. But in play? There's so many, many ways to 'acquire' an Excalibur without actually paying for it.

You can't even get the Fairlight as a starting character, even under Prime Runner rules. The only way a starting character can get his hands on an Excalibur is under the High Life and Military or Mercenary Rules, or at GM Fiat.

Even then, at 800k it is way out of reach for most characters.

[Whiskeyjack]

For a starting character? No, you can absolutely go with a cheaper deck. But in play? There's so many, many ways to 'acquire' an Excalibur without actually paying for it.

Yeah, just depends on how much the GM is willing to work with you on designing a situation for you to steal it. Probably a whole run unto itself, not just a downtime thing.