[Spitfire]

Was just curious on your guys favorite/general list of initiative boosting gear that goes beyond wired reflexes or combinations there of that you use on your characters to get and edge. I am currently using Boosted Reflexes and wanted some input if that's a good choice, though I'm weary of the long term effects of Wired Reflexes as my character will be used over a campaign stretching 20 years.

Thanks,

Fire

[ProfGast]

For 5e as of Chrome Flesh the ways to get + to Initiative/Initiative Dice that do not involve magic are as follows:

Qualities:
Lightning Reflexes (20 Karma)  - +1 Ini/ +1 Ini Dice +1 Defense Die Does not Stack with INITIATIVE enhancers.
Adrenaline Surge (12 Karma) - Special Mention, lets you go first the first turn of combat automatically.

Chrome:
Wired Reflexes - Your standard jittery wireman, Reaction and Initiative Dice.  Can stack with…
Reaction Enhancers - Increases REA.  Can stack with above with both wireless enabled
Move by Wire - Reaction, Initiative, Initiative Dice (at higher ratings) AND skillwires all for the cost of having muscles constantly in a seizure state!
Note, of the Chrome options only Reaction Enhancers really seem like they'd be good for your character

Bioware:
Synaptic Booster:  Expensive, but basically Wireless Reflexes made of actual cells.  Stacks with no REA or Ini boosters though.  Sadface.
Cerebellum Booster: Direct increase to Intuition.
Suprathyroid Gland: Adds to, among other things, Reaction.  Doesn't stacks with anything that doesn't explicitly NOT stack.
Boosted Reflexes: Cheap, Essence Intensive, Stacks with no other ini enhancers and only adds 1 Ini Die.  MAY stack with Reaction Enhancers and Cerebellum Boosters depending on interpretation.

Geneware:
Synaptic Acceleration: consider it a slightly cheaper Synaptic Booster that can only gain one level.  Note that it actually simply adds Initiative and Dodge dice instead of Reaction.  Also note RAW, can also be interpreted to stack with Reaction Enhancers and Cerebellum Boosters, but not Initiative boosts.
Reaction Optimizations: Gives you +1 Initiative if you own any level of Reaction Enhancers.  Does not stack with other ini boosts.

Drugs:
Cram: small ini boost, long preptime, long duration, painful crash.
Jazz: medium ini boost, fast preptime, short duration, minimal crash.
Kamikaze: Medium ini Boost, lots of physical att boosts, Short Duration, Big Crash
Betameth: +2 Rea +1 Int, medium preptime, long duration, painful crash.
K-10: Big INi Boost (no die though), huge buffs to combat skills. DO NOT RECOMMEND CRASH SUX.
Again, for long term game, Do not recommend drugs for your character.

[Jack_Spade]

Well, Kamikaze can be viable.
It's only physical addicting, so it can be fought with high body. A good nephritic screen will add up to 6 dice to resist (but also shorten the duration).
If you only consume pharmaceutical grade Kamikaze there is almost no chance for long term problems.
The crash with 6 stun is hard, but can be mitigated by a stim patch if necessary.

You probably don't want to use it in every fight, but it's a great help in an "end boss" fight.

[Spitfire]

So Its looking like boosted reflexes was totally not the way to go, but I can still add things to it, but I wont ever really get beyond an extra d6 initiative, huh.

[Jack_Spade]

Except for drugs - those stack 

[Whiskeyjack]

Currently have a Sam built (though not playing him yet) who has WR 2 + REA Enhancers 3 + dips in to pharma grade kamikaze when needed (he's an ork, he can handle it).

WR + REA enhancers is my favorite combo, +5 defense dice is nothing to sneeze at (unless you're an AR decker, in which case Improved Reflexes + kamikaze is the way to go).

MBW averages out to the equivalent of WR. WR is more prone to dice spiking high and low where MBW has increased static benefits. Personally I think it's too Essence intense and I don't find Skillwires to be useful the era of Jack of All Trades (a skilljack for lingua/knowsofts is incredibly useful OTOH).

Also don't like synaptic boosters because they're very costly and don't stack with the best other ware.

[Whiskeyjack]

Boosted Reflexes: Cheap, Essence Intensive, Stacks with no other ini enhancers and only adds 1 Ini Die.  MAY stack with Reaction Enhancers and Cerebellum Boosters depending on interpretation.

I don't think there's a valid interpretation that they wouldn't stack. REA Enhancers and Cerebellum Boosters are not initiative enhancements.

[Spitfire]

I am running a AR Decker, and have made a few doses of a custom drug with rules in the chrome book, with only 4S taken when I lose my high it seems a reasonable trade for either +1 initiative dice, or +2 with a -1 cap, as my mental limit is 9 dice. Still rolling one extra D6 for only 10,000 nuyen seems like not to bad a deal just have to look into raising my agility and intuition attributes as well instead of just going for strait dice.

[FST_Gemstar]

Don't forget the Geneware Narco from Chrome Flesh. will add  +1 to attributes already boosted by a drug. (Cram and Jazz become +2 Reaction, Betameth becomes +3 Rea +2 Intuition, etc.)

[Spitfire]

That sounds like a good idea, using an auto injector with custom drugs seems like the way to go, the drugs are expensive, but when you can add up to 3d6 it feels really worth it to use in those situations, plus adrenaline booster and you have a character that can go first and go often, nice.

Though I must admit the chances of addition are troubling, with the custom tailored drugs its less of a chance, seems like something ill use sparingly keeping a dose on hand just in case and use the low intensity version and see how it plays out, if I like it ill keep it, if not ill try and find something else.

Still 2d6 better than one, guess ill just have to live with that for the time being, still better than 1d6.

[kasper]

what recipee are you using for both types?

[Jack_Spade]

@Spitfire
Custom drugs are at the moment a huge trap in combat due to their high latency before they kick in (and you really can't afford the speed enhancers)
The burnout potential is just to big with their ridiculous high addiction rating.

There is a drug in Boston Lockdown that gives you +3d6 to ini with minimal addiction chance (but a few undesirable side effects)

[Spitfire]

Right now the one im using is Foundation 3 (I think, the social one) and Base 9 for initiative, I gave it tailor made so the addiction chance is lower, and only picked the first level, made a couple of doses, and added the boosters so they kick in instant, its only 150 nuyen so I figured its not to bad for a initiative boosting dice I can use as a free action with my auto-injector. I only intend to use it when im in dire straights anyway, when I need the boost to either kill someone quick, or get out fast. I currently have 2d6+9 for my initiative and im gonna look into upping my initiative pool so I can get a better start than some of the bad guys.

[Jack_Spade]

The rules are a mess with missing parts, but the example suggests that the boosters increase the thresholds for addiction. Tailor made increases the cost by factor 6 IIRC.
Has someone the rules at hand?

[Spitfire]

Well the total cost for the Drug was over 500 Nuyen, for the most basic one I could make, called it Fury since I would only use it to bring my Decker's rage upon her enemies.