[Chalkarts]

Just based on regular play experience,
Could a character with a skillwire 3 and a good spread of active softs hold their own in a fight?

I’m not expecting the character to wreck stuff, his focus is elsewhere, but would he at least be able to survive?

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Maybe, but it's more conditional than you might think.  You'd need a significant Agility for 3 skill to be reliable.  Of course, in the case of guns you can use implanted smartlinks for the extra +2 dice.

The kicker is the inability to spend edge on skillsofts.

[adzling]

He’d be a reasonable second stringer for most tables

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

True.

A good rule of thumb is your rent-a-cop types will probably be 8-10 dice pool for combat stuff.  You want to be able to reliably beat them at least.  The better-trained stuff like corp security will probably be more in the neighborhood of 12 dice.  If you're going to be a primary combatant you'll want 14-16 dice yourself, but if you can get to 12 you'll at least be able to pull your own weight and not be a liability.

[Chalkarts]

The kicker is the inability to spend edge on skillsofts.

I was going to give him an A or B for attributes, and an A or B for cash I have to decide which for which.

He’ll be in very good physical condition, but almost everything he knows comes on a chip.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

I haven't tried it yet, but you might look at the Move-By-Wire cyberware.  It's skillwires and wired reflexes at the same time.

[Chalkarts]

 If you're going to be a primary combatant you'll want 14-16 dice yourself, but if you can get to 12 you'll at least be able to pull your own weight and not be a liability.

I’ll keep that in mind.
I’m going for a second line fighter/face.
I’m thinking 2 skilljacks so he can slot a dozen skills at once, he can switch between jacks based on the situation. 
Maybe a cat burglar type, or sniper?  Nothing front line.  He’s a full on skill monkey, he just buys his skills with nuyen rather than karma.

[Hobbes]

Define "Hold your own".  If you've got enough Defense test dice you can keep ducking and dodging if Combat isn't your focus, several options for increasing your Full Defense.  A 3 in a Combat skill isn't the real problem, it's the not spending Edge on Attack rolls that'll be the main problem.

You won't be able to do much against the big bads in a fight.  Grab a full Auto weapon (Machine Pistol of some sort works) and spread around the debuffs via suppression fire if you don't have any other combat options.  Not sure what your character does if you don't have a better option  ;   )  Leadership, Hacking, Magic... you should have something.

Edit: Face = Leadership for your Combat option.  Don't worry about the guns as much.

[Chalkarts]

I haven't tried it yet, but you might look at the Move-By-Wire cyberware.  It's skillwires and wired reflexes at the same time.

Just read up on it, seems too risky.
I’m more going for a jack of all trades knows everything type.  I just want him to not be a hinderance, rather than getting owned by lone star.

[Marcus]

I wouldn't depend on skillwire for combat, as you can't spend edge when using it.

Second tier combat is certainly a doable in any archtype, when i doubt just add a agility maxed cyberarm, a smartlink, and built in gun, and your good to go.  Some reaction ware is helpful as well.

[Chalkarts]

Edit: Face = Leadership for your Combat option.  Don't worry about the guns as much.

That’s perfect!
I’d not even thought of leadership.  He’s going to be social heavy anyway.  Thanks!

[Chalkarts]

Second Skillwire Question:

If I had a skilljack and a cyberdeck could I use decking skillsofts and be able to hack like an ok decker?

[Hobbes]

Second Skillwire Question:

If I had a skilljack and a cyberdeck could I use decking skillsofts and be able to hack like an ok decker?

No.  Decking requires absurd dice pools and piles of Edge.  Logic 8, Max Skill Ranks, Specialization, and 5 Edge is standard entry point for Deckers.  Optimized Deckers find a few more dice here and there.  For a moderate Logic Face with 3 Dice, you'd struggle to get Marks on a decent commlink, or even find one if it was running silent. 

6 to 8 Dice in Hack on the Fly with no Edge would be able to slowly Hack a common, unattended, unslaved device most of the time.  The no Edge thing will kill you because you'll set off an Alert about half the time anyway because Hacking requires at least two rolls to do something.  Often three or four, each one opposed, each one with significant consequences for failure. 

That said, a Hardware Skillsoft is useful.  So is the Generic Computer Skillsoft for assisting the Hacker with Matrix Legwork.  Locksmith, and the assorted Engineering skills.

[Chalkarts]

Second Skillwire Question:

If I had a skilljack and a cyberdeck could I use decking skillsofts and be able to hack like an ok decker?

That said, a Hardware Skillsoft is useful.  So is the Generic Computer Skillsoft for assisting the Hacker with Matrix Legwork.  Locksmith, and the assorted Engineering skills.

Isn’t hardware a technical skill? 
I thought activesofts could only be “Physical Active Skills”
If I could use a skillsoft for doing vehicle repair and hardware and such, even better.

[Michael Chandra]

Hardware is a Technical Skill, which is an Active Skill, but not a Physical Active Skill (which is another subset of Active Skills).

However, the book says "physical active skills", not "Physical Active Skills". It defines that as basically all non-Magic/Resonance Active skills. So Combat Skills, Physical Active Skills, Social Skills and Technical Skills are all skillwireable under that formulation, which is a bit weird since 'physical active'/'muscle memory' and hacking/etiquette don't really combine. On the other hand, "Physical Active Skill" would exclude Combat Skills.

I am uncertain about intent, not sure what SR4 wrote about this.