Regarding legwork - remember the quote: "It is not about what do you know, it is all about who do you know"
If any of you ask a question to your contact (although I'd prefer in IC posts, to get the question wording more accurate), take note of the below.
Based upon contact rating and his relevance to the subject, I'll assess how much on a given topic a given contact know. Usually there are up to six ranks of information.
Then make a roll on Charisma + Etiquette + Loyalty. This is to assess how much of this you'll get for free. Each additional piece if available will cost you at least 50 NY.
There is also an option to ask your contact to ask around. This will take time (at least 20 minutes) and each additional piece of info will cost you at least 200 NY.
so if you ask a contact, make an Cha + Eti + Loy roll in OOC for each question you ask. and let me know how much you're willing to spend at maximum.
the datasearches work similiarly, without the possibility for extended search.
You get rank 0 information for free (public knowledge), then for each 6 hits on limited extended test you get additional level for free.
as usual, this is only the framework, I may (as I am already doing sometimes) decide to not use it and ignore your rolls for special/restricted information. But most topics will be covered along this lines.