[kyoto kid]

I agree with Fediensor, they should have just extended Chicago two more seasons and then introduced NT under the new rules instead of having it occur midstream.

There is another option, though I think it would give the campaign staff a heart attack.  Keep Neo-Tokyo missions in 5th edition for the full 4 years that were promised.  Launch a separate campaign in 2020 in a different location, and run it in 6E.

...that would be more reasonable.

Would have hated to have to rewrite Leela or my namesake midstream considering they both were about a 200 karma characters when Season 7 began.

[Hobbes]

In any case you've got about a dozen missions for 5th Edition Neo-Tokyo missions dropping at Gen Con/Origins this year.  Enjoy them!  6th Edition is such a 2020 problem.   : )

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

If there's a PM among them, it'd give Chicago runners with 150+ TKE one more 5e hurrah as well.

[Lormyr]

Any conversion would almost certainly have to be a "simple" take your earned karma and nuyen, and rebuild that character as a 6th ed PC with said karma/nuyen.

[Ghost Rigger]

Decker actions changes: Love

No more marks, no more multiple turns that will result in the combat being over before you are done. Just pick your action, make your roll, and implement the result? Yes please.

...this is about the only improvement, as yes sometimes the combat is over before you can even brick a single gun/drone or disable an installation's sentry weapons.

I don't see the problem here. While I can't (and won't) expect a decker or technomancer to keep up with a streetsam or physad, it takes a trivial amount of karma and nuyen to be able to effectively contribute to combat. Buy a gun, buy bullets and know which end of the gun the bullets come out of. And don't tell me this is unfair, because it's no less unfair than everyone else having to take basic matrix security measures. Besides, what are you going to do when the enemy has nothing worth hacking?

[Lormyr]

I don't see the problem here. While I can't (and won't) expect a decker or technomancer to keep up with a streetsam or physad, it takes a trivial amount of karma and nuyen to be able to effectively contribute to combat. Buy a gun, buy bullets and know which end of the gun the bullets come out of. And don't tell me this is unfair, because it's no less unfair than everyone else having to take basic matrix security measures. Besides, what are you going to do when the enemy has nothing worth hacking?

I agree with you. I personally wouldn't bother using hacking skills during combat under normal circumstances. My comment was directed towards the amount of time (and rolls) it currently takes to accomplish a matrix action.

That said, some people do want their deckers to be able to effectively contribute to combats using the matrix. Nothing wrong with that either.

[Ktonberry249]

Keeping 5th for Missions would be good as said above there are so many niche builds now that are supported and moving to a core or nearly-core only 6th edition would be disappointing.

[kyoto kid]

...indeed, it would mean effectively "downgrading" the character one has worked so hard to build and improve though play. Yes you would still have have all the Karma earned, but a many of extras such as new qualities, gear, powers, skills, spells, etc which were introduced in the later expansions would be gone as we'd be back to just the core book and maybe whatever the 6E version of "Run Faster" would be. 

[kyoto kid]

Decker actions changes: Love

No more marks, no more multiple turns that will result in the combat being over before you are done. Just pick your action, make your roll, and implement the result? Yes please.

...this is about the only improvement, as yes sometimes the combat is over before you can even brick a single gun/drone or disable an installation's sentry weapons.

I don't see the problem here. While I can't (and won't) expect a decker or technomancer to keep up with a streetsam or physad, it takes a trivial amount of karma and nuyen to be able to effectively contribute to combat. Buy a gun, buy bullets and know which end of the gun the bullets come out of. And don't tell me this is unfair, because it's no less unfair than everyone else having to take basic matrix security measures. Besides, what are you going to do when the enemy has nothing worth hacking?

..the difference is the where the priority of attributes linked to the character's primary skill area are.  For decking you generally need a high Logic, decent Intuition, as well as a good Willpower (the latter for defending against matrix attacks).  That often does not leave much left over for physical attributes which cover combat, particularly depending on the priority attribute points are taken at.

The decker I have been playing in Missions was built with the following: Resources: A, Skills: B, and Attributes: C. Metatype: D, and Magic/Resonance: E. her primary combat weapon is a Savalette Guardian which is capable of firing a 6 round burst (she has just enough RC on it to do so) which she usually loads with S&S rounds, but also carries a couple clips of hand load APDS (AP -5).

To get a marginally "OK" skill with it (pool of 10, +2 with Semi Automatics and another +2 with Smartlink [total 14]), I gave her a tricked out cyberarm for her "shooting hand" (with a 6 Agility, 3 Strength, and 2 Armour) along with some initiative boosting and a little more built in armour (Orthoskin) so when the lead starts flying, it isn't a case of "duck and cover".  Yes, this meant her physical attributes are low (she cannot even wear an armoured business suit with a "fitted" [stacking] overcoat without incurring a penalty to Agility and Reaction) to give her high pools in her Cracking/Electronics skills. 

Meanwhile, it is against Matrix threats, wireless gear/systems, and even opposing deckers, where she "rocks" (as it should be).  The Sammys (and often Spell Slingers) are where a team's real "front-line" firepower has traditionally always been.  She can hold her own and contribute to combat when she needs to (actually has done so on several occasions) or get her hoop out of trouble, but she's not going to play "Han Solo" and blindly chase a bunch of sec guards down a corridor while wildly firing at them.

[Ghost Rigger]

But you don't even need 14 dice. You need 5 dice (3 from Agility, 1 from skill and 1 from smartgun) and a gun with full auto so that you can lay down suppressive fire. Maybe if you've got a little extra nuyen, you slap some recoil reduction mods so that you can get a decent burst on a single target. Heck, my group's decker has been able to contribute to combat just fine with 4 dice and an Ares Predator V, and she doesn't even have any ranks in Pistol...maybe I should bug her to pick up a few ranks. But my point is she's not throwing around the 12-13+ dice the throwing and unarmed adept is, and she certainly isn't throwing around the 20 dice in gunnery I've going to be using with a heavily modded Auto-Assault 16 next session. And she doesn't need to if to get things done in combat....though, 11 dice in clubs with a stave specialization has also come in handy.

[Lormyr]

I mean, if I was going to do it, I would just spring for the Str 9, Agi 9 cyberarm, put 6 and a spec in longarms, do a whole mess of drugs, and wreck arse with a shotgun. Just my style though, and requires no attribute investment.

My only season 9 character is a decker/rigger atm, and is very. . .abnormal. I took Infirm x5 as negative qualities to represent how completely blasted what is left of his body is, so all of his physical attributes are 1. He's very much a stay in the van or die sort.

Restricted gear got him a pilot rating 6, monofilament whip wielding anthro drone for combat contribution though. That thing is pretty nasty.

[kyoto kid]

But you don't even need 14 dice. You need 5 dice (3 from Agility, 1 from skill and 1 from smartgun) and a gun with full auto so that you can lay down suppressive fire. Maybe if you've got a little extra nuyen, you slap some recoil reduction mods so that you can get a decent burst on a single target. Heck, my group's decker has been able to contribute to combat just fine with 4 dice and an Ares Predator V, and she doesn't even have any ranks in Pistol...maybe I should bug her to pick up a few ranks. But my point is she's not throwing around the 12-13+ dice the throwing and unarmed adept is, and she certainly isn't throwing around the 20 dice in gunnery I've going to be using with a heavily modded Auto-Assault 16 next session. And she doesn't need to if to get things done in combat....though, 11 dice in clubs with a stave specialization has also come in handy.

...in suppression fire, net hits are what set the negative modifiers. With 5 dice that may net you one.  Also you use only the weapon's base damage, unmodified by net hits.  So a machine pistol with a base of DV of 6 may be effective against very lightly or unarmoured opponents but an opposing team of  runners with even moderate armour (Jacket, Ballistic mask and Forearm guards) would be different story.

With the pool she has (compared to an earlier version of the character) she has been more effective as a "second rank" combatant and actually participates in combat rather than looking for someplace to run and hide. In the missions group I am in there are a number of overpowered min-maxed characters which often requires the GM to "push the envelope" (sending in tougher opponents) so a pool of 12 - 14 dice becomes necessary to deal with the higher armour values and dodge pools.  A 4 or 5 dice shot could be easily dodged.

Oh and as I mentioned she did put recoil comp on her Guardian so she is able to fire a single 6 round burst (or two 3 round bursts) with no penalty.

As to a physical attack, hits are capped by one's physical limit which in the case of this character is rather low as again, Priority C was applied to Attributes so there wasn't a lot to work with after applying points to her mental attributes so she could actually crack a host.

[Ghost Rigger]

...in suppression fire, net hits are what set the negative modifiers. With 5 dice that may net you one.  Also you use only the weapon's base damage, unmodified by net hits.  So a machine pistol with a base of DV of 6 may be effective against very lightly or unarmoured opponents but an opposing team of  runners with even moderate armour (Jacket, Ballistic mask and Forearm guards) would be different story.

Except you don't need a lot of hits or high base damage for suppressive fire to be effective. Just 1 hit will get you a -1 penalty on (potentially) a lot of enemies who will probably decide to either drop prone or move into cover. That's why it's called suppressive fire.

[kyoto kid]

I mean, if I was going to do it, I would just spring for the Str 9, Agi 9 cyberarm, put 6 and a spec in longarms, do a whole mess of drugs, and wreck arse with a shotgun. Just my style though, and requires no attribute investment.

My only season 9 character is a decker/rigger atm, and is very. . .abnormal. I took Infirm x5 as negative qualities to represent how completely blasted what is left of his body is, so all of his physical attributes are 1. He's very much a stay in the van or die sort.

Restricted gear got him a pilot rating 6, monofilament whip wielding anthro drone for combat contribution though. That thing is pretty nasty.

...we have a rigger like that. He has three antrho drones all with realistic features and armour that are armed with both flamethrowers and Ares Alphas.

The issue with Longarms is the pool is it takes two arms to steady and fire a rifle or shotgun. Now here is here it gets hazy and I've asked this elsewhere, does the character use her overall average Agility of 3 or the average between just the two arms (which would be 5 [2 natural 8 cyberarm])? 

The only drugs Violet uses are are Psyche (naturally), and Cram for a bit more combat speed (both Designer grade) as they both use her Logic ( and Willpower (5) for the addiction test.  Something like Kamikaze also requires a physical as well as mental addiction test which given her Body of 3 and teh drug's addiction rating/threshold, would very likely result in a short career. 

[kyoto kid]

...in suppression fire, net hits are what set the negative modifiers. With 5 dice that may net you one.  Also you use only the weapon's base damage, unmodified by net hits.  So a machine pistol with a base of DV of 6 may be effective against very lightly or unarmoured opponents but an opposing team of  runners with even moderate armour (Jacket, Ballistic mask and Forearm guards) would be different story.

Except you don't need a lot of hits or high base damage for suppressive fire to be effective. Just 1 hit will get you a -1 penalty on (potentially) a lot of enemies who will probably decide to either drop prone or move into cover. That's why it's called suppressive fire.

...true however more net hits means a higher negative modifier and a higher base damage code may keep the one or more of oppos from thinking of standing up or moving from behind cover to take a pot shot.