[Shango]

I have noticed a trend in my games (both as GM and player) to go for shock weapons whenever possible.
Probably because a shock attack is usually around 6S and the target only gets to use half of their impact armor in the resistance test.
Even if the armor is insalated, impact armor tends to be lower than ballistic, so it is still more efective.
Am I missing something here?
Does insulated armor make you totaly immune to shock weapons or do extra succeses not add to the damage from them?
I guess it's not really THAT big a deal, but it does kinda lessen the "Life is cheap" attitude of the earlier versions of the game.

-Erich

[Mirikon]

Life may be cheap, but massive body counts tend to make you very popular with the local law enforcement.

[Bruce]

It depends on the runners (and the run).  One of my characters uses shock frills frequently.  However, when the runners were confronted with a corporation black op that was gathering up street people and turning them into 'Changed' to provoke an incident, the SMG came out very quickly.

[CitizenJoe]

The Yamaha Pulsar started this trend when it switched to capacitor rounds instead of the wires.  That I believe became the Stick-N-Shock rounds which are (IMO) too prevalent.  Basic ammo is cheap, but the moment that a taser type ammo becomes comparably priced, it becomes a much more attractive option, especially if you don't need to change your weapon, just the magazine.  Anyway, Dunkie put a prize in his will for coming up with a non-lethal alternative, so I think that has something to do with it.

[The Big Peat]

The other thing in their favour; they are completely legal. No licence to be checked, no nothing. That's tasers rather than shock ammo mind, but it is a big thing - and personally, it made little sense, so I made them restricted in game.

The advantages of shock weapons in close combat is you can dumpstat strength, and the advantage of shock weapons in ranged combat is you can pick a small, easily concealable pistol and just rock the casbah. I'm ignoring the whole lethality and theme thing at the moment, because different people's tables have different expectations, but the mechanical advantages of a decent damage output for very little will always remain. Unless house ruled.

Which you can do. If you don't like them, then there's a number of changes out there; ban SnS, rule it gains not DV benefits for burst fire, and so on. I know I did.

[Angelone]

Actually the whole "We need to take him alive, use SnS." *burst fire* "Umm... he's dead." amuses me to no end. I had to stop play for a good while and would burst out laughing throughout the night because of it. Add in some fryings of internal commlinks with needed info and it becomes less attractive.

I don't agree with it but some argue that if you use less lethal ammo so will the opposition. (Who checks that in a firefight? Seriously?) Runners who get taken alive don't have much fun.

[CanRay]

Parker likes tasers, good enough for me.

[JustADude]

The other thing in their favour; they are completely legal. No licence to be checked, no nothing. That's tasers rather than shock ammo mind, but it is a big thing - and personally, it made little sense, so I made them restricted in game.

I actually happen to be sitting near a police officer as I read this and so I asked him about the subject. Apparently, at least in my neck of the woods, tasers really are 100% legal and unrestricted. In fact, shooting someone illegally with a taser is considered, legally speaking, to be the same exact crime as dropping them with your fist.

[The Big Peat]

The other thing in their favour; they are completely legal. No licence to be checked, no nothing. That's tasers rather than shock ammo mind, but it is a big thing - and personally, it made little sense, so I made them restricted in game.

I actually happen to be sitting near a police officer as I read this and so I asked him about the subject. Apparently, at least in my neck of the woods, tasers really are 100% legal and unrestricted. In fact, shooting someone illegally with a taser is considered, legally speaking, to be the same exact crime as dropping them with your fist.

Well there we go. Maybe its my British 'If its a weapon, licence it" showing through - where is your neck of the woods? Still strikes me as illogical, in SR at least, but nice to know how it stands in real life.

[CanRay]

Tasers require certain occupations and insurance in Canada.  But we have really, really strange weapon laws.

[Angelone]

I'm in Texas and I'm pretty sure you can just walk into a store and buy them. Then again you can shoot somebody if they come onto your property, including your car.

[Mirikon]

Pretty sure they're completely legal here in GA, too. And the legality thing is something that can't be understated, especially as it applies to SR. Getting into a high security public event? Your Predator will get you busted, but you might get waved through with that taser.

[Crash_00]

While they may be completely legal to carry around the town as a whole, there are lots of restriction on where you can carry them. For instance, in most states (MO and AR I know for a fact) they are not allowed on college campuses.

Using them on someone unprovoked is much more likely to wind you up with court mandated therapy than getting in a brawl with someone as well. They are considered a less than lethal weapon.

[Black]

Stick n shock used to fairly popular with by players for some time.  They still keep a clip as standard in their weapons and swicth to the explosive rounds only when required.  Keeps the body count down (and gives me rematches sometimes, so I'm happy ).

I have started making non-conductivity standard for some of my security forces and the lone star/ke, and skilled enemies (eg rival runners). That has made the ammo less effective, but not so much that its not still very popular.  The effectiveness of an electrical damage roll can not be understated, and a poor roll on my part (standard rolling style for me) and resulted in plenty of hard-core enemies twitchy helplessly while the runners finish them off...

[CanRay]

I prefer Gel Rounds myself.  Yeah, not as much damage, but you knock a bastard down on his hoop, it'll make him think twice about getting up again if I have to reload to something more lethal.

I have to admit, I like the multiple options for ammo.