Deckers suck, but they can play mini-games

[Rerdonso]

Seriously, why do I still want to play one? All 'classes' should be able to enter the matrix, with Deckers just with all the abilities and better at it. Deckers should also be combat-oriented like others and just suck more at it, not be completely lacking thereof. Weird... oh well.

[Clever Monkey]

you gotta custom make a class, even then under the main game karma you start out like crap wherever you put the points. to totally suck as a decker in the real world is also to have a drone but at that point you are now a rigger.
the easiest way maybe is to start as a samurai and then buy the datajack and all your karma from then on goes to decking. But the main game is so lacking on the matrix side just get the bare minimum to survive it.
Hilarious joke on your profile, btw.

[Sentient_Toaster]

The only limitation is karma, really. Spend enough karma, and you can be good at both decking and combat. You can have three weapon slots, so a primary weapon + secondary weapon + deck is possible. Guns + decking + rigging is problematic because they'll all compete for those weapon slots, though.

The biggest divide is between magic and cyberware/bioware; getting lots of 'ware means your cooldowns will be terrible, and no amount of karma will fix that.

[Rerdonso]

Actually it's not quite the same as spreading your points out. The point I was trying to make is that it's more like throwing them away. Now I'm not saying it wouldn't be rewarding, the game is fun as a whole. But if I were putting points into magic, I could be using turns that wouldn't be one-or-the-other, like instead of shooting my gun this turn I'm casting a spell... no, it would be more like I'm casting a spell that makes my next move even more effective (reduce armor for example). Or I'm going to take a turns to summon this which will take hits for many more turns than I spent. In short, I think decking looks fun but very, very inefficient.

[Sentient_Toaster]

It's not huge in the base game, but it can be more in UGC. Shadowrun Unlimited offers an interesting case -- there are infiltration runs where your task is to breach a facility to steal some documents. Decking can be used beforehand to unlock the doors, to disable cameras, and to alter employee schedules (so that the random guard spawn triggers less often). It's not necessary if you'd rather simply shoot your way through and rely on intelligence checks to unlock the doors, but it smoothes the way and helps you trigger fewer alarms, meaning lower notoriety gain, meaning it's slower for your enemies to hear about you.

[Clever Monkey]

Find a mod that has a lot of decking and it now becomes real fun and beneficial. SR unlimited for instance has a bunch of repeatable jobs. matrix runs as well. also you are able to hack systems before doing infiltration runs. also once inside you can jump in canceling any alarms and drones plus stealing data to sell.
It just isn't useful in the main game because there isn't enough of the matrix

@toaster you beat me to it. dfamn stubby fingers.
BTW; if you know anything about the editor you can go into the mod or base game and change the settings to import your character from elsewhere with a saved game

[Killagoku]

I am 3 hours in and picked decker as my first class I put points in the Drone skills hoping I would be able to get one fairly early on because its an early skill, nope. And now on top of wasting my Karma I hear a lot of people saying Deckers suck donkey donger, but I am to commited to start over. If all else fails ill put the game on easy or something.

[Clever Monkey]

Don't get me wrong. you will need decking skills to do one run. a max of 3 in Int, decking and esp control is all you need. One esp or two not 4 like I did. level 1 programs will get you through and all you need is 1 or 2 attack and maybe medic.
I grabbed most of the programs and upgraded them along with 3 drones which left me a small budget for when I needed to hire. sometimes going in with less than the max of runners i could have had and at the same time hiring the cheapest.
After starting as a decker I also put karma into rigging, conjuring, and rifles. I thought I would get some quests to stockpile Karma but I didn't.
So all I'm saying is you don't have to go over board on the decking skills for the main game to survive the Matrix because with the programs and I think 4 in DEcking I breezed through the matrix. If you start putting points into Body, quickness and guns now you will be just fine at the end.
Of course when I read I should Specialize I totally ignored that advice so I'm probably not the best to give advice. Have fun no matter what.

[Drain]

Decking seemed pretty damn worthless to me. Anytime you actually need it, the game will give you a decker to hire or use. There's absolutely no reason to handicap your character by investing into decking. I suppose you could run a crap decker, and just hide behind real characters you hire from the store for every level, but it'd make more sense to just... "not" do that, as you don't need a decker, once so ever, for most of this game. The extra loot you can get behind some of the doors isn't really worth having dead weight in the party. It won't justfy the money you dumped hiring em.

[Freddy Millz]

I dont see what the problem is. I have a Decker that is a sure shot with ARs. U guys gotta alocate the karma in the right spots.

[Syntax Error]

I agree with much of what has been said above, so I will just say one thing not mentioned.

Don't knock Mark Target. Before you scoff and say it's only one skill, it's a very useful skill. You don't have to be crazy for it, but it's certainly a nice outside-the-Matrix benefit you get from raising Decking. Not that you would raise Decking only FOR that.

[malfunction]

Escrito originalmente por Freddy Millz:

I dont see what the problem is. I have a Decker that is a sure shot with ARs. U guys gotta alocate the karma in the right spots.

This, my first DMS playthrough was with a decker/rifle build and on 'hard' and was doing fine (decking and killing)...

I'll admit though, playing DF:DC on 'very hard' the same build is much less skilled in both rifle and decking (though I think the ThC on 'very hard' is much lower in general, I'm getting really ♥♥♥♥ percentages at close range, Level 3 Glory usually having 40-50% to melee attack, less for her pistol when at a short distance) but it's still doable. Just have to think a bit more about my next moves and make the right choices with who to bring along for the ride. I'm equipped with an AK and Sniper rifle, when I need to I can keep my distance (and usually bring Eiger along too for dual support fire whilst Glory and Blitz or the punkrocker mage get up close due the their ♥♥♥♥♥ ThCs lol). Explosions and drugs are helpful too.

So I guess it's down to what difficulty you choose. I think maybe 'very hard' was tweaked so that you need to specialize in order to kickass (i.e a pure combat or pure decking build etc)... *shrugs* not sure if it's the same for DMS (only played that on 'hard').

[BEASTBLOOD]

Ever played Shadowrun before, our Deckers never should fight like our Panther Trolls! If they do they doing something wrong in the Matrix! We should really complain about Adepts, they should be redone, cause they can contribute at all! I mean in this game they are completely useless and normally they are up there with the best of the best! My over 800 Karma would like to have a word with the rules guys!

[Incunabulum]

Escrito originalmente por EXoCiDe:

Seriously, why do I still want to play one? All 'classes' should be able to enter the matrix, with Deckers just with all the abilities and better at it. Deckers should also be combat-oriented like others and just suck more at it, not be completely lacking thereof. Weird... oh well.

Decker is a *skillset*. If all you do is put point into Decker then that's all you'll be good for. If all you do is put point is a combat skillset, then *that's * all you'll be good for.

These aren't individual 'classes' with a rounded set of abilities, they're just skillsets and you're expected to pick and choose among more than one of them.

[Rerdonso]

Escrito originalmente por Incunabulum:

Escrito originalmente por EXoCiDe:

Seriously, why do I still want to play one? All 'classes' should be able to enter the matrix, with Deckers just with all the abilities and better at it. Deckers should also be combat-oriented like others and just suck more at it, not be completely lacking thereof. Weird... oh well.

Decker is a *skillset*. If all you do is put point into Decker then that's all you'll be good for. If all you do is put point is a combat skillset, then *that's * all you'll be good for.

These aren't individual 'classes' with a rounded set of abilities, they're just skillsets and you're expected to pick and choose among more than one of them.

I'm not from WoW. I wasn't adressing this as "boohoo my hair looks bad on my avatar" like it's some dress-up for my new barbie. I play games, and view this as not comparing well to possible WIN CONDITIONS. The only point you made is "if you put points here, you just put points there" so, thanks. But actually, you can win the game with a combat skillset. Same goes for pretty much every single other skill, "set" aside. You can't win the game with Decking, and it stands out among the others in that respect.

[PoxComet]

As some one else pointed out Decking is a side skill.
I have gone down heavily in the pistol tree with a little shotgun for those that like to get up close.
Then some decking (6 or 7) so I can do my own decking runs, I like the decking game and it fits this character to have a pistol and decks.