Cyberware for decker/rigger build?

[Bacon Apples]

Just finished SRR:DMS last week, jumped into Dragonfall DC right after, hella fun.

I'm trying to go full rigger - max for both drone skills, and just enough decking to pass checks (which IIRC is pretty much near max in SRD:DC, oh well). Went through some threads with the conclusion that you can't have a skill without having its governing stat high enough "naturally", which is terribly confusing to me with all the new +stat cyberware.

Q1. Do stats and their corresponding karma skills come together?
If I have 8INT/8DControl/8DCombat and use the outfit with +1 for each of the aforementioned stats, do I get the +2AP skill from 9 DCombat?

Q2. Is it possible to go over the stat cap? Are there any benefits?

Q3. What cyberware did you get for your decker/rigger build?
I went through the cyberware list on the wiki many times to theorycraft, but not sure about anyt without answers to Q1 and Q2.

• Head - leave Datajack OR Encephalon NEXT if going over the cap helps)
  
• Body - Adrenal Contractor OR Wired Reflexes for movement
  
• Legs - Hydraulic Jack OR Universal Omnitech Cyberlegs for survivability (only 3 in Body atm)
  
• Eyes/Arms - corresponding Datajack if required

[OptoNick]

1. No. Gear bonuses only affect your effective skill in combat (i.e. hit/crit chance percentage), but not unlock abilities.

2. With proper outfit bonuses you can get your effective skill over racial limit, but that's all.

3. I'd choose Adrenal Contractor over Wired Reflexes, because rigger is always short on AP - harder to escape line of fire, easier to get stunned. Additional AP will help to mitigate that a lot. Don't forget about combat drugs, as well.

[Lord Of Dorkness]

Encephalon NEXT is really, really useful for troll deckers. Letting you actually use the excallibur, if that's your thing.

Might not be worth the wopping 1.5 essence, though.

Speaking off, the leg bioware whose name eludes me I personally found more useful then the cyber-legs. You get basically the same bonuses, for the essence cost of one 'normal' cyber leg.

[Bacon Apples]

Originally posted by OptoNick:

1. No. Gear bonuses only affect your effective skill in combat (i.e. hit/crit chance percentage), but not unlock abilities.

2. With proper outfit bonuses you can get your effective skill over racial limit, but that's all.

3. I'd choose Adrenal Contractor over Wired Reflexes, because rigger is always short on AP - harder to escape line of fire, easier to get stunned. Additional AP will help to mitigate that a lot. Don't forget about combat drugs, as well.

1. Just did some testing and the results gave me more questions. I'm at DCombat 5 with a +1 outfit, which is a total of 6. I've seen many mentions of how beast 4AP drones are, so I assume 4 is the maximum AP for drones. Both of my drones currently have 3AP. According to your answer, I do not have the +1AP bonus from DCombat 6. I changed into another outfit and my drones still have 3AP, you are correct on this. Here's the question - the descriptions for DCombat 6 and 9 are "Drone AP I: +1AP Bonus" and "Drone AP II: +2AP Bonus". Is it +1+1 or +1+2? That's a total of 5 or even 6 AP!

2. No benefits AT ALL? I was thinking there'd be some super rewarding curve, but NOTHING?!

3. Yeah... getting stunned for a few rounds is real pain. But even on HARD it doesn't seem to pose that big of a threat since drones are so beast. Or maybe I just haven't got into any real trouble yet.

Originally posted by Lord Of Dorkness:

Encephalon NEXT is really, really useful for troll deckers. Letting you actually use the excallibur, if that's your thing.

Might not be worth the wopping 1.5 essence, though.

Speaking off, the leg bioware whose name eludes me I personally found more useful then the cyber-legs. You get basically the same bonuses, for the essence cost of one 'normal' cyber leg.

Enhanced Articulation | Bioware | Coats and lubricates joint surfaces of the legs to provide extreme fluidity of motion. +1 Dodge, +1 Quickness.

[OptoNick]

Originally posted by theplaypig:

1. Just did some testing and the results gave me more questions. I'm at DCombat 5 with a +1 outfit, which is a total of 6. I've seen many mentions of how beast 4AP drones are, so I assume 4 is the maximum AP for drones. Both of my drones currently have 3AP. According to your answer, I do not have the +1AP bonus from DCombat 6. I changed into another outfit and my drones still have 3AP, you are correct on this. Here's the question - the descriptions for DCombat 6 and 9 are "Drone AP I: +1AP Bonus" and "Drone AP II: +2AP Bonus". Is it +1+1 or +1+2? That's a total of 5 or even 6 AP!

2. No benefits AT ALL? I was thinking there'd be some super rewarding curve, but NOTHING?!

3. Yeah... getting stunned for a few rounds is real pain. But even on HARD it doesn't seem to pose that big of a threat since drones are so beast. Or maybe I just haven't got into any real trouble yet.

1. It's 1+1, 4 AP in total.

2. Like @Lord of Dorkness said, it may give you access to gear above your current level, and it generally makes you better at your specialization. What else have you expected? :)

3. For riggers it's not such a big deal, because they can safely stay far behind - it's more troubling for shamans. BTW, in Shadowrun Hong Kong there are two new cyberware pieces to avoid it, so riggers also can be more useful up close in fights.

[Zadok]

Originally posted by OptoNick:

1. No. Gear bonuses only affect your effective skill in combat (i.e. hit/crit chance percentage), but not unlock abilities.

Nope, that's wrong. The Golden Boy gives you +1 Drone Combat for all intends and purposes. It unlocks extra damage, armor, AP or whatever else it is the next level in drone combat does. Including 4 AP drones with DC8 + 1.

Originally posted by theplaypig:

1. Just did some testing and the results gave me more questions. I'm at DCombat 5 with a +1 outfit, which is a total of 6. I've seen many mentions of how beast 4AP drones are, so I assume 4 is the maximum AP for drones. Both of my drones currently have 3AP. According to your answer, I do not have the +1AP bonus from DCombat 6. I changed into another outfit and my drones still have 3AP, you are correct on this. Here's the question - the descriptions for DCombat 6 and 9 are "Drone AP I: +1AP Bonus" and "Drone AP II: +2AP Bonus". Is it +1+1 or +1+2? That's a total of 5 or even 6 AP!

If you really didn't wear the +1 outfit while having drone combat 5 and still had 3 AP drones you found a bug. Obviously that's not supposed to happen as drones have 2 ap initially while it takes DC 6 for +1 ap :P

As to Decking: Decking 3 + 1 gets you through the game. Kraftwerk ftw. Dialogue options go up to 8 though. Could be 7+1.

[OptoNick]

Originally posted by Zadok:

Originally posted by OptoNick:

1. No. Gear bonuses only affect your effective skill in combat (i.e. hit/crit chance percentage), but not unlock abilities.

Nope, that's wrong. The Golden Boy gives you +1 Drone Combat for all intends and purposes. It unlocks extra damage, armor, ap or whatever else it is the next level in drone combat does. Including 4 ap drones with DC8 + 1.

This is weird, because armor and cyberware never unlock abilities for any classes of characters, just increasing skill. Are you sure?

[Zadok]

Originally posted by OptoNick:

This is weird, because armor and cyberware never unlock abilities for any classes of characters, just increasing skill. Are you sure?

One of the many advantages a Tourist offers. Just loaded a 103 unused Karma game, quickly got the Golden Boy and a Drone and tested from DC 0 +1 up to DC 5 + 1, which does indeed give you +1 AP. The initial +1 Armor worked but the later +2 bugged out. Probably the same bug that can affect your own armor, perhaps induced by levelling up during the fight. Not sure what's up with that. The +1 AP worked perfectly fine mid-fight though and so did the damage. The damage is not displayed on the tool-tip of your drone's weapon yet applied normally.

Edit: both +1 and +2 Armor are not applied when levelling up mid fight. Perhaps not even between fights on the same run. In any case the Golden Boy, seeing to it I got 0 + 1 DC on entering the level, unlocked +1 armor while levelling up manually after entering w/o the Golden Boy did not.

[OptoNick]

Originally posted by Zadok:

One of the many advantages a Tourist offers. Just loaded a 103 unused Karma game, quickly got the Golden Boy and a Drone and tested from DC 0 +1 up to DC 5 + 1, which does indeed give you +1 AP. The initial +1 Armor worked but the later +2 bugged out. Probably the same bug that can affect your own armor, perhaps induced by levelling up during the fight. Not sure what's up with that. The +1 AP worked perfectly fine mid-fight though and so did the damage. The damage is not displayed on the tool-tip of your drone's weapon yet applied normally.

Interesting. I'll keep in mind, thanks :)

[Bacon Apples]

Originally posted by OptoNick:

2. Like @Lord of Dorkness said, it may give you access to gear above your current level, and it generally makes you better at your specialization. What else have you expected? :)

I meant going over the stat limit. If I was already at 9 INT but got the Encephalon NEXT and all +INT gear anyway, I'd expect ~100% chance of marking any target with my genius-level intellect and my NOVAHOT decking skillz. According to answers on this thread, even if I had a piece of "chrome" that gave me +50 INT, my chance to mark a target would be the same as if I had 9 INT.

[Bacon Apples]

Originally posted by Zadok:

If you really didn't wear the +1 outfit while having drone combat 5 and still had 3 AP drones you found a bug. Obviously that's not supposed to happen as drones have 2 ap initially while it takes DC 6 for +1 ap :P

Yep, reality kicked in after a night. After loading a save with the same stats, my drones were back at 2AP.

This is how I tested it the first time - I directly engaged the security guard (the alternative would be to knock him out by getting Jana to short circuit the "electricity box" next to him), my drones were at 3AP then. I re-loaded the save, bought the +2 charisma outfit to replace my +1 INT/DCombat outfit and attacked the guard again. Still 3AP. Probably need some sort of area transition to re-calculate stats.