I've been looking into the viability of PI-Tacs again.
First the basics:
Level I: Avail 12R, cost 115,000¥ DR4 Perception +1, 6 members
Level II: Avail 18R, cost 325,000¥ DR5 Perception +2, Sneaking +1, 8 members, +2 to either Firewall or Data Processing, Leadership Actions as Simple instead of Complex Action - transfer up to 5 ini points to one member, one Combat skill +1 (switch skill as simple action), remote control drug injections
Level III: Avail 18F, cost 855,000¥ DR6 Perception +3, Sneaking and Tracking +2, 9 members, +6 to either Firewall and Data Processing, Leadership and Combat Maneuver Actions as Simple instead of Complex Action - transfer up to 10 ini points to one member, one Combat skill +2 (switch skill as simple action), can take control of linked drones through commands
Kill Code adds:
PANTHEON INDUSTRIES “ECM-WARRIOR” +3 for all Electronic Warfare tests
PANTHEON INDUSTRIES MOBILE CNC +2 Noise reduction, +6 bonus dice to navigation, teamwork or combat maneuver tests
PANTHEON INDUSTRIES SHIELD WALL +3 Firewall against Attack Actions (Brute Force, Data Spike etc.)
PANTHEON INDUSTRIES “MERCURY-ALPHA” BATTLEFIELD SIGNAL BOOSTER double base ranges, 4 noise reduction, +2 Electronic Warfare,
Price reduction:
-25% cost per lost main function, glitches cause one main feature to fail, +1 additional point of matrix damage and physical damage per attack.
So a Lvl 1 can be reduced to 75% by losing it's perception bonus, reducing it's price to 86,250¥
a Lvl 2 can sacrifice 3 functions, reducing it's price to 81,250¥
Lvl 3 stays with it's AVA out of range for nearly everyone, but can be reduced to 213.750¥
Getting a used Lvl 2 will be the best option. If you add this to a given cyber deck with these four modules you net
- 6 Noise reduction (2 in aggressive mode)
- +2 Firewall/ +5 vs. Attack Actions
- +5 dp to Electronic Warfare
- 200m auto detection range for devices (in passive mode)
For a hacker that's a very nice package, especially now that you can use EW to create MARKs with "Watchdog"