@Price of Cyberjacks vs RCCs:
The most important aspect of either (IMO) is the D/F stats they bring to your Persona. Now, RCCs are generally cheaper, and absolutely don't cost essence. But as already pointed out, they're physically big and that poses problems if you want to smuggle them or be discreet while carrying around a giant R/C controller. Also a problem if you want to do AR hacking while fighting. They don't have rules for what kinds of things require two hands to use, but it strains credibility to argue that you can operate a briefcase-or-typewriter-sized comms device AND still be firing a gun at the same time. So that's kind of a big drawback for Action Jackson deckers.
I was always under the impression that the sizes of Decks and RCCs were in the same ballpark anyways. However: so far, RCCs can´t be bought as implants...
Also, the fact that Cyberjacks can have a massive Essence impact is a big factor for more Hands-On Combat Deckers, because these want to have some Augmentations as well.
And it´s also almost impossible to make a Hacker Adept with a Cyberjack. Which is
not a problem, because Hacker Adepts (and Mysads!)
should be quite rare and hard to pull off properly IMO. What
is a big deal is the fact that Adept Hackers could actually circumvent this by going for a RCC to get proper D/F right now.
However. One important aspect still is intact, and it's arguably the most important one. Inarguably the most important one, if you're trying to be stealthy: Icons that are running silent are inherently suspicious. There's a risk involved in running silent, as detection WILL raise security awareness. The alternative is to simply NOT run silent, and hide your totally not-supposed-to-be-there drone among the overwhelming noise of millions of other icons a potential observer is also seeing. In order to know your drone is in a place it shouldn't be, they still have to know its physical location and just spotting the matrix signal doesn't give that information away. That information has to be learned via Trace Icon, which means they have to have gained access. Which means they have to have suspected your drone's signal for some reason in the first place. Why are they hacking YOUR drone's signal, when there are surely hundreds, if not thousands, of other drone signals like it?
True. It should be pointed out that not every run happens in urban areas with a convenient delivery drone fastlane above the location, though. You can´t always blend in with the crowd. And while there are no explicit rules for it, things like automated signal scans around secure locations are surely a thing.
