I think we want to steadily reduce complexity.
While reducing complexity is always good, doing so in a way other than streamlining and clarifying things and removing redundancies or mechanical culdisacs always reduces depth, which is bad. You can't have a deliciously crunchy game without some complexity, the question is what your priorities are? Hero System values depth above all, and is thus very complex to the point of diminishing returns, 'buying' very little depth for quite a bit of complexity at times. PBTA, which is a neat system that is not at all for me, is willing to 'sell' a lot of complexity for very little depth. Once you start pushing one way or another, without a full system re-tool, you start not gaining a lot for what you give up.
A good example of a place SR could lose complexity without depth is the drug flowchart, which is a ton of needless bookkeeping to make a roll and keep system even more ridiculously stable in outcome, or making all maglocks broken the same way but bypassed with unique tools. Obviously more fundemental trades have tradeoffs.
I think this is important to note not to say 'complexity reduction bad' but to note that SR, as a game, is sorta historical in being one of the only 'crunchy' games of its era. It was that, and Champions/HERO system, for in depth systems heavy games. And systems heavy games aren't bad. So this is a round about way of saying 'I don't think SR should make dramatic strides to reduce complexity, that is how we got NuEdge, which sacrificed a lot of depth and didn't reduce complexity that much." Part of SR's identity is fun fiddly bits.
Of course, that should be reduced to only the most fun of fiddly bits, and I think initiative is a great tree to bark up either for a hypothetical 7e or to just make your own spinoff hack. While initiative passes are sorta the main way Sr differentiated its combat PCs, and multiple turns are a great way to create action economy advantage on lots of people, the way its handled doesn't always work great, they are so important roles that are intended to be 'bad' at initiative like mages are forced to be given tools for it, and it just... sorta doesn't work great, and other ways exist to help action economy vs groups (like forced grouping minion actions, or attacks vs minions allowing you to spend more ammo to take down more depending on your DV!).
So any thoughts on what sort of Complex Actions we can add to Street Sams/Adepts that help in non-combat areas?
Part of the street sam identity includes:
Sneaking around places
Hyper-awareness
Stealing stuff
Getting into places that seem impossible, like climbing a perfectly smooth surface
Having extremely positive ties to the average person outside the corporate systems as a protector of sorts
Having ties to extremely garbage people because the name "Street Samurai" probably should be swapped to Solo for the role rather than the concept.
Knowledge of millitary tech, even if sadly logic is heavily devalued.
Moving things that are too large for others to move, or that they can't smuggle, or that need to go to places no one else can access.
Using violence as a tool outside of combat, such as shakedowns, stealing stuff, removing people, ect.
Absurd physical prowess.
Tactical information.
I would recommend changing the name of complex actions to something else to avoid 'legacy confusion.' Setup actions? Planned Actions?
Some examples of potential actions include:
An action to case that involves a stealth roll that can't fail but instead grants information, to streamline physical observation legwork and make players willing to do it before the run rather than panicking and refusing 'in case they are seen.'
An action to waylay a specific person or group of people outside the actual 'run' phase to remove them from the mix and get their stuff like keycards and notes, like taking out guards on a smoke break or breaking into a researcher's house to kidnap them.
Creating a NPC wholesale who the samurai protected or helped who will provide minor aid, such as cheap materials, a place to hide or crash, or to ask around their community.
NPCs in the Samurai's home turf passively do nice things for them and their friends, like introduce them to strangers who mistrust them, or give them freshly baked snicker-doodles to thank them for that time they lifted a burning car off little Timmy with one hand.
Obtain a disposable weapon that they can stash somewhere in the run site.
Secure an entrance to the run site for people other than themselves, like getting the decker to the roof. Climb on my back, Ex-Spider monkey.
Produce a weapon that was not established in a scene, or ammo, or an explosive.
Pre-place some sort of explosive in an area for a distraction or whatever.
Place oneself in an area retroactively.
Break an object.
Get the GM to honestly let you know of the potential dangers of an area, especially in the context of their opponent and a tool to help them negate the threat ("You know that this building's security is overseen by Lt. Dan, who unlike Commander Cody favors snipers and hit and run tactics over security devices. Those abandoned buildings have dusty windows that could be trouble, but they can't see behind this abandoned van.")
Dictate the outcome of a 'beatdown' fight that takes place in downtime vs minor enemies like gangers (getting a message to someone, making sure they never come back, embarrassing someone who is their patron, ect).
These could also be used as 'branching' abilities, to help encourage people to mix archetypes. A technical sam could be good setting up charges, while a more social one may be better at intimidation, for example, just by having access to actions gated by (minor) requirements.