[Hobbes]

So, (used) Reaction Enhancers 3; Cerebellum Booster 2; Alpha Boosted Reflexes. 

+5 initiative (indirectly from Reaction and Intuition boosts) and +1d6 Initiative as well as +5 to Dodge tests and a bunch of other stuff for 141,250 and 2.325 Essence.  Fairly difficult to beat that for cost effectiveness.  Compared to Wired 2 the combo is less essence, tiny bit less Nuyen, much better boosts, lower overall ceiling. 

I may have found my new default loadout...

[Sterling]

For a home game the GM would be entirely within their rights to say none of the augmentations in Chrome Flesh are currently available Used because they are too new to market.  For Missions it's too early to see what Sinthalix decides to allow since the legal date is still TBA.

[I_AM_ZHOUL!!!]

For a home game the GM would be entirely within their rights to say none of the augmentations in Chrome Flesh are currently available Used because they are too new to market.  For Missions it's too early to see what Sinthalix decides to allow since the legal date is still TBA.

The only thing Used is Reaction Enhancers.... they've been around for 2 decades from the 2050s. Pretty sure that there are some Used ones laying around.

[I_AM_ZHOUL!!!]

So, (used) Reaction Enhancers 3; Cerebellum Booster 2; Alpha Boosted Reflexes. 

+5 initiative (indirectly from Reaction and Intuition boosts) and +1d6 Initiative as well as +5 to Dodge tests and a bunch of other stuff for 141,250 and 2.325 Essence.  Fairly difficult to beat that for cost effectiveness.  Compared to Wired 2 the combo is less essence, tiny bit less Nuyen, much better boosts, lower overall ceiling. 

I may have found my new default loadout...

I'd recommend throwing in some Reakt as well. ¥73,000 but you get another 2 Dodge dice. Don't forget that Cerebellum Booster 2 is going to require a Restricted Gear quality to get (kind cool to have something besides a Pain Editor for 'ware that's worth getting)

[Sterling]

For a home game the GM would be entirely within their rights to say none of the augmentations in Chrome Flesh are currently available Used because they are too new to market.  For Missions it's too early to see what Sinthalix decides to allow since the legal date is still TBA.

The only thing Used is Reaction Enhancers.... they've been around for 2 decades from the 2050s. Pretty sure that there are some Used ones laying around.

Two things.

Firstly, I was not referring directly to Hobbes' post, but rather the availability of ALL the gear in Chrome Flesh.

Secondly, you are ignoring the fact that there are players who are coming into the game for the first time with 5th Edition.  Yes, Shadowrun has a timeline of events going back to the late 1990s which sets out the canon, but with each new edition the tech is reset until released.  Unless you know otherwise?

[Top Dog]

For a home game the GM would be entirely within their rights to say none of the augmentations in Chrome Flesh are currently available Used because they are too new to market.  For Missions it's too early to see what Sinthalix decides to allow since the legal date is still TBA.

The book is new on the market; the 'ware it describes isn't (except for those pieces the game describes as new). Cerebellum Boosters are described as new, but it doesn't say how new - maybe it's 'only' a few years old? Boosted Reflexes aren't described as new.

By your logic, you couldn't get Used cyberware from the SR5 core book in the first few months after it came out.

(Mind you, there's a better reason why you can't get those two Used - it's Cultured Bioware. And he didn't try to get those used. But this too is a reply to your general point).

As to the combo itself, It's a good and cheap way to get initiative, but Boosted Reflexes cannot be removed at all and it's incompatible with further Initiative booster. You'd cut yourself off from further initiative enhancements (you can get new ones, but then you lost 0.8 essence on a useless piece of gear - not a small amount).

[Kincaid]

I'm still digesting CF's crunch (I see big changes on the horizon for my SRM character--lots of Working for the Man), but I was thinking along the same lines.  I would probably take Reakt before I took Cerebellum Boosters (no need to spend karma on a PQ, cheaper than Rating 2 CBs) and I'd also optimize the Reaction Enhancers.

Boosted + Rating 3 REs (used) + Optimization + Reakt = +4 Reaction, +1d6 Initiative, net +7 dice to Defense Tests (Jesus...).

Total Cost: 116,050 nuyen, 2.652 Essence.  It's probably worth the investment to upgrade your boosted reflexes to alpha.

For me, the magic number when rolling +2d6 initiative dice is 14.  If your post-augmentation Initiative attribute is at least 14, you'll get the third initiative pass more often than not, 53.3% of the time.  Going to 15 bumps you to 72.2% (18.9% delta), 16 is 83.3 (11.1% delta), and so on.  You can figure out exactly how much diminishing returns with which you're comfortable.

[I_AM_ZHOUL!!!]

Reation Optimization doesn't work with Boosted Reflexes nor does it stack with Reaction. It is strictly a +1 Initiative Bonus, so no Defense Dice or compatibility with any other Initiative or Reaction enhancements. All in all not very useful in the slightest to the vast majority of characters.

[Kincaid]

Reation Optimization doesn't work with Boosted Reflexes nor does it stack with Reaction. It is strictly a +1 Initiative Bonus, so no Defense Dice or compatibility with any other Initiative or Reaction enhancements. All in all not very useful in the slightest to the vast majority of characters.

Natch.  That's likely a good thing.  I'm still taking Reakt early and often.

[I_AM_ZHOUL!!!]

Reation Optimization doesn't work with Boosted Reflexes nor does it stack with Reaction. It is strictly a +1 Initiative Bonus, so no Defense Dice or compatibility with any other Initiative or Reaction enhancements. All in all not very useful in the slightest to the vast majority of characters.

Natch.  That's likely a good thing.  I'm still taking Reakt early and often.

First thing I do is scour for Reaction/Initiative Boosters to see if there are any new combos that be stacked together. Boosted Reflexes is a Failure! They do so much & so comprehensively wrong in Street Grimore but at least they added Foci Enhancement rules, I was hoping that they would include some Augmentation Enhancement rules too. But I guess the 200 pages of the Fluff Bomb got in the way.

[SichoPhiend]

Then perhaps we should be looking at Genetech: Transgenics, the synaptic accelerator adds +1 initiative, +1 initiative die, and +1 die to defense tests.  The draw back is that any initiative augmentations nullifies this treatment, so incompatible with the Reaction Enhancer Optimization, but Reaction Enhancers, Cerebellum Booster, and Reakt are still fair game.

[Hobbes]

Don't forget that Cerebellum Booster 2 is going to require a Restricted Gear quality to get (kind cool to have something besides a Pain Editor for 'ware that's worth getting)

Availability 8 times rating.  Dang it.  Back to scribbling...

[Hobbes]

As to the combo itself, It's a good and cheap way to get initiative, but Boosted Reflexes cannot be removed at all and it's incompatible with further Initiative booster. You'd cut yourself off from further initiative enhancements (you can get new ones, but then you lost 0.8 essence on a useless piece of gear - not a small amount).

Yeah, that was the "lower ceiling".  Long term you can get better with more Nuyen and the like.  But there are a zillion other things to sink nuyen into. 

[I_AM_ZHOUL!!!]

Don't forget that Cerebellum Booster 2 is going to require a Restricted Gear quality to get (kind cool to have something besides a Pain Editor for 'ware that's worth getting)

Availability 8 times rating.  Dang it.  Back to scribbling...

Can I interest you in examining the Customized Drugs and hearing your response to what you decipher? I'd like to see how it compares to mine... I really need to start a Thread about it.

[Hobbes]

Then perhaps we should be looking at Genetech: Transgenics, the synaptic accelerator adds +1 initiative, +1 initiative die, and +1 die to defense tests.  The draw back is that any initiative augmentations nullifies this treatment, so incompatible with the Reaction Enhancer Optimization, but Reaction Enhancers, Cerebellum Booster, and Reakt are still fair game.

Synaptic Accelerator is essentially a non-upgradeable Rating 1 Synaptic Booster.  Not a bad thing mind you, but I haven't come up with a set up that benefits from it enough to blow off any upgrade down the road.  Boosted Reflexes is cheap and generally a starting character has more Nuyen limitations than Essence so the trade off is more palatable IMO. 

Or look at it this way Boosted Reflexes to Synaptic Accelerator is an extra 68k to pick up +1 Dodge and Initiative and save .6 Essence.  (or more likely 66K extra for a .4 Essence saving as Alpha Boosted Reflexes is a no-brainer...) 

A vat grown shapeshifter may be interested though.  Prototype Transhuman shapeshifter.  There is a story.  Dibs.