Lots of very useful stuff! A significant issue is that we've done the characters using the life modules, and I've pushed the players to make characters that feel like people they want to try out being and not just a pile of stats. I don't want to completely deviate from that, but I do want to help guide the players into making sure their characters are actually good at what they are supposed to be doing. I also took on the responsibility of teaching the players how the game works, so their lack of understanding largely traces back to me.
So, first, what we have in the party -
Lyela: an elven mage following the Path of the Wheel (high Charisma that is part of her drain resistance roll) trying to be Wendy from Fairy Tail (only who kills people)
Biku: an aspected mage (well, an apprentice actually) that is lightly augmented (bioware only, if I remember right), mostly orientated towards regular combat augmented with illusion (invisibility mostly)
Ixis: a partially cybered troll who uses a mix of ranged and close combat
So, stuff my player do right -
1) Everyone has 12+ armor
2) They use cover instinctively
3) Biku and Ixis both have Reaction, Intuition and augmentations enough that they normally have initiative of somewhere between 18 and 22.
4) They avoid combat like a turd in a pool unless there is no other way to get what they want.
5) They enjoy the role playing side of the game, and do well with it, including making good use of the mix of non-combat skills that they have.
From reading the posts and then reviewing the rules some, I've realized some glaring issues (so much so that I feel ridiculous not recognizing this before) -
The players do not use Edge, pretty much at all, ever. If I prod them to, they will, so they are aware of what it can do, but just don't use it. I don't have their opponents use Edge at all because, well, they are already kicking the players' asses.
Neither I or the players have used interrupts. I've been aware of them, but haven't given them the thought they deserve. The players have some knowledge of them, but have completely ignored it.
The players don't have any specializations. Given that very few of their ability scores are maxed, this is a particular problem. I will be getting across to them that they need a minimum of a 12 die dice pool for any task they are expecting to pull off routinely, particularly if people are shooting at you.
Neither mage has any bound spirits. This is really completely ridiculous for Lyela, since Lucy (from the anime) essentially has a stable of bound spirits. Additionally when they were prepping for a possible hostile situation, they didn't cast any spells in preparation. They scouted the meeting site, and Biku setup a firing position to cover the actual meet, but he didn't pre-cast Invisibility (which he was planning on using pretty much for the entire length of any combat), and Lyela didn't make any magic preparations either.
The mages have no foci. Lyela has, maybe, five spells total.
Even when prodded, I can not get the players to get anything other than regular ammo....which I just don't get.
Likewise they won't get any weapon accessories. Ironically Lyela filled her armor with gizmos...she thought she had to.....but not any extra elemental protection. They also do not use any armor add-ons (the ones that add to your armor value), including Ixis who can wear a fire hydrant as a helmet (trolls are so freaking strong).
I don't think the players appreciate the difference BF / FA makes, even though their defense rolls have gotten penalized when it has been used against them. Ixis is firing a Defiance T-250, in SA mode, but only single shots (no SA bursts). This is despite being a big troll with RC built into his arms (his high Strength).
None of them have any throwing weapon skill, so none of them use grenades.
So.....I'm thinking I'm going to wrap up Splintered State early, letting the players survive by burning a point of Edge each. They will have some karma from the adventure to make some tweaks to their characters, and some loot for changes to their gear. Then I'm going to try them out on Sprawl Wilds, though I need to read it more yet to make sure it works for them and myself.
Some things I don't understand, that I could use some help with -
a) both sides have low light and thermographic vision. Who would want to use smoke / therm smoke grenades, how would they use them, and what would the impact be?
b) bad dude with a SMG gets close enough to Ixis that Ixis can potentially move into melee range. What are the attacker and defender modifiers I need to keep in mind in such a situation (Ixis entering melee, bad dude trying to shoot Ixis while they are in the melee, etc). Ixis uses a combat axe in melee, for what it is worth.
c) I am hoping I can ask without starting a shooting war: one side has a decker, the other side (multiple people with multiple wireless enabled devices) has their devices running silent and slaved to commlinks. How does the decker go from start to blowing up a gun? Mostly it is the Matrix perception part of things that has me confused, but a run through would be good to make sure I'm not dorking something else up.