[bull30548]

So something in the Critical Glitch review of Data Trails got me thinking about something.  It actually a number of different podcasts that got me to ask this question.

Based on the fact that character don't earn a whole lot of nuyen on mission how are they ever supposed to upgrade their gear?
Any chance we might get to negotiate for gear like was in previous seasons?

I think this might contribute to the fact that we there are so many magical characters in missions they are the only characters that gain benefits from both karma and nuyen to make them the most reasonable option.  It seems like it is almost impossible to get better ware or cyberdeck which sucks because a caster can get bettter spells save up for lower level foci and stack up those benefits better than the street sam who would like to gain more ware or simply upgrade his exisiting ware from standard, alpha, or betaware so that he has the essence hole to fill with new ware.

Mind you this isn't criticisms just observations wishing to get clarification and being inquisitive.

Mind you this is just

[Reaver]

While its true that awakened have a lesser demand for money then the tech characters, you'll find that the awakened's need for karma is also considerably higher then the tech characters.

Skills:
Attitubutes:
Every one pays the same karma value for these so these are a wash to consider.

On top of that, for the awakened you have:
Magic/Resonance
Spells/complex forms
Initatation/Submersion
Bonding/registering

All these take karma that the tech characters don't have to worry, nor pay for.

So yes, both sides are left a little hungry due to their respective resource needs. It makes you choose just what "is" important? Saving up for a year to get a beta upgrade and save some essence?
Or go with some regular ware after a few months but lose more essence (and thus room for more ware)? Or, do you keep the ware you have and improve your equipment?

So many choices, so little resources....

[Hibiki54]

Currently in Missions in Chicago, all Awakened players are suffering dice pool penalties when doing runs in the CZ because of the native background count. The highest I have see the BC in the CZ is 10. So, in a way, Awakened are boned. Additionally, Technomancers and Deckers are boned in the CZ because of the native noise penalties of the legacy grid (Noise 2) and some of the places were you have to go to, which may or may not include underground where you will suffer -5 or greater.

Keep in mind, this is only for Chicago when playing SRMs. The CMPs will take you somewhere else in the 6th World.

Players that rely on chrome or tech usually convert Karma to Cash (Working for the Man, 5k for 10,000y) and use left over Karma built up over time for improving skills or stats. And it is the opposite for Magic users (Working for the People, 10,000y for 5k). And you can do this once after every mission.

[bull30548]

While its true that awakened have a lesser demand for money then the tech characters, you'll find that the awakened's need for karma is also considerably higher then the tech characters.

Skills:
Attitubutes:
Every one pays the same karma value for these so these are a wash to consider.

On top of that, for the awakened you have:
Magic/Resonance
Spells/complex forms
Initatation/Submersion
Bonding/registering

All these take karma that the tech characters don't have to worry, nor pay for.

So yes, both sides are left a little hungry due to their respective resource needs. It makes you choose just what "is" important? Saving up for a year to get a beta upgrade and save some essence?
Or go with some regular ware after a few months but lose more essence (and thus room for more ware)? Or, do you keep the ware you have and improve your equipment?

So many choices, so little resources....

It is a good point but what if your equipment exceeds the regular 12 availability or is forbidden you have to apply purchasing rules to those.  However, while karma hungry magic/resonance characters they don't have this concern.  Like cyberdecks that Critical Glitch pointed out the one you buy at character creation that is what you have for the rest of your career.  However, the technomancer while limited by karma doesn't have that restriction.  So you either sink almost half your quality and almost all your money into the best deck and hope you live long enough and the deck doesn't get bricked while you save that money to repair it or technomancer where you hardly ever hurt for nuyen and you just save karma.  Doesn't feel like a fair trade to me in the short or long run.

Mind you this is still just an opinion but I am basing this on observations made by others so I could be wrong.  I am guilty of it too as I prefer to use a magic character than a tech character because I like the idea of being natural over mechanical.