i think one big flaw i have seen so far, is ALOT of the bad guys are generic and use stat blocks from the book (or worse when they use the sample premade characters in the core book) but over the last couple missions i notice that MOST of the bad guys (even at rating 4-6) Dont have initiative passes greater than 1 ( i did recently get knocked out by a StreetSam who had 3 passes, but the other guys finished him and was able to revive me) to me it seems like there should be at least 1 character who has 3 passes in every bad guy mob.
There are options right there in the Missions (or at least there should be) for a GM to ramp up the difficulty. In my admittedly limited experience, most Missions are written to be easy, with options included to make them more difficult (my own, for instance, were written that way, based on the principle that it's easier for an experienced GM with experienced players to ramp up difficulty, than it is for a new GM with new players to try and ramp
down difficulty).
It's trivially easy for most NPCs to be given additional initiative passes, by a GM who looks at the NPCs before the game starts, looks at his PCs character sheets, and decides to bump them up a notch or two. And, in fact, GMs are
told to do so, in order to customize the difficulty of their Mission to meet their game.
However...
other wise my character can get 12 shots before they can return fire, (thats doing 3 passes of 2 hand pistols doing Double tap SA shots) (not even counting the Full Auto machine pistols i could use)
I think maybe you guys are misunderstanding initiative passes or something. How is it that your guy is getting all 3 of his passes before the opposition can return fire?
In SR4, everyone takes their first pass (in initiative order, highest to lowest).
Everyone. Then, those who have survived and have a second pass, take their second pass (again in initiative order). Then, those who have survived and have a third...and finally, anyone who might have a fourth.
You shouldn't be getting three passes of shooting before bad guys get to respond.