In the upper West of the Puyallup Barrens is this little jewel of a place... The Crime Mall. You like hardware? You like software? You like big things that go boom? Then you need to shop here.
What a selection they have! Though I have to admit, the only thing they sell here in their firearms and armor department that I care about is the Allegiance Shotgun. I mean, sure the Remington Roomsweeper holds 8 shots and does high damage, high power... But the Allegiance Shotgun has 5 rounds with the amendum of high damage, brutal power. That's right, brutal power! How the hell can you not use it?
However, my exception to this rule is if you're completely tricking yourself out with cyberware for speed (namely, many levels of wired reflexes) and a smartlink, then the SMGs may be of interest to you. They do three shot bursts, and the faster you can shoot, the deadlier they become.
As a side note, the Light Combat Armor is nice, but just keep holding out, for we can do better...
Yes, I have over 200,000 nuyen. Enjoy the spoils of your decking. You can get more money from the matrix than you can shake a stick at, thanks to old Roscoe. And all of the decking I have done so far has been with a crappy, earlier deck. Precisely for one purposes -- so that I can afford the Fairlight Excalibur.
There's a contact that sells it for cheaper, but at this point I don't want to bother. I can buy it NOW and rule The Matrix with an iron fist.
Uncle Joe would be so proud.
When in the high-end corporate networks (Hollywood Correctional, Ares, Mitsuhama, Fuchi, Renraku, and Lone Star), you'll find several interesting files in various datastores. These provide important plot clues and also some will lead to a super secret matrix mission.
Make a note of stuff that you need to pick up as money becomes available to you. That Level 5 Maglock passkey is a complete steal for 20,000. In fact, the other guy that has one sells it for 42,000+, and you can easily blow 20,000 buying a level 2 or 3 passkey. Trust me, you WANT that level 5 one.
The cyberheart? That seems like the sort of important information that will lead to me going on a fetch quest (errr... I'm sorry, I meant shadowrun...) later.
[Editor's Note: To those of you who want to learn more about Shadowrun, I suggest picking up some of the novels. Some of my personal favorites are Wolf & Raven, Technobabel, Run Hard Die Fast, Headhunters, Beyond The Pale, and The Terminus Experiment.]
Everybody should love the Level 5 Maglock Passkey. Screw the megacorps and their pesky maglock doors. No alarm setting off via electronics skill shortcomings or frag grenade forced openings.
A lot of people (contacts) offer some wiz deals and other contacts. Take advantage of this. The more contacts you have, the easier you will find the latter portions of the game to be.
[Editor's Note: To be fair, there is a key set of contacts that will make your life easier in the game. It is certainly not necessary to get all the contacts, or even half of them, in the game.]
When upgrading a cyberdeck, I focus on 4 distinct things. Attack, Deception, Masking, and Deck Response. They're highly expensive upgrades but WELL worth it.
Don't forget to upgrade your computer skill though. And if all else fails, Sleaze is a very handy utility, but it is something that I won't be picking it up until a bit later. I find that I always make full utilization of Attack, Deception, and Sleaze when making my way through the matrix. You may want to keep a couple of crappy level one programs on hand to feed to tar pits and tar papers, though.
Hey, another shadowrunner for hire. Cool beans.
Once you get a reputation of 6, you notice that certain doors start to open up for you. This is good.
Well thanks to our reputation upgrade, we can get into the exclusively elven club Icarus Descending. There's a bunch of clubs in this game, such as Underground 93, The Jump House, The Jackal's Lantern, The Space Needle, Club Penumbra, Matchsticks, The Wanderer, The Big Rhino, and so forth. There's probably more I'm forgetting, too. But Mr. Caleb Brightmore doesn't seem to want to talk to us yet... Hmpf.
I guess we'll just come back later, when everybody is feeling a little less racist.
[Editor's Note: You will find that race and racial tensions -- namely of the metahuman type -- are a very common aspect of the 6th World that Shadowrun is set in.]
It seems like a good time to meet The Ork Gang in The Puyallup Barrens, as I feel a great need to pick up some protection and free cab rides.
...But mostly free cab rides.
Protip: Don't pay them the extra money (500 nuyen). The arm band itself gets you the free cab rides.
Time to go see the boss of The Eye Fiver's gang. They're a bunch of Mafia lackeys. Pay them the money and take their ear cuff for protection, because they are quite easy to get into shooting contests with on the streets of Seattle.
...Not to say it won't happen anyway with the ear cuff, but it will be a little less blatant at least.
If you talk to Mr. Faradouchi, you can join The Mafia (or side with them, so to speak). It'll keep Lone Star off your back and give you a discount at The Crime Mall.
Or in other words; totally not worth it. Keep your options open, as there are better deals to be had.
Despite The Halloweeners being some ugly bastards (seriously, what is with that make-up? Stupid go-gangers), they're aligned with The Yakuza. You can't beat Mr. Agira Tetsumi's Level 4 Power Focus and Mil Spec Combat Armor.
Fork over the nuyen and get ready to choose your side. The Yakuza is the way to go, I believe (though I hear you can work the Mafia deal to make yourself free money, but thanks to the matrix we can print our own money -- it's that heavy combat armor Agira Tetsumi sells that we can't get anywhere else; same goes for that Level 3 Power Focus). Also, it gets you a discount at The Little Chiba Chop Shop. Which is absolutely awesome if you're a street samurai and you haven't cybered yourself up yet.
Check out all of our gang paraphernalia.
Good ole' karma. Spend it wisely, children. And more importantly - spend it often.
It's just like The Matrix. The Yakuza is the red pull, and The Mafia is the blue pill. You cannot undo this event once you have chosen, so choose carefully.
PRO-TIP: In case you didn't catch my hints from before... Choose red.
Excellent. These are two items that you will definitely want. The armor a lot sooner than the power focus. Of course, the latter is only useful if you're a shaman anyway, but it takes up valuable inventory space.
DESU!
[Editor's Note: Did somebody just say weeaboo?]
You see that? That's money well spent. Short of a load of Lone Star boys, some spell slinging wagemages / shamans, or some Mafia Hitmen... You'll be free and clear.
Just watch out for hellhounds though. Those pack hunters are evil and will tear your soul apart.