Atlas of Worlds Strategy (Path of Exile Heist League 5.12)

 Despite reading the wiki and other good resources, I still found the POE atlas/map dropping to be extremely confusing. I've written a summarized version that might of help to someone!

How do map drops work

• A map can drop anywhere from T1 to T#(your current map tier). e.g. if you are on a T5 map, monsters can drop T1-T5 maps.
• Magic/rare monsters can drop an additional one level higher, and bosses can drop two levels higher. e.g. the boss of a T5 map could drop anywhere from T1-T7 maps.
• Your completion bonus also gives you a chance at increasing the tier of the map, but this does not increase the maximum possible. e.g. if you have a 100% completion bonus (from 100 completed maps) and kill the boss of a T5 map, it can only drop T2-T7 maps (T1 is impossible because there's a guaranteed chance to upgrade the map).
• The only maps that can drop are ones that you have already completed or adjacent undiscovered maps.
• There is a 2x weighting for incomplete maps and a 4x weighting for adjacent maps multiplicatively; this means that an adjacent, incomplete map has a 8x chance to drop compared to other maps.
• Note that none of these rules apply to buying maps from Zana or from her missions, which can give you random maps disconnected from your completed maps.

How do Watchstones work?

• Watchstones increase the tier of all maps in their region (typically by +3 per stone) and also change the layout slightly, often revealing brand new maps.
• Maps of lower tiers are totally independent from their higher tier versions; e.g. Park T1 and Park T4 are essentially unrelated. You will not be able to drop incomplete, adjacent T5 maps from Park T1.
• A map that is not visible on the Atlas due to a Watchstone:

1.  Is removed from the global, completed random drop pool (you will not have that map drop anymore for any reason)
2. Is not considered adjacent to any map, and thus can only drop previously completed maps

What should I do with my Watchstone (assuming I want 100% completion of all non-unique maps)?

• Slot it in a region where you have completed all non-unique maps.
• If you have multiple regions that qualify, choose the lowest tiered region (e.g. watchstone a T1-T4 region first before a T5-T8 region.
• If you still have ties, choose randomly.

But what about Conquerors?

• Getting Watchstones ASAP is critical to advancing the Atlas. As soon as you can comfortably handle beating a Conqueror and higher-tiered maps, you should hunt these out. Ignore the general rules above; go ahead and slot multiple watchstones into a single region so you can do the maps and defeat the Conqueror, then move the Watchstones back to return to regular map completion.

How do I get a specific, incomplete map to drop?

• You must grind for this on maps adjacent to the incomplete map.
• Your best bet are maps that are at least the same tier as the map you want (e.g. if you want a T7, you should grind adjacent maps that are at least T7 and not a T6) since any monster can drop the map (not just rares/bosses).

How do I stop all these low-level maps from dropping?

• Put a Watchstone in that region to prevent maps of those lower tiers from dropping.

What if I don't have enough Watchstones?

• See: "But what about Conquerors?"

Wasteland 3 Random Tips Collection

     Tips:

• Barter is actually useful. You will be short on money for most of the game and being able to upgrade your weapons and armor earlier will help in combat.
• Be smart about ammo usage; Energy Cells are especially expensive.
• Major Tomcat is an additional companion that you get at the beginning of the game. It does not take the place of a normal animal companion (just dismiss it, charm the animal you want, then talk to Major Tomcat again to recruit them) and does a surprising amount of damage. He's also quite tanky.
• For exploration, you definitely want Mechanics, Nerd Stuff and Lockpicking maxed out. It's best to put them on separate characters to make it easier.
• First Aid comes up fairly often in skill checks, but isn't required to be as high; 5-7 will get you through most of the game.
• Survival, Weird Shit and Explosives can safely be ignored; there are few situations where anything is truly gated behind either of these.
• Toaster Repair isn't really necessary. Usually it gives you more money, but you can eventually collect four Tarjan Tokens. It does unlock the best armor in the game, but only requires a Toaster Repair level of 7.
• When you use medical items in your inventory ("use on self") it uses the highest First Aid skill of your party members. It also gives any additional buffs that that character has (e.g. Overhealing).
• When you equip a weapon from your inventory and it's not your active weapon it will not be loaded. Remember this before you get into a fight!
• SMGs do more damage than rifles, but are shorter ranged, have lower penetration and use more ammo.
• World Encounters are surprisingly dangerous; don't sleep on how difficult they can be. Don't forget that your vehicle is very strong though, and running over enemies is very effective.
• Every world encounter map also has a chest that you can loot after the battle is done. Some battles even have two chests!
• World encounters scale with you. Towards end game you will be fighting enemies that have 2000+ health and will deal 2-3 attacks per turn for 200-400 damage per hit. If you are surprised at the start of combat that's often a party wipe.
• Cyborg chickens can be dropped off at Ranger HQ in the yard by the chicken coop. If you collect them all there's a special follower you can recruit.
• Tarjan Tokens can be traded in at the Bizarre fortune-telling machine for permanent perks. It's a random chance though, and each perk can only be gotten once.
• When you level up skills and have equipment that boosts that skill, it will cost you more as though your skill level was actually higher. Or more simply: it's more expensive to upgrade skills that are boosted through equipment. Make sure to take off the equipment first before increasing the skill.
• Every skill has one book in the world that will upgrade it once. To be most efficient, only level your skills to 9 and then use the book (or wait to find it).
• Brawling is very underpowered until rank 10, at which point you get a perk that reduces your attacks to 1 AP. Brawling is quite strong at that point, but I wouldn't say it is overpowered. Being forced to close with the enemy means you will often be focus fired and killed. However, it's useful having a melee character in your party who can be built to be tanky and draw fire from your squishier back line.
• Armor is an important mechanic in the game and something you probably don't pay a ton of attention to early on. Later you can run into situations where enemies will soak 50-75% of your damage. You should either use energy weapons (which ignore armor) or break the armor. All of the precise shots (strike abilities) can be used to drop armor by -75%. Brawling attacks also reduce armor by 1 per combo (for teammates as well!), but this is less useful in the late game when enemies have 30-40 armor.
• When opening with a sneak attack, consider moving all your characters as close as possible. It's a common rookie mistake to open fire at long range with a sniper, but then the rest of your characters waste most of their AP closing the gap. This effectively allows the enemy to attack you first.
• Skilling up two different weapons is almost always a waste. You're better off using the two weapon slots for a high damage, low-penetration weapon and a lower damage, high-penetration weapon.
• Make sure your characters use a broad range of ammo types to avoid running low. It's tempting to create a bunch of riflemen, but that's both boring and suboptimal. In particular, make sure you have at least one Ranger using a shotguns and one using a pistol.
• You will hit the final mission somewhere between level 26-28, mostly varying based on your Charisma. 

[SR5] Shadowrun Seattle housing prices compared to RL Seattle

Real life Residential listings:

• Silverdale: $162/sq ft
• (RL) e.g. $370,000 (2284 sq ft) for 33yo, 3BR 2.25 bath on 0.25 acres
• (SR) this is in Salish Shidhe territory west of Outremer.
• Bainbridge: $350/sq ft
• (RL) e.g. $675,000 (1875 sq ft) for 7yo, 3BR, 2 bath on 0.52 acres
• (SR) Bainbridge island is one of the Outremer islands
• Capitol Hill: $528/sq ft
• (RL) e.g. $700,000 (1320 sq ft) for 6yo, 3BR, 2.5 bath on 1029 sq ft lot
• (SR) Capitol Hill is in SR Seattle's Downtown
• Medina/Bellevue: $440-697/sq ft
• (RL) e.g. $2,820,000 (4043 sf) for 20yo, 4BR, 3.25 bath on 0.37 acres but is waterfront
• (RL) e.g. $800,000 (1830 sf) for 64yo, 3BR, 1.75 bath on 0.25 acres but is a "fixer"
• (SR) Medina is in Bellevue
• Sammamish: $306/sq ft
• (RL) e.g. $670,000 (2230 sf) for 15yo, 4BR, 2.5 bath on 0.1 acres
• (SR) Sammamish IRL is in Redmond, which obviously doesn't match the costs in SR. Probably better fit for Renton?
• Carnation: $263/sq ft
• (RL) e.g. $650,000 (2460 sf) for 24yo, 4BR, 2.5 bath on 5.0 acres
• (SR) Carnation is east of Redmond, bordering Salish Shidhe territory. Analogous to more residential parts of Snohomish?
• Pomeroy, Garfield County ($1300/acre, or $0.03/sq ft)
• (RL) e.g. $485,000 for 378 acres with fields and rivers. Small cabin included.
• (SR) This would be a decent analogue for rural, rural Snohomish
• (SR) This county is in SE Washington, very far from Seattle
• Walla Walla, Walla Walla County
• (RL) e.g. $849,000 for vineyard on 5.39 acres. Includes wine-making operation, large home that's used as rental property for $100-150/room
• (SR) Example of a really nice, built-up rural property

Real Life Commercial Listings:

• Downtown
• (RL) $170,000/year ($27/sf): one floor, light-industrial/office/retail with 6,300 sq ft. 165' frontage
• (SR) A good medium-cost benchmark
• (RL) $140,000/year ($40/sf): part of fancy 22-story office building and in the heart of downtown with 3500 sq ft
• Everett
• (RL) $81,600/year ($24/sf) restaurant with 22' ceiling with 3400 sq ft
• (SR) This is in not a great neighborhood, and a good example of restaurant costs

SR Seattle Neighborhoods:

• Downtown (130,000¥ per capita income, 1,165 p/sq km, 89% corp-affiliated)
• Government/cultural/economic heart of the city
• Bellevue (110,000¥ per capita income, 864 p/sq km, 89% corp-affiliated)
• Manicured parks, shopping districts and high-tech industry
• Tacoma (59,000¥ per capita income, 658 p/sq km, 89% corp-affiliated)
• Major port, strong aroma from paper mills/metal smelting, historically blue-collar
• Everett (58,500¥ per capita income, 1,106 p/sq km, 69% corp-affiliated)
• Hit hard by Crash of '64, many abandoned homes and businesses. Squatters are a problem and is a common smuggling pipeline as well as a center of vice. Known for its casinos (Casino Corner). Home to Naval Station Everett (home to a nuclear supercarrier battlegroup) with 8500 personnel.
• Renton (90,000¥ per capita income, 840 p/sq km, 68% corp-affiliated)
• "Seattle's apartment" with condoplexes and housing co-ops. Also has hills, lakes, and numerous restaurants. 35% meta (20% ork!)
• Auburn (32,000¥ per capita income, 601 p/sq km, 63% corp-affiliated)
• Working-class, constant hum from factories/plants running 24/7. Production center of the city. Home to sports teams, bars,nightclub, malls
• Snohomish (34,000¥ per capita income, 530 p/sq km, 71% corp-affiliated)
• Breadbasket of the city, rolling fields, rural, but minimal tourism
• Fort Lewis (30,000¥ per capita income, 497 p/sq km, 39% corp-affiliated)
• Home to Fort Lewis military base and McChord Air Force base. Sparsely populated but many commuters come in from other districts. Has woods and hiking, Zoological Gardens. Mostly caters to soldiers and families in district. UCAS MP handle security, not KE.
• Redmond (6,600¥ per capita income, 1142 p/sq km, 2% corp-affiliated)
• Everyone fled after Trojan-Satsop nuclear meltdown. Lawless, "virtual ghost town", many abandoned properties, food aid comes in armored trucks, run by Mafia and Yakuza. "Toxic castles" that are walled-off factories exist (goods shipped in by helicopter). All a static zone except Touristville, which is a Spam zone.
• Puyallup (6,200¥ per capita income, 502 p/sq km, 18% corp-affiliated)
• Farmland was buried by Mt. Rainier eruption and business suffered. Frequent haven for refugees (Ghost Dance War, Tir Tairngire, NAN...). Home to major elf enclave (Tarislar). Regularly gets "dirty snow" ash. Central Puyallup neighborhood is still middle-class and attempts to fight "lost cause" attitude but is probably allied with organized crime. 
• Council Island (65,000¥ per capita income, 120 p/sq km, 2% corp-affiliated)
• Tribal enclave/embassy. Ceded to NAN. Salish-Shidhe Council removed all modern structures and replaced with green tech (solar panels, wireless...) or natural construction. Most residents are diplomats, staff and families from NAN as well as rangers/caretakers.
• Outremer (69,000¥ per capita income, 400 p/sq km, 74% corp-affiliated)
• Five islands, mostly suburban communities

[SR5] Sioux Nations Screamsheet

Sourced from Shadows in Focus: Sioux Nation. Content relevant as of 2075.

The Sioux Nation

Government

• Capital: Cheyenne (formerly in Wyoming)
• Constitution-based tribal council
• Independence: 25 April 2018
• Suffrage at 16 years; universal and compulsory
• Has a single original treaty/pact/"constitution" formed by the five original tribes in the Ghost Dance war. Document is hidden and only the elders can see it.
• Council of Elders has the ultimate authority but they try to act only as "spiritual mediators and advisers". Almost all Elders are powerful shamans. Chiefs can appoint a new Elder if necessary. 
• Regular affairs handled by a Council of Chiefs. Each of 20 tribes has one chief elected for a 5 year term. Chiefs can only be elected once but often strongly influence the pick of successor.
• Each year at "Midsummer" they meet in Cheyenne to make official rulings on legal cases and send suggested new laws to the Council of Elders. Also typically name new heads of government bureaus.
• Bureaus: Agriculture, Civil Enforcement, Cultural Preservation, Health and Welfare, Native Heritage, High technology, Immigration and Revenue, Justice, National Security, Resource Management

Demographics

• Population: 6,950,000 (January 2075 estimate)
• 63% Human, 17% ork, 9% troll, 5% elf, 5% dwarf, 1% ther
• Languages: English (official), Siouxian dialects, Cherokee, Navajo, numerous tribal dialects
• 15% SINless
• 97% literacy
• Major Urban Areas: Cheyenne (WY) 2.9 million; Billings (MT) 245,000; Rapid City (SD) 225,000; Fargo (ND) 195,000; Casper (WY) 80,000; Butte (MT) 61,000
• Citizenship requires proof of a connection to one of the tribes. SINs are stored in the NAN SIN Registry outside of Cheyenne

Economy

• Industries (rank ordering): Agroindustry, software/info services, food processing, machinery, microelectronics, petroleum/natural gas production, mining, lumber and wood processing
• Cybernetics are very rare due to cultural norms
• Corporate Affiliation: 35%
• Currency: nuyen
• Per Capita GDP: 31,000¥
• Population below poverty line: 15% (2073 est.)

Misc

• Notable Local Grids: Eagle City Grid (Cheyenne), SCEnet (cell system for rural communities)
• Military: Sioux Defense Force (SDF): Sioux Army, Sioux Air Force, Sioux Special Forces (“Wildcats”); Scouts (paramilitary youth organization)
• The largest and best-equipped military in the NANs, but still vastly outgunned by UCAS
• Wildcats used as recon, assassination, counter-terrorism and insurgent training operations. Extensive magic users. Not in the same tier as other special forces like Delta Force. Used in 11-man squads with two 5-man combat teams and a squad leader. Each team has at least one magic user. Augmentation is rare.
• Service obligations: 18 years of age compulsory (all genders) for 12 months; active reserve for 48 months; inactive reserve to age 40

Transportation

• Requires a travel visa with a SIN from a Sioux embassy
• Extra-paranoid about security: Aztlan, CAS, UCAS and megacorp citizens may face extra delays
• Casper has the largest airport and is a full-service aerospace port which is a transportation hub for the northwest. Flies semi-ballistic and suborbital routes to most international cities
• Cheyenne is undergoing massive expansion at Warren Air Force Base
• Small air/heliports are common, with 1/4 of citizens having a pilot's license
• One of the best highway networks in North America (Major Routes 80, 94, 15 and Highway 87)

Tribes and Languages

• The sourcebook is purposefully vague about which tribes compose the Sioux Nation, though it does say there are exactly twenty.
• For the purpose of my campaign, this is a good start for the seven largest: Wdewakanton, Sisseton, Teton, Wahpekute, Wahpeton, Yankton, and Yanktonai.
• Most Sioux are bi- or trilingual, with English as the common language in the nation in addition to their tribal language.
• The most common third languages are Japanese, Nahuatl and Salish.
• Or'zet and Sperethiel are rare, while Sasquatch is disproportionately frequently learned.

Notable Locations

• Devil's Tower (called Bear's Lodge by the Lakota): Unpredictably turns into a mana warp
• Chief's Mountain (aka Great Chief by the Blackfoot): Important Sun Dance ritual location, spawns powerful magical storms, banned to casual visitors.
• Yellowstone Wilderness Refuge: visible dragon line, extremely dangerous magma pocket underneath that is growing progressively more unstable. Allegedly closed to tourists due to danger. Gaeatronics operates six geothermal plants here which power at least half of the Sioux Nation and are a major power source for the Salish-Shidhe Council. 
• Billings (MT): Trade and transportation hub for half of SN. Quiet, clean, safe. Attracts a higher-class of business. Major talislegging hub as well. Has a "Tier 5" hospital that is state-of-the-art and allegedly a quarter of city visitors are medical tourists for unique treatments only available there.
• Cheyenne (WY): High-density, mini-arcologies, a mix of new modern construction and restored, gentrified old town. University of Cheyenne (U of C) is here with a wide range of courses but specializing in physics, engineering and microtronics
• Rapid City (SD): Armed camp/trade hub. Largest military base focused on UCAS threat, but also a major Route 90 link and trade stop on the way to UCAS. 200km from the UCAS border.
• Blackstone Prison, Sydney (MT): Mitsuhama-run prison with a license from the Sioux Bureau of Justice. Holds exceptionally dangerous magic users in a mana warp which makes them depression and near-catatonic. Due to long-term negative effects, guards are almost entirely automated. Allegedly affects technomancers as well.

Notable People

• Daniel Howling Coyote (The Great Ghost Dance Prophet, born Daniel Coleman): architect of the Great Ghost Dance, won freedom for the NAN. Left public eye in 2037. Set up the government in the spirit of cooperation and peace. Believed Awakening was a gift to the native peoples and the new beings (metatypes).

Corporations

• Not a signatory to the Business Recognition Accords (e.g. extraterritoriality) but in practice large corps get effectively the same rights through negotiation/corruption. However this has still caused most megacorps to stay out of the country, and the ones that do stick to Cheyenne and Casper.
• Ares (HQ: Cheyenne): launches satellites for the Sioux government and military and their conventional and anti-bug weapons are commonly used. Seen as a front for UCAS military nonetheless.
• Doc Wagon (HQ: Billings): De-facto national health care provider. Full national coverage, guaranteed response time of 30m or less anywhere in the country. Leases or owns almost all hospitals in cities. Headquarters in Billing has an amazing SOTA hospital.
• High Plains Coding (HQ: Cheyenne): Software company that often buys out smaller companies and primarily works in embedded operating systems (e.g. kitchenware, pilot programs).
• Mesametric (HQ: Laramie): Produces construction, agricultural and military utility vehicles. Famous for Kodiak excavation drone. Large international player in global construction, including anthro work drones, magrail locomotives and electronic warfare thunderbirds & EW artillery.
• Wind River Corporation (HQ: Laramie): Biggest player in the biggest SN industry of agriculture. Large enough that they'd be classed a multinational if they applied to the Corporate Court. Hydroponics and aeroponics facilities that grow everything year-round.
• Henequen Enterprises (HQ: Cheyenne): Owned by the feathered serpent Henequen after being kicked out of Denver, is largely a front appearing to be aimed at reclaiming Denver and attacking Aztlan. Minor corporation that specializes in temp staffing Sioux citizens looking to work internationally. Huge player in the shadows.

Crime

• Sioux National Police (derisively known as the "snipes") wear black uniforms, white body armor and carry SMGs regularly
• SNP known for being very aggressive, causing civilian casualties, highly corrupt and being generally bad at catching criminals
• Judges are appointed for life by Bureau of Justice and have a high degree of power in court cases and are not bound by precedent
• No right to a legal representative, judgments are theoretically final (without political maneuvering), no appeals
• Armor is legal and common (including armor jackets).
• Weapon laws are lax but concealed-carry is extremely restricted (vs. open-carry which is very common). Light/heavy pistols are legal and require only an ID check. Semi-auto longarms restricted to hunting areas and home defense, and full auto weapons are illegal outside of corp security and government. Holdout pistols are illegal due to concealment.
• Cyberdecks are common (especially in Cheyenne and Laramie) and while they technically require a license, will often be waved through by police.

Cultural Norms/Rules

• Especially tolerant and meta-type "blind"
• Heavily discriminate against changelings and Anglos
• Tobacco is banned
• Constantly paranoid about attack from UCAS (Israeli-like mentality)
• Long animosity with Aztlan
• Daniel Howling Coyote is considered a saint in the nation
• Urban vs. Rural loyalties differ: Loyalty is usually to family first, then Sioux Nation next, then tribes in cities. Rurals still have strong tribal allegiances.
• "Family" is the extended family, who often live together. 
• Chrome augmentations are frowned upon and generally prefer either no-augs or "subtle" bioware. Having obvious modifications can make you a target for lectures on damage to your essence.
• Shamans are very common, while hermetic mages are seen as different and often ostracized.

PLAYERUNKNOWN'S Battleground tips and strategy

Proof that I sorta know what I'm talking about:

I've only played for ~12 hours but I've placed first in solo (out of two tries), first in duo twice, and first in party twice (including once with a three-man squad).

Thoughts in no particular order:


On Goals

• Decide if your plan is to try to win, or to have "fun". They're not necessarily the same thing. Winning often requires you to play very passive, avoid taking shots, loot away from other players, loot lower-reward areas, etc. A lot of people get impatient and crave action. Those players are not statistically good at winning.

On Winning

• The biggest keys to winning:
• Not getting into fights
• Don't reveal your presence to others
• Excellent decision-making on movement (when, where)
• Facing challenges that you're equipped to handle
• Note what's not in there: good aim. You can place ridiculously high (top 10) without even firing a shot. Obviously at some point you will need to kill someone to finish, but sneaking behind someone and shooting at their open backside while you're totally protected is a victory for most players.
• I've won games as a duo where I literally fired no bullets all game other than to kill the last person. In solo, I've won only killing people in very one-sided fights (shooting them while they shoot someone else, ambushing someone with a shotgun in a house when they don't know I'm there).

On Winning Strategy

• Drop in a medium-value loot, low-traffic area where you can safely obtain gear with a minimum of conflict. This should include an assault rifle, backpack, vest, helmet and some medical supplies at a minimum. These areas will often be on the edges of what you can get to from the plane, and often be unnamed.
• Evade and hide from the enemy players around you whenever possible. Continually keep yourself in a position where options are open to you and you can change your plan if the situation evolves unexpectedly. For example, don't make any plan that involves "and then we book it for full speed to the white circle or else we die". Don't get yourself pinned in a building in the white praying that the next zone is on top of you.
• Avoid greed when possible, but take smart risks. Had bad luck initially with getting gear? Be more aggressive, search more houses, maybe try to take down a better-equipped squad/player. You're not likely to survive late game anyway. Have decent gear already? Don't get picked off stupidly looting homes for stuff you don't need.
• When it comes down to the end, continually try to keep your enemies on only one of your flanks. Avoid detection as long as possible, and when you do need to commit to killing someone/a team make sure to put them down quickly.

On Winning Tactics

• Your default stance should be to never fight unless you have an overwhelming advantage and a reason to do so.. Shooting at people in an open field while you're in a building far away with scopes? A fight you'll likely win, but what do you gain? Now everyone knows you're in that house, and you may get pinned in or naded to death.
• As soon as you fire a round everyone in your area will know where you are based on the sound. Don't fire if you don't need to, and if you do need to, do the job quickly and then relocate.
• The overwhelming majority of the time you feel the urge to do something, the right decision is usually to be patient. It takes a lot of practice and self-control to resist impulsive, bad decisions.
• Clearing the upstairs of a building when they know you're coming is a low percentage situation. Generally, don't bother with this unless you literally have no choice. If you were pinned in a two floor house with an enemy upstairs and other enemies outside, I'd rather camp the first floor and pray than push the second, assuming he knows I'm coming.
• Conversely, being inside the upper floors of a building is virtual invincibility. Short of a really lucky series of shots at you through the windows when you're standing, you're not going to die to any short of a dedicated barrage of grenades. Use this to your advantage. This is a much stronger advantage in duo and squad play than solo.

On Ammo Conservation

• In a team, try to split up your rifles into 7.62mm (e,g, AKM, SKS) and 5.56mm (e.g. M16, SCAR) ammunition among teammates. For example, have two people in the squad using 7.62mm and two people using 5.56mm. It reduces the chance that any given person will run out. If you have a ton of ammo (say, 90-120 rounds per person) this becomes irrelevant.
• Generally speaking, grenades are not that useful. Or rather, it's hard to get into situations where you can use them: one where you know where the enemy is, you can't directly shoot each other, you can safely find time to pull out and throw the grenade, and it's a fight you actually want to be having.
• That being said, the grenades are EXTREMELY useful at the very end of a game when everyone is clumped together in a small space, and quite frequently it ends in building or near one. Grenades are the only means you have of clearing an upper floor of a building if the game comes down to that.
• All in all, try to keep grenades if you can but don't be afraid to drop them early if you need the space.
• Smoke grenades get a special mention for being more versatile than the other nades, being frequently used to help your team exit a bad position or (more rarely) attack into a good one. They're also useful for reviving people and looting corpses/supply drops.

On Vision Magnification Scopes (x2, x4, x8)

• These are hugely important and completely change the nature of long-distance engagement. With no vision aid you're at the mercy of even lower-powered weapons with better scopes. They also help you scan buildings to see if people are moving around/hiding inside them.

Zeroing Weapons and dealing

Random Tips

• Held weapon type affects your run speed. Rifles are slower, pistols and SMGs are faster. Unarmed is the fastest (default "X" key to holster your weapon)

[PATHFINDER] Clarification on Pounce+Rake+Grab rules interaction

The interaction of the pounce, rake and grab abilities is very confusing. This is especially relevant to Big Cats.

I am very confident that the following is true, and this is the ruling we use at my table.


Use a leopard as an example, with one bite (plus grab) and 2 claw attacks. Its rake applies to the 2 claws.

• Regarding pounce: if you pounce, you get rake attacks automatically. That means the leopard will get one bite and 4 claw attacks.
• Whenever the leopard manages to land a bite attack, it can automatically attempt to grapple.
• If the leopard succeeds at the grapple check, it still does not get to rake, because it did not start its turn grappling.
• Attempting a grapple does not interfere with the rest of your attacks this turn.
• On any turn where the leopard is already grappling, it can immediately do its rake attack of 2 claws as well as any other grapple actions it so chooses.

Important note: When a monster lands a grab attack, it has to choose between grappling normally or with only the body part that was part of the attack (mouth/bite in the leopard example).

If the leopard grapples normally, it cannot do a full-round attack next round (but it does not interrupt what happens this round). That is because it requires a standard action next round to maintain the grapple.

If it grapples with only the grabbing body part it takes a -20 penalty to the grapple check but it can still do a full-round attack next round (it does not gain the grappled condition) (the full-round attacks would exclude the grabbing body part, which deals damage as part of the grapple check and not an attack).

On any round where the leopard starts out grappling, it will automatically attempt the rake attacks (2 claws) for free against the target independent of any other events.

After the grapple has started, each successful grapple check will also do its bite damage (the grappling body part) automatically.

[SR5] Gear Rules Summary

Acquiring Gear

1. To purchase illegally yourself, make an "Availability Test":
• Negotiation + Charisma[Social] vs. (item Availability Rating, as number of dice)
• 1+ hits...
• you purchase at listed price, available in (Base Delivery Time)/net hits
• Tie...
• available at listed price but takes twice as long as (Base Delivery Time)
• Fail...
• you get nothing. You can retry after twice the (Base Delivery Time)
• Each +25% nuyen you put into the cost gives you an extra die to this test up to +400% nuyen spent
2. Alternatively, use a contact
• Contact's Negotiation + Contact's Charisma[Social+Connection] vs. (item Availability Rating, as number of dice)
• Assuming you have a working history with the contact, by default they charge no additional fee
• (House rules) Specialists get bonus dice for items in their field.
3. Base Delivery Times per item:
• 1-100¥ = 6 hours
• 101-1,000¥ = 1 day
• 1,001-10,000¥ = 2 days
• 10,001-100,000¥ = 1 week
• 100,000+¥ = 1 month
4. Note that you can do a Teamwork Assist with a Contact as well.
1. Choose you or the contact to act as the leader (whoever is better)
2. For the helper, make the Availability Test as normal.
3. Any hits increase the leader's limit and dice pool by one.
• The most dice that can be added is equal to the leader's Negotiation rating 
4. Leader performs their Availability Test with bonus dice and limit, if any.
5. Glitches prevent any assistance, critical glitches cause the leader to critically glitch as well.

Fencing Gear (SR5 p.418)

1. You can choose to sell it to a contact for 5% * Loyalty rating.
2. You can sell it yourself:
• If it's a "standard good" (legal, common item) you can't sell it for more than a "couple nuyen"
• Otherwise...
• Finding a buyer: Extended Etiquette+Charisma[Social] (10) Test
• Interval:
• 0-100¥: 6 hours
• 101-1,000¥: 1 day
• 1,001-10,000¥: 2 day
• 10,001-100,000¥: 1 week
• 100,001¥+: 1 month
• May use the item's Availability Rating to help you with a Teamwork Test.
• A glitch or critical glitch on Etiquette results in unwanted attention (authorities?)
• Selling it: Opposed Negotiation+Charisma[Social] Test
• Final price is 25% of list price, +/-5% per net hit
• You can choose to make the deal with that buyer or restart the search process.
• A glitch or critical glitch while negotiating means you managed to insult the buyer, "the deal might be off... or worse."