reputaion vs work for ladder connectors

[koles]

now to get reward from ladder connector you need to have certain reputation - no matter how you get it
you can work for street connectors thats gives you specific missions, you can hack matrix and sell paydatas, you can work for others v-chip connectors - all gives you reputation
when you have it hight enought - just go to ladder connector and take the prize

problem is in that - other sorces of reputation are much profitable that jobs from ladders (expect Victor - but thats matter of accessibility)

what do you think about adding second requirement like amount of jobs finished from ladder connector (or amount of paydata for Kass) needed to get his trust?
of course scalable - its harder to get 100 jobs from Kazuo than from Cava

for me that sounds resonable, especialy when we take a look at Kass and what she said about datas.

also many of us have few well rounded CKs with different friends - when new ladder connector will show up - if we already have high reputation - to get last prize we just need to talk to him...

what do you think about it?

[grävling]

I think it is a good idea, except for Kazuo. I'm finding it close to impossible to do any jobs for him at all. By the time he shows up in the backroom, I am already exhausted, so it takes days and days before I can even get one job out of him -- which means that, if my reputation wasn't already high withthe Yakuza for other reasons it would decay more based on inactivity than I could ever get Kazuo to boost it.

I'd have to playtest it, but I think there might be a problem with Texas Power's ladder that way as well. There the problem isn't exhaustion so much as Texas wants you to do jobs all over the NBZ and to pick up things and deliver them, not to one location as Vinny and Cava do but to differenet places all over town. This makes gaining rep from him harder so as a practical matter I tend to do his ladder mostly by taking jobs from the Oriental Pearl House.

For me the problem isn't so much that you can get jobs from other Connectors that work just as well to enhance your rep -- indeed with Kass you have to -- but that the Connectors seem oblivious to the fact that you have been operating against them. So I tend to start the game doing jobs for Vinny until my rep with Los V is such to get the starter armour. Then I head down to Fennian land and do enough jobs to get the Kings V-chip, which includes a lot of jobs against Los V. Somehow Kass doesn't write me off as a bad investment...

My other problem is that I don't particularly care about the rewards at the top of the ladders -- I am there just to find out what the other conversations are, with the possible exception of Texas Powers' reward. But by the time I have earned his pass, well, travelling to either side of the wall via the gap in South Boston is no longer a dangerous activity. Indeed what makes such travel dangerous in the first place is that BraveStar drones might end up shooting you dead -- once you are confident that you can shoot them dead before they can shoot you, well, then the pass becomes a convenience more than anything. Maybe the reward that Kazuo promises for later will be worth having.

[LordofSyn]

I agree that there should be at least one other prerequisite before the Ladder connectors become fully available. They aren't normal Connectors anyway. Call it 'getting in deeper with the family'. My first PC, a hacker from last august (long before any tutorial) became the first character I took out of Los Val and rose in the ranks with none other than the Yakuza. [now that I remember it I believe it was just as the first ladder connectors were being introduced.
Yes, I played on simple and died A LOT. ( thankfully life insurance policies for clones aren't valid) It was and still is fun. I even made it back from negative rep from everyone else to balance my rep with everyone. That doesn't stop the small groups from fame hunting as they try to take me out. Peace is hard to keep, especially if you want to survive and eat or even sleep.
Again, they aren't normal connectors, and at the end of the ladder is a special incentive, your reward. Most of these rewards are truly worth the Trouble to get them, but it shouldn't feel like I am working for Just Another Johnson.

[koles]

you can work only for Texas and earn enought rep for BraveStar - done that with 3 CK without any problems
but Kazuo could have only 15-20 jobs - swords could be worth that

[Cory Trese]

We do have a currently unused system for tracking "Stock" with a Connector (or any Contact.)

The game will eventually work with Stock as well as Reputation which will open up new types of Connectors that are more concerned about personal service and advancement than they are about Faction Reputation.

Great suggestions

[LordofSyn]

Hmmm truly tiered Connectors.
I love the multiple angles and motivations.
That will help further the suspension of disbelief and breathe more "life" into the NBZ.

Huzzah Trese. Co.