Trial and error? It took me three or four tries.

Aiming, it takes a fraction of a second for the gun to zero in on what you're pointing at. Get a feel for how long you need to spend on each bottle, then set up a rhythm and go. Just don't rush.

Alternately, if you have Sandevistan, turn that on :) You'll get about twice the time.

And you don't have to down all the bottles: I don't know the exact number, but if you manage about 2/3s of them, Cassidy will be duly impressed and give you the gun.

I had no idea you could switch weapons for the challenge. Learn something new every day :)

I didn't think it was possible either, but after some "trial and error" (see, this is where I try several times - to break my games ^^), I found there is a brief window between stepping up to the firing line and the timer begins.

If you try to swap from your inventory after you got the default weapon in your hand, you just get a message saying "You cannot do that".

Ugh, I keep reading about that feature, and every time it becomes viable, I forget about it...

For sure, I got 20 Reflexes, and have bought a Sandevistan cyberdeck, but when I ran around testing it, I found I can no longer scan or even interact with access points.

Enemies, surveillance cams...everything became unavailable without a Netrunner cyberdeck.

And as I also got 20 Intelligence on my current character, Sandevistan suddenly became way too niche to be the primary ability. Whereas a Netrunner cyberdeck and Quickhacks are useful almost all the time.

Legendary Cyberpsychosis Quickhack and Spread number / Spread distance perks...you can take out whole groups of enemies, without even being spotted with that.

Finally found something new (I think):

-the abandoned church by the Protein Farm quick travel point (right next to the garage your first park Rattler in, in the Nomad prologue) has holes in the roof; through one of these holes, you can see a metal box; your scanner highlights in it yellow (like a plot item), the name reads "television" and the description something like "this box is shielded against scans";

You can't enter the church through the holes in the roof or the open window near the garage (at least I couldn't). But the door looks different from the stock doors and does not show the "F to open" / "locked" dialogue. So I'm thinking there must be a key someplace.

I thought this might be related to Angie Mielech (aka. girl crying on the pier next to Cannery Plaza), since she has you diving for a key. No luck, though. Tried getting the key and coming back to the church, but nothing doing.

Next to the abandoned church, in a burnt out building, there is a note on a sofa from a "Pastor Sachs". Not sure if it's related, but in it a line mentions "All Foods = All Saints". No clue about the saints part, but I (paranoically) checked the All Foods plant. Found nothing there either.

Anyone have any ideas? Or is this another thing that was in already, that I happened to miss?

Just finished the Nomad ending.

You're right, it felt...right, somehow. Besides, I had Judy with me, a panzer, Panam inside the panzer...what else does one need? ;)

Only thing that took away from the immersion was a couple bugs. Like, "Defeat enemies (0/11)", and all I saw was the nomads shooting at each other... (the actual enemies was a bit further ahead).

So just some bugs - and that my UPS decided to crap up on me while playing due to a battery overload, momentarily blacking out the whole house.
Luckily nothing was damaged - a RTX 3080 Aorus Xtreme is hard to come by these days. Scared the hell out of me though - last time something that happened was when my PC Power & Cooling 1200 W decided to blow a fuse and puff some smoke.

I'm glad you liked it. To me, it feels like the most positive of the endings we've got at the moment.

As for your computer: it was probably spillover from drilling under Arasaka tower. All that shaking... :)

Have you done the secret ending, where you go in alone / as Johnny?

Not sure how to phrase it, without spoiling anything, in case you haven't done it yet.
It's most suitable for Corpo V, I think, as V will become the proverbial "queen (or king) of Night City".
Can still bring Judy or Panam along, depending on who you call, and share bed with either (there is even a shower scene...).

To unlock the secret ending, when presented with the options of who to do the job with (Rogue, Panam etc.), just sit and wait for ~5 minutes, without doing anything.

Yeah, but I find it a little bittersweet.

It's like the question Dex asks you at the very beginning "long life or blaze of glory"? The nomad ending is more on the "long life" side: you run from the city for the prospect of a little peace and quiet, with people you care for. The secret ending is the opposite end of the spectrum: you bet everything on a single long-shot, even if it means pushing people aside.

Both are technically "good" endings, but the nomad one suits me better, I guess. I like it when things work out :)

Exactly why it is best suited for Corpo (probably only suited for Corpo).

It's the mentality of "thread on everyone to become the number one", which is what the Corpo style is all about.