Hayley Kaplan

Pros:

+ Awesome Artwork

+ Jokes about Kaplan and being a 'scholar' (but needing testprep)

+ Power Glove! Actually Comet. Also Hayley's Comet.

+ Standard 45/15 on card limit/influence limit

Cons

- 0

Shakedown on other Shaper identities

Kate "Mac" McCaffrey: Digital Tinker

Perhaps the most obvious comparison, and one of the most interesting. Mac is somewhat slowed by poor synergy with common, powerful shaper cards. Scavenge, Test Run, Personal Workshop, Code Siphon, The Supplier although functional, don't make the most of Mac's ability in all scenarios. Mac also only works with Programs and Hardware.

Haley can make perfect use of Personal Workshop, Self-modifying Code, or Clone Chip, on a run, and combo it her ability and with Autoscripter to boot. Test Run still allows for a saved click, as does The Supplier Replicator see excellent synergy as well.

On the other hand, everything is more expensive to install for Hayley with no install cost reduction. Mac also starts with 1

Chaos Theory: Wünderkind

Chaos Theory: Wünderkind can setup a Shaper rig fast, by using a reduced deck size without sacrificing overall influence. CT's extra +1 is a nice bonus as well, allowing for some larger program rigs without needing additional MU cards.

Hayley by contrast doesn't start with any MU bonuses, or lower variance but instead gains free install clicks over the course of the game. I suggest that whether you don't install a card at all, or have to search for it (CT) versus installing at a reduced penalty (Hayley) will be a choice of preference.

Rielle "Kit" Peddler: Transhuman

Rielle "Kit" Peddler: Transhuman has her own play style. The comparison is too nuanced since Kit relies on Ice subtype abuse at a greatly reduced influence. I would only suggest that Hayley lends herself to more playstyles than Kit.

The Professor: Keeper of Knowledge

The Professor: Keeper of Knowledge is a influence identity, taking more from other factions. Like Kit, the Professor lends himself to a particular play style.

Exile: Streethawk

Exile: Streethawk is very similar to Hayley, his ability also provides click conservation during installs. Many of the windows of when his ability triggers also trigger for Hayley, although he gains a draw rather than an install, and he only triggers on program installs.

Exile does start with 1 , and has the same deck size/ influence limit, but without any additional "install a program from the heap" released, his ability is perhaps more difficult to trigger. I suspect many fans of Exile will enjoy Hayley.

Nasir Meidan: Cyber Explorer

The money's still out on Nasir Meidan: Cyber Explorer in my opinion. Like Mac, he provides a bonus econ boost, and like Kit he can pressure the corp to rez or orient ice in unusual situations. However, he requires particular setup, and many of the Lunar Cycle cards released provide significant counters to his play style.

Conclusion and Other Thoughts

Hayley supports a diverse play style supporting single type card decks, and provides support to one of the general weakness of shaper: slow rig building. Resource efficiency I think is the most novel addition to the faction, although she supports all installed cards. Hayley supports the basics of Shaper, without particularly specialized requirements.

I enjoy the overdraw turn (perhaps with Diesel or Quality Time) where I can reduce my grip to it's limit by playing two cards at once. Previously this could be done with cards like Modded, but Hayley allows this to be done with any two cards of the same type as well.

Scary list of cards

In addition to forcing the runner to break expensive, or high strength ice and most of the points serious makes, there's a very special list of cards that gain tremendously from a 1 influence upgrade:

Grail Ice and most notibly Komainu.

OHHH BOY my favorite card to encounter, but it's better you encounter it twice in a single run. If you manage to afford to break it once, the second time is twice as expensive (and the third, if the stars align, is pretty expensive, in the order of breaking 30 cumulative net damage)

Similarly, grail ice can add multiple subs, galahad and merlin providing the most interesting stacks of subroutines, with similar self-depleting stacks of 2 net damage or program trashing (or some combination of those)

You see someone put an upgrade in Jinteki or the foundry after O&C comes out, and you'd better watch out!

Ahh #02076, why are you the worst ID?
Who wants to spend exactly 1 click per turn advancing ice? No one.

However, with the addition of morph subtype ice in the lunar cycle, this ID could stand to have a second opinion.

Since it was released, BWBI has classically been a late game ID. Weyland Consortium: Because We Built It builds up momentum by advancing its ice (usually Ice Wall) to monstrous levels appealing to late-game taxing. With a near-mandatory of 3x include of Trick of Light this leaves a nice number of targets for moving advancements. Commercialization is also a late-game opportunity for large monetary gains.

Before the lunar cycle, this was pretty much the limit of strategy for the ID, and each of these things can be done better with in-faction Trick of Light in Tennin Institute: The Secrets Within or the econ boost from the beginning in Weyland Consortium: Building a Better World

With the addition of Morph in Lycan and Wendigo and Changeling as well as Will-o'-the-Wisp, the corp can force the runner to get out their rig before being able to run effectively while building up free tokens, and preparing more formidable ice for a scoring server.

As an additional possibility, for better biting ice try Executive Boot Camp with Woodcutter or Salvage. Tyrant is bad no matter how you cut it.

As always, Meat damage is a plus in Weyland Consortium: Because We Built It, but since the ID tends towards late game, putting the pressure on with tags is recommended to prevent aggro from runners.