So much of the flavor of A:NR is stellar, I can really get into it in a way I haven't seen in a card game in a long time. But one mechanic stands out to me and I can't quite figure it out. Why does Bioroid ICE enable the runner to [click] through, or otherwise break subroutines otherwise without a breaker? AI breakers smash through everything because they're intelligent. So why to apparently the most advanced counter-hacker intelligences have this glaring hole in their security? And I'm asking from a flavor standpoint, I just don't get this mechanic-as-metaphor.

I have been thinking in terms of you talking your way past an AI and spending the time to appeal to (sneak past, cheat etc) it´s distinct brand of logic.

Makes sense, I guess. Bioroids are templated on actual humans using 'brain-taping', so it stands to reason they can be conversed with or worked around in a different way to the hard code of normal ICE.

It's explained in "Building a Better Biroid"

Still, bioroids are machines, not people, and some runners exposed a number of weaknesses in Haas-Bioroid’s earlier security designs; they were too slow to adapt in their thinking, and runners were able to outmaneuver them. In game terms, this means that runners could anticipate the subroutines of first-generation bioroids, like Ichi 1.0 (Core Set, 62) and sacrifice one or more to break the most threatening or frustrating of them, as they chose. Furthermore, only two first-generation bioroids, Heimdall 1.0 (Core Set, 61) and Viktor 1.0 (Core Set, 63), were actually programmed with subroutines to end runs. Thus, even though early bioroid ice could approximate human thought more closely than any other artificial intelligence, and even though they offered terrifically efficient service, they were still limited by their programming.

The full Article is here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4118

It's a question of balance I think. The subroutines of Bioroid ICE are quite strong and if there wasn't a disadvantage on the card, it would need a lot higher install costs. Of course there ARE ICEs with high install costs, but who wants to rez a 15-cred ICE in the early game? This is a good compromise for balancing I think. Not too expensive, you can rez it, but the runner still suffers from it.

A lost click for the Runner is worth a credit, an installation, a damage point resp. card on hand, or even a tag, without the appropriate cards (which again would cost something for the runner)