Printable Version of Topic
Click here to view this topic in its original format
Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Electric kangaroo panther thing!
Posted by: Jhaiisiin Apr 1 2010, 01:24 AM
So I was wanting to try and re-create the 6-limbed drone from Deus' collection, and I'm not exactly sure how to make something so ridiculously agile/fast/deadly. I'm willing to forgo the electric skin and such.
Ideas?
For the record, this all spawned from a discussion of how a "Steel Lynx" doesn't look anything like one. Up until now, I was perfectly content forgetting about such dangerous things.
Posted by: kjones Apr 1 2010, 01:29 AM
Steel Lynx.
/thread
(I have the Renraku Arcology: Shutdown module. Would it be OK for me to post the stats on this thing so that those who know the rules but don't have the book could take a crack at it?)
Posted by: Jhaiisiin Apr 1 2010, 01:36 AM
Generally it's okay for small reproductions like that. I've long since misplaced my own Arcology book.
EDIT: And I have every intention of modifying the Steel Lynx for the purpose of this drone
Posted by: kjones Apr 1 2010, 01:55 AM
Is it bad that I keep this book next to my bed?
Go to town.
Posted by: Jhaiisiin Apr 1 2010, 02:04 AM
Right, so without GM allowance, this is not even remotely possible under current SR4 mod rules.
Posted by: Jhaiisiin Apr 1 2010, 02:39 AM
So looking at it quickly, this is what I'm thinking....
It needs, at a minimum, the following mods:
Walker mode (with all limbs being treated as cyberlimbs, which requires GM discretion)
-- Hydraulic jacks in both rear legs
-- likely strength/agility upgrades to get the unarmed damage to be even remotely viable
If no GM discretion, then need walker mode for 2 legs, plus 2 mechanical arms tricked out like normal cyberlimbs
Extra armor
Anti-theft shock system
Drive by wire, smart materials and structural agility no longer exist, so not sure how to replicate those. I could put in Body Stabilization to replace the agility, as it sorta kinda makes sense. Other than that, no clue.
So that's anywhere between 6 and 12 mod slots at initial estimation. That's way beyond even reasonable gm allowance.
Any better ideas?
Posted by: Draco18s Apr 1 2010, 03:51 AM
There are three very good reasons to ignore the mod rules:
1) Its Deus
2) Its in the control of the GM (the GM disallows the GM from using this drone?)
3) Because.
Posted by: Jhaiisiin Apr 1 2010, 04:13 AM
K, better background needed I guess.
I want an anthroform drone that is more worthy of the name, Steel Lynx. Puma-esque, with some of the deadliness that would come from a big metal clawed thing attacking you.
Unfortunately, I'm not Deus or the GM, so I can't just use handwavium. I'm looking to see how close I can get RAW, and how far beyond RAW I need to go to get even a remotely close representation of a large cat drone thing.
Posted by: Draco18s Apr 1 2010, 04:16 AM
Oh, I see. You're trying to make a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowcrash#Rat_Things as a player. Good luck!
Posted by: kjones Apr 1 2010, 04:36 AM
Come on, you've gotta do something! I typed my fingers to the bone on that last post.
Posted by: Emy Apr 1 2010, 04:38 AM
I always thought a Doberman was supposed to be the poor man's imitation of the Rat Things.
Posted by: Udoshi Apr 1 2010, 05:14 AM
I want an anthroform drone that is more worthy of the name, Steel Lynx. Puma-esque, with some of the deadliness that would come from a big metal clawed thing attacking you.
is that SO.
Mechanical Grapples let you claw and bite people, and also open doors to sneak around, but at a strength of half body, so its not very good.
Full mechanical Limbs, as an optional rule, may take Cyberlimb accessories and Capacity. So its not hard to slap a cyberspur and a strength enhancement in there.
What you are looking for is (and i'm seriously not shitting you here. It has a gun and one limb already!) a Ford LEBD-1. Add anotherFull Mechanical Limb, and walker mode. Explain away the Flight speed as Huge Hopping, or make that a penalty/change/LossOfRotors for Overmodding the walker mode.
Standard Metahuman running rates are 25 for humans, 20 for dwarves, and 30 for trolls. An LEBD-1 after walkermode(yes, i'm ignoring that its groundcraft only) has an Accel of 2/10 and a Speed of 40.
There are now two ways to figure out how fast it may go during combat. Speed is a reasonable top-end speed for a vehicle - in this case, a humanoidish runner robot. So we simply use its speed for its movement, and voila, its able to run down trolls. The way Cyborgs are handled, in augmentation, seems to support this(p159). In this case, spend the last 2 modslots on Engine Customization(speed, its the cheap one ) or give it a flexi-mount
Or you can use the Acceleration values for Walking/Running, like everyone else goes, in which case you cram it full of Turbochargers to get the velocity back.
It ain't perfect, but there you go.
Posted by: Mongoose Apr 1 2010, 05:16 AM
It looks like you've got a decent start. IIRC, what Structural Agility and Drive by Wire did was improve handling; anything that gives extra dice on piloting tests would fill the same role. They don't really feature any more because Drive by Wire is pretty much built into everything, and Structural Agility is simply a vehicular application of smart materials. If you can mimic the basic physical stats, you just need a really good pilot and lots of high rating autosofts. I wouldn't worry to much about the strength; Heavy pistols did 9M in SR3, just like the Medusas claws, so if you can do as much as a heavy pistol, your good.
Body Stabilization doesn't really seem appropriate- to me, it seems like the sort of thing a lumbering behemoth would have, though I suppose it can be used for super-agile "lands on its feet" type drones. An alternate option would be to take a limb that acts as a cyber-tail, improving balance.
BTW- The closest analog for the Medusa in published SR4 material (that I've seen) is the Cyber Tooth Tiger from Augmentation. If Deus had had access to zoological cloning tech, he might have made those instead... and then slapped a custom armor suit loaded with shock frills and nanotech nasties on them.
And no, the Mudusa isn't a Rat Thing. Its way to slow, and much more heavily armed.
Posted by: Jhaiisiin Apr 1 2010, 12:27 PM
One critique about the arms... They're body x 10 cm in length. So even on a large drone, they're a mighty 16 inches long in total, which is proportionaloly wrong. I hate annoying hitches like this. Thanks for the suggestions so far!
Posted by: Valashar Apr 2 2010, 12:02 AM
Unstable Structural Agility (Arsenal, pg 146) seems to be the bastard offspring of drive-by-wire and such from SR3. By RAW it's only for aircraft, but that's not so hard to overlook.
Posted by: Ophis Apr 2 2010, 12:19 AM
Lynx drone.
Take a lynx (the animal) add stirrup and and some bioware/cyberware. Bingo one lynx drone.
Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)