I have a player that wants to use drones as spotters, what gear/ cyberware does he need? What are the rules for doing this ect?

Information Guided Indirect Fire is in Arsenal, Section Titled "More Ways to Die," Page 162.

THANKS!!!
No changes to this in War! right?

Not that I am aware of. I do not have access to War! at work...

The only thing about indirect fire in War! is the flight time of the shells

All he'd need is an MCT flyspy with a laser range finder/designator, a mortar with either GPS guidance (don't need to worry about the weather) or lase guidance (don't need to worry about jamming), and he is in business. Also a commlink so the two can communicate.

Except that the Character wants to be a Sniper, not a Mortarman... But the specifics remain the same (for the most part)... a fly spy or 3, and communications between them and the Shooter... Bonuses for an operable Tacnet, in my opinion...

I disagree. If he wants to be a sniper, he wouldn't be info-guiding. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) So, he can use a rifle, but it's the same thing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

The Tacnet is what lets you do this at all, really. But there's a penalty, so nothing necessarily wrong with the Tacnet countering it a bit.

I'd also suggest a secondary retransmission unit for the Flyspies, rather than using the local Matrix Lines. Adds an extra layer of security. There's some easily affordable and disposable ones in "This Old Drone" that can easily be modified/upgraded to exactly what you need and won't get a second blink if you set it up right. (Hint: Advertisement Blimp Drone.). In fact, if you have the budget for it, buy two.

No Doubt... I love me some old drones... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

Laser Link daisy chains.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)




-k

One of my best PDF Purchases. Too bad the stats were all screwed up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)


Exactly. But use only one or two removes. Less chance of the Demon Murphy coming along to smack you at a critical time.

He could go the TM way with some specialized Complex Forms: Smartlink, Tacnet, Resonance Encryption, ECCM, Command, Edit... And it would be nice to have the Skinlink Echo. At the beginning he would have to rely on spotter drones, but with some karma he would be able to seize control of any suitable sensor.

Quick summation of bonuses and penalties available:
Scenario: Sniper is in a hide and there is a small building between himself and his target, he does not have direct line of sight but his spotter drones do. Assume a personalized rifle longarms (Rifles) 4(6) with a rating 4 tacnet and smartlink so that is 13 dice + his agility of at least 4 so 17 dice to attack at base. Base modifier of -4 for target in good cover (not a blind fire because he can "see" the target) lets be cautious and assume that he is firing from cover (another -1) so net penalties of -5 so far (excluding range).

Add in the hits from the lock on and targeting from the drones to the attack test here or which?

I'm curious as to how you imagine indirect fire with a rifle working. Bullet drop isn't that much, to be able to "avoid" obstacles, forget arc firing or purposeful ricochets, shooting through barriers might work.

The bullet is direct, the firing isn't. Anything in the way is definitely in the way, of course.

Probably shooting through a building (Ala Golgo 13). Or, perhaps a "Planned Ricochet" if he's got a high physics and ballistics knowledge skills and a Math SPU going for him.

Ha, that's more than a bit of a stretch.

Planned Ricochet sounds more like a (barely) Coincidental Entropy/Correspondence/Forces thing from Mage than something that could work in SR.

Maybe having spotter drones could allow you to get an early start Aiming even before the target emerges from cover. Since you already know where he is, but you're just waiting for him to walk around the corner.

As sad as the movie was, I belive the movie "Wanted" has such a scene where the Sniper was shooting out of direct LOS, though the Line of Effect was unbroken. Horrible movie, but an interesting scene nonetheless.

There was a slightly better one that I remember where they were after a gambler who was being hunted so he could be harvested for his organs, and hunted by different teams of assassins...

I can't recall it's name right now, but one of the teams was a CQB expert and her Anti-Material Rifle-wielding Sniper lover. There was also the punks, which I loved.

Sounds better than "Wanted"... Might have to look for it...

Smokin Aces! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Thanks, will look into it...

Its an entertaining movie really, they even made a sequel (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)