If the go-gang is planning an ambush, instead of just a target of opportunity attack, they could also do some impressive damage by dropping things (other cars?) onto the step-van from overpasses.

Sorry Knasser. It was late, and I honestly didn't remember where it came from. It's my favorite Shadowrun example, so I wanted to include it in the thread.




I am quiet aware of the rules for Miniguns.

Since you're so worried about recoil, let's look at that. -14:
Gyromount = 6pts
Gas-Vent 3 = 3pts
Strength 14 = 3pts
Hip Pad = 1pt
Foot Anchor = 1pt

That aside, suppressive fire doesn't take recoil penalties. This is obviously not meant to be a serious threat, since the OP asked for a Random Encounter, and I listed the mini-gun variant as "Easy." Says so quiet clearly. If you still have a problem with it, weapon mounts are cheap. The minigun was intended for style.

Please stay tuned to your local Pink Mohawk network; this has been a public announcement.

mmm guys I think you're forgetting one thing...

"Additionally, the passengers gain protection from the vehicle’s chassis, adding the
Armor of the vehicle to any personal armor the characters are
wearing."

Thus you don't need personal armor in the vehicle to get nice protection to the passengers. Also, you get the bonus dice from either partial cover, good cover or total cover, depending on the vehicle.

I've just cook up a nasty nasty monobike.

Horizon Doble Revolution
SidecarX2 3000 plus 4slots (-2 for the sidecars)
Weapon Mount (Normal,External,Flexible,Remote) X2 8000 -4 slots
Weapon Mount (Normal,External,Fixed,Remote) x2 2000 -2 slots
Ammo Bins 200 -1slot
Armor (Normal) rating 20 4000 -1 slot
Rigger Adaptation 2500 -1 slot
Assembly Time Imprvmnt. 1000 -1slot
total cost 28,400Ұ

I woudl then put one LMG on each sidecar with the fexiable arche coveing fout to far side
the other two mount are on each side on the main body one with a 40 drum round GL (from the ammo bins)
the other a LMG
this would be rigged form a rigger maybe in the truck or such. myb by more than one rigger IE rigger dirving and the two front guns two other riggers on the sidecars if you drop rigger adaptation and add meta-human adjustment troll you could have this crew operated. I see this being the fire support base of a go-gang.
Very very nasty but still stop able.

If you drop the GL and its ammo bin you can pull this off on a Entertainment Systems Cyclops but you lose 2 body.

both fit the fluff quite well with maybe the cyclops version being rigged maxing a nice supirse if doped off the back of the truck (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Gas Vent does not Work for the Minigun.
Foot-Anchor does not work while on the bike and not on foot to anchor yourself to the ground with your foot anchor.
Hip-Pad is also for using a Weapon with both hands i think, which is kinda hard to do on a rolling bike usually.
You are down 5 points of Recoil Compensation.
You are left with 9 points of Recoil Compensation.
That leaves 5 points of uncompensated recoil.
If that has not changed in the switch from 3rd Ed to 4th Ed, these 5 points of uncompensated recoil get doubled due to coming from a HEAVY WEAPON.
Meaning you are now at -10 Dice. Add in the fact that both vehicles are moving fast, which is a -2 on both sides i think.
Then add in the fact that your shootist is a bit preoccupied with trying to keep his bike under control at the same time. Another -2 i think.
And trolls CAN shoot heavy weapons one handed, but they still get a malus to their dice pool. Either -1 or -2 again.
Yes, you are coming closer to -20 dice allready.

@Dumori: would a sidecar not basically ruin the entire premise of a mono-bike? O.o
if you go with the usual 2 wheeled bike, you have now 3 tires upon which your bike rests.
Basically, yes, you have now a mobile heavy weapons plattform/tripod.
If you go with a monobike, you have now one big wheel and one smaller wheel on both sides.
It can tip over to the front and to the back now, right? o.O
Furthermore it negates the bikes bigger mobility and also takes away it's ability to fit where a car won't.
Wanna go silly? Look at the rules. Is there anything in there stating you can not take a sidecar for a trike? ^^
Give the sidecars 2 more wheels so they form their own smaller trikes again and make them detacheable *grins*

I thought minigun wielding troll was on the bed of a truck? Maybe I misread.

both on a truck or on a bike whee suggested.

Maybe i overread ^^#
Then the foot anchor and the hip pad can, of course, apply.
this means 2 points more of recoil compensation.
This still means 4 points of uncompensated recoil.
This still means it'S doubled to -8 dice for recoil alone.
A bit more manageable, yes.
Of course, go with the second foot anchor in the other foot.
And who said you can only fit one anchor in one foot?

I'm pretty sure the rules do. I'm not at the book at a moment, but when I looked it up a couple of hours ago, I'm 98% positive that it says 1 per foot. (I'll check shortly.)

Yes, the Troll is in the bed of the truck. That was explicit.

Could you please cite where it says mini-gun and gas-vent are not compatable? I believe I missed it.

Added: The point still stands. The mini-gun was meant to be fired using suppressive fire. I appologize for not saying so explicitly. I thought that:
A) Since I only listed a gyromount, and left out any other recoil modifications, people would get that I was talking about the firing option where recoil doesn't matter.
B) The OP wanted a "Random Encounter." Shooting a player with a concentrated burst, for +14 damage, is not "random encounter" material.

Spraying a van down with suppressive fire, possibly shooting out windows, but at the very least keeping players from sticking their heads out, is cool cinematically. Specially while standing in a truck bed.

Added Added: Now this was -my- turn not to be able to read. I thought Stahlseele was saying you could put more than one anchor in each foot. Oops.

Just checked, and yes, Augmentation page 40, near the end of the entry does explicitly state that only one anchor can be installed per foot. For recoil comp they're just incompatible with bi- or tri-pods, and probably would count as such when trying to stack more mods for recoil comp.

Arsenal says nothing about what is allowed, and what is not allowed for gas vents and miniguns. Machine guns in general are explicitly denied silencers and sound suppressors (Arsenal, page 29), though. Nothing in the errata.

In this chase I'm choosing to take Augmentation litterally, since Arsenal came out after Augmentation (I believe). Since Arsenal lists what mods do and don't stack with one another, and it left out foot anchors, I'm going to assume that the only things they don't stack with is bi/tri-pods. Also in Arsenal I believe foot anchors are mentioned in the Military Armor section. I haven't yet looked to see if they mentioned anything there.

And all I know, regarding miniguns and gas-vents, is an ongoing debate here on Dumpshock argueing about a miniguns multiple barrels and gas-vent compatibility. However technically they are a machine gun, and machine gun can take gas-vents. I'm assuming that, since Stahlseele is speaking so specifically, maybe a Dev or Freelancer mentioned something here on the board. (Or I just missed something, which is always possible.)

Wasn't there something about miniguns being unable to accept barrel mounted accessoire?
Also, there IS a rule against more than one foot anchor per foot? O.o
I thought the only limitation was the capacity cost for cyber-feet.
I thought natural feet could take in 2 of them . . of course, it's been some weeks/months since ilast read the SR4 Books <.< . .

Just checked, to make sure I wasn't spouting gibberish. Phew, squeeked by this time.

Also I checked Arsenal. While it lists foot anchors under Military Armor upgrades, all it says is "operates like the cyberware, see Augmentation."

No mention of incompatibility in the actual minigun weapon entry.
I don't see anything in the minigun sidebar.

There of course is the (logical) issue of "1 gas-vent -> many barrels." But until the devs do something about that, it's really a "up to the GM" situation. There are several ways it can be handled.

Hrm, i thought i remembered that to be a bit different . .

Just a note.. if they're firing miniguns from a flatbed truck why not simply get a pintle mount for it to fasten on the truck? Voila no recoil!

Also, while this isn't directly related to the original question, but I am under the impression that drugs and cyber or bioware do stack, with regards to stats. Is this true? And drugs can't push you over the augmented stat max, correct? (So far, that's soley the domain of possession spirits, as far as I know. Just double checkin.)

Reason I mention it, is because (for a high level enounter) a Troll running on K-10 could hit 18 Str, if drugs stack with bio/cyber, and he had the surge/gene/quality bonuses to Str. (Alternatively, a high strength Troll, possessed by a Ogoun loa (instead of on K-10 with all the mods) would be a really scary/cool centerpiece for a scene.)

Far as i remember(take it with a grain of salt, seeing how unreliable my memory seems to be) yes, they do indeed stack.

Simply style my friend, simply style. The weapon mount is completely logical, and also super cool. I just love the idea of a Troll, standing in a truck bed, rock-n-rollin with his minigun. Heck, can you imagine them pulling alongside, the Troll looks over, grins, and the whir sound starts?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)


oh yeah..

Instead, the troll grins, looks over, and drops it into the pintle mount as the whirring begins.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotate.gif)

Certain drug and cyberware effects stack. Well, pretty much the only exception to that is reaction enhancing cyberware to keep IP stacking down.

If they've got good Pilot skills, they can make an opposed test to force the van into a Crash Test. In fact, it's easy.

Assume you have five trolls on Harleys. When you make the opposed test for position, the trolls inflict a -10 to the van driver. Additionally, since they're faster, they get +3 to their dice pools. So, you can pretty much assume that they get to set the engagement range. Now, all they need to do is pull off a Cut Off maneuver, forcing the van driver to make a crash test. Again, they're faster, so they inflict a -2 penalty to the van driver's dice pool. He might be able to beat one or two of the trolls, but all five? And since he's severely penalized in trying to run away, even if they miss, they'll just do it again next turn. It won't be long until they force the van off the road.

And that's when you give 'em the trucks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Well, if you want to kill them all, anyway.

Go pickup truck!

Won't the van simply be able to ram the bikes?