Upgrading Drone, Processor (Response) Options

[Yerameyahu]

I assume because credsticks are supposed to be hard to hack. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

There definitely are such examples in Unwired; I must have been mistaken about SR4A. Like I said, I've been *told* Firewall isn't capped, but never actually shown a rule in the book for that argument.

[Lansdren]

The credstick thing is more about the firewall and such I believe as they are supposed to be hard to hack. Its abit of a streach to believe that everyone with a cred stick is walking around with a rating six signal producing item in their pocket.

Back to the Drones

In some ways I liek the fact that drones are so changeable but on the other hand the cost can get silly

Upgrading a R3 drone to a R5 drone costs up to 22.5k
System upgrade R5 = 2500
Firewall upgrade R5 = 2500
Response upgrade R5 = 4000
Signal upgrade R5 = 1000
Pilot upgrade R5 = 12500
Total cost= 22.5k

Granted alot of thats the pilot which if your going to rig you might not need.
If you have a security drone and putting that up to R6 the extra cost isnt really that bad at 32k (15k of which is the R6 pilot)

ok if your going for a massivly upgraded drone the next bit your going to look at is the sensors and you can drop a fair amount of cash on that one too

[Yerameyahu]

Credsticks don't have signal 6. Their stats are in Unwired ('Example Peripheral Nodes'), and they have high 'defensive' stats.

[sabs]

Considering how important the 'sensor' rating on a drone is. I find it rediculous that the rules for upgrading said sensor rating are seriously hidden, and make absolutely no sense.

[Yerameyahu]

I dunno. You just add whatever sensors you want, within the capacity limits in the book. If you want to use the shorthand 'Sensor' rating, average them.

[sabs]

I dunno. You just add whatever sensors you want, within the capacity limits in the book. If you want to use the shorthand 'Sensor' rating, average them.

But you have to use the sensor rating when you're 'jumped in' as your intuition for perception checks.
Your attack tests are sensor+gunnery

The 'sensor' rating is incredibly important.

[Eratosthenes]

Except that if a vehicle or drone has a Pilot program (and they always do), it uses Pilot instead of System (SR4A p245). Since programs run on a device can't have a higher rating than the device's System rating (SR4A p222 again), than means that Firewall is also dropped down to the Pilot rating. This makes most vehicles far more readily hackable than their device rating would indicate, though drones have Pilot 3 so they are not hosed by their Pilot.

Firewall is not limited by System.

Programs are limited by Pilot, only because the Pilot program is acting like an Agent-soft, and any programs run by an Agent are limited by the Agent rating. So a rigger or hacker logged in to a drone can run software up to the device rating, but anything the Pilot runs is limited by the Pilot's rating (which in turn is limited by the System rating, in turn limited by Response...got all that?).

[HugeC]

Firewall is not limited by System.

Did they change that in Unwired from how it is in SR4A? Or is Firewall not a program? I'm not trying to be combative, I'm just reading my book and it seems to indicate that a low Pilot rating cascades all the way to limiting Firewall. Here are the relevant bits of rule text:

Devices have Matrix attributes: Firewall, Response, Signal, and System. Two of the Matrix attributes are based on the hardware in the device, and the other two are software running on that hardware.

Firewall is the device’s built-in security software.

System limits the rating of programs running on the device.

A Pilot program is basically a System program with extra features, and so is used whenever the drone’s System rating would be.

How you explained it is how I think it should work, but the text from the book seems to support a less desirable conclusion.

[Eratosthenes]

From the FAQ:

Does the maximum program rating limited by the System rating apply to Firewall?

No; System does not limit the ratings of Firewall since it is a Matrix Attribute. Agents, Common Use, Hacking, and all other types of programs running on the device are limited by the System rating.

From the same FAQ, it seems to expand upon the Pilot/System issue. Apparently a Pilot program actually replaces the System software (meaning something with a Pilot program installed cannot run a Persona; i.e. a rigger can't use their drone as a commlink). So yes, apparently the Pilot *does* replace the System...which has the same effect as what I described before: any programs run via the pilot are of course limited by the Pilot's rating. And the Pilot would be restricted by the Response of the device.

[Belvidere]

To-Huge C

Firewall never has been a program if I'm correct. it's a matrix attribute, therefore isn't limited by the System rating. (Or in this case Pilot rating)

[HugeC]

Ok, thanks guys, that is good! Slowly, slowly, I begin to grasp things. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[hobgoblin]

Firewall is not limited by System.

Programs are limited by Pilot, only because the Pilot program is acting like an Agent-soft, and any programs run by an Agent are limited by the Agent rating. So a rigger or hacker logged in to a drone can run software up to the device rating, but anything the Pilot runs is limited by the Pilot's rating (which in turn is limited by the System rating, in turn limited by Response...got all that?).

is the SR rules really that hard to understand? On drones, pilot replaces system for all intents and purposes, so any program running on the drone be it started by the pilot or by a rigger, will be limited by the pilot(system) rating.

also, the device rating is a short hand so that one do not need to come up with 4+ numbers for every random device out there. Just stay that its device rating 1 to 6 and then roll with/against that depending on the tests made. Once any one of the parts (response, system, signal, firewall) changes, the device rating goes out the window, and the individual ratings are used. At that time any unchanged ratings will be the same as the device rating was.

[Yerameyahu]

sabs, I'd roll Gunnery + *relevant* sensor rating if I had custom sensors. Like I said, the 'Sensor' score is simply a shorthand average if you don't care for the detailed approach; upgrading it is the same as upgrading individual parts.