[SR3] MicroDrone - Eyes of God Options

[Sphynx]

Due to a lack of decent selections in the 'microDrone' category of Rigger3, thought I'd post up the 'Eyes of God' our Rigger designed for use. Forgive the name, our Rigger Player finds it humourous to call his character God due to always hearing on the transciever, "Oh God... get us out of here!"

Eyes of God are a nearly invisible microDrone that fits in the palm of your hand.

Electric Micro Rotary Wing Drone - Costs: 25,000

• Load: 5
• Speed: 50
• Acceleration: 10
• Signature: 12
• Fuel: 9pf
• Consumption: 1.25
• Body: 0
• CF: 0
• Handling: 2
• Armour: 0
• Pilot: 1
• Sensors: 1
• Photovoltaic Paint

This is in addition to his 2 Steel Lynx', his 4 LoneStar Strato Drones, his 2 GMC Bulldogs (One which has had its entire CF dedicated to Drone Racks, the other a Remote Control - only, with extra seats. :P)

Oddly enough, he's not even specialized in drones, he's built as a Security Rigger....

[Pendaric]

For your delectation...link

[Kagetenshi]

How did you get a Load of 5? Last I checked, micro UAVs had a cap of 3.

It's a good drone, but given that Body 0 drones can't take any damage, ever, I think it's too expensive for most uses.

~J

[Fix-it]

it's a recon drone, not a manhack.

[Kagetenshi]

I know it's a recon drone, but even recon drones take damage sometimes. Whether it be from being detected and shot down or from being too close to an explosion or other AOE attack, the less it costs to get a replacement the better.

~J

[Sphynx]

Depends on the Power Plant, Kage. Battery are 3 max, Electric are 5. This is an Electric model.

And costwise, personally I agree. Not my call though, that's by-the-book I believe on cost. I think he spent alot to upgrade the amount of fuel it could carry and the fuel consumption, 12 times further than usual.

[Kagetenshi]

Ah, got it. In general I interpret Electric without any further qualifier as battery, as compared to Electric Fuel Cell or EFC. I think that's supported by the usage in R3, but I'm not certain—it may just be an error made habitual.

And yeah, most of the cost looks like it comes from the Economy increases and the paint job.

~J

[Sir_Psycho]

[nezumi]

My other complaint is that with sensors of 1, it really won't be catching much. I'd prefer my condor with a sensor rating of 5 over this with a sensor of 1 for most uses.

[Sphynx]

Sensor 1 has alot. o.O That gives it low light, 50x Mag, RangeFinder, Video Recorder, radar and audio. All transmittable to the Rigger. And only 1/3rd of the price for the LoneStar equivalent model in SotA:2064 :P

[nezumi]

And only 1 die to roll for perception tests. Reading the perception tables, that means at most 1 success - "something is there".

[Sphynx]

When you're not in the captain's seat, not directly in control of the drone. The drone doesn't see the cat coming, the rigger isn't informed the cat is coming unless he's paying attention to the screen because the drone didn't tell him. Anybody watching the video feed from the drone can obviously see the cat coming, as can anyone who watches it later.

[nezumi]

Precisely. I'm assuming the rigger will be busy enough with other things that putting a couple points into sensor, even at the cost of a few points in signature, is well worth the effort. Plus, heaven forbid anything go bang nearby the drone and it has to resist 2L damage. The rigger is immediately dumpshocked, no saving throws.

I can't put this to watch the facility from outside because I have to actively babysit it, which is wasting my skills as a rigger. Just as well, its uber-high signature isn't really as useful out in the open, so put up the modified condor (the condor can be upgraded to 5 sensors). With 5 dice, it has a reasonable chance of rolling enough successes to determine if "something" is worth alerting me about or not.

I'm hesitant to use it on the inside because an explosion anywhere nearby or a solid hit is instant dumpshock (plus the loss of 25 grand).

It IS useful for a true, 100% covert mission where you have a little moth bobbling around hallways, spying on stuff. Could probably run it through the ventilation shafts and whatnot. But then it's only a little more useful than the renraku spider which is almost half the price.

That said, it's certainly useful enough that I wouldn't mind offering it to my players, so thank you for the addition.

[Sphynx]

Can't put any more into a microdrone. CF = 0. Sensors 1 is as good as it gets. Your only option is to make it a robot with a simulated AI, and you're looking at a price tag of about x10 to do that. Of course there are jobs for other types of drones, this one has its specific purpose (and I'd think using an invisibleish drone, you'd want to guarantee it remained invisible by maintaining control.... :P)

[Kagetenshi]

[nezumi]

For the runs I've seen, an unarmed drone has a few basic roles -

1) Act as a lesser piece of equipment like a bug - it just records stuff and transmits it to another place for observation by another party. For this it would be useful once you get it to the spot

2) Active observation from a safe place outside of the facility - this would not be good for that role for the reasons I stated (sensor rating is so low it would have to be babysat)

3) Active observation on the shoulder of a party member to keep the rigger 'in the loop' as well as to allow the party to peek around corners - this drone isn't good for that role either because it's too easily destroyed, causing dumpshock

4) A covert spying mission, exploring the interior of the facility independently

Given the little color blurb at the beginning ("oh God, get us out of here!") I assumed the drone was built for roles 2 and 3, and the stab of my argument is that it is inappropriate for that role. Perhaps the drone should, at minimum, have a new color intro paragraph.

For 1 and 4, it's similar to the Renraku crawler drone. However, if I had to choose between a 10 inch long object that's crawling up a wall or a 10 inch long object that's flying quickly through the air, I would have to assume that the latter is the one more likely to be spotted, so again, it's limited in its use. Because it can't crawl, it would have to be more careful where it flies. Now granted, it's low handling score and high signature means that it can more easily hug the contours of office furniture or whatnot, but speaking as a GM, a fast moving flying object would seem more easily spotted than a slow moving crawling one "the size of a spider".

So ultimately, the drone is useful, but it has a very, very specific set of purposes, and has stiff competition from its much cheaper spider cousin, who is smaller and (IMO) stealthier, but more limited in mobility. If we have more offices with giant gaps in the floor that need to be jumped over, or obviously in locations with plenty of headspace like manufacturing facilities, it will be the choice. Otherwise, it's probably something I, as a rigger, would give secondary preference to.

[Kagetenshi]

[nezumi]

[Kagetenshi]