Riggers!, What are the basics one needs??? Options

[Bastard]

Haven't made too many riggers and one of my players is working on one. What are the basics that he needs. He will mostly focus on helicopters. Ground vehicles and hovercrafts are his secondary, and drones will be his tierciary. Im sure he wants a VCR , but how fancy do we have to get to be decent?

Oh, we are playing 3rd edition and he has 'one million dollars'(in a bad Dr. Evil voice impression). That might be helpful information.

[Fortune]

I wouldn't go higher than a rating 2 VCR, as that gives you the advantage over pretty much everyone else, without totally swamping your Essence.

Others, like Kagetenshi, will disagree. :)

[Bastard]

Thanks... Level 2 VCR now purchased.

Any other recommended cyber/bioware? He is also a B/R specialist so I got all the brain buffs.

[Kagetenshi]

The first thing you need to do is stop thinking about drones as tertiary, or as different from your main vehicle. I can't for the life of me figure out where the idea of a divide between a "vehicle rigger" and a "drone rigger" came from—the closest thing to a useful distinction is that a "drone rigger" is what happens when a rigger loses, or doesn't have, a nice primary ridable vehicle.

Ok, I guess this is for one of your players, in which case it's something the player needs to do.

Then: to be decent, you only need a VCR-2. To be great, you need a VCR-3—the extra between -1 and -2, together with the +2 to Reaction and by extension Control Pool, makes a big difference. If the character is going to be fairly dedicated to the trade, a 3 is the only way to go IMO.

Make sure you have a variety of drones for a variety of tasks, and make sure you know how you… damn, I'm using "you" again. Ok, just interpret it as applying to the proper person, I'm tired. Know how you're going to deploy the drones, get them into position, and get them back out of wherever you put them. A Doberman may be a miniature tank, but as a ground vehicle it's easy to get trapped, or to require too much setup to get into position. Not to say they should be avoided, but IMO the air-based drones are your primary.

More later, maybe.

Edit: RAAAAAAAAGH! *gnaws at Fortune's ankles*

~J

[Bastard]

Roger. We will have drones as well... and they wont be tertiary. :D

What about the remote control deck?

[Fortune]

Microscopic Vision (or even complete cybereyes with that enhancement) would help with most B/R stuff.

I'm not as well versed as I should be in SR3 anymore. Damn Senility!

[Bastard]

Edited while you were typing Fortune...

What about a remote control deck? Not sure if thats the proper name... its been a long time since we have made a rigger.

[Fortune]

[Bastard]

Crack? What a loser. Smack is the way to go.

Thanks for all the last minute (at least for me) helpful info.

[Kagetenshi]

[Bastard]

All this has been helpful. Thank you for everything, any additional advice and info is welcomed.

Remember though, crack is bad, get hooked on smack.

[TonkaTuff]

As far as RC decks go, it primarily depends on the level of rules detail you want to devote to the rigging sub-game. But on top of Kagentenshi's suggestions, I'd also recommend getting a Biofeedback Filter so every little speedbump and ding won't risk killing you and a signal amplifier (for a cheap, mostly-portably Flux boost). Storage memory would also be something to look at - not only can you store command programs, recon and blackmail recordings, fake sensor logs, and (I think) alternate subscription lists, but you save money on autosofts by streaming them from the deck instead of having to install a copy in every single drone. I'd also suggest investing in at least some degree of ECCM - even throwing out the optional MIJI stuff, the basic RC rules still call for interference that you'll need to overcome.

Decryption, Protocol Emulation, and the two Battletac systems are fun toys to play with, but they're pretty expensive (even with Resources A - and moreso when you're dealing with an active character's other expenses), and their utility depends completely on the campaign and the role of the rigger in it. If there's not going to be any CCSS-hacking, SIGINT, or complicated combat operations, they're best left on the fixer's shelf.

[Kagetenshi]

[Fortune]

We've been through this.

VCR-3s are definitely worth it ... if the character doesn't want to ever do anything else, like leave the van.

If, on the other hand, the character intends to actually be useful outside of the Yellowjacket, then a VCR-2 is ample.

[wargear]

A single cyberlimb with a remote control deck and flux boost installed in it is always a good option, but it would usually be something to add later in the campaign after a little battle damage.

a bulldog step van with the changing number plate and colourchange, or plain white with a few useful stencils and some fast set paint. everyone uses step vans, and a quick u-turn in a side alley while you switch colours and identity plates is an excellent way to loose pursuit.

a condor with an excellent sensor suite and maximal stealth on constant orbit over your operational site with the data fed into either your battletac™ or just being watched by your rigger/decker/operations leader.

a bulked out roto-drone with a cargo of 100+ kg can be used to ferry other team members from rooftop to rooftop or to the ground...unless they are trolls...

[Kagetenshi]

Or Orks. Or just large humans. I'm not small, but I mass in at about 90 kilos in light clothing, and have been up at about a hundred—add any meaningful amount of gear, and that "+" quickly becomes the important part.

I mean, it's definitely doable and can be very handy, but don't underestimate the kind of lifting capacity required.

~J

[Stahlseele]

can't believe people forget improved artwinculation for the B/R Angle O.o
and of course they give give +1 for technical and combat which includes gunnery in 3rd ed too *g*
also they give +1 point of natural reaction, and a suprathoid gland is a good thing too . . if you're lucky it imrpoves your reaction by not 1 but two points by giving you one point reaction and one point quickness which is used in the calculation of reaction . . reaction is pretty much important later on too, as the cost to rise vehicle skills depends on your reaction . . and of course the natural reaction gets used to calculate the controll pool, so you will want more of that . . the biggest draw of VCR is the inability to use boosted reflexes and thereby not being able to get a + on you ini-score on game start without using wired reflexes level 1 . . and those are generally not worth it, because they take up too damn much essence . .
As for vehicles, what kind of vehicles would you be planning on using?
i'd suggest hover-craft and vector thrust and lighter than air for drones . . the hover-craft could be used as a drone carrier for example *g*

[Fix-it]

we're just listing basic stuff, Stahlseele.

I'm a big fan of spider drones and miniature recon drones.

the ability to go anywhere, and see everything is priceless.

they also don't draw as much attention as a 2-meter turbine-powered helicopter with an under slung LMG.

[Stahlseele]

[Kagetenshi]

If you're accepting vehicle designs, I've posted the Vector Kimji elsewhere on the boards—it's essentially the rotodrone equivalent of the spiders, and the enhanced mobility is really useful.

~J

[Bastard]

[Stahlseele]

ahem, the ruger thunderbolt is lone-star only weapon O.o
and way above usually available items on game start o.O
for that one you would have to have killed at least one member from an Lone Star HTR-Team to have looted it off of his dead body *g*
synaptic accellerator and cerebral booster are cultured bioware and not available on char-gen . . or did i miss something? o.o
The Deck is optional, while a DATAJACK to actually USE the VCR3(i would go with level2 tops) is not . . without said deck you just can't Remote controll anything but will have to jack directly into the vehicle in question . . so no drones without that *g*
if you want an internal deck you should look into cyber-limbs, as those decks can be placed inside one of them *g*

[Fortune]

[Stahlseele]

in SR 3rd ? O.o
and the availability of 14/12 days?

[Fortune]