Sprites And Skills/programs, What can sprites work with... Options

[Nightwalker450]

Technomancer Rigger, compiles a rating 4 Machine Sprite (Autosoft: Gunnery) and sticks it into a drone.

Now this sprite can roll its 8 dice to let loose with weapons. But could the sprite also take the Autosoft: Maneuver if the drone has it, and use it to give it 7 dice on maneuver now (vs previous 6 dice). Do agents/IC/sprites benefit off of being VR (even though thats the only way they act), and get the +2 bonus for VR?

I'm just wondering if sprites would be able to make use of Autosofts already loaded in drones? I can't remember seeing anything that limited sprites to only using their Complex forms, but would they be like Technomancers and not have their skill? In the case of autosofts, they are the skill so it wouldn't be an issue here.

If I buy high rating autosofts, then my sprite would be able to use them at its rating, since its replacing the pilot of the drone (which would be significantly lower).

Goal here is to Sprite rig a drone without having to compile a rating 9 sprite for targeting, maneuver, and defense. (Not even including ECM and clearsight)

[Raij]

I have been wondering about some of your autosoft questions myself as this exact situation has come up in one of my games (TM w/ machine sprite w/ autosoft: gunnery inhabiting a drone). Sprites can use programs just like agents and an autosoft is a program, so it should be able to use the drones programs too though.

Regarding this question:

Do agents/IC/sprites benefit off of being VR (even though thats the only way they act), and get the +2 bonus for VR?

The +2 bonus received is for operating in VR Hot Sim mode, as opposed to just being in VR mode.

It sounds like hot-sim helps to level the playing field between metahuman brains and digital brains, but wouldn't do anything for a digital brain alone (which is already operating at "hot-sim speeds").

Furthermore, with hot sim you receive two extra init passes for 3 total (whereas cold sim only gives you 2 IPs total). A sprite/agent/ic operates at digital speeds and has 3 passes to begin with, so I would conclude their digital speed and proficiency is already factored into their matrix DPs.

[Fortune]

Furthermore, with hot sim you receive two extra init passes for 3 total (whereas cold sim only gives you 2 IPs total). A sprite/agent/ic operates at digital speeds and has 3 passes to begin with, so I would conclude their digital speed and proficiency is already factored into their matrix DPs.

That's my take on it as well.

[Jaid]

sprites (and technomancers) are resonance-based, and cannot use regular code-based programs (including autosofts).

if you wish to have a drone with all those different autosofts, my advice to you is to (for example) build a vehicle operated by sprite A and have sprite B operating the gun in a turret. sprite A has maneuver and defense, sprite B has targeting and clearsight. (obviously, both have to be rating 6 for this to work). but really, it's not like they cost anything, they don't have any chance of going berserk... just get yourself some downtime, and keep compiling/registering until you succeed.

[Athanatos]

Have I missed any mention of Allied Sprites? Or maybe Free Sprites? I would think it would be just as likely as having it happen to a spirit, probably even more so as they already had AI's. Technomancers already live in the Matrix anyways lol, they need friends.

"Let me guess, You're Sprite 239 right?" <<< Definately not as good as "Glitch, kill the Slitch!" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[Jaid]

there are no ally sprites (yet). there is 1 free sprite, he's in the missions campaign, and he's not your buddy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Nightwalker450]

Using multiple sprites to take over a drone, makes it really difficult to do so on the fly. Since you need seperate targeting/maneuver depending on type of gun/drone. Can only have one non-registered at a time. It seems like the general consensus is sprites are just like agents, except when it comes to them actually being able to accomplish something, they can't.


We've been playing under the assumption that there are free sprites. So my GM allowed me to take Mentor Sprite as a positive quality. No real bonuses other than someone to help me with instruction, submersion, and other resonance inquiries. Especially since I have had a run in with "something" resonance based, still haven't figured out what it was. But its taken me nearly a weak to recover from that run in...

[Raij]

A machine sprite has the Command CF. This allows the sprite to "control a device through the Matrix, whether it be a surveillance camera, a drone(p. 238), an agent (p. 227), or an electronic system".

If a machine sprite has control of a drone, it should be able to instruct that drone to use it's various programs, including autosofts. The sprite isn't using them itself, but rather using Command to tell the drone to use them. On any such roll, it should use the drones pilot+autosoft.

On the other hand, if the sprite actually possesses the autosoft (Weapon type) CF and wishes to shoot the drones weapons itself, it would roll it's own rating + it's autosoft rating as the sprite looks and feels through the sensors and controls the drone on it's own (with no assistance from the dog-brain pilot).

The drone could still possess a Autosoft: Maneuvers program and use it for vehicle tests, but to be worth it the Pilot+Autosoft: Maneuvers would need to be higher than the sprites rating (or sprites rating + autosoft: maneuvers if that's the optional autosoft it took). Otherwise, I would assume the sprite could control it better on its own.

[Dashifen]

@Raij:
True, but the Pilot of the drone is likely less than the Pilot of the Sprite, thus to use a Sprite's Command complex form to order the drone to take actions on its own might result in a lower DP for the drone's actions. 'Course, that may not matter to the original poster; just thought I'd toss that out there. I could probably be talked into allowing hits on the Sprite's Command test to the drone's action in my games, but I don't think that's canon.

[Raij]

The pilot of the sprite is usually more, yes. But the sprite may not always posses the accompanying CF and may have to roll pilot alone for certain tests (like vehicle for instance).

If a sprite (R4) is inside a drone (Pilot 3) that needs to make a vehicle test, the sprite could roll it's pilot (4) or it could instead command the drone to make the test. If the drone lacks any autosoft: maneuver program, then the sprite will be the better pilot and should control the drone itself.

However if the drone has installed a maneuvers autosoft that (when added to its pilot rating) exceeds the pilot of the sprite, then the sprite should allow the drone to pilot itself (unless it too has a maneuvers autosoft specific to the drone type). Issuing this command is a simple action on the sprites part and requires no test (assuming the owner of the drone previously assigned the sprite as a controlling persona).

Drone dog-brain (3) -> Sprite full control (4) -> Drone dog-brain (3) + Maneuvers Autosoft program (3) -> Sprite full control (4) + Sprite Maneuvers Autosoft CF (4)

[Ryu]

Sprite Pilot 5 > Drone Pilot 3, whenever there is no autosoft. If there are autosofts, the sprite can still run on the drone without counting towards response degradation.

Relevant Autosofts are Electronic Warfare, Defense and Clearsight. I would allow sprites to take over partial functions of the drone node they are in, using them as the semi-aware programs they are supposed to be. Another strong option is assigning a Fault Sprite on Matrix Guard duty, freeing the Pilot for real-world interaction.