Bad Ass Drones? Options

[Negalith]

With Arsenal out now, What are some examples of the best built customized drones you can start the game with. I ask, because even after reading the main book and arsenal, I'm not completley sure what all can be done to drones from the beginning. I'd love to see what other riggers build. My last rigger had a doberman right off the shelf and it never survived an encounter.

[knasser]

Here are some that I bashed out very quickly. They were GM toys rather than designed for PC Riggers, though the first two have Availability ratings of 12 and 10 respectively, so they're allowable if a GM wants. The second one would just need the Cyborg Adaptation removed. The Tomino is quite nice, but ended up with an Availability of 24R and can take down light air-craft so its probably not recommended for Shadowrunning teams.

That's the best I can provide at short notice. Any use?

Regards,

-Khadim.

[crizh]

Nice.

You even manage to spell Armour correctly.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif)

I'm not sure how the second one has that much armour though...?

Does the Vindicator not have an availability of 16? Methinks you would have to replace that with something less fun at chargen.

[knasser]

Nice.

You even manage to spell Armour correctly.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif)

I'm not sure how the second one has that much armour though...?

Does the Vindicator not have an availability of 16? Methinks you would have to replace that with something less fun at chargen.

Thanks. Good catch on the Availability. It should be set to the highest rating of any component, I suppose - which means yes, 16F because of the Vindicator. As I said, these were intended as corp toys, but it's no excuse. I'll amend it when I get a moment. The armour is from an Armour modification to boost it from 12 to 17. It's factored in but I should possibly make it explicit in the list of Extras.

Glad you like it, anyway. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Heath Robinson]

Perhaps it would be more useful to create a list of good base drones and vehicles and note on how useful the different upgrades would be for particular applications.

I think that a Kull is an awesome drone for chasing or intercepting mobile ground targets. You can mount an additional fuel tank and chameleon coating to make it ideal for following a ground vehicle without being noticed by the occupants. Shadowrunners should look into giving it Improved Take-off and Landing to allow it to be deployed and retrieved more easily. Its high speed makes it excellent for a number of uses with security and intrusion teams and its cargo mounts allows unscrupulous intruders to use it as a inpromptu bomber. Giving it a means of Flotation helps its use for amphibious runners, and gives it a good long runway.

The Bust-a-move is a disarming sight, which makes arming it with weapons (special equipment or proper arms mounting miniaturised cyberarm weapons) an entertaining proposition for the sadistically inclined. The fur it comes in makes excellent cover for something like the fibre-optic hair mod from arsenal (Chameleon Coating mod) to make it an infilitrator when combined with its small size, and with an improved sensor array you can use a bust-a-move to do some useful recon. Gecko tips on a Bust-a-move makes for a cool toy but also improves its infiltration capabilities in urban settings.

[crizh]

Hmmmm, perhaps I need to re-read the Armour-mod rules again, or get some sleep...

I totally love the busta-move. Give it a re-trans unit and an electronics kit and stick it in a kevlar box. Make the street-sam lug it about and the Technomancer can stay safely in a rigger coccoon in the armoured bus. Street-sam doesn't have to watch the back of the useless, pasty-faced, wimp TM and the TM doesn't get shot at, as much...

Win-Win. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Negalith]

Can anybody tell me how you upgrade vehicle attributes like sensors, pilot?

Do drones have a basic responce or signal attribute? and how can they be improved?

[Mäx]

I'll amend it when I get a moment. The armour is from an Armour modification to boost it from 12 to 17. It's factored in but I should possibly make it explicit in the list of Extras.

Max the centaur can have is three times it body of 4*3=12 as per page 133 of arsenal:

"The maximum armor rating of each armor type a vehicle can have is twice its Body rating (or three times its Body rating for drones of the micro, mini, small, medium, and large size.)"

and also from the same page:

"Note that the rating of the armor upgrade is not cumulative with the basic armor value that most off -the-rack vehicles are already equipped with. Instead, the modification assumes that the original armor is being stripped and replaced with the new armor."

[Negalith]

My First Attempt

The Wuxing Crimson Samaurai $9,500
weapon monunt, external, remote turret

Ingram White Knight LMG $2,000

Computer Upgrades
Pilot rating upgrade to 4 $10,000
Responce upgrade to 5 $4,000
Signal upgrade to 5 $1,000
System upgrade to 5 $2,500
Firewall upgrade to 5 $2,500

Vehicle Upgrades
ECM 10 $10,000
Fuzzy Logic $2,500
Improved Sensor Array $1000
Manual Control Override, drive by wire $500

Sensors (upgraded capasity to 12)
Camera (front) with Thermographic, Vison mag and Vision enhancement 3 $600
Camera (front) with ultrasound, and vision enhancement 3 $1,400
Camera (rear) with lowlight Vison mag and Vision enhancement 3 $600
Microphone with Audio enhcnacment 3 and Select sound filter 3 $950
Microphone with Audio enhcnacment 3 and Spacial Recognizer $450
Sonar, passive 6 $1,200
Geiger Counter $50
Laser Ranger Finder $100
Motion Sensor $50
MAD Scanner 3 $225

Software
Clear Sight autosoft 4 $2,000
Defense autosoft 4 $2,000
Electronic Warfare autosoft 4 $2,000
Maneuver autosoft 4 $2,000
Targeting (heavy weapons) autosoft 4 $2,000
Sensor Software :Empathy 3 $600
Sensor Software :Facial Recognition 3 $600
Sensor Software :Lie Detector 3 $600
Sensor Software :Noise Analysis 3 $600
Sensor Software :Visual Spotter 5 $2,500

Total Cost $66,050

[DocTaotsu]

I'm passing your Props list off to my rigger. Mostly so I can torture him with the fact that's he's poor and really needs to start pulling some big money jobs (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) .

[Tarantula]

I'm surprised that no ones mentioned how amazingly well setup the GTS Tower is especially combined with hunter-killer dragonflies.

[Pendaric]

I would say the main trick to creating drones is not to get too carried away with making them the best. Kitchen sink drones are high cost and high availibility. Keep an eye on the realism and cost factors so you get more drones and upgrade in game.

[Ustio]

My rigger picked up a couple of Bust-A-Moves with retrans units and chameleon coating, my pan is to have them change colour to include a corp logo appropriate to the run site and leave them on desks to act as relays and then have them dive into trash bags to "escape" later

[Negalith]

Can drones benefit from a weapon with Smartgun?

[Jaid]

Can drones benefit from a weapon with Smartgun?

depends. in previous editions, smartgun technology was closely linked to simsense. those who feel it still is, rule that it won't work for drones.

there is no real support for that in the rules (for either way, really... the rules don't explicitly say one way or the other). the way the rules are written, however, smartgun technology does work for them (by which i mean, there are rules for how smartguns work, and drones can fulfill the requirements to make a smartgun work)

[Spike]

My thought on the Drone/Smartgun thing is that it should be assumed built into the system. No dice benefit from it, but the way it works from other aspects, certainly. You can't ADD a smartlink to a Drone because that's how they already interface with their guns.

I am, however, reluctant to allow you to take an ordinary smartlinked gun and just plug it into the drone and call it all good. I'm not the total expert on drones, but I would imagine that they are not typically using convetional firearms of a given 'type' but actually being plugged into a specific weapon pod that happens to share characteristics of said weapons.

[Kyoto Kid]

...I still miss the Wanjina even if Ares is offering their little new RC fighter. That puppy could pack some firepower as I recall. Have to pull out R3 & get that conversion routine cranked up.

[Tarantula]

Playing around with things, I found that the GTS Tower is the only way you can get a multilaunch drone bay at chargen. Since the mod itself is usually beyond chargen availability.

[crizh]

Yeah, and a multi-launch rack isn't usually available on drones at all...

Tower is definitely a fantastic drone with some amazing possibilities.

[thedafan]

My GM asked my why I wanted a Dragonfly with a Lucifer Lamp attached. "Because it would look so COOL", I said. He pointed out that I would be shelling out 5000 nuyen about every two months. "Yeah, it is all about style".

Dr. Evil
"Scary ain't it"

[kigmatzomat]

Can drones benefit from a weapon with Smartgun?

Based on the GM's opinion of smart link operation. IMO, it works because the offset between the smartgun camera and the drone's innate sensors gives parallax for better aiming. Also, the smartgun cam provides more precise information on the gun's actual aim point than the feedback on the turret orientation.