Do Drones Have Recoil?, Help for a GM. Options

[SincereAgape]

Been running a SR 4th Campaign since November. Unfortunately the only books that I use and have read through is the core rule book, On the Run, and GM Screen (New to Gming and just returned back to gaming after a ten year hiatus).

Question: Do drones suffer recoil when firing with a mounted weapon in any type of gun mode? An experienced player in the campaign says they do not, but according to the statistics provided for a drone in Ghost Cartels during the "Body Snatchers" mission it seems that the given doberman drones had recoil comp.

-Thanks in advance.

[Degausser]

That is a point of contention for me as well. I BELIEVE (not sure) that smaller drones suffer recoil, such as the Doberman. However, very large 'drones' (Such as a bulldog step van outfitted to be rigged, with a weapon mount and LMG) do not. My general rule is that anything smaller than a car has recoil, where as cars and larger do not.

On a side note, could someone provide a combat example between a doberman (using it's dogbrain) and a mounted weapon vs. some runners? I want to send my runners up against some non-rigged drones (i.e. using their dog-brain.)

[Heath Robinson]

Drones don't suffer recoil. They are vehicles, and vehicles don't suffer recoil.

[Sir_Psycho]

I thought drones/vehicles had recoil compensation equal to their body attribute.

[Heath Robinson]

I thought drones/vehicles had recoil compensation equal to their body attribute.

That's a suggested houserule in Arsenal.

[Draco18s]

That's a suggested houserule in Arsenal.

For when you try to put a panther cannon on a small drone that wasn't meant to have it. When you're running things like minimachine guns, SMGs, and other light weapons on smaller drones the recoil is small enough to not matter. Cannons on tanks, again, doesn't matter (the vehicle is sufficiently large that the RC = body means it doesn't have any recoil modifiers). Really, it only comes up when you're doing stupid shit.

[AngelisStorm]

Yes, they should, otherwise stupid things will occur. Recoil = body is the way to go. You can still install recoil mods (and there is a vehicle mod which applies) if that isn't enough for you.

[kzt]

Cannons on tanks, again, doesn't matter (the vehicle is sufficiently large that the RC = body means it doesn't have any recoil modifiers). Really, it only comes up when you're doing stupid shit.

In the game, perhaps.

I've been on a 25 ton SP gun when the cannon fired. They do indeed move due to the 155mm howitzer recoil. There is a reason for the spades at the back - they essentially shoot themselves into the ground.

[Draco18s]

And how often can if fire? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
More than once every 3 seconds?

[kzt]

And how often can if fire? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
More than once every 3 seconds?

If it was in SR it would be...As everything happens absurdly fast in SR. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/spin.gif) In the real world about a round every 20-30 seconds. Until the barrel heats up after the first few rounds...

[Draco18s]

I'm almost certain it doesn't have burst fire (or more than one meat pass), therefore I bet it fires once per round. (If it has multiple passes it's still only firing once per pass, therefore not accumulating any recoil mods).

[Neraph]

The rules presented for recoil on page 105 of Arsenal just make sense. Saying a doberman, or worse yet, a CD-Dalmation doesn't suffer recoil from a full-auto Ingram White Knight is beyond silly.

[Sir_Psycho]

Just as a suggestion, I houserule that aerial vehicles/drones halve body (round up or down to taste) for recoil compensation. I find it silly that a Doberman, which has legs and can ground itself against recoil is the same as a Stormcloud, which would likely sway wildly out of control under autofire.

[PBI]

Of course drones (and other vehs) suffer from recoil. It's just that they may get some free recoil comp due to their body.

[TBRMInsanity]

For when you try to put a panther cannon on a small drone that wasn't meant to have it. When you're running things like minimachine guns, SMGs, and other light weapons on smaller drones the recoil is small enough to not matter. Cannons on tanks, again, doesn't matter (the vehicle is sufficiently large that the RC = body means it doesn't have any recoil modifiers). Really, it only comes up when you're doing stupid shit.

How exactly would you put a panther cannon on a small drone if it can't take any more weapon mounts (due to the restriction of how many weapon mounts you can put on a vehicle) and the current weapon mount on most drones can only mount an LMG or smaller?

[ornot]

I typically allow free recoil compensation = drone body. It goes some way to offset the lack of smartlink on drones, but that judgement is open to question on DS. Works alright in my game.