bust-a-move, what can you use them for Options

[jeremyh8]

what can the bust-a-move drones really be used for? if i buy 50 of them can i have them attack someone? can they defend my home? just trying to understand. i am new to the game and i dont know much.

[Chrysalis]

They are about knee high and are great at stealing small items like jewellery or cigarettes. Outside of that, not much really. Maybe you could sell them on Walkign Street to LBFMs and fallangs.

[Blackpool]

We have a character in our game that has a nurse teddy bear in the back of his truck that applies a savior nanomedkit to people. And there's always my character plan to dress one up in a nazi SS outfit, fill it with a couple kilos of C12 and have it goosestep up to someone's front door and knock...

Interesting ideas come out of late night drinking binges...

[Chrysalis]

I have this image of him creating a platform with his black uniform and jodhpurs on, while being smartly saulted (assaulted or saluted, take your pick) by ranks of bustamoves, which are marching in Stechschritt.

[DoomFrog]

Well.... they can dance....

I mean really it is listed to show the world as a whole. There are really advanced toys in 2070.

I mean if you wanted you could mod it out. It only has a body of 1, so you get 1 mod slot, but that is enough for a weapon. Now the book says up to LMG, but I would say a bust a move can have up to a Heavy Pistol.

But you can also fit them with cameras and other sensors, then swap them out for a mark's kid's toy.

I like to think of as an example of common electronics that can be used as drones.

[McAllister]

Seen threads like this before. I know the search function is crap, but see if you can find a thread from a few weeks back about more subtle uses for drones. The bust-a-move featured heavily.

[rathmun]

Give one as high a rating first aid autosoft as you can find, as much of a pilot upgrade as you can get, and keep it in your medkit.

pilot 6
first aid autosoft 6
medkit 6

18 dice for first aid rolls, and you don't need to devote someone from the team to patching up the wounded team mate.

Note: a T-mancer could use a sprite to make it rating x2 + 6 for the first aid dicepool.

[McAllister]

Autosofts are capped at rating 4, IIRC. Which I might not.

Also, I can't help but imagine a little tickle-me-elmo in a white doctor's coat pushing a medkit the same size it is (put the medkit on wheels, for chrissakes) across a bullet-torn battlefield towards a wounded runner. Hey, at least it would be able to take advantage of cover pretty easily.

[gtjormungand]

I mean if you wanted you could mod it out. It only has a body of 1, so you get 1 mod slot, but that is enough for a weapon. Now the book says up to LMG, but I would say a bust a move can have up to a Heavy Pistol.

They are minidrones, which means that they cannot get weapons mounts (have to be small or larger drones (or normal vehicles) to get such). Additionally, they have 4 mod slots, since that's the minimum.

[Method]

Bust-a-moves are good for two things in my game:
1.) creative subterfuge that somehow involves children (up to and including blowing them up)
2.) getting you shot in the face by the professional criminals you hang out with

I think that illustrates my opinion on BaMs.

Oh, and see the link in my sig regarding how to make the search function actually work some of the time.

[McAllister]

Yeah, Method, narrowing down the search and using terms correctly is important, I'll give you that. I just wish it had a "sort by relevance" option.

[DoomFrog]

They are minidrones, which means that they cannot get weapons mounts (have to be small or larger drones (or normal vehicles) to get such). Additionally, they have 4 mod slots, since that's the minimum.

You are right. Though I have always house ruled the weapon mount by size of the weapon instead, seems to make more sense to me.

[Khyron]

Get a load of them, cover them in Ruthenium polymer and give them razor hands. Now there's a nightmare.

[pbangarth]

Dozens of near-invisible little Freddies. Awesome.

[Paul]

Our group's Rigger snagged one of these. I'll let you know how we end up using them.

[jeremyh8]

i appreciate the ideas and i have tried to search the forums (before and after posting) and the search function does suck. thanks for the help.

[Mickle5125]

Bust-a-move software patchers.

[Jaid]

Autosofts are capped at rating 4, IIRC. Which I might not.

the ones you can buy are. the ones machine sprites can come with are not.

[kigmatzomat]

Add gecko tips and buy the "squirrel", "devil rat" and "pigeon" bodies. No one really pays attention to small animals perched on buildings or power lines. (No, the pigeon doesn't fly but a lot of pigeons just scurry around) Add a Rating 6 laser link and an extended battery and you have a surveillance/stake-out drone that's good for 12+ hours of operation (depending on the GM's stance on how much battery life you gain from minimal movement) and that doesn't RF broadcast even in stealth mode.

Note that all drones act as relays (read the Unwired section on "Mesh networks") so you can use 2 Bust-a-Moves to provide WiFi to a secure facility: one on the outside with their radio on and linked to the matrix with a laser link pointed across the fence to the second drone, located somewhere unobtrusive, in stealth mode with encryption, ECCM, and the highest signal rating you can cram in it, or possibly linked to a comm it carries with a 5 or 6 signal rating.

While they are too small to equip with most weapons (recoil is a harsh mistress), the stupidly rich can consider adding a laser pistol since they are recoilless and don't involve moving parts or ejection ports. The simplest way to weaponize a BaM is to strap a grenade to it. Smoke and flash-bang will tear up the non-structural shell but won't harm the mechanics of the drone. A full blown grenade will trash it, but you can consider a BaM to be a slow, cheap guided weapon.

[Kronk2]

While they are too small to equip with most weapons (recoil is a harsh mistress), the stupidly rich can consider adding a laser pistol since they are recoilless and don't involve moving parts or ejection ports. The simplest way to weaponize a BaM is to strap a grenade to it. Smoke and flash-bang will tear up the non-structural shell but won't harm the mechanics of the drone. A full blown grenade will trash it, but you can consider a BaM to be a slow, cheap guided weapon.

One could mount flash packs in the eyes, and the pain beams would work also, but those may prove a bit largish. Squirt weapons are also basically recoilless

[Falconer]

Actually, the bust-a-moves are just a single entry which covers multiple toys. (look at the Similar Models line).

My GM balked when I mentioned the prospect of buying my own 'army' of whoreslammer 40k chaos space marines based on the bust-a-move template and loading them into a multi-launch drone rack. (10 of em in a single rack... or say a squad of 6 plus 8 drone missiles :))

He wasn't too enamoured of the idea of subscribing all of them and issuing a single command... attack this target... then watching 4 foldout/light pistol grade shots pop out of their rifles, giving a -1 reaction for each additional shot.


The single biggest advantage of bust-a-moves is they're cheap!! (and by extension... disposable).

If cheap, then the mods are really limited....
amphibious +250
anti-theft +200 (don't laugh, 10s electrical touch attack)
armour +600 (almost not worth it for the mere 3 points max)
gecko tips +300
improved economy +500 (double operation time)
smoke system +800 (you can load other aerosols/gases than merely smoke)
ram plate! +250 (now if it only moved faster than 10)
reflective hull +300 (yeah lasers are that common.... not)
touch sensors +500
winch +500 (provided you can find some way to anchor the damn thing for 10 TONS of force)

[RunnerPaul]

Note that all drones act as relays (read the Unwired section on "Mesh networks")

Note that to provide this relay function, they must be in Active Mode. Drones in Passive Mode or Hidden Mode do not relay. (Unwired, p.54)

However, the Retrans Unit vehicle mod from Arsenal (p.142) makes no mention of such a limitation.

[PatB]

Ways that you can use them (they are, after all, perfect decoy where children are involved):

- Need to spy on an exec, who has children. Add sensories, and bring him to 'life' during the night. If the exec doesn't have children, find something that can work out to be the same (if he's a hunter, swap a hunting trophie with the drone. It takes prep time, but it could be done.)

- Perfect suicidal bomber, without the need to lose, well, a living bomber (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smokin.gif)

- Use several to kidnap the kid of an executive (have the players come up with a believable story for delivering the 'teddy bear' and voila)

- Have an exec's friend who has children 'forget' his 'teddy bear' at the exec's place after an evening's get together. Again, lots of prep, but possible good turnover.

[PatB]

I know you cannot put a weapon mount on the Teddy Bear, but I just has a nasty thought ...

Can you put mini-blades, like turning it into the equivalent of a Wolverine doll for a nightmarish wake up call in the middle of the night ??

[MorkaisChosen]

How about troll dolls that suffocate people?

And once again, we swing in with an idea blatantly sporked straight out of Doctor Who.