Technical question RE: rigging, initiative passes Options

[pbangarth]

It was mentioned recently in another thread that the vehicle rules are difficult to interpret. I am the current victim of this phenomenon. I flip back and forth in the following interpretation of rigger initiative while jumping into a drone or vehicle.

It says on page 245 of SR4A:

Like any program, the drone’s Pilot acts at digital speeds. Drone
Initiative equals Pilot rating + Response, and they receive two extra
Initiative Passes (three total). When a rigger has jumped into the
drone, it acts on the rigger’s Initiative instead.

It also says on page 226:

When operating in full VR using cold sim, you use your Matrix
Initiative rather than your physical Initiative. Matrix Initiative equals
your Response + Intuition, and you receive an extra Initiative Pass (for
a total of two).

and

Hot sim Matrix Initiative
equals your Response + Intuition + 1, and you receive two extra
Initiative Passes (for a total of three).

Finally, it says on page 245:

A drone controlled in this manner acts on the rigger’s Initiative—
the rigger and the drone are treated as a single unit. Any tests are
made using the rigger’s skills and the drone’s attributes (substituting
Response for Agility and Reaction and Sensor for Intuition).
Hot sim benefits the rigger as much as the hacker. All actions by
a rigger who has jumped into a drone (or other device) are considered
Matrix actions, and receive the benefit of the +2 bonus due to hot sim
VR use.

So, while it is not explicitly stated as being so, the inference from these sets of rules is that the rigger gets extra initiative passes when jumping into a drone because it has to be done in full VR, either cold sim or hot sim. Am I reading this correctly?

Also, if the rigger has initiative enhancement on his own (say wired reflexes or synaptic booster), do the extra passes added by VR accumulate with this initiative enhancement, up to the maximum of four passes per combat turn?

[DMiller]

So, while it is not explicitly stated as being so, the inference from these sets of rules is that the rigger gets extra initiative passes when jumping into a drone because it has to be done in full VR, either cold sim or hot sim. Am I reading this correctly?

Also, if the rigger has initiative enhancement on his own (say wired reflexes or synaptic booster), do the extra passes added by VR accumulate with this initiative enhancement, up to the maximum of four passes per combat turn?

While rigging via VR the rigger (hacker) uses his matrix initiative. His meat-speed has nothing to do with his matrix speed. If he has augmentations that affect his Intuition those will help his initiative score, but those that add to reaction will not.

A standard cold sim hacker (rigger) will have 2IP, hot sim will bump her to 3IP. With various cyberware and comlink hardware mods this can go to cold sim 3IP and hot sim 5IP. The key to understanding rigging is understanding hackers in general. Unlike earlier editions 4th ed has rolled hackers and riggers into one class with slightly different skill specifications.

Hopefully this helps.

-D

[jakephillips]

D miller has it exactly right

[pbangarth]

Thanks guys.