The Idiot's Guide To Rigging Thread, Support for the Vehicularly Challenged Options

[Abstruse]

After Synner's suggestion of this topic, I figure it's a good idea. Being one of the idiots who need this thread, I can't contribute much, but maybe others more knowledgeable can help out. This is the thread for those of us who feel intimidated or overwhelmed by the idea of vehical, drone, and security rigging and how it can fit into a campaign without being overly distracting.

Well I'll go ahead and turn this thread over to the experts after getting the ball rolling just a bit with this question: How exactly does drone rigging work?

The Abstruse One

[Kagetenshi]

Well, where should we start? I'm more interested in the bits like jamming, MIJI, electronic warfare, but it's probably a better idea to start out somewhere more basic...

To prevent electronic warfare against one's drones from being particularly successful, is anything more than good encryption needed? My latest rigger has Rating 5 Encryption, meaning that an intruder would take 25 minutes to gain access if they rolled three successes against TN 9... is there anything save jamming that I'm susceptible to? Will my flux rating of 9.5 (rounded down, but the .5 may make a difference based on other environmental factors) be enough to burn through most jamming?

~J

[Frag-o Delux]

Buy the biggest remote control deck you can find. I don't care if you have 3 drones and 2 are broke in the garage. When the intruder goes against you he rolls the against the difference in your RCD and his PEM plus the base target number 6. If he has a 6 PEM and you have a 6 RCD, he will roll at 6. If he has a PEM of 6 and you have a RCD of 20 he will need to roll 20's. I forget how much the RCD will run you but I think it better then some schmuck robbing your stable of drones.

EDIT: I have yet to get the revised R3 so I am not sure if this rule has changed. And it has been a long time since I played a rigger, I found magic and having a ball. :)

[Kagetenshi]

¥5,000*rating, with a flat avail of 4/72 hours (I may be wrong on the time).

Once you get the cash, it's a really nice deal. Encryption is still good, though, 'cause you can't start the game with the überdeck.

~J

[Frag-o Delux]

If they do get into your system and start screwing sround in your channels, you wish to ECCM in your set up, to try and counter act the signal degradation.

[Kagetenshi]

ECCM is good, but how necessary is it? I currently lack it, and I need to know what to buy when I start getting cashflow...

~J

[Frag-o Delux]

You roll your ECCM agaisnt the ECM rating if he jamming or his PEM if he trying to take out your channels. So depending on the person or group of people you has torgued off you may want a really good set of ECCM.

Of course theamount of money you wish to put into fixing you singals is up to you, but if you have a lot of drones in this guys range and he takes over your channels he can farm your herd of drones.


On a side note this can get real ugly for a GM who doesn't know the rules to MIJI and EW and your team rigger does. So if you are not familar with the rules you may need to fudge it on the fly. Other wise a rigger character may nevr spend a dime on drones, just EW gear on scoure the city for fun toys.

[Kagetenshi]

So I should pick it up to defend against jamming. I'm probably not going to be facing many foes who can decrypt my network at all, let alone in a reasonable timeframe, and I'm going to be upgrading the thing when I get the money.

Does having a VCR give you any bonuses in Captain's Chair mode, or are you just as well off with a datajack for that?

~J

[Frag-o Delux]

According to my R3 VCR's don't help with Captains Chair mode except the +1 to reaction and driving tests.

I'll have to check up the rules in the BBB for decryption to see if they offer a bonus to defend your system.

The ECCM will clean up your signals if they do get in. Your channels can really add a lot of negative target numbers to your tests. If he gets in and really runs over your command channel he can then issue comand sto your drone to attack you. He could take over your simsense channel and add negatives to the things yor feeling or adding false possitives to your FDDM or IVIS. You could wind up targeting friend and then haveing your whole network of drones follow suit. I hear some of things in some groups and I would hate to see what happens to a team gettign pounded by their back up rigger.

Check ECCM for your RCD, I believe they only work for EW against your deck, but are rather cheap, compared to a full set of vehicle ECCMs adn you can take the with you if you have a RCD that can be carried (in a cyber arm or back pack).

[Kagetenshi]

If the opposing rigger has 24 dice to throw for decrypting my network he'll get an average of about two successes, which is one less than he needs to penetrate the network at all, and if he beats the odds and gets a third it'll take him 25 minutes.

I feel safe. See if you can poke holes in my safety, though, because I'd rather you do it than some security rigger in a zero-zone.

~J

[Frag-o Delux]

Kage if you read about the Remote-Control Encrpytion Module, it states that the encryption standards are different the the ones on the BBB. Meaning that currently if that is what you are using for encryption your phones and radios are fine, but your Network is bare ass in the air. Currently any Joe Runner could walk into your network. You will need a Remote-Control Encrytion Module. With a rating of 1 through 10 you can get some good encryption but now you are suseptible to the PEM, which can make short work of the encryption and make ECCMs very good friends.

So right now you need to go shopping a RCEM should be on top of the list and then some RCD ECCMs.

EDIT: Up until a few weeks ago I didn't know they had encryption in the BBB, when our fixer asked if we needed some and I had to look up the price.

EDIT2: Actually you will be attackable by the Rigger Decryption Module and then the Protecol Emulation Module will make short work of your network.

[lodestar]

In captain's chair mode the VCR doesn't help at all as all driving tests are accomplished by the drone's pilot score. The only thing that might help is the fact that while in CC mode you still use your rigging initiative score, but I'm not 100% on that.

Captain's chair has several advantages in that you can supervise and command many drones at once, you also won't suffer dumpshock if a drone is destroyed while in CC mode. Only when you have to use your rigger's drek hot gunnery or piloting/driving skill should one really jump into the drone to make full use of its abilities. When you make that jump though keep in mind it takes a complex action to percieve through another drone which also go into auto mode. Make sure your other drones aren't in trouble if you make the jump.

[Kagetenshi]

I've got the RCEM, rating 5. I hadn't even considered the existence of the other one. As to the decryption module, as I mentioned, it's not very likely that I'll get decrypted anytime soon by anything less than a Rating 24 module. Possible, but not likely, and it'll take the better part of half an hour anyway.

~J

[hobgoblin]

im wondering where you get the 25 min timeframe from. the rigger 3 says 10 combat turns and thats at most 30 seconds.

[Kagetenshi]

Rigger 3 directs one to the BBB Defeating Encryption section, which states that it takes a base time of (Encryption rating)*5 minutes to defeat encryption, divided by successes over 1/2 encryption rating, rounded up. 30 seconds is for infiltrating the network if it isn't encrypted.

~J

[Frag-o Delux]

Sorry I got confused double checking my advice, I thought you said you used the BBB encryption devices.

I would still increas my RCEM and some ECCM. If the guy gets 3 success he is in. You don't know that until he does something stupid to alert you. True he may be banging away at your system for 25 minutes, but how long does it take your runner friends to do the job. He could be sitting in your network for a few minutes listening to set your friends up and then attack you. 3, 9's are rather easy to get in our games, I don't know why but they are.

To counter this you will again need a rather large RCD, because his ability to hide in your network is determined by the intrusion factor, his PEM against your RCD.

[Kagetenshi]

RCD is getting upgraded to at least 8 or 10 as soon as I get the chance anyway. 6 drones is too limiting.

Is it possible to run multiple decks at once so as to prevent lowering the encryption of a network while taking over drones from a hostile network?

~J

[Frag-o Delux]

I'll have to do some checking on that. I am not sure, that has never came up in all my years playing.

Hopefully someone can answer that as I have to go, got a game to be at in 30 minutes. :)

[Kagetenshi]

Anyone else out there with questions, I appreciate your silence while I speak as I'm obviously so much more important than all of you, but feel free to join in. ;)

~J

[hobgoblin]

i dont think you can run more then one deck at ones alltho there is nothing in the rules specificly saying so from what i recall...

[KarmaInferno]

Hmm...

If you're rigging a motorcycle, does it look like you've managed to fall asleep while on a moving bike? What keeps you from being flung off when making a sharp turn? You can normally avoid adverse impacts to the crotch region when landing hard from a bike jump by standing up a little, what happens the RAS-overridden in the same situation?

:D


-karma

[Cain]

[Frag-o Delux]

Where does it say you lose a channel? What you lose is a port for a drone on the regular deck, because now your CRD acts as a drone, well sort of. Then you you use the lowest number of ports to determine how many drones can be controled.

Am I missign something somewhere? I don't see anything about losing channels.

I am still not seeing any benefits to running multiple RCD through a server or other wise. It would be cheaper just to use a big deck in your mobile command center, or what ever vehicle it is you have your stuff in. If you wanted to use mutiple decks you would need them to be close to each other or get dropped from your network. Not to mention you would be buying a lot of extra gear to protect your networks.

[Cain]

Sorry, bad terminology. Both decks lose a port, is what I meant.

As for the benefit... it's the only way a rigger can control more than 10 drones at once. If you link all the rating-6 decks you can to a rating-4 CRD, you can theoretically control 20 drones. Which is flat-out scary to contemplate-- do you want to be on the recieving end of a 20-drone assault squad, backed by a rigger? *Especially* if the rigger's got Battletac IVIS and FDDM?

[Kagetenshi]

I don't believe anything limits RCD ratings to 10...

~J