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[Ruby]

I want to make a technomancer rigger but I also want to make my own drones. I've determined I'm going to follow Unwired's mention of "dronomancers" for their sprites and fading, but I'm not sure where to go from there. Any ideas?

[SpellBinder]

A few thoughts: Qualities More Than Metahuman & Paragon Daedalus, Electronic Warfare, Hardware, Software, Mechanic, and Vehicle active skills, knowledge skills that emphasize vehicles, design, and the sort. If you don't mind taking a hit to your Essence & Resonance, a Cerebral Booster to help bolster your Logic as this will impact most of your skills (and you can use the leftover full Essence piont for a few other things, like a Sleep Regulator or Control Rig).

[Ruby]

Would the control rig make things easier for the technomancer? I'm concerned about letting their Resonance take a big hit but I could probably manage with 5 and justify the cyberware as something they got before their powers awoke.

[SpellBinder]

That you would have to talk to your GM about, emerging after implantation. Also, if you're making your character in BP a maxed out attribute doesn't always seem worth it (unless the GM says "hang the extra 15 BP").

I mentioned the Control Rig as it gives you a boost to any Vehicle test you have to make while jumped in, stacks with the technomancer's natural +2 to everything in VR, and seems to be one of the things a non-technomancer rigger always has. You could start with Cerebral Booster (2), a Math SPU, Sleep Regulator, and a Control Rig, all Standard grade implants, and you've only spent 0.925. Remember, whichever is taking up less Essence between cyberware & bioware counts for half.

And if you're really serious on the implants, Biocompatibility (Cyberware/Bioware) quality from Augmentation can actually help offset the Essence cost a little, along with buying stuff at Alphaware level (-30% to Essence costs for both). For what I listed above, if you had Biocompatibility (Cyberware) and bought everything at Alpha grade, that 0.925 Essence cost now just became 0.675 Essence and you've got room for even more if you want.

Just food for thought...

[Ruby]

I'm considering a non-cybered build at the moment (Although I will try a build with the cyberware on the side). Do I need to buy multiple copies of an autosoft or can I run one copy on several drones? The prefab rigger and smuggler both have only one copy of each of their autosofts.

Currently I was thinking of an elf since I get the bonus to charisma.

[Udoshi]

Would the control rig make things easier for the technomancer? I'm concerned about letting their Resonance take a big hit but I could probably manage with 5 and justify the cyberware as something they got before their powers awoke.

Control rigs DO work with technomancers, and even stack with the echo for riggers.

However, for 0.5 essence cost, I"d lean more towards a Simsense Booster. A 4th pass is well worth it for a technomancer, and if you decide to go down the echo route that gives you more passes, you can always swap it with a control rig later. A trauma damper will give you an effective guaranteed hit on your fading resistance tests, too, which is worth 3 dice on average/4 if you buy hits.

The biggest thing you need to do is ask your GM if Machine Sprites can replace a drone pilot, since it has a pilot rating and can use autosofts already. If so, then you're in business. Machine sprites own. Tutor sprites can handle a lot of your Modding/Building if you give them some assembly tools for it(a lockheed vulcan with an automotive shop mod is a nice start), and both can pass as a doctor with an evo orderly to ride around in.

Command is going to be your bread and butter for a rigger due to being boostable with Sprites and Threading. I'd strongly consider taking Codeslinger: Control Device because it apples to EVERYthing you do with command. If you want to focus on Jump In rigging, More Than Metahuman is amazing. It lets you Jump Out of drones as a free action, and free actions can be explicitly delayed and taken later in the turn - if you don't use free actions over the course of the pass, you can reserve it to bail out of a drone that gets destroyed.

[Ruby]

I'm going for the wholly organic Technomancer at this point just so I can afford some drones. What complex forms/matrix actions should I be focusing on? Also, does my TM substitute her own Firewall for the drones in terms of protecting a drone I'm jumped into?

[Neraph]

I'm going for the wholly organic Technomancer at this point just so I can afford some drones. What complex forms/matrix actions should I be focusing on? Also, does my TM substitute her own Firewall for the drones in terms of protecting a drone I'm jumped into?

My 2 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) : Buy a Satellite Link and upgrade all your drones with Satellite Communications - that way you're working off of Signal of 8 instead of Signal of Crap. Then, slave your drones to your bio-node so that they are immune to hacking unless the hacker is also a Technomancer.

[Udoshi]

I'm going for the wholly organic Technomancer at this point just so I can afford some drones. What complex forms/matrix actions should I be focusing on? Also, does my TM substitute her own Firewall for the drones in terms of protecting a drone I'm jumped into?

I would strongly suggest getting a point of ware.

It lets you do things like datajacking to a device that actually has a signal above 3.

Think of it this way. As at technomancer with resonance 6, you have signal 3.
If anyone turns on a rating 4 jammer, and you're rigging, you get dumpshock, lose connection to your drones, and have to soak 5p damage. The alternative is buying ECCM(opportunity cost of another CF), taking a -2 penalty on everything to thread it, or buying another source of Signal - but you still have to connect to it through wi-fi because skinlinks are an echo for you which doesn't solve the 'i can be killed through jamming' problem.

Anyway, ask your GM if you can, as a dronomancer, take Control Rig as a complex form. Its essence cost is remarkably similiar to Simrigs, which technos can already emulate with resonance abilities.

Your firewall rating is your OWN - its used if someone logs into your drone and attacks you directly. However, its fairly cheap to buy a firewall 6(it is not limited by system, getting FW6 on anything with a gun is a good idea)
You have 3 methods of controlling drones.
Real Time Strategy/Autonomous, where a drone acts on its own using its dumb autopilot(dogbrain) to decide how to act in any given situation - but is programed with orders and tasks remotely. Basically throwing a robot at a goal. A technomancer can throw machine sprites in their drones to make it better via Diagnostics, though(you REALLY NEED to ask you gm if you can replace a drone's pilot with a summoned sprite).
Captain's Chair: Where a rigger sits back and commands a single drone remotely, often to incredible effect since Command replaces the linked statistic in what you're doing, making it easy to get an effective 6(or more!) in a stat. The downside, is that using Command via the Control Device action is Inefficient. Everything takes a Complex Action. The upside is that it is very easy to get tons of dice, and the action inefficiency doesn't matter if you choose your actions right.
Be The Drone/Jumped In: Where you become the drone directly, as if you were there yourself. Merges your stats and the drone's hardware in interesting ways. Doesn't require a vehicle rig, though it helps immensely. Opens the rigger up to getting damaged via biofeedback, though. If you're doing this, a high Response and Sensor on your drones are critical. Reality filter is worth threading.

And you can swap between the three methods nearly instantly.
You need to decide which ones you want to focus on.

1 is expensive, because autosofts are expensive, unless you can use registered sprites in which case go hogwild.
2 is amazingly inexpensive and doesn't give a shit about the hardware quality because command overrides it.
3 has the potential to be badass as fuck, and can either be inexpensive or requires an intensive knowledge of drone and the arsenal modding system to make budget buys.

For a technomancer, with the potential to thread command up to 10-12 (or using sprite assistance), you want the Command complex form. You need the command complex form. It is your lifeblood and the main way you get shit done.
Stealth is important for not being caught.
Exploit is important for breaking into things
Analyze is way the hell more important than you think it is, so much that it is mandatory.
Spoof is nice if you want to change your access ID on the fly.
Attack is nice because it works against everything.
Armor is pretty worthless, get Shield(unwired) instead, since it works against all attacks.
Smartlink (as the cf) is worth getting if you put Smartlinks in your drone's cameras.
Encrypt is pretty much mandatory.
Reality filter is way way way useful for a rigger, since Response is such a big deal. Don't buy it, though - if you thread it when you need it, it has an off switch.
Biofeedback Filter keeps you alive. Buy it up to max if you're Jumpin rigging or afraid of black ice.
ECCM keeps you from losing connection with your drones, and is a preventative measure against dumpshock.
Decrypt is mandatory if you plan on doing any hacking. Period. If you don't have it, anyone with encrypt 1 can keep you out.

If you want to engage in Tacnet Spoof Games with other riggers, which may be required if you want to take someone elses drones, or if they want to steal yours, you need:
Scan, because threshold 4 hidden node tests suck if you don't have a good dice pool.
Trace, because it lets you find out where people are and what their access ID is(this is a very important number)
Occasionally Sniffer, which is best paired with Edit and Spoof.

Did I forget anything?

[Ruby]

So I'm picking out my drones now and I have a Kanmushi. If I understand right, it can only have 1 thing on its microdrone sensor? Because I want a camera and a microphone on it.

[Bearclaw]

Can't a technomancer use a com link as a retrans unit if he needs extra signal?

[Ruby]

Um... what?

Also, do I use my Response or the Drone's when I'm jumped in?

[SpellBinder]

Can't a technomancer use a com link as a retrans unit if he needs extra signal?

With how the mesh network in Shadowrun works, yes. Getting too stretched out, though, puts a rigger at greater risk of being jammed, unless all are able to run cutting edge ECCM programs as well.

[Bearclaw]

With how the mesh network in Shadowrun works, yes. Getting too stretched out, though, puts a rigger at greater risk of being jammed, unless all are able to run cutting edge ECCM programs as well.

Right. My point is, giving up a point of essence/resonance to avoid jamming isn't a very good usage of your resources, IMHO.

[Redjack]

My 2 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) : Buy a Satellite Link and upgrade all your drones with Satellite Communications - that way you're working off of Signal of 8 instead of Signal of Crap. Then, slave your drones to your bio-node so that they are immune to hacking unless the hacker is also a Technomancer.

Couple of points here:
- You can only slave nodes in mutual signal range
- Slaving a node does not make it "immune to hacking".
- When you put a satellite in the middle of the conversation, you negate "mutual signal range".

[Bearclaw]

If everyone has satellite uplink, aren't they within mutual signal range?
Slaving a node to a living persona does make it almost immune to "hacking". Spoofing is a different matter.

[Redjack]

If everyone has satellite uplink, aren't they within mutual signal range?

As stated above, a satellite link puts a satellite in the middle of the conversation... or to state it a different way, you have mutual signal range to a satellite, but not another comlink also equipped with a sat link. Mutual signal range requires a direct connection between comlinks.

Slaving a node to a living persona does make it almost immune to "hacking". Spoofing is a different matter.

As you just stated, simply spoofing commands negates any perceived immunity.

[Bearclaw]

As stated above, a satellite link puts a satellite in the middle of the conversation... or to state it a different way, you have mutual signal range to a satellite, but not another comlink also equipped with a sat link. Mutual signal range requires a direct connection between comlinks.

A satellite link is just a microwave retrans unit. Are we saying that retrans units don't work?

[Redjack]

A satellite link is just a microwave retrans unit.

Here is the description of a satellite link

Satellite Link: is allows the user to uplink to communication satellites in low-Earth orbit, connecting to the Matrix from places where no local wireless networks exist.  is link has a Signal rating of 8. Includes a portable satellite dish.

It does not state the added functionality of comlink to comlink communication, nor the retransmit functionality you assert.

Edit: Page 50 of Unwired is even clearer that satellites are an uplink.

[Bearclaw]

Everything is an "uplink". The satellite section is right after the radio waves section. And just before the beam connection. They are just different kinds of connections. Satellite connections are slower, because of the distance traveled, which is covered in the rules. You can hack through it, at -1 response, so you can do anything else through it.

edit> Sorry, it's at half response. I'm not sure how to translate that to rigging, but there's absolutely no reason to say you can't communicate with your drones over a satellite link.

[Redjack]

Everything is an "uplink".

Negative. A direct connection is not an 'uplink'.

there's absolutely no reason to say you can't communicate with your drones over a satellite link.

Agreed. But it is not the same as a connection in 'mutual signal range', which allows a device to be slaved. ergo: A device cannot be slaved over a routed connection. An uplink infers routing (at least in Shadowrun sr4).

[Bearclaw]

Agreed. But it is not the same as a connection in 'mutual signal range', which allows a device to be slaved. ergo: A device cannot be slaved over a routed connection. An uplink infers routing (at least in Shadowrun sr4).

Like a retrans unit. A device is receiving and then re-transmitting the signal. Isn't that the same thing?

But, maybe we're arguing two different things. I guess the point I'm actually arguing for is the ability to rig over a satellite connection, rather than if you can "slave" over that connection.

[Redjack]

But, maybe we're arguing two different things. I guess the point I'm actually arguing for is the ability to rig over a satellite connection, rather than if you can "slave" over that connection.

I started from here:

My 2 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) : Buy a Satellite Link and upgrade all your drones with Satellite Communications - that way you're working off of Signal of 8 instead of Signal of Crap. Then, slave your drones to your bio-node so that they are immune to hacking unless the hacker is also a Technomancer.

I agree you can do either (1) slave your drones to your bio-node or (2) buy a Satellite Link and upgrade all your drones and rig over a satellite link, not both at the same time.

[Bearclaw]

So where does it say "mutual signal range". I just read all of the uses of the word slave in the BBB and Unwired and it doesn't seem to say that anywhere.

edit>the reason I'm still discussing this is: I know you can slave nodes through any kind of a connection, and I don't get what makes drones different from toasters or com-links. I thought they were all the same thing, with different levels of complexity.

[Redjack]

So where does it say "mutual signal range".

When slaving a node to a master, the slaved node does not accept any Matrix connections from any other node but the master