Hearing a drone |
Hearing a drone |
Jan 17 2005, 07:04 PM
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#1
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 5,430 Joined: 10-January 05 From: Fort Worth, Texas Member No.: 6,957 |
Is there a published way to set the TN for listen checks trying to hear a drone?
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Jan 17 2005, 07:05 PM
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#2
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
Signature, I would guess, is a good starting point.
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Jan 17 2005, 07:07 PM
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#3
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,664 Joined: 21-September 04 From: Arvada, CO Member No.: 6,686 |
Yes, the sig.
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Jan 17 2005, 09:15 PM
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#4
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 5,430 Joined: 10-January 05 From: Fort Worth, Texas Member No.: 6,957 |
So there's no published method?
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Jan 17 2005, 09:18 PM
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#5
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
As far as I know, the published canon method is to use the signature, as has been said.
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Jan 17 2005, 09:19 PM
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#6
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
SIG
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Jan 17 2005, 09:41 PM
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#7
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Target Group: Members Posts: 49 Joined: 17-January 05 From: Fort Worth, Tx USA Member No.: 6,996 |
The SR3 mainbook says that the signature of a standard player character is 6. So a jet-powered vector thrust aircraft with a signature 8 is quieter than your average pedestrian?
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Jan 17 2005, 09:42 PM
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#8
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
Yes, by canon. Noone here says it makes any sense, but that is how it works.
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Jan 17 2005, 09:46 PM
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#9
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,664 Joined: 21-September 04 From: Arvada, CO Member No.: 6,686 |
Sig isn't only audibility. Its a combonation of all senses to detect something.
Which of course, works cannonically that its what you need with any sense to notice it. |
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Jan 17 2005, 09:47 PM
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#10
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Target Group: Members Posts: 49 Joined: 17-January 05 From: Fort Worth, Tx USA Member No.: 6,996 |
Well, it is the 21st century... maybe they have since invented new stealth jet engine technology. :cyber:
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Jan 17 2005, 09:50 PM
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#11
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
There's more to signature than just noise.
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Jan 17 2005, 09:52 PM
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#12
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 5,430 Joined: 10-January 05 From: Fort Worth, Texas Member No.: 6,957 |
Admittedly I don't have my book with me, but I don't remember any references to using sig as a target number for perception tests. References to signature (IIRC) only apply to sensor tests. Is there a page or an erratta that I'm missing?
If Sig = TN it would take a perception (6) test to hear a person walking. But from what I can tell the base TN to hear someone walking is 4. |
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Jan 17 2005, 09:56 PM
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#13
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
You specifically asked about Drones. People are a different matter, covered under the perception rules.
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Jan 17 2005, 09:57 PM
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#14
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Target Group: Members Posts: 49 Joined: 17-January 05 From: Fort Worth, Tx USA Member No.: 6,996 |
Aye. According to the SR3, vehicle noise is an aspect of locating a vehicle's with a passive sensor test. Other more inconspicuous aspects, like radio and thermal emissions, require active sensor sweeps. Either way, the signature is the TN# in both instances. So, with that in mind, it appears that whichever vehicle emission has the highest indentifiable output is what sets the vehicle's signature rating. The developers most likely kept the signature down to one easy TN# to keep the game simple and prevent gameplay from dragging. |
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Jan 17 2005, 10:16 PM
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#15
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Target Group: Members Posts: 29 Joined: 2-September 04 From: San Diego, CA Member No.: 6,624 |
You might also consider that while you can hear the sound of a jet airplane or a helicopter, that isn't the same thing as knowing exactly where it is in the sky.
Say you have a vectored thrust drone with a sig of 8. The GM has you make a perception test with a TN of 8, possibly modified by cyberware, adept powers, the situation (gunshots and police sirens) etc. You get no successes, so the GM might say "you hear a noise, but its hard to distinguish from the background noise of the city." or the GM might say nothing at all because you failed to detect the drone. You get 1 or more successes and you definately hear the sounds of vectored thrust engines and you can approximately tell where they are located. If you have a valid line of sight to the drone or you have some reason why you should be able to see the drone (thermal vision, perhaps) then the GM would say you spotted it. That's my 2 cents anyway. |
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Jan 17 2005, 10:28 PM
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#16
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 5,430 Joined: 10-January 05 From: Fort Worth, Texas Member No.: 6,957 |
Yes, finding an aircraft's location in the sky can be difficult, especially if its behind a building. But finding a drone's location on the other side of the door (the only place it could possibly come from) is not as hard. Tying it directly to sig means that it is harder to find the location of an aircraft if it is behind a door than it is to find it in the sky.
I agree that signature is a good place to start, but just blindly using sig ends up with some pretty dumb things happening. I was hoping there would be a bit more discussion of the issue in a book I don't have (like Rigger 3) so I could just say: "this is howit works". I can of course say that, as I'm the GM, but I prefer to use actual rules when they exist. :) And oh yeah: Hi SBF! I was wondering when I'd see you here. |
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Jan 17 2005, 10:31 PM
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#17
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
That's where all the Perception TN modifiers come in.
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Jan 17 2005, 11:28 PM
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#18
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 5,430 Joined: 10-January 05 From: Fort Worth, Texas Member No.: 6,957 |
Fortune: the TN modifiers are what makes it incredibly hard for a standard human (unaugmented intelligence of 3) to not hear a GMC Banshee firing up its engines on the other side of a 5' wide hallway.
Yes, GM's can and should make judgement calls on TN modifiers when necessary, but something so basic as perception tests to hear drones should not have to vary from group to group as a house rule. |
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Jan 18 2005, 12:08 AM
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#19
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Target Group: Members Posts: 38 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,652 |
I have to agree that using signature to indicate the stealthiness of vector thrust drones really bothers me. I played a rigger character who ended up with a Ares Guardian vector thrust drone that I used as my primary drone for indoor work. It has a signature of 7, but I just couldn't accept that a body 2 armor 12 drone that was using vector thrust to hover along a hallway could in anyway be described as stealthy. I've been at air shows with a Harrier hovering nearby, and know that is just nonsense. Even if the 206x engines were quiet, the air currents would scatter paper, furniture, suspended ceiling tiles, etc.
Thus when funds and contacts became available, my rigger developed a tracked drone with rubberized treads and a manipulator arm for indoor work. My suspension of disbelief worked again, and I had the added benefit of being able to open doors, select floor numbers on an elevator, and it even was configured to handle stairs. |
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Jan 18 2005, 12:47 AM
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#20
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 173 Joined: 4-March 03 Member No.: 4,196 |
From SR3, p. 133
"The Signature Rating indicates a vehicle's vulnerability to electromagnetic or thermal detection and serves as the target number for sensor and missle to-hit tests made against the vehicle." The base TN for hearing, or any perception test is 4; and a table on p. 232 has guidelines for modifiers to the TN. Hearing a drone starts at TN4. No house rules required. |
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Jan 18 2005, 01:05 AM
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#21
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,664 Joined: 21-September 04 From: Arvada, CO Member No.: 6,686 |
So entropy, the TN to hear my electric micro drone that looks and flys like a hummingbird is 4? How about the micro spider drone walking along carpet? Those are all TN 4?
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Jan 18 2005, 01:05 AM
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#22
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 5,430 Joined: 10-January 05 From: Fort Worth, Texas Member No.: 6,957 |
Yes, it starts at 4. But there are no guidelines about where to go from there.
Sure, you can say that a VTOL aircraft is a -10 to the target number (given their noise levels in RL). But how do you determine the modifier for a steel lynx, or any of the other countless numbers of drones that the average man on the street doesn't have any clue about because they don't exist? |
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Jan 18 2005, 01:17 AM
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#23
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
Then why ask if you knew the answer (or had a specific one in mind) all along? I didn't look it up because I don't have the book(s) in fromt of me. I just assumed (silly me) that the plethora of people that agreed on the signature answer were actually correct.
Maybe you modify it by the signature in some way. Or the GM could (gasp) use common sense to set an appropriate TN modifier. |
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Jan 18 2005, 01:28 AM
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#24
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 5,430 Joined: 10-January 05 From: Fort Worth, Texas Member No.: 6,957 |
How do you use common sense to determine target number modifiers for things that don't exist? "Common" sense applies to things that are, well, common.
I asked because its plain as day that you can't just use the signature numbers, because it makes some vehicles and drones pathetically hard to hear. I don't know the answer, nor do I have one in mind. I just want an answer that doesn't result in outlandishly foolish scenarios, and preferably involves as few calls to test my knowledge of nonexistent objects and my "common sense" has no idea what a steel lynx sounds like. I can guess yours doesn't either, and have a pretty good chance of being correct. :) |
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Jan 18 2005, 01:34 AM
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#25
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,664 Joined: 21-September 04 From: Arvada, CO Member No.: 6,686 |
While true that the sig can lead to outlandishly foolish scenarios, using the base TN 4 can as well.
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