So, I have noticed in my games the susceptibility of vehicles to Powerbolt and Powerball. Even after Counterspelling, a successful high force physical combat spell can make any drivers day a lot worse. Thus, I was thinking about the concept of having a initiate mage quicken a mana barrier spell to the car. I've frequently used Mana Barrier as a spell to act as "extra" Counterspelling dice, but the books specifically says that targets that are targeted through the Mana Barrier receive extra resistance dice equal to the force of the spell. However, if you're targeting the vehicle itself, with a quickened Mana Barrier, do you all feel that the targeted vehicle would receive any special enhancement to its "defense." However, since vehicles can't resist the spell, the only thing I can think of is adding the Force of the spell to the vehicle's Armor for the purposes of spells only.

What do you guys think? Anyone have any other good defensive vehicle strategies vs. magic other than Counterspelling?

Maybe you missed the 4+ successes neccessary to even influence a vehicle with a spell?
Even in SR3 vehicles had an object resistance(maybe not correctly translated) of 4, in SR4 there is no problem telling the mage his threshold is 5 or 6. Electronics have advanced.
Just add in a mediocre counterspelling magician and it is near impossible to harm vehicles with spells. You will have to worry more about those automatic weapons filled with stick-n'-shock if you wish to keep your precious cars and bikes.

I was under the impression that the only resistance that vehicles got was that the DV of the combat spell must be greater than the Armor of the vehicle. So, yes, I did miss the threshold for spells cast at non-living things. I've been screwing that up for about three years now. Well, better late than never, I guess .......

Thanks for setting this now shamefaced GM straight

I agree with Undead Poet that combat spells like powerball aren't great against vehicles.

However, a materialized spirit/elemental can wreak havoc on a vehicle's crew. So I think quickened mana barriers are still a good idea on things like military vehicles or passenger jets.

JKL

Quickened mana barriers? Use wards, because of the not existing karma costs.
Spirits wreak the same havoc as a normal weapon(or a spell, hehe), most of the time less.

You are definitely right. Wards would be better than mana barriers given the karma cost and the fact that they are dual natured by default. But can wards be moved? I wasn't sure if they could or not.

Anyhow, spirits do have some advantages over regular weapons/spells. Imagine flying an attack helicopter and having an angry enemy fire elemental materialize inside next to you.

JKL

Forgot about the materializing-inside part. Good point.
Wards can not be moved, but they "fill" a certain area and are not a wall. They can't be moved.

Another plus for wards is, if I recall correctly, that they do not hinder their creator from passing and casting spells through them.

The whole question of wards being immobile is, immobile relative to what? The ground? What they're anchored to? It's got some room for interpretation. I usually say it can be anchored to anything that the average player group (and maybe a couple of drones) couldn't easily move around, making cars about the lightest thing you could ward.

Immobile means can't be moved. If something can be moved (because it's attached to a car) then it isn't immobile. That's how we play it. YMMV

Well considering the earth is moving at 29.8 km/sec around the sun, you have to say that the wards are immobile in respect to another object.

Unless of course you believe as I do that the entire universe is in fact rotating around the earth.

Although a vehicle may not resist a spell a I think counter spelling can be used to defend it and if there is a mana barrier or ward in the way these would also help in its defence buy providing a resistance dice pool. Although the defence is rolled on behalf of the vehicle it is these astral active protections and not eth vehicle that is resisting the spell.

Wards I don’t think should be put on a vehicle, and defiantly should not be added to armour. Otherwise every team with a magician will have +6 dice to resist spells from warded armour at no cost.

I would say wards are immobile relative to the mana sphere of earth. You could ward a vehicle but if it moved the ward would be broken, the same would go for warding a transportable building.

Edward

I allow warded vehicles, though even a slight ding can ruin it. I don't add it directly to the armor however.