I had played a little of previous Shadowrun editions, and I was preparing to start my first SR4 setting. I began to run into a few problems, some of them I have hammered out on my own, but others are still on my mind, if anyone would help me out, I would appriciate it.

There is no real size description for drones and some other veichles. While the approximate size of some cars is deduceable, I am having a difficult time coming up with relative sizes for Micro, small, medium, and large sized drones. Can anyone provide any examples? Is Body = size?

It seems like VR is really underpowered, when compared to AR. Does anyone else feel this way and have house rules to make VR any better, or AR any worse?

Micro match book or smaller

Small remote control car

Medium maybe power wheel sized

Large compact car

IMNSHO and YMMV

Wow, large is a compact car? I've played it as taking up 2 hexs on the grid, which are 1m each; so effectively twice as big as a character (like a DnD horse which is a "large" creature). Medium is the size of a character. Small and micro are what domino said. Domino are those sizes RAW, or a houserule? If Steel Lynxs are the size of a car, they're not very useful indoors...

Body /= size

I don't see VR as being underpowered. Two bonus dice to all matrix actions and 3 IPs sounds pretty good. VR is also faster for certain extended tests no matter what cyber you have. I have a houserule that if a character has 4 IPs in the meat, they have 4 IPs in VR (fluff wise, they're so used to moving that fast in the meat that it increases their mental reaction times as well). I also use skill + logic limited by program rating instead of skill + program rating, so logic is actually useful for hackers.

and if you do a bit of searching you will find even more threads about AR vs VR...

mostly its split in two camps, one that is ok with it and one that not ok with it...

I don't think it can really be defined... Certainly it was possible under 3rd edition to take a mini-blimp (the same chassis as the medium renraku stormcloud) and give it enough internal space to install a seat. With only one size category between that and eyeball-sized minidrones, I think the size categories must be fairly wide.

As most of SR and especially 4th alot is vaque. I just threw those sizes out there as aproximations and from some of the older pics in source books, the Steel Lynx is about the size of a compact car.

my guess is the steel lynx would be about the size of a Smart car.. maybe a bit more flat, but roughly those dimensions...

Hmm. I'd assume that a Steel Lynx was about the size of.. well.. a lynx! Or a Lion at most.

Would that make an F-16 Falcon the size of a falcon?

Smartass.

play the steel lynx the size of a smart car. Those can still manuever down the hallways of hospitals or schools. They will easily move around any building that fits trolls. Will just fit into an elevator.

IIRC the flavor text on the Steel Lynx did say that it was designed as an outdoor perimeter patrol drone and firing platform, the fact that it is the size of a subcompact car and doesn't easily fit indoors isn't really a problem to a normal user. Besides legitimate users can always get those track mounted smart guns installed in their buildings.

and that just gives the rigger/hacker more toys to take command of

I've never figured this out; is the Steel Lynx actually vaguely lynx-shaped, a quadruped that needs Pilot Anthroform, or is it wheeled/tracked?

I believe the descriptive text says tracked, but don't take my fuzzy memory's word on it.

So it's a wheeled vehicle that just fits in a elevator...is it car-like or more buggy-robot like? I only have SR4, want to know what it looks like.

My google fu is strong.

Steel Lynx

Here are my guesses for the drone sizes:

Micro is as small as a coin.
Mini is the size of a table tennis ball.
Small is a typical toy remote control car.
Medium would be the size of a large dog.
Large is about the size of a golf cart.

Bye
Thanee

IIRC the drone descriptions give general indications of their sizes (at least a few of them).

Well, I'm pretty sure the Steel Lynx is one of, if not the largest ground drone and its not even as tall as a human. And given its design and apparent width, I would say it could easily get through most 2 person hallways.

Does anyone else think it looks like alot of the drones from the Armored Core series? Albeit much smaller.

Yeah, but at least our assault launchers did 10D4 damage. Let's see these young punks soak that!

Drones like the Doberman and the Steel Lynx seem to have gotten smaller in SR4, based on body, armor, cost, and the like. They used to be serious combat machines... now they're decent gun platforms, but much more expendable.

I imagine them having a footprint of about 2 feet by 2 feet, and being maybe 3 feet high.

The lynx is a size larger and a point of body bigger. If a doberman is 2x2 and lynx should probably be at least 3x3 or 4x4.

OK, I'll go with that. I didn't remember them being different sizes.

according to rigger 3: Steel Lynx (body 2)
according to body ratings table from same book:

Body
-----
2

Weight Range
---------------
75-300 kg

Nominal Value
-----------------
150 kg

Vehicles falling in this range
-------------------------------
larger drones (human to troll-size), motorcycles


so somewhere in that range unless of course it got smaller.

The assertion that it got smaller is solely based on in-game performance. Steel Lynxes used to be seriously badass minitanks... not so much these days.

Funny, now that I play SR4 I'm not into drone rigging at all.

Must be said, drones and rigging only get a perfunctory summary in SR4. More detail definitely required in future sourcebooks.

The only clearly labeled picture of the steal lynx was infields of fire. It is wheeled but each wheel is on a stalk.

The flavor text of previous editions gave me the impression it could squeeze threw a standard sized door. But only because of its unusual shape.

Its not so much that the steal lynx is weaker now as its armor is made of tinfoil in comparison. In SR3 you needed AV ammunition or heavy weapons to dent it, now any punk can take one out with a called shot to increase damage or explosive ammunition and a little luck

Figured that Medium drones had about the surface area equal to that of a normal sized man, when stored. Although you might not be able to put a medium drone in a car seat, or a man in a medium drone rack, it makes it easier to figure vehicle space.