How do you upgrade the rating of sensors installed in vehicles? (Page numbers most welcome.) I've found "improved sensor package" in Arsenal that discusses expanded slots for sensors, but not a rating upgrade. I'm probably just overlooking the obvious, but a page reference would help.

I think what you looking for was included in the Arsenal Errata.
http://www.shadowrun4.com/resources/arsenal_errata_132.pdf

It creates as many questions as it answers sometimes though.

You're right; it does! Here's one.

Large drones have 8 Capacity for sensor packages. Does that mean I could plug in a rating 6 camera (1 capacity), a rating 6 radar (5 capacity), a rating 6 microphone (1 capacity) and motion sensor (1 capacity, no rating) for under 2,500 nuYen, and said large drone would use 6 for whenever its Sensor rating was needed (for example, if I were jumped into it and shooting things)?

the motion sensor should also be rating 6 specifically (for the purposes of sensor, everything has a rating. if you want to improve your rating, you need to improve *every* sensor to the appropriate rating, even the ones that don't gain anything at all from having a rating).

however, in the event you upgraded the motion sensor to rating 6 also (or if you replaced it with some other rating 6 equipment), then your sensor rating would be 6 for all tests. if something does not have a cost listed for various ratings, the temporary fix is to just multiply the base cost by the desired rating. sensors that come as part of the vehicle or drone have a rating equal to the vehicle or drone's regular sensor rating.

Page 334 SR4A



You don't add cost for unrated sensors since they don't have a rating...you just ignore them for purpose of averaging the sensor rating. (or as above figure out what it is without it and then add it in at the same rating)

So motion sensor is 50 for the sensor package no matter if you raise it later it has no additional cost increase for raising the package.

Night Jackal:

I had a similar discussion yesterday, and there is a bit of a logic hole in following that rule to the letter. Specifically, that most sensors don't have ratings, so you could fill every slot with cameras and...well, let me copypaste:



So, if your GM will let you follow that rule, you can upgrade any vehicle or drone to 6 for 150 if it lacks otherwise rated sensors. This will probably raise some eyebrows.

Jain: How does your rule of thumb work with using upgraded cameras, or upgrades with a limited rating? For instance, if I want a Rating 4 Camera, I can take a Y100 basic camera sensor and multiply it by 4...Y400.

Now, what if that camera was already combat-tweaked with low-light, flare compensation, and vision magnification? Does the Y250 upgrade count towards upping the sensor rating (i.e., +1 per enhancement), the base cost for the upgrade (i.e. Y100 Camera + Y250 Upgrades * 4 = Y1400 for a Rank 4 Sensor), or do we simply take the Y400 Rank 4 camera and slap Y250 on for the extra systems?

Conversely, what if the camera had a Rank 3 Vision Enhancement (an enhancement with only three ranks)? Does this count as a Rank 3 Sensor Package, and can it ever be used in a Sensor 4 system?

Thanks for the info; Sensors definitely need a new section of rules.

~Mike

Selective reading loophole: low-light and thermo don't have ratings because they aren't base systems, they're upgrades. They have to be added to a camera, and that camera has a rating.

Actual in SR4A they added rating to Camera's and Mircophones....so that would solve the cost and instant rating 6. Their are sensors without ratings but using them only in your Drone would limit it to its base rating only....with incredible limitations to what the item can detect.

Also they added capacity to Camera's and Mircophones...so you can only put so many adders (thremo, lowlight, etc.) on a system. To get a level 6sensor system with some neat extras costs 3-4k. compared to upping your response to 6 for 4k (half cost if you do the work instead of plug and play.) Seems very fair.

Ah, so you don't stick the problematic unrated bits (like motion sensor) on a drone; you stick them in a rated sensor (like a camera) and stick that on the drone! Now it makes much more sense. I second Mike's words of appreciation.

Wasn't there an upgrade cap at +2 in SR4A? However it should be possible to replace the sensor.

Actually, you can put unrated sensors on a drone. But low-light and thermographic vision aren't sensors; they're enhancements to visual sensors.

Let's do an example. Bob goes out and buys a Hyundai Shin-Hyung (AR p. 109). It has a Sensor rating of 1 and comes with the standard set of vehicle sensors (AR p. 105):
• Atmosphere Sensor (taking up 1 Capacity)
• 2 Cameras (front and back, taking up 2 Capacity)
• 2 Laser Range Finders (front and back, taking up 2 Capacity)
• 2 Motion Sensors (front and back, taking up 2 Capacity)
• Radar (taking up 5 Capacity)
This uses the full 12 Sensor capacity that vehicles have. Since the vehicle's sensor rating is 1, the Atmosphere Sensor, the Cameras, and the Radar are all also Rating 1 to start with. The Laser Range Finders and Motion Sensors don't have a rating. After a bad experience with nearly backing over his neighbor's kid, he decides that a better camera in the back is needed to avoid a repeat. Bob shells out 600 to get a rating 6 camera, which he uses to replace the current camera on the rear of the vehicle. This brings the average rating of the sensors on this vehicle up to 2.25, giving the vehicle a sensor rating of 2 for most tests. However, for any tests that specifically rely upon the rear camera will use its rating of 6, while tests that rely on radar, the atmosphere sensor, or the front camera would still only use their rating of 1. Bob could get the vehicle's sensor rating up to 6 by removing those 3 pieces, but would then only be able to get sensor info from the range finders, motion sensors, and the rear camera, so there would likely be far more tests failing due to lack of appropriate sensors.

Synner had said that the chosen solution worked based on giving ratings to sensor systems that didn´t have one looong before SR4A. With unrated cameras (which are/will be the mainstay of Automated-Guided-Vehicle navigation and motion detection) the upgrade rule does indeed lead to wonkiness.

Took me a minute to read this properly...I think you are agreeing that without the ratings on camera's the new rules in SR4A would not work well. Since Cameras have ratings its less wonky?

I do agree that the new rules fix a large gap in how things work sensor wise. My hat off to the folks that made the changes happen.

Here's my house rule for vehicle sensors. It's worked really, really well: