So here i was sitting here listening to The saga begins by Werd Al. (don't ask) Flicking through R3 (unrevised) and looking at the Audio/visual screen display, and started thinking can you have a none cyber VCR? and rig (drone rigging) without being implanted? like you can with decking?

And what would you need? Not know the rigging rules that well, if at all

Or am i being stupid.

Also
Snake eyes remote interface package, Is this what Dues was doing with his victims? but brfore the rules came out for it? Also it worth it? 2.5 Essence is a lot for what little it really does. Cool idea though. Was thinking an adept......

I'd say no.

Rigging is basically full-immersion simsense. You _are_ the machine.
The VCR is more than just a datajack - its wired into your reflexes and
glands. That's why the essence cost for the bloody thing is so high.,

That said, you can do a respectable drone rigger without a VCR. You can operate
a RC deck without a VCR - you just can't "jump into" a drone without one.

You can run a rigged vehicle just with a datajack right?

I think that is basically the analog of a level 0 vcr. No control pool, no initiative bonuses, but you can still control the vehicle (and you get some minor bonus I cannot recall).

I Don't have rigger 3 though I have been trying to buy it for the past few weeks. Could not find the store I was looking for, stupid suburbia (thank god I only work out here). Eventually I will just go into the city or manage it on a saturday but they probably won't have it.

I am working on a merc-scout charachter and want him to have limited drone ability. I might just get a alpha vcr-1 though haven't spent much time on it yet.

Yea, you can have a non-cyber VCR. It's called a steering wheel.

Seriously thou, you couldn't do it with a hitcher jack configuration very easily. Just stick to manual controls.

IIRC, if you rig with just a datajack, you only get a +1 to Reaction while in the vehicle. Nothing else.

I thought it was a -1 target number to drive tests and a +1 target number to all other tests.

That sounds right.

This brings to mind something I was looking into earlier.

RC toy vehicles: Obviously you shouldn't need to have a VCR to operate one, and I've always considered RCDs to be simply advanced transmission devices...

Looking at the entry in SR3, even if it IS capable of manual control, 5000¥ for a Rating 1 is pretty rediculous. Concerning general alternative options, I've been thinking maybe a Rating 0 (250 meters should be enough for basic hobby/toy play after all) could come included with the remote vehicle.

Custom vehicles and top-end models (such as model aircraft) would require better models, especially for range purposes.

Does anyone have another alternative?

One thing that can account for the price difference between a remote deck and a toy remote control is that the remote deck is much more of a two way system.

A regular toy remote control has no incoming information from the toy, you have to look at the vehicle with your eyeballs to have any idea what is happening to it. I think those cost a couple hundered dollars (for a good one). I am sure we have all seen those demonstrations of small drone control systems the military uses. Basically they are gussied up laptop computers. A ruggedized laptop with some wierd radio attatched to it could easily cost 5k today.

It seems reasonable to me that there would be something cheaper and less capable than the full rigger remote deck available.

Hmm. Is it possible to operate a vehicle via virtual dashboard using a trode net?

You could always outfit a vehicle with a Robotic Drone (or even just a regular drone, though the former can give the vehicle Rigger-esque Reaction and Initiative scores), then command it manually while inside the vehicle. In other words, just don't add the Remote Control aspects to it.

Riggers would still run circles around you (they gain a TN bonus equal to their VCR rating while a drone doesn't as far as I know), but it's still an option.

I'd agree, Kagetenshi; it would also allow one to drive a vehicle which has no manual controls installed.

IIRC, before V3 there were acrtual manual RCDs available.
With time passing in the Shadowrun world however, these old-fashiones control decks have all been replaced by cybernetic ones.

I'm not sure, but if I remember correctly, there can't be such a thing as non-cyber mental operation of any device, because there isn't anything that can read thoughts with the kind of speed that would be much more than the speed of manual operation. I think.

This isn't to say that I don't think it's possible. If the technology is developed that allows simsense to be recorded without the need for the recorder to have cybernetic implants, then you might could make something like a non-cyber VCR. You'd basically just have a recording-like device that translated thought into electronic commands for the vehicle. It'd never be as fast as a true VCR, because you'd have to have a computer between you and the vehicle to process simsense input into electronic commands, but it's possible. I'd probably handle the difference between non-cyber and cyber VCR like the difference between Boosted Reflexes and Wired Reflexes. But that's just me...

Actually, I'll have to look it up _but_ I think I remember a canon reference regarding an external vehicle rig -- basically a full bodysuit trode rig.

-Siege

I can so no pretty confidently to this one. The essence cost for the VCR is for all the connection they have to hook in to your lower brain (I forget what it's called). There's nothing about the cyberware that you could possibly externalised. It's not a 'hacking off chunks of flesh' essence cost, it's a 'things plugged into your brain' essence cost.

you mean RCD not VCR.

sr1 and even sr2 (early) had non-datajacked RCD's that was the only way to do it.

Oops, should of been a bit more specific. Data jack is fine I was after a way that didn't involve the large Essence loss that comes with VCR's.

Kind of like the way it's done at the end of bad boys 2.

I finally found rigger 3, and bought it.

In fact it does mention using a trode net to control a rigged vehicle.

You can drive it just like a normal vehicle. No bonuses or penalties.

With either a datajack or a trode net you can control drones in captains chair mode, but not jump in mode.