all the literature always describes riggers as moving their bodies to control vehicles, but what is the rigger could recast her internal somatic image to actually become the vehicle? she wouldn't move her arms to turn. she would turn her wheels.

i'd put this concept forward as the introduction to rigger initiation. rules would be similar to magician/adept/technomancer initiation. the initiate could gain abilities similar to metamagics. an obvious example is something like adept item attunement. maybe something like centering so that the rigger could reduce penalties for restricted terrain or something. an option to trade the driving ip for an attack ip if the terrain is simple. or the ability to trade in attack ip's for driving ip's to get bonuses on driving tests. drones and vehicles under the rigger's control could be harder to hack and unspoofable.

i'm not sure what else this initiate grade could affect. any thoughts on other application? balance issues?

sounds interesting enough . . maybe that will bring a new kind of incentive to playing riggers . .

I'm actually hoping that Unwired will add in new techniques for technomancers to let them do things very similar to what you're describing. A technomancer should be able to make that bond with a machine, and feel as if he is the machine, instead of just controlling it. It would lend a heck of a cool edge to TM's and their rigging abilities.

Not that Rigging didn't work like this before SR4 ... granted, the background never was conclusive that way, and rigger 3 made it look differently, but that used to be the general idea back in the day.

However, new/better-than-6 Utilities, some sort of hardware/cyberware/stuff to add these effects would be nice. Also, an edge/skillsystem like with martial arts might be useful for full VR driving, and could easily be used to achive what you think of, as techniques.

Especially gaining an edge in spoofing resistance would be direly nescessary, if TMs get as much of a boost in Emergence as I heared they would ... otherwise, TMs would just make mundane riggers obsolete.

Isn't this the kind of thing that Rigger-Adepts already do?

Post deleted. Never mind. Sorry.

I've heard similar things for Samurai. The fact is: if you want to initiate, don't make yourself a mundane! There's a reason why Shadowrun has a classless system: so you can mix archetypes if you feel like it. In order for your idea to even be worthwhile, you have to start with the premise that people are going to play 'pure riggers,' and that those people should be rewarded for not being a little more creative with their builds. If you want to be a rigger who initiates, you ought to play a technomancer. I just can't see an argument for creating a brand new game mechanic just because "wouldn't it be cool?." Riggers are not forced to be mundanes, they choose it. They should live with the consequences of their choice, and not be handed out goodies that they don't even need. Making up new mechanics on a whim which aren't intended to fix something you see as broken, but just to add more 'stuff,' is a recipe for flushing game balance down the toilet. Never a good idea.

The path for a more kick ass rigger lies in cybernetics's/bioware, technology for the drones, and qualities.

Im anti rigger initiation except for resonance abilities for techno's.

How much riggerware was included in Augmentation? Can you efficiently put 5.99 Essence on making your brain into a living drive-by-wire system like you could in SR3?

a few. the rather expensive simsense booster gives you an extra IP in full VR, which stacks nicely with the+2 dice in VR from a control rig.
the math SPU and the encephalon can both add to your encryption/decryption, giving a possible +4 dice to that.
the orientation system is +2 to navigation tests even without maps, so useful for a variety of purposes.

and thats about it. 2.35 essence of new cyberware from augmentation, and 3.8 of old, and your basic ware is 6.15 essence of goodies for the starting rigger, at a pricetag of about 190,000 even before worry about getting a higher reaction. so yeah, you can fill your 6 essence all too easily while running out of money just from implants. you still need the commlink+programs, vehicles, ect.

Still, Riggers are a far cry from their efficiency in SR3.

Augmentation contained a whooping total of two (2) riggerware items, the VR booster and those rigger nanites. Please note those two items were, to top it off, incompatibles. The other cyberware items help a bit, but only in special cases.

And because CGL really cares about Riggers, they will only cover them a little bit in Unwired. If that.

No, it's because they know that the Rigger book is cursed, and won't touch it until they're ready to commit corporate suicide.

They could do an equipment update book, like the CP2020 Chrome Books?

The current selection of vehicles and riggerware is just ... sad.