Help me out, please.
Do technomancers need anything but themselves to rig?

And/or, CAN they use a control rig?

Wow, I thought this might be a dumb question. It seems like a technomancer can just sit down in a rigged vehicle and go, with no other gear or even skills.

Anyone with a commlink and sim module can jump into a vehicle. The control rig just gives you bonuses when you do so. An Otaku, being an organic commlink, can do the exact same thing. They have the same skills (or lack thereof) as anyone else trying to operate a vehicle in full-sim. That's not really broken. The broken thing is summoning a Machine Sprite to do the rigging for you.

As for the Control Rig question: yes, they *can* use a control rig, but it deducts from Essence and therefore MagicResonance. So, it's not necessarily a good idea to get a rig. It all depends on your build.

actually, machine sprites don't make nearly as good of a pilot as you might think, unless we're talking ratings in the 9+ range imo.

technomancers can indeed rig vehicles without any equipment. they would get +2 dice for hot sim VR, but no control rig bonus. truth be told, the TM is not a very good rigger directly... they are much, much better at remote controlling stuff. which has it's own drawbacks, but compared to their options when it comes to rigging, definitely worth it for a TM to specialise in remote control imo.

Actually, a Machine Sprite is just as good as a Pilot of the same level, and is cheaper to boot. So long as you summon it at Force 3 or better, it can duplicate an autosoft at rating = Force. It also gets the +2 Full VR bonus. That's pretty nasty. Plus, the rules are vauge enough that it may be able to use an Assist Operation service to boost the drones tests. A machine sprite has it all over a Pilot of equal level, although it may not be a match for a skilled rigger.

Yes, well, how many autosofts does the average Pilot use? Usually 4: Maneuver, Targetting, Clearsight, Defense.

You need a Force 12 machine sprite to get that. However, if you've got a Force 12 or even Force 10 machine sprite hanging around you don't *need* all those autosofts, as you're easily rolling more dice than the rigger's Pilot ever will (max as per SR4 books for pilots are Pilot 6/Ausotoft 4, for a total of 10 dice, and that's at above-chargen availability.)

first off, it doesn't say anywhere that sprites get a +2 full VR bonus for hotsim.

secondly, the rules are not remotely vague about the sprite using assist operation on the pilot. the pilot program has no CFs. the sprite is not registered to it. the sprite is able to boost the CFs of a technomancer it is registered to. even if the sprite *could* boost the pilot program's CF (base rating 0, assuming we don't just treat it as unaware) the pilot program could not use the CF anyways because only resonance-based entities can use complex forms.

additionally, as eyeless blond pointed out, i can load a rating 4 pilot program with targeting, maneuver, clearsight, and defense. a rating 4 sprite has... any 1 of those 4, of it's choice, and can't get any more. you would need at least a rating 6 sprite to get 2 CFs, and a rating 9 sprite to get 3 (and around this point, you start getting good enough to have a good dicepool even if the sprite is defaulting anyways, so your sprite is a solid pilot i admit). so sure, if you can routinely compile and register rating 9+ sprites (bearing in mind a pilot program is easily copied, as are all of the autosofts it runs, so you won't be limited to just 1 drone piloted by a pilot program... so mr TM needs at least 2-3 good sprite pilots before he's really competitive, which means registering).

so really, the TM rigger is not that much better at being a commander than a regular rigger either. their main advantage is not in the dicepools, but rather in the fact that only another TM can spoof your drones that are piloted by sprites (if any). now of course, if you happen to be able to consistently register high-rating sprites, then absolutely the technomancer is a scary drone commander type. otherwise, he's kinda blah.

You're absolutely right that a Force 9 registered sprite is impossible, since you need 9 hours to register it and it only lasts for 8. Anyone who can beat that is pretty much a god-mode character.

However, new rules (errata? faq? Can't remember) say that Pilot programs are restricted by vehicle type. So, the Pilot you buy for your car won't operate a rotodrone, and maybe not even a tracked Steel Lynx. The same applies to the Maneuver softs. A Machine sprite has no such limitation, making it cheaper than buying up a ton of Pilot programs.

You just need to register a few Force 6 sprites, and then use an Edge cheese tactic to summon a great big one. Instant 4 services out of a Force 12 spirit. Now you have more cash to spend on toys, as well as smarter and more capable AI's in your drones, who also have at least 6 points of Edge apiece!

the monetary cost of buying rating 4 pilots (even if you need 3-4 types) and autosofts isn't really all that big. certainly, it's cheaper than the BP cost to buy compiling and registering at high ratings, not to mention having to buy resonance.