i have a character for an upcoming game that wats to use micro and mini drones for recon. he is not a rigger and just plans to let them auto-pilot and relay the survelance data.

now, looking at drones, they have a sensor rating that they use to roll but how do you tell what kind of sensors they have? i plan on mostly using the dragonfly from aresenal which says it has an ultrasound sensor but also the micro skimmer from the SR4 book and it doesnt say anything about its sensors. do they have cameras? lowlight? infrared? ultrasound? radar? what?

and one you figure out what they have can they be modded? what can you add?

The Basic Drone/Vehicle Sensor package contents is on Page 105, Arsenal.

From Arsenal page 105


So Micro Drones only have a sensor Cap of 1

So it would have 1 Camera (Front) that a trideo (which means it has sound too)

Max Sensor for it is 1 or Drone Rating (this is due to the Micro camera limit in SR4A page 332) unless you buy Improved Sensor Array to move it to a Mini Drone cap.

I always count the favor text as standard upgrades so they don't cost capacity or slots. So Ultrasound on a micro is possible if the drone text says it has it.

For mini drones I would use the base sensor of:

2 Cameras (front and back, taking up 2 Capacity)
1 Microphone (Capacity 1)

That way it can have vision and hearing enhancements.

So to make a dragonfly you just give it a free ultrasound enhancement on one of the cameras and your done.

Hope it helps.