Just wondering if anyone knows where I can find a breakdown of which drones go with which pilot skills? The book isn't fantastically clear on the issue, and I'd like to actually follow the rules when running my Rigger. Am I right in thinking that Steel Lynxes, for instance, fall under Pilot Anthroform?

Dictionary:

RAW (and Dictionary As Written) argue that a Steel Lynx looks nothing like a human begin, ergo not anthroform. My opinion would be that any walker uses Pilot Anthroform, anything wheeled or tracked uses Pilor Groundcraft, and any hovercraft might well use Pilot Aerospace, or the made-up Pilot Hovercraft, or even Pilot Exotic Vehicle (specific hovercraft).

However, it's never broken down what's what.

N.B. Arsenal explicitly states that the Doberman has walker mode standard, but it does not say the same thing for the Steel Lynx. Why is this? Maybe an "oops," even though the errata makes no mention of it. OTOH, the Lynx is said to have "wheeled legs," so who knows?

This is exactly the problem that I'm running into. Particularly since the Kanmushi is specified as having four legs and the fact that Pilot Anthroform has a Quadruped specialization (and the general assumption that they meant anthroform to cover anything with legs because of that). I'd guess that the Doberman is a Pilot Ground, since it seems like it's tracked and its 'Walker Mode' is just a representation of it having multiple independent tracks for stairs. On the other hand, between Arsenal and SR4A, it sounds like the Steel Lynx is just a walker that happens to have wheels for when it needs them. Those two drones confuse the crap out of me for Pilot skill association, though =/

Jesus Christ on the Cross! I just read the Doberman's description. Crawler drone? But instead of tracked vehicle, it's a walker? Which the steel lynx isn't? Fuck this shit! Get a Wuxing Crimson Samurai (or if you like to buy American, the Ares Centaur), slap on smart tires and your day just got easier. More expensive, but it's got a clear skill (groundcraft), dodges better (+3 handling with the tires), and has max armor built in.

Well, as per "Walker Mode" on p. 146 of Arsenal, "The transport mechanism of the drone or vehicle is completely swapped out for one that turns it into a walker, or at least provides it with multiple independent wheels or tracks so that it can handle most obstacles with the same ease as a human.", emphasis mine. I think that this is the option that applies to the Doberman, since it's explicitly stated as being a crawler (which means tracks in SR, yeah?), which would still make it Pilot Ground Craft. I'm still confused as all heck on the Steel Lynx, though. I'll probably try to argue a GM into Pilot Anthroform for it, since it makes sense to me and so that I can specialize on Anthroform and Air to have all my bases covered (Fly Spy, Roto for Air and Kanmushi, Lynx for Anthro).

Sweet! I like that idea. Tell your GM I agree. Then install Walker Mode on your GMC Stepvan, rig it, and have it run around the sprawl! That would be awesome.

Or you could be normal, and NOT do that.

Then again, with 20 mod slots, you can fit a lot of mechanical arms, which can hold a lot of SMGs, grenade launchers, laser rifles and other madness...

This bit kills me, but RAW already anticipated it - no Walker Mode for anything with Bod 11 or higher. Just have to make do with the Smart Tires and either the Rocket Booster or Hovercraft upgrade for the super Bulldog.

hmmm... how to describe the steel lynx... well, it's basically a central 'body' with 4 extended... ummm... things.... that the wheels are on. you know what? forget this description business. i'll go get you a picture so you can see what i mean. i'll edit it into this post.

edit:

here.

as you can probably see from that picture, it's not a walker drone. it has 'legs' sort of, and there's wheels on the end, but the legs have only one joint where they join the body, making them quite unsuitable for walking motion. basically, it's designed so that all the wheels can move in closer to the body, which lifts the body higher, allowing it to peek over cover. then, it can drop behind the cover again, by making the wheels go further out from it's body.

make more sense now?

edit edit: oh, and the doberman should be anthroform, based on the fact it's considered a walker type. i'm not a huge fan of that though.

I see what you're saying with the Steel Lynx, and I've seen that picture before, but it looks like the legs could be on ball joints in order to allow it to walk over obstacles that the tires can't handle.

That said, the Doberman definitely isn't a walker type. It's just considered to have the Walker Mode upgrade, which only serves to give it multiple independent treads that it can use to cross tough terrain or climb stairs or whatever else it needs to get done, not give it legs and turn it into a walker. Still a crawler, just a crawler that can handle stairs.