QUOTE (svenftw @ May 5 2010, 03:00 PM)

I disagree, they get to 4 just as easily as a Samurai, but to get to 5 a rigger would need to sacrifice his Control Rig Boosters. I think that decision alone makes it not easy at all.
Actually, I play a 5 pass hacker/rigger right now, and its totally worth it. Control rig boosters are, in my opinion....not worth it. Look at what they do. They add to Pilot(vehicle) checks. Now look at what you roll in the course of rigging, running sensors, and fighting in a vehicle.
You use Pilot for...crash tests. Full defense. Not Everything, like a control rig helps with.
If you're going to compare Meat Rigging and VR rigging, you also need to consider the other implications of either control style. Skills, actions, and bonuses.
First off: VR is faster. Certain action types change - much like smartguns use changed linked device mode to make certain actions free actoons, like ejecting clips, vr does the same.
You need to spend a complex action each Turn controlling the vehicle, or face Crashing. A rigger, however, IS the car - and Moving is a Free action for people. For a meatspace rigger, they're going to lose a pass each turn driving. However, a vr-rigger gets to deal with biofeedback damage - its really not a problem, though. Its only when the vehicle takes damage, you take that damage value halve it, and soak that with your biofeedback filter. So, basically, any incoming damage is reduced three times before it reaches your condition monitor - once by the vehicles armor, once due to a game mechanic, and then you get to soak what's left. Auto-dumpshock is more of a problem, but, if something is powerful enough to instakill your vehicle, then you have bigger problems. However, the potential for biofeedback stun also means there is more of a potential for a rigger's dice pools to go down the toilet - every 3 boxes on a condition monitor net you a -1 to everything. So, as a car gets attacked, the meatspace driver is likely fully protected by the vehicles armor, and just has to deal with the accruing penalties of his vehicle getting shot up - while a hotsim rigger can, potentially, can take penalties on his own track as well as that of his vehicle, for a double-whammie.
There's also the Driving with AR bonus(4a 168). Everyone knows that VR drivers get the -1 threshold. But, meatspace drivers can claim a +1 to all Vehicle Tests if they subscribe to the vehicle - and Remote Controllers don't get that bonus. That +1 is basically half a control rig - for free. Threshold is nice, but extra dice help you when dodging, getting shot, and other things which don't have a Threshold. (I am unsure if a VR-driver physically in the vehicle gets the +1 TOO - they are subscribed as a service, and are not remote controlling. If so - rigger cocoons, fuck yeah! +5 to everything)
Per 4a 245, any tests made while jumped in use the rigger's skills and the drones attribute(response = agi+reaction, sensor = intuition.) That's where the problem in effectiveness lies. Metahumans will rarely have an intuition over 6, but getting a Sensor of 6 is fairly easy - advantage rigger. If you check 4a 167, you'll find that people -may- substitute Sensor for Intuition, and that drones -always- do it. Advantage - both. Or to a high-int rigger, who has shitty sensors. This is important, though, because you use sensor to shoot people: See Sensor Lock-on and Active Sensor Targeting.(4a 171). Basically, Net hits are added to the shooting-people roll as long as your sensors have lock.
On evading those sensors, p171, we find that non-vehicle people may Oppose the test with Agility + Infiltration. Vehicles may do so with Infiltration+Reaction+Handling, and that you the dice you gain fromInfiltration may not be more than your Vehicle Skill, which is a reason not to take control rig boosters (It cares about your Skill Rating, not about how many bonus dice you have to it.)
Gunnery, p171, says that the rules for ranged combat apply to vehicle mounted weapons, and that it uses Gunnery, which is linked to Agility.
Now here's where we start to see the playing field evened a bit. A drone or vehicle needs availability sixteen(8000ny) components to sport a response six, and the highest you can start with without Restricted Gear is 5. Stock models, they have three by defaults, four for security vehicle(if it comes with a weapon mount, its probably in the security class of cars), and five if its milspec. A metahuman, on the other hand, can surpass that very easily.
Its worth noting that for Vehicle full defense, you add in your Vehicle Skill - which is one reason to take control rig boosters - but a meatspace driver could very well have reaction 9 and Reakt, and drop 11 dice+handling to dodge the attack without burning an action, while a rigger is only going to get his Response(5 or 6) to start with.
its not a fair comparison to compare dice pools and passes. A VR adept, for example can enjoy the hotsim bonuses and the high skillboosts from being an adept, while a technomancer rigger can potentially get five passes(advanced overclocking), a second complex action in each(macro), and run active sensor targeting as a free action each pass too(multiprocessing!). So which is better?I don't have a good answer. But, i can help explain.
So, basically.... its like this.
VR: A hotsim rigger is going to be limited by his drone or vehicle of choice's Response, because it substitutes for important stats. That's generally 4-6. But, they get +4 to everything with the right equipment to make up for it.
Meatspace drivers aren't limited to stats of 6, and can blow beyond that with skills, spells, geneware and augmentation. However they accomplish that, you're looking at relevant stats of 6-9, maybe ten, and +1 for driving in person.
Okay, so they're comparable at the high end, give and take on the low and middle. But shadowrun is a stat+skill game. A VR user is on equal footing with the samurai here - they both have skills at 4-6, and probably a specialization. Both can profit fromwhat ware there is to boost skills equally(reflex recorders, namely). With that in mind, the rigger's looking at a dice pool for most things(not just driving, shooting, sensors, dodging, infiltrating) of 4-6 each stat and skill, and 4 for the hotsim/control rig bonuses, for a dice range of 12-16 without a specialization. The sammy on the other hand, gets 6-10 on stats, 4-6 on skills, and +1 for AR driving, so a range of 11-17, again, without specialization. So they're still comparable.
The adept, however, starts to take the lead here. They can get 6-9 on stats rather easily, especially if they're msytic adepts with statboost spells. Skills, they start to take the advantage - even with groups, improved ability can start them with relevant skills of 6 across the board, and bring them up to 9 if they really want it.. Also, enhanced perception gives bonus dice on all perception tests, which includes sensors - so with a power point, its possible to sneak their way to supremacy in sensor targeting. An adept can also claim the driving manually bonus, which gives them a dice range of 13-20, or they can go hotsim too(2), get a control rig(2), and use a the lower drone stats(4-6) with their higher skills(6-9) so, 14-19, without specialties. With an alphaware control rig, and basic-grade simsense booster, and an alphaware datajack to plug into a commlink, they can also claim 5 passes within one point of essence loss.
More or less, riggers are cheap, and can get high dice pools rather quickly, and pretty much dominate the middle game in terms of cost-effectiveness.
Sammies can add a driving skill on top of everything else, and still be a great wheelman.
Adepts are great, but rigger adepts are awesome.
A technomancer rigger will take gobs of karma to pull off, but at the peak of its power, hand the other three their asses. At the same time.
Sorry if that opened up a can of worms, but I hope that helps clarify some things.
Edit: I am apologizing in advance if I am unnecessarily repeating myself. I am very tired as of the time of posting.