How do I upgrade the sensors of my drone?

Buy new ones, as per Sensor rules in the main book.

If you're talking about the sensor rules on p334 of the SR20th I'm not really sure how to implement those. Am I missing the obvious here?

It's tricky, Tomothy. The sensor rating is equal to the average rating of all the senors in the package rounded up. In Arsenal, we find that the standard vehicle sensor package has a capacity of 12 and contains the following:

1 Atmospheric Sensor
2 Cameras
2 Laser Rangefinders
2 Motion Sensors
1 Radar

Now, only the cameras, atmospheric sensor, and radar have ratings and by default their ratings are equal to the sensor rating of the vehicle. To improve that number, you'll need to swap out the rated sensors in the package. The easiest way is by simple replacement: buy 2 rating 6 cameras, a rating 3 atmo sensor, and a rating 6 radar. The total price for that is 2,475.

Then, we do the averaging. Now, to save my sanity I assume for these calculations that unrated sensors simply don't count towards the average instead of assuming a rating of 0. You come out with an averaged total of 5.1, which after rounding up is 6. That's the easy way to get to sensor 6 but remember your mileage will vary with drones, as their sensor packages have different capacities but as long as you fill them with sensors that have an average of 5.1 or better you will be at Sensor Rating 6.

Correct, because their rating is the rating of the sensor package itself (i.e. the average).

Don't forget that the sensor package needs to be able to fit into the drone to begin with.

And don't forget about the "Improved Sensor" vehicular modification, which ups the vehicles capacity, and jumps the base rating to 6 (which seems overly cost-effective).

*Most* vehicles have 12 capacity. A Drone's capacity is based on its size.

The Improved Sensor mod only bumps the Signal to 6, and only on vehicular packages (they normally have a Signal of 5). You still have to buy high rated senors to install into those packages if you want Sensor Rating 6, and drone packages don't get any increase in signal, only in capacity.

For the rules, look at the arsenal errata on individual sensors and sensor tests:

Ah! Thanks! I had completely misread "Signal" as "Sensor" in that entry. Makes much more sense now.

*rimshot*

It is kind of weird the way 'Sensor' is actually just the average of whatever you happen to slap into it. Drones/vehicles have a 'standard' suite, but really the whole thing is sort of like Professional Rating. Let's hope that when the need arises for video, thermo, audio, whatever, that you have the right sensor in the package.

So if I have Medium Drone Sensor Package with Camera 6, Directional Mic, Laser Mic 6, Laser Range Finder and Motion Sensor. The average is 6 so my new drone sensor rating is 6?

AFAIK. Honestly, it doesn't matter that much, because don't you really always use the *relevant* individual sensor rating?

Yeah except when you're jumped in and your firing is gunnery+sensor. Then you need an actual sensor score.

Yep, exactly. The Arsenal errata phrases this more clearly, have a look the corrected text on sensor ratings there.



...which should still be calculated with a bit of commons sense. Say you replace the Motion Sensor with an R1 Atmospheric Sensor, then the sensor rating for Gunnery tests should still be 6 and not 3 because the weather forecast does not matter for Gunnery (unless you are firing long-range artillery ).

Right. Gunnery is still going to be a visual sensor, and if it's pitch dark, it'd better be thermo or something.