i'm not sure how to interpret this. do you spend the complex action, and then you're out of play for 10 turns? or do you spend it, and then you're free to act for the next 10 turns? or do you have to spend one complex action per turn, for the next 10 turns?

Yep, you're tied up for the duration. The really interesting question, though, is are you tied up in the same manner while trying to decrypt a network?


~J

aditionally, I figured it was like a big U-haul because the trailblazer has a cargo of 6 and load or 18,000 (like a tractor should), but the GMC4201 has a cargo of 130 and load of 6500 which seamed more like a Box truck to me....

in the end, I don't much care, as I can be hauling a trailer either way, so that part of the manuever score we can agree on. just a bit of a discussion about the vehicles...

I'll go back and edit the above post with the trailer addition.

-Mike R.

P.S. you're doing fine, I just want to make sure (since this is an example) that we get it right... I am wrong as often as not so no worries

I'd say no you don't get combat pool to dodge. The trade-off of course, is that vehicles are hard to damage in the first place, and the TN to dodge can potentially be quite low (a rigger in an undamaged vehicle with handling 2 and VCR 2 has a base TN 3 to dodge while barreling down an urban maze... not bad).

By strict rules, only one weapon can be active at a time. This is frequently houseruled by people who don't even realize that they're houseruling it.

Once you've hit them with an Active Sensor test, you have a lock, unless I misread the section.

You're being silly
It makes sense to me the way it is. I'll try to think if I can find a good way to explain it, though. If it bothers you, I'd kill Drone Passive Sensor Tests before allowing Drone Manual Gunnery.

~J

Went back to the Sensors section in SR3, and it seems that an Active Sensor Test is not an action at all, but the Sensor Test to lock on for Sensor Enhanced Gunnery is a Complex. I think the implication is pretty clear: Even if the vehicle has already spotted the target with its Sensors, it will need to make a new Sensor Test as a Complex Action, according to canon.

Simplified example:
A drone SAM-launcher (Sensor-6) system is sitting in a remote valley, with orders to follow air traffic with its Sensors (active radar) and transmit info about it to battalion C^2. An unsuspecting smuggler T-bird (Sig 5) roars into the valley from behind a dead zone, 20 km away from the SAM. The SAM makes an Active Sensor Test automatically, using 6 dice against a TN of 5. Nobody has ECM or ECCM. The SAM's radar picks up the smuggler easy with 4 successes, and thus identifies it as a heavily modified T-bird. The T-bird is oblivious to all this (bad rolls, stupid smuggler).

There's serious shuffling about in battalion C^2, with questions being asked from local commercial air control networks. After some time it is established that the T-bird has no business whatsoever in the area, is illegal, is most likely piloted by a dangerous criminal, and is carrying military weapons for sale on the black market of a neighboring country. The SAM is promptly ordered to shoot the T-bird down.

By now, the smuggler is getting suspicious of the huge flashing light and beepind sound on his Early Warning System. He notices he's being tracked from somewhere further into the valley, and decides to dodge out of it, back to the SAM's dead zone.

Now, the SAM is in a hurry. It goes for an immediate shot. Sensor-enhanced gunnery is obviously the way to go, and this is a drone not being directly rigged so there's no choice anyway. Lock on and shoot. Now, for the important part:
By your interpretation, does the drone SAM launcher get to automatically fire away, without any action for locking on, since it scored 4 successes on an Active Sensor Test when it first spotted the T-bird?

I'm pretty sure canon would require a new Complex Action, and the T-bird would be long gone. Personally, I would only require a Free Action to lock on, and the T-bird would be toast.

My reasoning is: The Drone has limited "intelligence". It isn't very smart, but it can distinguish shapes etc, since it can do PSTs. It should thus be capable of firing based on that passive understanding of sensor output, without the need for a lock-on.

Since shape-distinguishing and passive tracking technology (such as TV-guided bombs and missiles) are already available, I don't think it's a huge leap that a 2060s drone can fire its weapons based on its interpretation of what it "sees" with passive sensors only.

I even think most vehicles would allow some help with doing a Passive Sensor Test. A good Sensor array should, when necessary, automatically give hints, such as outlining humanoid shapes in red on a TV screen, or giving a warning when there's a barely audible sound of a rocket engine somewhere. That sort of thing. Whether this would work game balance wise, I'm not sure yet, I'll need to finish up R3.

That's manual gunnery which, as far as I know, doesn't require the lock-on complex action

Not really. After that lock-on, you can start blasting the dot to oblivion with AMRAAMs or Sparrows, or Sidewinders in other modes. You can also benefit from the radar tracking information from the lock-on for more accurate cannon-fire -- the HUD will show you approximate lead, etc. Since all those benefits are derived from the fact that the active radar is locked on the target, I consider it Sensor Enhanced Gunnery.

Unless you really were just trying to be funny, and tried to say that putting brackets over a dot is a test in Manual Gunnery. Sorry, but someone is apparently Jamming my Social channel.