I remember not to long ago there were a couple of threads filled with good drone ideas. I'm going to be building a Medic/Rigger and since I've never built a rigger before I was hoping for some assistance since drones are far from my strong point. If the thread can't be found then a little help in this thread would be appreciated. I'm just looking for a recon drone, an assault drone, and then whatever is left being put into an armored transport for the team that would have the equipment to work as a makeshift ambulance. I have roughly 70k to put into these drones.

I had to go back quite a few pages, but I hope this'll help you. It's not any rigger builds, but it's a lot of modified vehicles and drones.

Thanks Neraph, you're quite the resource lol.

There's also a link to my drone and agent thread on that link. Linkity-link-link.

Is that recon as "fly over and see whats there" or as in "sneak into the airducts and case the joint without being seen" ?

Ground assault or airbourne?

Team vehicle wise, its hard not to love the Rover 2068. Its not overly conspicuous in any neighbourhood, is fairly roomy, comes with some good factory-installed mods that any rigger would likely want to fit anyway, and has some reasonable armour for an off-the-shelf non-security vehicle.

*******

The number of drones available in 4e is shockingly small, so its also worth tracking down the conversion .pdf which has 4e stats for pretty much every drone and vehicle ever published in earlier editions.

http://knasser.me.uk/knasser_media/content..._conversion.pdf

Some of the stats havn't converted well (especially for the bigger vehicles) but it still gives a much wider range of choices. Of course, you then need to have the old book to understand what the drone might look/function like...

Both recon types.

Ground assault, I was thinking a doberman (or two if I can afford it) with some white knights and explosive rounds.

I was looking at that and thanks for the link, I may be able to use some of that.

Neraph's guide is freakishly game breaking. That's why I have it bookmarked.

Thank you I try. You've seen my others right?

Gimme gimme!

I've been wanting to make my GM cry lately lol. Lets see em.

Here's my Free and Ally Spirit guide.

Here's the Drone and Agent guide.

Here's a great thread about how to make Grunts survive. I can't take credit for it, but it deserves another look at.

Here's one just about THUGS!

Here's one that has some fun with three of the big Threats.

I think that's about all I have that's really useful. I also have some things on lists of things for shadowrunners to do and stuff like that.

Only just twigged that you said Medic/Rigger, in which case the Evo Orderly is a must have.

Since it comes with a level 6 medkit as standard, its cost of 2000 is really a cost of 1400, for which you get an exceptional medium drone with reasonable speed for its size, excellent terrain handling, some armour and two mechanical arms.

Hm true, so that probably means on combat drone, one recon drone, a large enough vehicle, and the orderly. Huh, my money is going to be stretched thin.

HA! I knew I had gotten that snippet for a lightsaber from somewhere. Thanks, Neraph.

The Bloodmourne? Yeah, you can easily (and in many ways) get a weapon to resemble a lightsaber, but none with the actual abilities of a lightsaber. Another way I've seen on the forums here was taking a stun baton and adding Customized Look 2.

As for drones.... I prefer flying drones for combat and recon, so I'd suggest a Dragonfly or FlySpy for recon and a C-D Dalmation for combat. Otherwise you can get a Renraku Manservant for combat and simply give him weapons and armor as for a metahuman.

Combat robot butler for the win!

Or do exactly the same with the Evo Orderly which is faster and better armoured, costs 500 less and comes with 600 credits worth of medkit.

Turn your orderly into a remote controlled combat medic

Ha! I never thought of that. It comes with arms that could hold weapons so I don't have to worry about using slots. I could probably stick a Valkyrie module in there for emergencies. I think, idk I'll have to check how many slots it takes and how many slots the drone has. Hm this could work better then I thought. I think Valkyrie should have been the name for a combat medic drone instead of the module heh.

No, you can't do the exact same thing. An Evo Orderly can't wear an Armored Jacket that's sized for a human, for example.

I think Mayhem might not have seen the errata removing the "humanoid" keyword from the Orderly's entry.

Personally, I think what happened was that there was a mis-communication between the writer and the artist. If you read the entry for the Evo Orderly, it sounds like an android assistant for the elderly with a built in medical pack. But the artist drew a walker version of a wheelchair, even though the text makes no mention of anyone being able to ride on it.

Later, when the error was noticed, it was easier just to remove the "humanoid" keyword as errata, instead of having to commission replacement artwork for the next printing.


-k

Oh snap he's right. Well I don't think it would be a big deal to run it as the pre errata version since that was the kind we were used too.

Actually, I am aware of this, but I figure if you can get body armour customised for any of the whacked out Runner's companion varient metahumans (for a small increase in price), getting it sized to fit an ambulatory chair shouldn't be hard.

Especially as an ambulatory chair isn't going to complain about itchy seams or it looking like crud.

Just use a rigger module modification insetad... Orderly loads you into the module and the occupant is protected... make it the Valkyrie Rigger Module for the Win...

I think he was talking about having armor custom made for the Orderly, not wearing armor and being on the orderly. Like an Armor Vest specially designed for the Evo Orderly. I personally wouldn't allow it, but w/e his GM decides.

Why not jusy add on vehicle armor, it is so much more effective, if a little more expensive...
But yes, point taken...

To save mod slots for other things. I had suggested a Renraku Manservant wearing armor and so saving those precious 4 mod slots for other things, like Special Armor Modification (it's better to always have Nonconductivity than to rely on armor), Extreme Environment, Turbocharger (so now you're as fast as a normal person), and other things of that nature.

Definitely understandable...

The problem with the Enhanced Rigger Cocoon (a.k.a. the one that comes with a Valkyrie Module) is that it has an Availability of 14R. Also, How about this?

Evo Orderly [¥2,000; Av. 4]
-Software:
Basic Program Autosoft Suite (Adaptability R3, Clearsight R4) (As seen in Neraph's Drone and Agent thread) [¥5,300; Av. 8]
Medic Autosoft Suite (R4 Cybertechnology, R4 First Aid, R4 Medicine) (As seen in Neraph's Drone and Agent thread) [¥12,000; Av. 8]
Combot Basic Autosoft Suite (Defense R4, Targeting (Longarms) R4) (Cheaper version of Neraph's) [¥8,000; Av. 8]
Maneuver (Anthroform) R4 [¥4,000 Av.8]
-Hardware:
Armor R9 [¥1,800; Av. 6R]
Rigger Cocoon [¥1,500; Av. 8]
Fuzzy Logic [¥2,500; Av. 12R]
Valkyrie Module [¥2,000; Av. 10]
Total Cost: ¥39,100 (8 BP)

Well, how would this look? Pre-Errata has an armored humanoid drone with a Rigger Cocoon strapped to its back that includes a Valkyrie Module, dual-wielding Nitama Optimum IIs and generally being an all-around BAMF Combat Medic. Post-Errata has a walking armored bed with a Rigger Cocoon replacing the old mattress and a Valkyrie Module inside of it. It's also dual-wielding Nitama Optimum IIs and generally being The Luggage.
Of course, you have to buy the guns in both cases, but that's like, what, ¥4,400? Chump change for this bot.
You may think that simply putting it inside of the Cocoon would be the munchkin's way of getting an Enhanced Rigger Cocoon cheaper and at a lower availability (protip: it is), but it takes up two slots instead of one, so a friendly neighborhood GM would probably be more inclined to allow it (just don't tell him you're being a munchkin).

I feel so proud. You do know you need a Response of 5 to run those without a Response penalty right? Pro tip: cluster another commlink to your drone to increase the amount of programs able to be run (IE: with a R3 drone [standard], buy a R3 commlink and have it clustered to the drone in order to be able to run 4 autosofts instead of just 2 before Response Penalties occur).

I don't know if two rigger coccoons would fit on the thing - the Valkyrie Module is a rigger coccoon with the extras added on, not simply the extras.

Yeah, forgot about that. Easy (and cheap) enough though.I was having trouble deciphering what exactly the VM was, or at least how it looked. I guess you could just swap the Cocoon for Personal Amor.

Well, a Standard Valkyrie Module does not have the benefits of the Enhanced Rigger Cacoon, so if you wanted to keep the Valkyrie Module, you would need to replace the cocoon with personal Armor (though it would not be nearly as good), which would definitely come in under the availability limits if that is a concern...

It would be funny to have a Mansevant wearing a backpack that holds the dwarf rigger. "Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?"

Entertaining indeed...

Actually, I wouldn't allow it either, but then I probably wouldn't allow a Manservant to benefit from non-custom metahuman armour, and I certainly wouldn't allow a player to casually gloss over the crippled arms and legs issue. But if it works for the Manservant there is no mechanical reason why it wouldn't work for the Orderly.



My first thought was "Who runs Barter Town?"

Heh, that was actually a Yoda quote but that works too.

Uhh, I didn't know that having a torso and two arms meant you needed to get a custom jacket made... Also, the Manservant is a humanoid and the Orderly is a walking chair - big difference. And for the arms and legs: it's a Similar Model. That's not mentioning the "crippled legs" is only the fluff to represent that their speed is only 10/15, slower than a metahuman (except a walking darf) which Turbocharger instantly fixes.

Except that by RAW, Turbochgarger only works on Gasoline Powered Engines or Diesel Powered Engines. By default, the manservant does not use these types of power sources (it is not a car, nor does it use an internal combustion engine), so applying Turbocharger to them is strictly in the realm of the GM, and is not supported by the RAW... Read Turbocharger, it says so right in the book...

Just sayin'

The other way around, surely? The mechanics having been written because of the fluff makes a lot more sense than them creating a slow droid for no discernible reason and then having to make up a reason for it to be slow.

Either way, I think the point is that the "crippled legs" are ALREADY represented by the slow speed, as far as game mechanics go, and further GM addition of more penalties might be unnecessary or unfair.



-k

Tell that to a dwarf.

I would also point out that whilst the Otomo fluff specifically states that "These drones are capable of wearing and using most gear designed for a metahuman of their model type." the Manservant fluff includes no such descriptor.

So you're really saying that C-3PO is incapable of wearing a jacket? Ok then. This is just more evidence for the "Different Tables, Different Rules" case.

Actually, since I referred to dwarves, it would be a more honest interpretation of my statement to say "Like a dwarf, C-3P0 is not capable of getting the same benefit from an armoured jacket designed for a human as a human is."

But lets assume you are right, and a robot can benefit from human body armour.

Even if I had to pay an extra 50% to customise an armoured jacket to fit an orderly, it would still work out cheaper and result in a more effective drone than by basing it on a Manservant.

This wouldn't be the case if the orderly had a price that represented its superiority over the manservant, but there you go.