Full Version: SR 4 rigger help
Hey, first time making a rigger and wanted some advice, do I need to pump up my reaction as a rigger? like wired reflexes and the like? also what are some good skills I can take. and I assume logic is a must.
Gunnery, if your drones will be armed; Piloting, based on what drones you'll be jumping into; Dodge & Perception (like any long lived runner); the various Mechanic & Armorer skills, based on what kind of drones/vehicles you'll have; maybe the Electronics group (this one's a really low priority, I think).
Wired Reflexes really should only be considered if you're going to be sending orders to your drones instead of jumping into them; consider Reaction Enhancers instead as being jumped in a drone gives you 2 or 3 IPs based on running a hot or cold VR. The Response & Sensor of whatever drone you're jumped into will be more important. A Control Rig is virtually standard for any SR4 rigger (even if it's not required in the SR4 rules).
A high level Biofeedback Filter, Command, ECCM, & Encrypt programs will also be a must.
Intuition for your Initiative, Logic so you know how to fix your drones when they get fragged, & Willpower so you've got a fat Stun track to help soak damage when your drones get shot up or you get dumpshocked.
Wired Reflexes really should only be considered if you're going to be sending orders to your drones instead of jumping into them; consider Reaction Enhancers instead as being jumped in a drone gives you 2 or 3 IPs based on running a hot or cold VR. The Response & Sensor of whatever drone you're jumped into will be more important. A Control Rig is virtually standard for any SR4 rigger (even if it's not required in the SR4 rules).
A high level Biofeedback Filter, Command, ECCM, & Encrypt programs will also be a must.
Intuition for your Initiative, Logic so you know how to fix your drones when they get fragged, & Willpower so you've got a fat Stun track to help soak damage when your drones get shot up or you get dumpshocked.
it depends upon what You wanna do.
If you want to jump in,thats a Matrix action and you need high LOG and a good,pimped Comlink
only if you want to physically control/steer the vehicle you need high REA.
Good Skills:
Software, Electronic Warfare,Pilot Ground and Airborne,Mechanics Land
High LOG is ok and a must if You want to protect your Vehicles/drones from Matrix attacks (LOG and Software to Raise Firewall f.E. )
with a protectrive Dance
Medicineman
If you want to jump in,thats a Matrix action and you need high LOG and a good,pimped Comlink
only if you want to physically control/steer the vehicle you need high REA.
Good Skills:
Software, Electronic Warfare,Pilot Ground and Airborne,Mechanics Land
High LOG is ok and a must if You want to protect your Vehicles/drones from Matrix attacks (LOG and Software to Raise Firewall f.E. )
with a protectrive Dance
Medicineman
so, VR if I was driving a car, what would I roll? I can't find it.. and I was thinking jumped in, but sometimes I would need to be remote piloting them.
look at the end of the Matrix chapter in the BBB (its page 286 in the German one, but that wil hardly help) there is a List of Rigger Checks
with a German Dance
Medicineman
with a German Dance
Medicineman
English version, SR4a, page 247.
so the vehicles response + my skill. anyway to boost response and other systems for drones?
Same way as for a commlink, with a limit of Response 5 as it's a hardware upgrade from the car's basic rating of 3 (see page 222). Also note that you get +1 to your Initiative & a +2 DP bonus to all Matrix tests if you're running hot (page 226).
ok, so sensor (attacking) anyway to improve this? does targeting software add its rating to you if you are jumped in? sorry for all the questions.. I am clueless about riggers
SR4a, page 333. In short, a vehicle's/drone's Sensor rating is the average of all of the rated sensors installed. Per Arsenal (page 105), a standard car has 1 Atmospheric Sensor, 2 Cameras (front & back), 2 Laser Rangefinders (front & back), 2 Motion Sensors (front & back), and 1 Radar. These will be at whatever the given Sensor rating (typically 1) is of that car. Replacing everything that has a rating with higher quality stuff (like swapping a Rating 1 camera for a Rating 6) will up the average and thus up the Sensor rating of the vehicle.
Targeting software, like a Targeting (Automatics) autosoft does not help a rigger. Only the Pilot program benefits.
Targeting software, like a Targeting (Automatics) autosoft does not help a rigger. Only the Pilot program benefits.
Any recommended drones for SRM?
Which books does your group use? Most things that I pick are from the core rulebook, "Arsenal" (especially the modification rules) and a few picks here and there.
I favor a mix of utility, surveillance and combat drones, the more, the better. That said, I also don't have any problem with the bookkeeping a pack of drones brings.
Renraku Manservant ("Arsenal") - humanoid, two mechanical arms, what's not to like? A GM Mr. Fix-It ("Runner's Companion") also works, depends on what you like.
In general, drones can assist you in modifiying your gear should you choose to.
There's also the need to use surveillance drones - both airborne, long-range large ones and tiny spying bugs. Either goes well with chameleon coating (p. 134, "Arsenal").
Combat drones bring additional firepower, so you should invest into a higher sensor rating and maybe better armor.
As for sensor ratings, as mentioned above, once you've read the text, it will appear a lot less costly as most sensors do not even have a rating, thus not needing to be replaced.
Transportation measures (e.g. a minivan) are a good way to get everything where you need it.
Also, expect that one day one of your drones might get shot up. If it was worth more than the run, you might have made a mistake.
Also, try the search function of this forum. There's some quite interesting threads and I got some very nifty ideas from here.
I favor a mix of utility, surveillance and combat drones, the more, the better. That said, I also don't have any problem with the bookkeeping a pack of drones brings.
Renraku Manservant ("Arsenal") - humanoid, two mechanical arms, what's not to like? A GM Mr. Fix-It ("Runner's Companion") also works, depends on what you like.
In general, drones can assist you in modifiying your gear should you choose to.
There's also the need to use surveillance drones - both airborne, long-range large ones and tiny spying bugs. Either goes well with chameleon coating (p. 134, "Arsenal").
Combat drones bring additional firepower, so you should invest into a higher sensor rating and maybe better armor.
As for sensor ratings, as mentioned above, once you've read the text, it will appear a lot less costly as most sensors do not even have a rating, thus not needing to be replaced.
Transportation measures (e.g. a minivan) are a good way to get everything where you need it.
Also, expect that one day one of your drones might get shot up. If it was worth more than the run, you might have made a mistake.
Also, try the search function of this forum. There's some quite interesting threads and I got some very nifty ideas from here.
Search for 'search-fu' while you're sniffing around the search function.
To add to the list of drones to consider: I've always been enamored of electronic warfare drones. The idea of a rotodrone with a jammer knocking an opponent out of the sky always seemed like such a nice end run on rigger-to-rigger combat. Never had a chance to use it, but I love the idea.
As a rigger, take a very careful look at your dice pools. The experience I remember most vividly was that reaction really didn't help me much and, in spite of a tricked out rigging suite and VCR etc., using the command program gave me a bigger dice pool for almost everything. You can try to outflank the rigging rules by just focusing on command that way. Though I haven't done the build, I think that's the easiest way to end up with meaty hacking ability on top of the ability to steer drones well.
Beware, you lose the ability to use edge. But unless you're playing Mr. Lucky I don't think that's actually a huge drawback. I'm always forced to be pretty conservative with my 2-3 points.
To add to the list of drones to consider: I've always been enamored of electronic warfare drones. The idea of a rotodrone with a jammer knocking an opponent out of the sky always seemed like such a nice end run on rigger-to-rigger combat. Never had a chance to use it, but I love the idea.
As a rigger, take a very careful look at your dice pools. The experience I remember most vividly was that reaction really didn't help me much and, in spite of a tricked out rigging suite and VCR etc., using the command program gave me a bigger dice pool for almost everything. You can try to outflank the rigging rules by just focusing on command that way. Though I haven't done the build, I think that's the easiest way to end up with meaty hacking ability on top of the ability to steer drones well.
Beware, you lose the ability to use edge. But unless you're playing Mr. Lucky I don't think that's actually a huge drawback. I'm always forced to be pretty conservative with my 2-3 points.
QUOTE (Raiden @ Aug 2 2013, 02:58 PM) 
Any recommended drones for SRM?
Flying Eye+Camo Coating for scouting.
Ford LEBD as a general purpose combat drone. I prefer Battle Rifles on these, although the loadout can vary due to the cheese that is Gunnery.
Wuxing Hussar + Gauss/HMG to wreck stuff (acquire it during gameplay).
any air drones you can grab for air firepower?
QUOTE (Raiden @ Aug 2 2013, 09:12 PM)
any air drones you can grab for air firepower?
The Ford LEBD is a rotodrone. Lonestar Strato and the Nimrod are also good (the latter comes with a hefty price tag, but gets to use two weapon mounts on Body 4).
after grueling hours... here is what I have, any thoughts? its for shadowrun missions.
[ Spoiler ]
Looks like this was done in Chummer. You'll want to make sure to specify a weapon type for the Doberman's targeting software; (Self) is just a placeholder for whatever the drone's going to be armed with for remote operations.
The optimized Biofeedback Filter program is Availability 13R (Unwired, page 202). Figured your Restricted Gear (1) was for the Cerebral Booster (3). If this really is in Chummer, it should catch this as soon as you try to go into Career Mode with the character; you can also do a free swap on the Targeting autosoft for the Doberman drone then, too.
The optimized Biofeedback Filter program is Availability 13R (Unwired, page 202). Figured your Restricted Gear (1) was for the Cerebral Booster (3). If this really is in Chummer, it should catch this as soon as you try to go into Career Mode with the character; you can also do a free swap on the Targeting autosoft for the Doberman drone then, too.
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