So I was reading through the Rigger section of the new 5th ed. book and I am confused as hell.
What are the differences among Comlinks, Decks, Control Rigs and RCCs?

The sample Rigger has an implanted comlink (w/ hot sim) but no Deck and no RCC.
The source material seems to indicate that Control Rigs also have a sim setting.

So, what programs and functions do each of those 4 have?
What's the limit to what they can and can't do?
I seem to remember 4th ed. just requiring a comlink and a VCR - does that simply not work anymore?

Can I run hacking programs on an RCC or do I need to buy a deck and a cadre of hacking programs?

If I want to hijack another vehicle, do I need to be a hacker too?

Thanks!

Commlinks are what they have always been, however they can no longer run programs. They have no personal stats, but they will use the Device Rating for their Firewall & Data Processing.

Decks are the standard tool of Deckers. They can run Programs (Common Use or Hacking Programs). It has 4 Stats: Attack, Sleaze, Data Processing, & Firewall. The best thing about Decks is that they can swap their attributes around so you can have the best tool for the job when you need it.

RCC (Rigger Command Console) is like a Deck/Commlink for Riggers, it is a device designed to help people who slave Vehicles or Drones & do jumping in & out of things. RCC's, like Commlinks only have the capacity for Data Processing & Firewall, which means hacking from an RCC is not possible, since you have no Attack or Sleaze stat.

So, as a Rigger...I need to buy all 4?
Do I need a hot sim module on my Control Rig and my RCC AND my comlink?
At a minimum, what should I need?

The Control Rig has a built in Sim-Module (doesn't say if it's hot or cold, but the rules seem to imply it can run either) and is required if you want to jump into the drone. Apart from that you need some kind of device to use to connect ('link, deck or RCC) to the drones in question and issue orders. The commlink is the bare minimum, it allows you to slave your drones to it and issue orders (and rig) but that's about it. The deck does the above but also allows you to hack and run programs.

The RCC allows you to run programs that are identical but not interchangeable with the deck's program list, it also has extra features that makes it useful for riggers such as extra noise reduction and the ability to share autosofts between drones. You get noise reduction plus total rating of the shared autosofts equal to the device rating of the RCC (which sadly, never gets that high). Sharing autosofts is useful because then you only have to buy one rating x machinegun targeting autosoft for all of your drones with machineguns and it also won't count against the number of autosofts or rating that the drones can run by themselves.

You also get the ability to issue general orders to all or groups of your drones as one action instead of separate actions for each drone and seamlessly jump from one drone to another without having to jump out first.

So, you can rig with any of the three devices but the RCC has the most benefits oriented on drone use and should be your goal, even if you only have enough nuyen at creation to get a commlink.

So, bare minimum: Control Rig and a Commlink which is ~43-103K depending on which ones you get.

Just to add, the minimum of a Control Rig and Commlink is true, however if you can manage it get the RCC as well.

And the RCC counts as a commlink so that removes the need for one of those (although you probably want a cheap one for running your fakeSIN)!

Not to mention that an RCC is the size of a briefcase, where a communit is small and hand-held.

SR5 p266 (Rigger Command Console (RCC))

...so the R&D eggheads were able to figure out how miniaturize cyberdecks from being as big as "a deck of playing cards" to a mobile tablet...but RCCs are as big as a briefcase...and yet decks are the pricier and more complex computing device...

Sure, smaller components are more expensive, that makes sense to me. But IIRC Cyberdecks have always been pretty good sized, they used to actually have a full keyboard and everything. In SR4 they weren't cyberdecks they were comm-units. I could be wrong as I don't currently have access to my SR1-3 books.

that's actually not that unreasonable. miniaturization can be expensive. regular phone costs what, like, 20-30 bucks at a store if that, probably with 2-3 handsets?

bare bones cellphone... generally speaking you're looking at over a hundred bucks, in the case of some several hundred bucks (but that isn't really a fair comparison for those ones considering a standard phone doesn't exactly do nearly as much as a smartphone).

RCCs being bigger and a lot less expensive makes a fair bit of sense. what doesn't make so much sense is why couldn't you make them smaller and more expensive? (and in the meanwhile, it would be very nice if there were larger and more expensive cyberdeck equivalents in the game).

I dunno, what gets me is that you would think by 2075, the development of the hardware for rigging and the process of miniaturization for RCCs would be cheap enough to be viable for the corps to manufacture. I mean, it's not exactly the 2060's anymore...



You could just be like Bull and just stick your shiny new 2075 cyberdeck in your old, barely functioning Allegiance Alpha.

The size is flavor. A commlink is a smartphone, a cyberdeck is a tablet, and an RCC is more like a big laptop. You can make some sense out of this -- the RCC is designed for drone rigging, which means it's more of a ruggedized "in the field" sort of kit. None of this will (or needs to) translate into game mechanics, of course.

Until the time comes when a troll with a shotgun sneaks up behind you and the need arises to clock him over the head with your RCC.

Chances are you won't do a whole lot of damage if the thing is the size and weight of an iPad versus the briefcase sized one.

My wife paid $30 for the Bare Bones Cell Phone, so no, it is not $100+.

To be honest I can go to the store right now & pay 20 for a "Burner" phone. 7.99 for the phone, 10 for a minutes card. all at my local Grocery Store. Will it be a good quality phone? probably not, but I can do it.

Exchange "cellphone" with "modern smartphone" in the above example and you'll be on track again, especially if you consider that many top-notch smartphones pack a bigger punch some of the PCs I have owned.
Still, I find the size of RCCs a little bit odd, too. It doesn't jeopardize the game, though

Back on topic: If you wat to be a "real" rigger, you'll want that RCC. Doesn't help with hacking, though. One thing to consider, though: Once you're in, you can simply jump into the device (if it has a rigger control, which cars rarely have pre-installed) and then every command you give to the vehicle trumps whatever the autopilot has to say about it.
The team is going to need a hacker anyhow, as far as I understand fifth edition. So, that's either you or your buddy who can then create that opening for you.

I'm mainly trying to avoid overlap.
RCCs are expensive as are decks.
It looks like you can't hijack drones without a deck these days, so I need to decide where to spend my skills and my cash.
If I'm forced to choose between drones and gear...it might still be a tough call.
I'm going to need at least 1 vehicle to cart around the group and at least 1 drone type thing.
I'm not sure the RCC is worth the trouble until I have like 3+ drones.

Just something worth noting...Adept Riggers are now at a slight disadvantage unless they take the cyberware Control Rig. This piece of cyberware offers a large benefit that I think is something to consider, but as long as you have the Control Rig & are in VR vehicle Actions are the same as Matrix Actions.

The true benefit of the RCC over just getting a deck is the Noise Reduction & the Sharing Settings. Any Autosofts on the RCC can be shared with any Linked Drone. This I think is the Big one. However...this also does not benefit you until you can get the better RCCs because you have to split the total rating between the NR & SS.

Right, plus if I only have one drone - I don't have any other drones with which to share programs.
If I need to scrimp early on, I think I can go without an RCC.
However...if my comlink is basically just a smartphone at this point and the RCC can do everything it can do - I might just skip the comlink.
I don't really want to cart around my "mobile phone" style RCC like it's 1985.

Commlink is now the base version of everything,

Decks are commlinks+they can do all the hacking stuff

RCC's are commlinks+they can do all the Rigging stuff

The question remains, do I need to buy a comlink?
Would I be better off getting an Avalon for 7-8k or a low level RCC?

you do not need a commlink if you buy an RCC or a Deck, they are commlinks, they can do everything a commlink can do, be it make calls or whatever.

as has been pointed out, a commlink is much smaller than an RCC.

as i don't think has been pointed out just yet, a commlink is also cheaper, and therefore much much MUCH more disposable than an RCC. you may wish to keep one just to fit in, and you may wish to keep several so that if you ever have to throw something out for some reason, you are not throwing out your vastly more expensive RCC.

Also don't forget the benefits of the 1,400 nuyen Scratch Built Junk. It's a nearly-useless piece of crap stats-wise, but it can let you command a few surveillance drones while you're jumped into your combat model (instead of issuing orders one at a time through your commlink). Also it lets you Jump into Rigged Device from drone to drone as one complex action instead of having to bounce out and back in for two complex actions.

So basically: if you have 1 drone, you can get by on a commlink. If you have more drones, you need an RCC or else you'll be spending too many actions micromanaging them.

So in theory, I could get by on just an RCC and maybe a throwaway com?

yup. if you want to steal anything, you'll probably have to do it manually and then change the owner, rather than hacking a drone, until you get your hands on a cyberdeck of some kind, but that's easily enough to be a rigger.

well, that and a control rig, really... note that you can, if your GM accepts missions hotfixes as legitimate, get a used VCR 3 at chargen