I'm confused; Why Sensor+Perception? I'm also confused about Sensor + Pilot; does the Pilot add the Clearsight Autosoft Rating as a dice pool modifier?

Sensor plus perception for catching someone through the vehicle sensors makes sense to me, but yes clearsight would add to the pilots pool

Elsewhere in the book it is listed as Sensor + Clearsight for a Drone's Perception test.
Honestly, with all the personal Perception bonuses out there, I think it should be Sensor + Pilot + Clearsight.

It's been said that Sensors and Chase Combat rules have a competition going for "worst rules."

Most of the Vehicle rules are difficult. Or at least, there is some entry in every section in the Vehicle rules that is written in a way that makes me suspect the author was dodging having to look up the current ruling. They qwaffle and make the rules logic break.

For instance, can you tell me what the rules are for connecting several Vehicles together? It boggles my poor, abused, brain.

That's the old book, right? In SR4A the same paragraph says Sensor + Clearsight for drones.

Sensor is the attribute in this case (replacing Intuition) and Perception/Clearsight the skill.

Bye
Thanee

IIRC the # of hits on a rigger's perception through a drone is capped at the sensor rating. Not sure of page source though.

-- I don't see this in SR4A. For example, under Drone Perception (p. 244) no special cap is noted.

If its not an official rule, then I think it would make for a reasonable house-rule. It just seems logical to me that the rating/quality of a drones sensors would be a limiting factor. A person might normally have perfect 20/20 vision yet not be able to make out quite as much detail looking through poor quality sensors that produce a grainy or washed out image.

OTOH, that may be a level of granularity that some may find unneccessary.

While it's a nice house rule, it runs smack into the "How the heck do I improve the sensor ratings on the drone?" issue.

1) Half the sensors don't have ratings. Some have limits to their rating (such as 1-3).
2) Adding more sensors can LOWER the sensor rating of the drone. (Adding an improved sensor array with rating 1 ultrawideband radar can lower the sensor rating of the drone.)

That houserule is likely to be followed by more houserules. (not a bad thing mind you, just a thing)

The other thing to realize is that the response and system of most drones is horrible and you can't add ergonomic to autosofts or pilots. Unless it's a military/security vehicle or it's had a response/system upgrade you're running a pilot and a single autosoft. (Depending on how you interpret a drop in the vehicles response system to affect your software. There is an interpretation that basically means it does nothing which is supported by the way the RAW is written but makes no sense since it means a lot of rules have no actual impact on the game.)

Note that the stock pilots and autosofts aren't very impressive either. And buying a decent pilot or autosoft can take days.

It's logically Sensor+ Pilot with clearsight/any other sensor programs or attachments as modifiers.

I think this may have been one of the things changed between 4th and 4a - i noticed they dropped some rigger stuff, such as the 'actions you can take while rigging table'. Someone should break out plain 4th and check.

Which kind of sucks.

It is actually the average rating round down of the sensors in the sensor package (rules are inarsenal). That being said if you have one rating 6 sensor, then that is all you use. Not the danger here is if the sensor isn't applicable to the test it does not count. A rating 5 camera and a rating 3 Ultra-wide band radar would be 4 dice the sensor. Non-rated sensors don't count.

Perosnally I'd just simplify it and go with the highest applicable sensor rating. Permissable under RAW since they do state the GM can "simplify" things by doing the average rating of a sensor-but may also just use the sensor applicable to the test.

Each vehicle is a node. The matrix rules apply. Define connecting please. If I get your intent, look up "Issue Command", specifically on being able to give the same command to every node on a list.

Rigger = Sensor + Perception + Mods
Drone Pilot = Sensor + Pilot Rating + Mods

SR4 has very similar wording with regards to drone perception. Not sure if it would be easy to address all the changes they made between editions.

SR4 Drones and Sensors, p. 239


SR4 Rigger Actions, p. 239

So… I don't see agreement as to whether or not drone get Pilot added in there. The only rules quotes show Sensor + Clearsight, no Pilot at all. Thoughts?

I dislike the thought of two programs that both replace perception.

Mentally, I think of the sensors as making the data available and the software as making the data relevant. The pilot program has enough work without trying to figure out if something is normal or unusual. The clearsight autosoft on the other hand must have a purpose and writing it to highlight things that are abnormal/unusual seems useful.

So personally, I have to go with Sensor + Clearsight, no Pilot

Sensors gather data, Clearsight applies algorithms to sharpen up edges and highlight important shapes and movement, the Pilot program tries to apply it's doggie brain to the problem of "what the hell am I looking at?"

And that's exactly why logic won't help us at all. Logically, I could say the the rigger gets Intuition + Perception + Sensor + Pilot + Clearsight. We're talking about the rules (which are theoretically balanced, har har har).

Yeah, I like the idea of Clearsight basically preforming the same function as the Vision Enhancement eyemod.
Drones already have to run like a thousand autosofts just to keep from shitting themselves and dying.

But here's another question. How do Sensorsofts interact with this process?

Sensor software does its own thing.

The rules appear to work out ok, if unneccessarily confusing because of how Pilot and Sensor both stand in the for the same attribute (Intuition). The profilferation of dubiously distinct autosofts also causes some problems

See Pilot and Sensors SR4A, p. 167; SR4, pp. 158-159). And Sensor Tests SR4A, p. 171; SR4 p. 162.

Sensor+Pilot was used in 4th (possible typo), Sensor+Clearsight is used in 4A.

Bye
Thanee

It used to be Sensor + Clearsight + Pilot. Just like shooting is Autosoft + Pilot or manoeuvring is Autosoft + Pilot alos of these add any other modifiers as well. It seams strange that only one test drops pilot even if it is semi replaced by Sensor however sensor is so low/gimped getting it above 4 takes twinkery to the extrem and then you lack lot of useful senses.

How is getting sensors to 6 hard?
I mean on a microdrone, sure
but on a mini and above?

mini drone gets a R6 camera, R6 microphone, Done.

anything above that does the samething.
A car, gets r6 camera, r6 radar, done.

If it helps:

Pilot, Response, and Sensor are vehicle "Attributes".

Autosofts like Clearsight and Targeting are vehicle "Skills".

Most of the time, tests are Attribute + Skill.




-karma