Sorry for flooding the board tonight. but I have another question.

is there any cannon info on how loud drones are? If not, how do most GM's handle this.

also; as vehicle is a specializeaton of the INfiltratoin skill. Can a vehicle infiltraton roll effect how easily a drone might be heard?

Should there be a vehicle modification to cover this?

OH; and one more, could the Maneuver autosoft allow a pilot program to make a vehicle infiltration roll?

hi hi

Arsenal has rules for concealing drones, but I don't think that applies to infiltration rolls. Depending on what type of control the drone is receiving, an infiltration roll could require Response + Infiltration, Pilot + Covert Ops or Command + Infiltration.

in order:

nothing specific, but there are general guidelines for how difficult perception tests are in the main rule book.

i would say yes, to some extent. what else is the infiltration(vehicle) skill going to let you do, turn invisible?

it would seem like a plausible vehicle mod to have it run quieter. i don't think there is one though.

no, there's a new autosoft called covert ops; you would need the covert ops autosoft for the drone pilot to roll an infiltration(vehicle) test.

Wow! Tottaly missed the covert Ops Autosoft. Thanks Guys

Ya on pp.117 there are thresholds for perception.

1, Obvious/Large/Loud
2, Normal
3, Obscured/small/muffled
4, hidden/micro/Silent

so could this correlate directly with drone size?

Micro drone threshold 4 for a perception test?

would you add perception bonuses vs. arial drones or lower the threshold?
What about those with combustion engines?

How would the covert ops autosoft apply to the sound signature of a rotodrone?

hi hi

I wouldn't add perception bonuses vs aerial drones, or even necessarily combustion engines depending on the muffling. Depending on how the rotor blades are designed, they could potentially be very quiet. I think the real question on most full sized helicopters would be the engine, many of which are jet engines. Even if they aren't totally silent, they wouldn't necessarily make the same kinds of noises, they might blend right in with the noise from the air conditioning or the vehicle traffic coming in from the street.

I always thoug airplanes were loud because thier props or rotors were super sonic. Obviously that guy who peddaled his plane accross the atlantic or what ever wasn't making alot of noise but he wasn't going very fast either.

Why is a house fly loud? That's not rhetorical. I'm thinking about it and flying insects are pretty efficient but they're all pretty loud for thier size. Come to think of it tho. A humming bird is pretty quiet. almost as quiet as a housefly at 100 times the size. Still it's alot more noisy than a mouse.

I'd have to say that if a crawler micro dron has a perception threshold of 4 you'd have to give a perception bonus to hear a flying micro drone or lower the threshold.

Another thought: I know the Apache Attack helocopter has a quiet mode but it's slower when it's in use. And the more I muffle the exhaust on my truck the slower it gets at the top end.

I think if I make a vehicle muffler mod rule it will decrease acceleration when it's in effect.

hi hi

I would totally go with house rules that make infiltration harder to do when moving fast, but as it stands, characters can sprint without suffering any infiltration penalties. I think the rules should apply to both characters and drones equally.

The rules state that hiding a vehicle is a Perception vs. infiltration opposed roll (Both sides have DP modifiers). If the vehicle is not trying to hide then its a Perception vs. Threshold based on conditions and size of Drone. (That's per-rules) Remember Inflitration skill is limited to max of your pilot skill rating...can't hide better then you can drive.

If its trying to hide from someone and its a static hide. I would have player roll Infiltration + appropriate stat and used the successes as a threshold and take into account the concealability of the drone with the appropriate modifiers to dice pool.

The size is for visual perspection, the one on the right is for aural, so if that micro drone makes a loud noise while it moves its an treshold one to spot it aurally and treshold 4 to spot it visually.