Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => Gear => Topic started by: Automaton on <12-08-13/1621:16>
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I have a question I would like some suggestions or opinions on. Using a rigger with an RCC controlling lets say 6 drones. Would it be possible to aside from the obvious attack drones have a shield drone?
Basically a drone carrying a heavy shield to protect the rigger? Can such a drone be used to interpose between the rigger and a melee or ranged attack? Would it/can it be effective in game?
Setting a drone to defense mode so it keeps that shield between the attacker and rigger, basically working as a carried shield used in defense, except its floating along on an "invisible" arm.
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I don't think a drone without arms would be capable of properly handling a Shield. There's possibilities for GMs to houserule stuff, but without that, it's not possible. You can, however, use a drone as cover (such as a Steel Lynx).
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I don't think a drone without arms would be capable of properly handling a Shield. There's possibilities for GMs to houserule stuff, but without that, it's not possible. You can, however, use a drone as cover (such as a Steel Lynx).
what about the Ares Duelist? In the description is says it has blade arms. Couldn't you make that a sword and board arm or just a board arm? Sure the defense bonuses would be house rule territory, but it would certainly be cool!
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Modifying the drone should be pretty easy. The rules problem I see is getting it to use the shield for the rigger. Using the shield, probably not too hard, providing cover for rigger also easy. Using the shield to buff the rigger ac and bypass str requirements and dice pool penalties, probably not allowed.
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Like I said, GM territory. :) Mechanic test to replace a blade with a shield, then to get a very rare Targeting (Ballistic Shield) Autosoft, and it has 4 Body so '4 Strength', so it will take a -1 on its actions.
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I was thinking of maybe using the interception action (pg194 5e) Giving the drone both a shield and weapon it would effectively be able to stop someone trying to reach the rigger with a melee attack.
For ranged attacks I suppose all it would be able to do is provide cover.. I don't see anything in the rules that allows someone to move in the way of an incoming ranged attack to protect someone else.
That would have to be an interrupt action I gues..
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I have sudden images of those flying drone gun/shields from the various Gundam anime series.
-k
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With arsenal it was possible to make your gun fly around. Why not the shield.
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You would need a sizable drone to pull this off... something at least human size and/or weight.
Bullets impact with a LOT of force, and a small drone would just get bounced about from the impacts and not provide any real benefit.
That said, a drone with that much mass also IS a kind of shield for the rigger just by its size. The rigger could just hide behind the drone for the +2-4 defense bonus....
I don't think you will find anything in the rules to help you figure this one out... as its kinda counter to the typical 'get out of the way is best' mentality when it cones to firearms :p
Also, not really seeing how armor on something/someone else helps ME. Sure, it makes the guy/thing with the shield tougher... but that has nothing to do with me or my protection... at best, he provides me with cover from incoming fire... but that doesn't help me any once the bullet gets past him/it (like armor would)
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Actually "getting out of the way" when it comes to firearms IS all about taking cover as standing out in the open trying to get out of the way (a.k.a. dodging bullets) only works if you're name's Neo, you're The One and you are IN The Matrix. That last part might be true in Shadowrun but it's still not gonna help you unless you just hack the other guys gun and disable it. 8)
Anyway, so since taking cover is what you do to get out of the way of bullets, taking cover behind an object is a good option. If this object just happens to be a shield drone (as in a drone with a big shield) Who is also activally trying to stay in between you and incoming bullets then that should be of some sort of help. Whether that means you get a cover bonus, or the bullets need to penetrate the armor (shield) of the drone to hit you, or you simply get a bonus to your armor roll due to the shield is another thing but it should be of some use.
A flying drone might indeed not be the best option because you need a pretty big drone to carry a big shield if its also supposed to be flying (to bad there's no energy shields) So it would have to be walking... or it could be attached to your armor?.. How about a drone arm with a shield attached to your armor then?
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Once again. Panther assault canon was possible to be transferred into flying weapon stable enought to sustain the energy of the shot. No big drone, and some maneuverability included. Two or three such shields circling around you provides good cover and good balistic protection imho.
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Once again. Panther assault canon was possible to be transferred into flying weapon stable enought to sustain the energy of the shot. No big drone, and some maneuverability included. Two or three such shields circling around you provides good cover and good balistic protection imho.
I keep hearing about this mythical "flying assault canon"... can you point me to the book and page please?
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Afb, but in weapon modifications in Arsenal, there is mod called IIRC Mobility. It has two or three ranks, the last allowing weapon to fly, effectively changing it to wepon drone. Exact quote Ill add lately
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Ah, found it. Called propulsion system, requires a smart system AND a pilot program..... and you only get 2 minutes flight... not to mention the gun becomes a drone with only 2 armor and 2 body.
So... buyer beware.
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That means +4 dices in addition to shoeld balistic armor. 2 minutes thats about 40 CT's.
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That means +4 dices in addition to shoeld balistic armor. 2 minutes thats about 40 CT's.
Keep in mind that it hasn't made the jump to 5e yet....
But all that means is the bad guy shoots it with his heavy pistol and destroys/disables it.
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hmm thats pretty cool.
Would that make the shield the drone, or would it make a drone carrying a shield. Because thats a massive difference.
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Turns the shield itself into a drone....
but can only be done on a "smart" weapon (smartlink) that has been upgraded with a pilot program (+¥6000?)
And the upgrade itself is ¥22,500(?)
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Well technicaly, there is the way how to create such thing. If we have micro/mini drones with precise enought propulsion with enought power, this can be assembled somehow. The question is, if RAW would support such creativity.
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right... why would a shield have a smartlink. :) That would be pretty stupid, also, that would be one way overprized drone, compared to its use.
So thats a no go afterall then.
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IMO you need to think a bit innovative to put this thing to use, on the other hand, it can be great advantage to have mobile cover in the firefight that alows you to use both your hands for something else, that is able to analyze incomming fire and possiton itself to provide maximal cover and even cooperate with othe drones like this to work more efficiently.
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You know, when you put it like that it does sound seriously cool. :)
Looks like I'll need to look into this afteral.
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I actually love the idea.
Take a duelist and change one arm to a shield and the other to a firearm and you'll have a great close support drone or rigger defense drone.
Great story item as bodyguards or siege breakers
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It really is a great Idea a kind of Myrmidon Drone. I like it too :D
Strangely the text says that you can't switch the Swordarms for something else . I wonder how they want to explain this ingame ?
Everytime some mechanic works on the Arms the RPG Police bursts into his Garage and arrests him for ...."not obeying the Rulesbook " ?
HokaHey
Medicineman
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It really is a great Idea a kind of Myrmidon Drone. I like it too :D
Strangely the text says that you can't switch the Swordarms for something else . I wonder how they want to explain this ingame ?
Everytime some mechanic works on the Arms the RPG Police bursts into his Garage and arrests him for ...."not obeying the Rulesbook " ?
HokaHey
Medicineman
Design flaw?
Method of articulation?
Limit of joint stress?
they do mention that the drone is more of a gimmick then an actual "combat" drone....
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Qquite easy to fix, all those problems.
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Don't forget that even if the 'flight mode' is technically possible - and I want to say that I think an assault cannon with one is not Rules As Intended - that this flying shield drone is getting shot at as long as it's staying in your vicinity. A wheeled/tracked drone that basically carries mobile cover has already been developed, tested, and considered "too expensive for practical use" (read: present-day soldiers' lives are too cheap to deploy a mobile cover drone with them).
The idea has existed since late WWII when amphibious assault ships had the problem of troops on board getting machine gunned into red confetti when the armored ramp went down, so the first redrawing was to add a second armor plate at an angle on that boarding ramp so when the ramp dropped, the troops had at least an inch of steel between them and the machine gun...up until they had to actually leave the ramp. An idea of making it detachable so that soldiers could pick it up and advance cover down the beach was proposed, but I don't think that it was put into production even as a prototype.
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Don't forget that even if the 'flight mode' is technically possible - and I want to say that I think an assault cannon with one is not Rules As Intended - that this flying shield drone is getting shot at as long as it's staying in your vicinity. A wheeled/tracked drone that basically carries mobile cover has already been developed, tested, and considered "too expensive for practical use" (read: present-day soldiers' lives are too cheap to deploy a mobile cover drone with them).
The idea has existed since late WWII when amphibious assault ships had the problem of troops on board getting machine gunned into red confetti when the armored ramp went down, so the first redrawing was to add a second armor plate at an angle on that boarding ramp so when the ramp dropped, the troops had at least an inch of steel between them and the machine gun...up until they had to actually leave the ramp. An idea of making it detachable so that soldiers could pick it up and advance cover down the beach was proposed, but I don't think that it was put into production even as a prototype.
If I remember correctly, it was not developed because the Brass thought it would just make the men bunch up behind it, thus being more of a target... and mobility was believed to be the infantryman's best defense...
Course, it was also the brass that thought solid wall formations WALKING towards machineguns and trenches was the best strategy during WW1...
And that parachutes would just encourage WW1 airmen to abandon their aircraft instead of engage the germans.... who did have parachutes....
Stupidity is a generational trait that we have yet to breed out of ourselves. ....
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You dont have to use it, nor even think about that idea, if you dont like it ;)
I even use Force fields in my games, techno-version of magical barrer.
I`ve seen such things as flying shields in games like Diablo or Raptor etc, so in my game, you are free to think this way :)
Don't forget that even if the 'flight mode' is technically possible - and I want to say that I think an assault cannon with one is not Rules As Intended - that this flying shield drone is getting shot at as long as it's staying in your vicinity. A wheeled/tracked drone that basically carries mobile cover has already been developed, tested, and considered "too expensive for practical use" (read: present-day soldiers' lives are too cheap to deploy a mobile cover drone with them).
The idea has existed since late WWII when amphibious assault ships had the problem of troops on board getting machine gunned into red confetti when the armored ramp went down, so the first redrawing was to add a second armor plate at an angle on that boarding ramp so when the ramp dropped, the troops had at least an inch of steel between them and the machine gun...up until they had to actually leave the ramp. An idea of making it detachable so that soldiers could pick it up and advance cover down the beach was proposed, but I don't think that it was put into production even as a prototype.
If I remember correctly, it was not developed because the Brass thought it would just make the men bunch up behind it, thus being more of a target... and mobility was believed to be the infantryman's best defense...
Course, it was also the brass that thought solid wall formations WALKING towards machineguns and trenches was the best strategy during WW1...
And that parachutes would just encourage WW1 airmen to abandon their aircraft instead of engage the germans.... who did have parachutes....
Stupidity is a generational trait that we have yet to breed out of ourselves. ....
You`ve just made my day :D
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What stats would this kind of drone have? It's frontal armor must be high enough to stop rifle rounds while body armor would be neglect able
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In the write up, you end up with a drone with armor 2 and body 1.... but if it was a shield, you'd add the shield armor to that... so armor 4 and body 1.
Hence why I said the badguy with a heavy pistol shoots the shield drone and destroys/disables it. :(
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In the write up, you end up with a drone with armor 2 and body 1.... but if it was a shield, you'd add the shield armor to that... so armor 4 and body 1.
Hence why I said the badguy with a heavy pistol shoots the shield drone and destroys/disables it. :(
I get it, but I don't feel its the right approach. Doing it like that indeed makes it useless. It doesnt have enough armor to even protect itself, let alone the rigger behind it. You'd be better off with a tacnet system and a load of small drones to gain you bonusses and distract the hell out of an enemy by opening fire from all sides.
So you would need to have either a much heavier wall in front of you that counts as actual cover instead of just a shield. Like a drone carrying a heavy security door kind of thing, which would provide actual cover and has a much higher armor and structure rating.
Or as Sichr says, you'd need energy shields. Which is interesting but I don't think anything like that exists in SR and I don't really see a science(fiction) based near future way to actually do that. A pretty powerful magnetic shield generator?... just imagine the power source needed and the generator itself. You'd get one massive drone. Only doable stationary if at all.
Or.. you'd have to go for a high tech defense system like a missile shield kind of thing, where attacks are (attempted) repelled by counter shots, lasers or whatever.