Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => Gear => Topic started by: Devil on <09-07-12/1006:15>
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Alright, so I'm wondering how useful it is to have multiple vehicles. I'd like to discuss all the potential benefits.
For example: If you have spoof chips, morphing licenses plates, a low availability on your vehicle, and a common color of vehicle... then do you really need another vehicle? What about if you have if you have several SINs and lifestyles? What benefits would you gain?
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It keeps the opposition (whoever they might be) from seeing the same vehicle all the time. Even with chameleon coating, if a group sees the same GMC Stepvan go by, they'll take notice.
Now, if they see a GMC Stepvan, a Rover '68, a couple of Ford Americars, a Mercury Comet with dents all around it, and an ice cream truck (http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=37727&view=findpost&p=1178715), it gets a lot harder to know you're being observed.
Also, the right tool for the right job. A Stepvan will draw a little attention in CorpVille if it's around for a long period of time, while a Mercury Oort or Ares Hummer Civic will blend RIGHT in.
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The Rigger in my newest game eschewed alot of drones to have spy drones, a Step-Van for big ops an Americar for places thats not feasible, and a modded Roadmaster for those ugly terrains. Not all runs are in the sprawl
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Also, didn't think of this, it's not always about Biz. You could have one rig for work ,and another one for just going around the sprawl on a nice rainy day.
EDIT: Your character's hobby might also be illegal street racing, so you'd need a ride for that, too.
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I also love that personal mobility vehicle, I forget what's it's called. The one where you could have drone trailers for?
The few times I've played a Rigger I've had 3+ vehicles. Two "big" vehicles for the team, a delivery van and a minivan, plus a Comet or a beat-up Americar. Then my own ride.
Of course, stealing cars works too.
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A Rigger should retire after writing a book: "Stealing Ford Americars for Fun and Profit". ;D
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Daiatsu Caterpillar Horseman with Drone Module, I think is what you are talking about. I like the Advanced Cargo Module with the Arms. Very cool vehicle.
So, for a non-rigger, the uses we have so far for having multiple vehicles are: being a bit more physically inconspicuous during jobs, separating personal life from professional life, hobbies or the like that involve vehicles, & off-road or other unusual terrain.
Did I miss anything?
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The Pick-Up Truck for beer runs.
...
What, most groups has a troll or dwarf in them. Those buggers can drink!
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Alright, so I'm wondering how useful it is to have multiple vehicles. I'd like to discuss all the potential benefits.
For example: If you have spoof chips, morphing licenses plates, a low availability on your vehicle, and a common color of vehicle... then do you really need another vehicle? What about if you have if you have several SINs and lifestyles? What benefits would you gain?
I typically will have only one vehicle, plus drones, if they fit the character. However, I've played a rigger that had two bulldogs, one to carry drones, and one to carry the team. I've also had a character that kept a houseboat, and a bike. They lived on the boat, and took the bike when they needed to be on land.
While having multiple vehicles is nice, that's also multiple vehicles you have to take care of and store someplace. I prefer to have one vehicle, and hopefully everyone else in the group has transport of some kind, so we can shake things up if need be. And if you really need different wheels, you can rent basic models pretty much anywhere in the sprawl. Or you can just steal one, if you need to.
However, with spoof chips, morphing plates, chameleon coating, and a very common vehicle frame, you can get a lot of mileage by simply hiding in plain sight. Yes, those two Bulldogs might look similar, but when one is carrying Renraku America colors and logos, and the other is from the Stuffer Shack, no one is going to assume that they are the same vehicle, unless they are TRULY paranoid, or you slip up by having the same people get in and out of the vehicles while people are watching. Remember, chameleon coating can do more than simply stealth mode. It can change colors, and even add in logos, if you like. There's more than one kind of camouflage.
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Alright, so I'm wondering how useful it is to have multiple vehicles. I'd like to discuss all the potential benefits.
For example: If you have spoof chips, morphing licenses plates, a low availability on your vehicle, and a common color of vehicle... then do you really need another vehicle? What about if you have if you have several SINs and lifestyles? What benefits would you gain?
I typically will have only one vehicle, plus drones, if they fit the character. However, I've played a rigger that had two bulldogs, one to carry drones, and one to carry the team. I've also had a character that kept a houseboat, and a bike. They lived on the boat, and took the bike when they needed to be on land.
While having multiple vehicles is nice, that's also multiple vehicles you have to take care of and store someplace. I prefer to have one vehicle, and hopefully everyone else in the group has transport of some kind, so we can shake things up if need be. And if you really need different wheels, you can rent basic models pretty much anywhere in the sprawl. Or you can just steal one, if you need to.
However, with spoof chips, morphing plates, chameleon coating, and a very common vehicle frame, you can get a lot of mileage by simply hiding in plain sight. Yes, those two Bulldogs might look similar, but when one is carrying Renraku America colors and logos, and the other is from the Stuffer Shack, no one is going to assume that they are the same vehicle, unless they are TRULY paranoid, or you slip up by having the same people get in and out of the vehicles while people are watching. Remember, chameleon coating can do more than simply stealth mode. It can change colors, and even add in logos, if you like. There's more than one kind of camouflage.
I do like the one vehicle with chameleon coating idea in principle. What would you say are the most common vehicles on the road in the Seattle sprawl? Also, are there any weaknesses to doing this?
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Well, my personal choice for this method is either the Bulldog step-van or the Hermes delivery van from Arsenal. Simply because they're bigger, and you can fit more stuff in them. Also, think about it for a second. How often do you pay attention to the delivery van on the side of the street? Sure you curse at the plumber's van when he's moving too slow for your likes, but do you really pay any attention to it? Work vehicles are the best choice for this kind of thing. Sure, Americars and Jackrabbits are common as hell, but people notice personal vehicles more than they do work vehicles. That's simply human nature. Plus, slap a corporate logo on the side of a van, and it is a completely different van in most people's eyes from the one they saw before, even if it is the same color.
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In this particular instance a van is probably not in my character's budget. I was thinking something enclosed though, like a car. Americars and Jackrabbits. Good stuff. Anything else? Basically it needs to be common enough that you could see two different colors of the same vehicle go by and not really notice. So far, from what I'm hearing the Americar is the best choice. I'd think that maybe the Honda Spirit, a favorite among commuters, if I remember right, might make the list as well.
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In this particular instance a van is probably not in my character's budget. I was thinking something enclosed though, like a car. Americars and Jackrabbits. Good stuff. Anything else? Basically it needs to be common enough that you could see two different colors of the same vehicle go by and not really notice. So far, from what I'm hearing the Americar is the best choice. I'd think that maybe the Honda Spirit, a favorite among commuters, if I remember right, might make the list as well.
The Jackrabbit used to be the most common car on the street. The Ford Americar (And it's Mercury sister, The Comet) are pretty common as well for a larger vehicle (Two seats or a four-door, you decide.).
I'd probably go with an older model Mercury Comet, it'll blend in just about every neighborhood. Set it to "Hoopty Mode" for the poorer areas, and "Jetblack Black Mode" for the nicer parts.
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The Comet does seem like a really good choice.
Also, I discovered that Enhanced Image Screens is a cheap mod that can make it look like there are business people or families (or whoever) in the vehicle, rather than the outline of a lone sketchy runner, hiding behind tinted windows. Could be useful for getting left alone by authorities, or appearing to be a completely different car when circling back through, right?
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I like to have multiple vehicles with most characters and I don't tend to play Riggers. A bike for getting around as dense urban sprawl enviornments having something that can do tighter alleyways is nice.
Modded vehicle for runs. Sometimes something for racing as why not live on the edge when you have jacked up reflexes already. Something for hauling your drunk and/or shot ork/troll friends to the street doc....Something stashed at a safe house for a rainy day along with your go kit and backup gear.
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I also love that personal mobility vehicle, I forget what's it's called. The one where you could have drone trailers for?
The Daihatsu-Caterpillar Horseman. And the modules aren't trailers, they're bolt-on extensions of the core frame.
To the topic of the thread: A car, and a truck, and maybe a PMV ... plus whatever drone array you run. For a rigger, that should not be unexpected. Car for day to day normal stuff. PMV for runs. Truck to haul the PMV and drones (and team-mates, maybe) around in before and after runs.
For anyone else .... one will do, two in a pinch. Though I've built a character or two with NO vehicle - for example, one is a kid, all of fourteen years old - no matter how good the ID, it's gonna be hard to convince anyone he has a license to drive. I _might_ elect to give him a Dodge Scoot ... but even that, maybe not. (He's why I wish there were official rules for bicycles, in fact.)
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Never overlook the value of an extra, big Van/Truck w/ rigger adaptation and enhanced image windows. Or as I like to call it the "Loot Wagon".
Have one circling all the time and then just call it to the scene of the latest throwdown, like you just had to take down a go gang that just wouldn't leave you alone. It pulls up a drone modd'ed w/ arms gets out drags all the good stuff inside, bikes, guns, whatnot then loads its self back up switches colors to another delivery company and then kicks in the spoof chip and morph plates. After that it's on it's merry way to your friendly neighborhood fence and viola!! #3 Profit!!!
Yes the initial cash layout will be more for this but you will make it up soon enough.
Also if you are in a real hurry you can leave elementals behind to assist in loading and then give movement or concealment to the vehicle.
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Just as long as the bike stored at your safehouse isn't a Dodge Scoot.
I had my group tail a suit driving one of these once, and the immediate response was, "Can we just shoot him now, please?"
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Since I haven't played riggers yet, I normally keep just one vehicle, as more is impossible to fit into the budget at start-up after everything else you need for those things you're supposed to be good at. I normally take a Comet or something similarly common, add a spoof chip, morhing licence plate and run-flat tires and that's about it. Sometimes a smuggler compartment to stash really illegal stuff while driving around, but not much more than that.
Except that one ex-combat biker chick I played once. She had a Contrail fitted with just about every accelation mod the GM let me have (and run-flats, and spoof chip,...). But in that group we also had a technomancer/face and a rigger, so we had all the vans and drones we needed.
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Multiple vehicles because you never know what kinda run you're going to be on.
In the case of my runner, if out on a run she has a heavily armed drone gunship, with passenger modules, prepped and ready to launch. That way, if need, an airstrike or extraction is just a call away.
-k
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Here's what I came up with for my covert ops character.
Mercury Comet (Sedan)
-Anti-Theft System
-Chameleon Coating
-Complete Skinlink
-Enhanced Image Screens
-Manual Control Override, Drive-by-wire
-Morphing License Plate
-Spoof Chip
Thoughts?
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You might want to see if you can put a shielded smugglign compartmentin. If not now, then, as something planned for later. :)
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I originally had it as a shielded compartment, but it didn't make the cut. Those suckers are expensive and I'm at the phase where I'm cutting costs to make the character work.
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I originally had it as a shielded compartment, but it didn't make the cut. Those suckers are expensive and I'm at the phase where I'm cutting costs to make the character work.
Then maybe drop the complete skinlink and the drive-by-wire. I don't think those are really necessary for good control of the vehicle, so they can be scrapped.
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Drive-by-wire is to prevent someone from hacking your vehicle, locking the doors, and driving you off a cliff. You hit one little button and BOOM, the hacker trying that stunt has zero control over the vehicle.
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What Pax said. Also, with the skinlink I can control the vehicle from anywhere inside or outside the vehicle as long as I remain in contact with it. I can see the potential usefulness of that and it's not very expensive, but i'll consider ditching it. The character has most of his electronics skinlinked though, to avoid his signal being picked up on missions. He's the wary covert ops type. I do appreciate the advice though, and will consider it. I'll put up the whole character in the next couple days(In the character critique section) to get help optimizing him as much as I can without compromising his concept.
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Drive-by-wire is to prevent someone from hacking your vehicle, locking the doors, and driving you off a cliff. You hit one little button and BOOM, the hacker trying that stunt has zero control over the vehicle.
I don't have my books with me at the moment, but isn't that what the manual override is for? I thought drive-by-wire is to control the vehicle via electronics instead of hydraulics, like on todays airplanes. You turn the stick and electric motors move the control surfaces to do what you asked. Necessary in unstable aircraft like the F-117 and the B-2 (that unstable thing is also an option on vehicles and I know you can have something like that as cyberware).
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Drive by Wire is one of the options of the manual control override, it allows the user to turn off all the wireless by pushing a button (presumably physically disconnecting the wireless capability). The other two are full manual control, where you shut off the onboard computer completely (or at least disconnect it from the moving parts), and secondary control to have two driver seats.
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Drive-by-wire is to prevent someone from hacking your vehicle, locking the doors, and driving you off a cliff. You hit one little button and BOOM, the hacker trying that stunt has zero control over the vehicle.
I don't have my books with me at the moment, but isn't that what the manual override is for?
Yes. And it comes in multiple variations.
The full name of the modification in question is "Manual Over-ride (Drive-by-wire)".
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Basically it's the least expensive. Also I believe that, in combination with skinlink, I can drive from the back seat (just for example). I doubt that I could do that with the other two options
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Don't underestimate the utility of a Scoot, or some other wee little vehicle that all the other butch runners will laugh at you for.
I used to have a Rapier, pair of pistols, ammo, armor, sword, and a few other usefuls combined in a 'storage-unit lifestyle' along with a few nuyen cash to make up the difference to a nice round number as a 'set'. I'd then buy two or five sets and have them in different parts of the plex.
... of course, this was back when you got serious amounts of nuyen for your BP point. :P
That said, I fully endorse the multiple-vehicle 'runner, for all the reasons said above.
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Basically it's the least expensive. Also I believe that, in combination with skinlink, I can drive from the back seat (just for example). I doubt that I could do that with the other two options
Well, actually, with Secondary Controls you can make the back seat into a second driver's seat, in fact that's all it does :)
Or you could just buy a long fiberoptic cable and a datajack, but skinlink is better if more expensive.
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Also I believe that, in combination with skinlink, I can drive from the back seat (just for example).
"The secondary controls modification upgrades a passenger seat
to a second driver’s seat."
So basically I could spend less to get less?... That's always an option, I guess. I'll consider it.
Or I could wire myself in at all times and get personally hacked... Either that or you are suggesting hitting a button and plugging myself in before I crash (If I understand right). :D
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You can get hacked through Skinlink as easily as through a wire.
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Not if you are in drive by wire mode and using either one.... Right?
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Well, not unless a skinlinked hacker touches the vehicle, anyway. Or one with his own fiberoptic cable trying to plug it in. At which point you have more pressing problems than being hacked, like guns and knives.
And for the wire, you can plug yourself in first, <i>then</i> press the button to cut off the wireless part.
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Not if you are in drive by wire mode and using either one.... Right?
Right.
I'm just saying, "skinlink" doesn't render anything immune to being hacked, in and of itself.
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As to having multiple vehicles...
Let's just say there was a time my group didn't think a run was complete without stealing an expensive vehicle from the opposition. those were good times.
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As to having multiple vehicles...
Let's just say there was a time my group didn't think a run was complete without stealing an expensive vehicle from the opposition. those were good times.
Oh yeah.
Nothing like going in to steal a prototype for a new Soy Processing Unit and (thanks to Alter Memory) getting the keys to a Citymaster on the way out.
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Actually, I believe our crowning moments of awesome, vehicle-stealing wise, are as follows:
We'd just completed an extraction and handed over the scientist, and Neonet decided to gatecrash and spoil our fun... so we stole their escape helicopter, and left their elite extraction teams for the star to pick up. :)
Some time later we managed to piss Neonet off enough for them to send another team after us, this time a kill team in heavy milspec and heavier weapons. We had to sacrifice the helicopter to buy time, but at the end of the run we stole the helicopter they'd come in... which turned out to be an upgrade.
needless to say, Neonet was not amused...
Other vehicles we've picked up in odd situations:
1) Our rover. used to belong to some slavers who were foolish enough to put their trust in an anti-theft system. noteworthy because we stole it during a firefight with them :P
2) Our next rover: stolen during a smuggling run for the mafia from the ancients, this car was part of a road-block designed to stop us. We stole it on principle, as we needed some way to move the bodies of their cybered-up kill team to sell later.
Needless to say, we're friends of the local chop-shops :P
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Oh, well, stealing is another matter.
Best vehicle to steal, tweak, and resell ever - Ferrari Appaloosa. Used to be able to take out the ECM, downgrade it by one, sell off both the old, better ECM and the current Appaloosa, and make a truly staggering amount of nuyen - something like double its value. Hacked a valid end-user license for a non-existent merc team operating in the Yucatan, sliced a false purchaser ticket, then hijacked the shipment on its arrival in Seattle. Complained that 'I' never got my shipment, too. Wassamatter, ya can't protect yer own goods? You wanna hire me to guard 'em?
Closest Crowning Moment of Awesome Thievery: 7 container ships (again from Aztlan) packed to the gills with new cyberware, BTLs, and drugs. If we got only 0.01% of the street value take for the goods and the ships, we would have had a high eight-figure take for the team. That was the 'base 10%' value; scale upwards if we got a good negotiation. Didn't happen, because the GM had to quit; mission got run so we just needed certain prototypes. Led, however, to a Crowning Moment of Awesome for my character Hawatari, charging a beach held by a full company of Aztlan troops with two machine-gun nests - while she wore nothing but an ankle-length white robe sans sides, armed with nothing but her katana and a spirit-possessed sacrificial knife.
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lol, how many holes they put in her?
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lol, how many holes they put in her?
Either a whole hell of a lot, or not nearly enough.
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lol, how many holes they put in her?
Either a whole hell of a lot, or not nearly enough.
Or both.
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lol, how many holes they put in her?
Either a whole hell of a lot, or not nearly enough.
Or both.
Both is good. :D
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'Both,' actually. Understand that this was the same woman who scared the shit out of the rest of the team the very first time they hired her (SR 3, and them up by 75 Karma and something like a quarter million in nuyen) by taking down 15 toxic shapeshifters on her own while paired with one of their hired guns - while the rest of the team and the other 20 hired guns (total 5 mages, 1 tiger shapeshifter adept, 20 or so guns & riggers) scored a total of ... 3, I think. AND she took down unconscious one of the toxic shapeshifter shamans who was giving them such a hard time.
"Can I see the shamans from here? Do I have an angle?"
"Uh, yeah."
"What's the range?"
(GM thinks.) "Fifty meters."
"That's inside extreme range for a pistol. E-mag puts it at short ... TN 4. I'll spend a simple action aiming (-1 TN). *rolls* That's seven successes. Extras stage up the chemical level, not the damage code, so he resists 13D Stun."
GM: "@#$*$%*!!"
Following this, we had to chase them into the bunker complex, within which the majority of the merc team stacked up behind big impressive double doors, preparing to breach. I, being paranoid, stepped back around a corner and held up a finger to the dwarf rigger we'd liberated (in this case a very UNhappy naked dwarf). They breached, and the return Toxic Wave took them all down with straight D damage. I leaned back around the corner and sent two rounds back at the damn leader, whom I only winged (i.e. resisted at least one level of the G-S stun), but who then scarpered. Dwarf started in on the first aid while I made sure we were clear ...
... and who, in a later game, with her dikoted katana, looked through a little window in the blast door we were NOT expecting, located the control plate on the other side, and punched the katana through at just the right angle to kill the electronics. We forced the door open, the Sentry drone popped down out of the ceiling, and she killed IT with an up-thrust ... and later, lucked purely out with dodging a full-autofire spray into her area before the itchy-trigger-finger person let up and said, "You're not a guard!" I told him I just wanted to talk to his leader, he relayed the message, and (remember, E-Mag 3 is not good for only firearm modifications) sprinted 13m down the hall in about a second and a half before he could move hand from headset back to trigger and try killing her again.
Basically, before the beach scene, every other team member was both in awe and terrified of her. She wasn't #1 at anything except straight running speed, but she was #2 at almost everything, first off the mark, and knew what YOU were #1 at - and everyone knew that she could (and would) hit them where they weren't if it was necessary. And she was the woman with the plan, and proved it, especially after the several clusterfucks of the first characters' games, such as the toxic hell above.
The beach scene followed a thing where the natives (cat-morphs, some surgical, some SURGEd) would only help if the runners placed a sacrifice to their god in an ancient Mayan pyramid. They did that, but a feathered serpent showed up, so she told everyone to run like SOBs and herself turned back into the pyramid and grabbed a hold of the orichalcum sacrificial dagger ... and by so voluntarily picking up the dagger, was possessed by a F14 or F16 or so Free (Shadow) Great Form Jaguar Spirit of Nature, aka Tezcatlipoca.
She got NPCed for a bit at that point. Stripped off her armor (they had no weapons already, thank god), put on the sacrificial robe (see above beach scene), and went by unknown routes to the top of the pyramid. The rest of the team was at the edge of the half-mile clearing around the pyramid when they saw her at the very top, in the stormy wind with the robe fluttering halfway away from her body, screaming in ancient Aztec or Toltec or Mayan at the feathered serpent ... and then kicked substantial feathery ass. Came back to the village with the team, still holding the dagger, and then proceeded to start 'judging' their priesthood. With everyone in something of a trance, she verbally castigated the head shaman, then slew him and cut out his heart while everyone watched.
The team snapped out of it and knocked her out, but she remembered everything. They left the dagger behind (and no, that was NOT the end of the whole dagger/Tezcatlipoca thing) and she basically emerged from the jungle, samurai honor in shreds, and charged the Aztlaner company as the rest of the team raced to the getaway boats. She took out a third to a half of the 60-man company without a scratch (read: fast as hell, high combat pool, and I know how to use cover to my advantage) before the GM basically asided to me that he thought she should go down - and I, always one for a good story, agreed. So she got caught by the edge of a blast front (dove out of one of the machine-gun pits, but sandbags only protect so much from grenades when there's six or ten of them in one spot) and, as the team mopped up the rest of the disorganized company, rescued her, and got the hell away as reinforcements were coming across the swamps ...
She was not happy at having survived. Took three weeks of meditation and philosophical discussion at a buddhist monastery to regain her equilibrium. Of course, the zombie outbreak at the Pleasure Islands during that time sort of helped ...
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Well, not unless a skinlinked hacker touches the vehicle, anyway. Or one with his own fiberoptic cable trying to plug it in. At which point you have more pressing problems than being hacked, like guns and knives.
And for the wire, you can plug yourself in first, <i>then</i> press the button to cut off the wireless part.
That leave you open to having your ware hacked.
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Well, not unless a skinlinked hacker touches the vehicle, anyway. Or one with his own fiberoptic cable trying to plug it in. At which point you have more pressing problems than being hacked, like guns and knives.
And for the wire, you can plug yourself in first, <i>then</i> press the button to cut off the wireless part.
That leave you open to having your ware hacked.
No more so than it was before.
Understand: yes, he's wired to the car. But the car has a Manual Control Over-ride that shuts down all wireless communications between the vehicle and anything else. So the vehicle is no longer an access vector for hackers.
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He's saying wire yourself in then press the manual override. That leaves time where you are vulnerable. If you have your body and your comm skinlinked and you have a datajack then you do not normally suffer from that vulnerability unless you use your comm for wireless, correct?
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It keeps the opposition (whoever they might be) from seeing the same vehicle all the time. Even with chameleon coating, if a group sees the same GMC Stepvan go by, they'll take notice.
Now, if they see a GMC Stepvan, a Rover '68, a couple of Ford Americars, a Mercury Comet with dents all around it, and an ice cream truck (http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=37727&view=findpost&p=1178715), it gets a lot harder to know you're being observed.
Also, the right tool for the right job. A Stepvan will draw a little attention in CorpVille if it's around for a long period of time, while a Mercury Oort or Ares Hummer Civic will blend RIGHT in.
make an ice cream truck out of this for going into the barrens
(http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n276/reckage668/Appaloosa.png)
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make an ice cream truck out of this for going into the barrens
(http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n276/reckage668/Appaloosa.png)
Ahh, Appaloosa, I loved ye well. And raided ye for overpriced tech...
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some times the jobs requires something different, right now, my smuggler has a bulldog, a eurocar, & a rapier, with an apolosa on order. AND I'm thinking about some more vehicles. Even thinking about setting up an old car dealership as a place to live/work from. ;)
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Since we're on the subject:
If you could draft up a step by step guide to stealing a car in 2070, what would it say?
(Example:
Step 1: Pick Lock
Step 2: Disable Onstar or Onboard GPS
Step 3: etc etc)
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Step #1: Use your CommLink and programs you bought from a vending machine you bought at Stuffer Shack to hack the car.
Step #2: Spoof the signal to GridGuide using the CommLink and programs you bought from the same vending machine.
Step #3: Drive as leisurely but quickly as possible into a spam or static zone before you're detected.
Step #4: Change the spoofing, again, using the vending machine equipment.
Step #5: Drive to a chop shop in the Barrens, where you're beaten and have the car stolen for being a skript kiddie. >:(
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This clearly happened to CanRay the one and only time he ever got to play. :'(
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This clearly happened to CanRay the one and only time he ever got to play. :'(
Actually, I'm playing 3rd Edition Heavy Weapons Troll Decker.
So I actually, you know, have to WORK at hacking systems! And if that doesn't work, well, Svetlana gets bored easily, and a 100-round belt of ammo never lasts long enough. ;D
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If you could draft up a step by step guide to stealing a car in 2070, what would it say?
I'll assume the car's node is in Passive Mode; Hidden wouldn't work so well while it is running, and your average commuter probably doesn't know to switch it to Hidden and back when he parks. Likewise, I'll assume as standard car, so device rating (and therefore firewall) of 3.
1) Hack yourself an admin account (on the fly, unless you have several hours to probe the node). Hacking + Exploit Extended test, need 9 (3 Firewall + 6 Admin) successes, each roll takes one complex action.
The car rolls to detect the attempt: Analyze (0) + Firewall (3) Extended Test (car rolls every time you do), needs your Stealth successes
(SR4A, p.235)
2) Command the car to open doors (Issue Command action, no roll)
3) You can now drive wherever you want. Issue Command action to ask the car's Pilot to do it or Command+Vehicle skill action), but you will be tracked by GridGuide (and any law enforcement personal you drive by once the car is reported stolen). So basically, you have a few hours to break the trail and sell the car (or install a spoof chip).
4) Breaking the trail :
4a) drive to a null area or
4b) turn off GridGuide & put the car's node in hidden mode (Change linked device Mode action, no roll). You will have to drive yourself, and make sure to avoid those stupid cars who follow GridGuide and are convinced you aren't there (well, ok, they do have their own sensors, but they'll notice you at the last possible moment). Also, the above-mentioned law enforcement personal will want to stop you to write you for a violation (driving in hidden mode) and wheck you out in depth while they are at it, so avoid them.
5) Changing the car's ID: have a good forger reprogram it with a new ID (standard fake license, basically) or install a spoof chip (and you still need a fake license, or better yet several, in case you are stopped; the spoof chip only spoofs GridGuide).
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I see hack hack hack hack, is there no way for average joe hotwire a car anymore?
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I doubt it. For starters, most cars' controls are purely electronic; that is, you turn a wheel and an electrical signal is sent to the car's brain to turn the wheels (you need a specific mod to have manual controls that actually control the car physically). So you need to hack the brain, or at least spoof it to make it think you are the legit owner.
Well, I suppose if you have a truly fantastic hardware skill you can get around the protections, but that's not hotwiring, that's rebuilding the car's brain.
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I suddenly miss the days of
"Crack open steering column, hotwire start the car, put a jammer on the dash, run like fuck to the nearest barrens."
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The jammer part will still work.........
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I see hack hack hack hack, is there no way for average joe hotwire a car anymore?
Sure, as long as Average Joe can afford a Vending Machine Commlink.I suddenly miss the days of
"Crack open steering column, hotwire start the car, put a jammer on the dash, run like fuck to the nearest barrens."
Don't get me started.
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different vehicles are more suitable for different tasks
you really don't want to try and work with a cycle gang while riding a dodge scoot, while a hog of a cycle might not be best for any interaction with corp people.
Cars and vans make it easier to carry large weapons (or for kidnapping jobs)
and a T-bird is a bit conspicuous to go to the corner store and buy some soymilk...
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The hard part is finding a place to keep them. Since my GM is having us be a security shadowrun corp team, I usually keep the heavy duty vehicles at the corp motor pool. Eventually, all my Fake SINs will have a place, so I'll try to keep a different vehicle there.
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The hard part is finding a place to keep them. Since my GM is having us be a security shadowrun corp team, I usually keep the heavy duty vehicles at the corp motor pool. Eventually, all my Fake SINs will have a place, so I'll try to keep a different vehicle there.
Don't keep them all in the same place; stash them with relatives, loyal contacts, girlfriends, barrens buildings (with automated defenses, obviously). You want to always be able to switch out no matter the neighborhood, and you don't want one good KE raid to destroy a million nuyen's worth of vehicles and drones.
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different vehicles are more suitable for different tasks
you really don't want to try and work with a cycle gang while riding a dodge scoot, while a hog of a cycle might not be best for any interaction with corp people.
Cars and vans make it easier to carry large weapons (or for kidnapping jobs)
and a T-bird is a bit conspicuous to go to the corner store and buy some soymilk...
rereading this makes me want to take my t-bird thru the drive thru at jack-in-the-bell.
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Don't keep them all in the same place; stash them with relatives, loyal contacts, girlfriends, barrens buildings (with automated defenses, obviously). You want to always be able to switch out no matter the neighborhood, and you don't want one good KE raid to destroy a million nuyen's worth of vehicles and drones.
If you're in a rural environment (Rather than just Seattle), abandoned farms are everywhere (even today), an old barn can hold a lot of gear.
In Seattle, abandoned factories and warehouses (With automated defenses or a drone-only security "company", gotta wash that money somehow.).
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Couple of ideas I had was like an old service station, with like 2 or 3 repair stalls, or an old car dealership, or maybe an old firehouse...
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Couple of ideas I had was like an old service station, with like 2 or 3 repair stalls, or an old car dealership, or maybe an old firehouse...
How about one of those with a hidden base underneath? ;)
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an idea i used for one of my characters was his dayjob was working for a mechanic. plenty of access to various vehicles, if you don't mind the risk of being seen in it by the owner when he knows it's supposed to be on the lift getting a new suspension and subsystems installed. being the hacker for the shop also means he could risk it a bit more and install secondary, tertiary, etc codes into the vehicles computer to allow him access later.
" yeah, bull lives down here, but he brings that hotrod of his to the shop and i installed an extra access, in case i needed to skip town for the rest of my life. i'm guessing it'd take him a day to find the car again, and hopefully more than 20 mins after that to find me."
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- Name: Brutus
- Type: Mechanic
- Use: Vehicular modifications
- Active: No
- Connection: 3
- Max Starting Loyalty: 4
- Specialties: Rigging, Vehicular Modifications, Cascade Ork, Ork Underground, Metroplex Boundaries
- Location: 410 MegaTwin Drive-In Theatres, Auburn, Seattle
- Notes: Brutus, an ork, used to smuggle between Seattle and the Cascade Ork back in the late '40s, early '50s. He got enough to buy an old drive-in movie theatre, refurbish the back-to-back screens, and re-grade- and -pave the 2km long racing trench that loops around the perimeter. The 410 MegaTwin draws a large number of non-shadowrunning vehicle modders who like to show off their stuff, and it is recognized neutral ground for a number of local Seattle gangs and go-gangs. Rumor has it that Brutus keeps the peace by way of a heavily-armed crawler drone sitting on the top of the big screens, but nobody's managed to spot it. The 410 MegaTwin -- within the base of the big screens -- houses a highly-illegal shop for vehicular mods, where riggers like to get together while the wannabes gather outside.
And yes, the 410 MegaTwin shows classic flatscreen vids, just like the old drive-in theaters.
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SWEET! Parking and a show!!! ;D
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6¥ per person Friday-Wednesday. Dark Mondays. Thursday is 'lot night' - 5¥ for a motorcycle, 10¥ for a car, 25¥ for a truck or van.
200¥ entrance fee to race; speed-bike, chopper, auto, and truck. Single-elimination racing, the evening's winner in each class splits the class's entry fees with the house. Lots of Hyundai Shin-Hyungs, Yamaha Rapiers, that sort of 'civvie wannabe' / ganger thing. No side bets over 1000¥ allowed; no odds better than 10:1.
Good place to get some petty cash, but generally no rigger who uses the actual shop races the wannabes.
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6¥ per person Friday-Wednesday. Dark Mondays. Thursday is 'lot night' - 5¥ for a motorcycle, 10¥ for a car, 25¥ for a truck or van.
200¥ entrance fee to race; speed-bike, chopper, auto, and truck. Single-elimination racing, the evening's winner in each class splits the class's entry fees with the house. Lots of Hyundai Shin-Hyungs, Yamaha Rapiers, that sort of 'civvie wannabe' / ganger thing. No side bets over 1000¥ allowed; no odds better than 10:1.
Good place to get some petty cash, but generally no rigger who uses the actual shop races the wannabes.
So minimal chance of seeing a Hotspur racing next to a Gopher, eh?