[Hellion19]

I have tried to skim quite a few threads and got a few ideas here and there but have not really found a good source for drone building in general.

So what I am trying to find out is some idea of what to do with the 250k that I have in cash from character creation. Most of the rest of my character is built already with skills in the area of jury rigger and mechanic group... so mostly designed to maintain equipment and build new things. Has some skills in hacking and software side of things.

So far I have a step van that is heavily modified with armor (concealed) and a number of other things which made it run ~80-90k (can't remember exact price as I don't have the sheet with me currently but it was quite a bit) however I figured I could cut this back a bit as needed but the mentality was to make the van a command center pretty much. Though if I remember correctly I only used about 10 slots so could likely get a smaller van or less expensive one either way.

As far as drones what I hoped to have was 2 attack drones and at least 1 surveillance drone though I hoped to expand this over time a little bit it would be the bare min I would like to have at any given time.  I have read through the books a bit a few times and each time I do its quite a bit of information to take in at once  . Figured for the most part the character would be more of a support role than anything else for the time.

So any input would be good or any thing you may see wrong with what I have stated up to this point that I am doing with the character though I haven't given all the details of the character.

[Tsuzua]

While they're a tad different from your character, Umaro's Mercenary Rigger and Info Savant have good basic drone and vehicle selections.  The mercenary rigger also has a good selection of ware that's good for any hacker/rigger.   

[Hellion19]

Looked over the Merc Rigger a little bit earlier which it gave me a few ideas as far as knowledge skills as I had about 20 points left on that.  The Info Savant looks like it has some nice things though so will probably pick through that as the drones look closer to what I was looking for. Much appreciated Tsuzua though I am sure I will have more questions I will post in here within an hour or two

[Hellion19]

Atm without books also which I will double check some things once I get home. I am also a fairly new player so still a lot of things I don't entirely understand about the game though likely doesn't help that I don't have any books with me at the moment but figured anything not answered I will try and look up later.

Dodge Guardian was the van I take it

So with the Info Savant he has 2 drones.

Conestoga Vista and the Lone Star Guardian. I take it the vista is mostly just a recon drone and Lone star is an attack drone? Though it does look like later on the goal was to arm the Vista since quite a bit is on the to be purchased list far down on the list.

Also thought about going with 2 of the Lone stars (18510 total cost per) and 1 Conestoga Vista (40150 total cost per). Which comes out to 77170.

31    Complex Forms:
    Exploit 6 with Mute
    Stealth 6
    Command 6
    Analyze 6
    Spoof 6

This section here is the software I take it? Otherwise I don't see software like firewalls and things of that sort which that section pretty much confused me quite a bit tbh. Though you also have sprites which I am not familiar with at all which means I probably need to do some reading on those. I do remember reading that they were going to equip a paladin on another thread for protection uses though.

[Tsuzua]

The Info Savant is a technomancer which has its own special hacking rules/playstyle.  I would just ignore those parts since you're playing a hacker/rigger.  Technomancing well is one of the most complicated and subjective parts of SR so I'll advise staying away from it as a new player.

However, technomancers and hacker/riggers generally like the same things for drones.  Some of the drones used might be from This Old Drone, but I think most are from Arsenal.  Generally you want low cost and cool abilities/features.

[UmaroVI]

The Info Savant's Dodge Guardian is a motorcycle, and in this case it's been modified into a psuedo-mecha using the vehicle modification rules in Arsenal. It's major selling points are being not all that expensive, having a fairly high Body ( for a motorcycle-sized vehicle, and having a weapon mount but being only Restricted, not Forbidden. The idea is to run around in that most of the time; it's small enough to fit into most stuff and it offers good protection, and it can be kept in the Vista.

The Vista is a bus. It's slow but also really large and tough, and not very expensive. The reason it starts out with no weapons is that the availability of concealed weapon mounts is really high, and so you can't start with them, but unconcealed weapon mounts are F. It's a good choice for a mobile base of operations and you can keep other stuff in it.

[Hellion19]

So I take it with my scenario of drone rigger I am wanting to go more towards the Merc Rigger which they have listed

Commlinks (67050)
    MetaLink with Vector Xim (300)
        Runs in Public Mode broadcasting fake SIN, not used for shadowrunning
    NovaTech Airware with Custom OS (Firewall 6, System 5) (6750)
        Response 5 Upgrade (4000)
        Response Enhancer 3 (6000)
        Customized Interface (250)
        Optimization (Command) (500)
        Analyze 6 (600) with Optimization 1 (100), Ergonomic (300)
        Browse 6 (600) with Optimization 1 (100)
        Command 6 (600) with Optimization 1 (100)
        Edit 5 (500)
        Scan 5 (500)
        Eurosoft Clavicula [Encrypt 5, Decrypt 5] (4700)
        Disarm 5 (5000)
        Exploit 5 (5000) with Mute (2250)
        Biofeedback Filter 5 (5000), Ergonomic (300)
        ECCM 5 (5000), Ergonomic (300)
        Sniffer 5 (5000)
        Spoof 5 (5000)
        Stealth 5 (5000), Ergonomic (300)
        Track 3 (1500)   
        Defuse 3 (1500)

Which is what the Merc build had on it software wise. Which from my understanding of it each of the drones require their own software for much of that. Which if I had to go with a fairly similar load for each of my drones it does look like I would have to lower a few of the stats above in order to fit it within a 250k budget and get cyberware later or possibly tack on some debt which I may of had to do anyways. Without the software load I should be sitting roughly at 80k credits used minus a van (which I would need also).

The Info Savant's Dodge Guardian is a motorcycle, and in this case it's been modified into a psuedo-mecha using the vehicle modification rules in Arsenal. It's major selling points are being not all that expensive, having a fairly high Body ( for a motorcycle-sized vehicle, and having a weapon mount but being only Restricted, not Forbidden. The idea is to run around in that most of the time; it's small enough to fit into most stuff and it offers good protection, and it can be kept in the Vista.

The Vista is a bus. It's slow but also really large and tough, and not very expensive. The reason it starts out with no weapons is that the availability of concealed weapon mounts is really high, and so you can't start with them, but unconcealed weapon mounts are F. It's a good choice for a mobile base of operations and you can keep other stuff in it.

That clears up some things. So with the Vista I still have a vehicle which is a plus and then the dodge is a bike... (some of my stuff may kind of conflict each other as I wrote the first half a while ago and just figured I would add more after the last reply). Which means I would probably go with 2 Strato-9 and possibly an additional one for strictly surveillance use. At some point probably expand my drones for other uses.

Also worse case scenario I could just use the vista they had and just arm it into a command center instead of using a van which will actually cut down costs quite a bit in the end.

[UmaroVI]

One thing to keep in mind is that you need to have autosofts for drones to be effective autonomously. If you are remote-controlling them yourself, they don't need autosofts to work. It can get really pricey to have drones well-equipped to work autonomously because you need autosofts, upgraded response, and without you in the node they are vulnerable to hacking so you better have a good firewall, analyze programs, etc. If you want to go down that route, it's just not worth it for cheap drones because the base price will be dwarfed by the cost of the software and hardware upgrades.

[_Pax_]

LTA drones make good "overwatch" tools - they can loiter in the general vicinity of a target zone, are ubiquitous enough to generally not be noticed / easily be overlooked, especially if you fly them a few hundred meters up.

And, for shits and giggles, put a grenade launcher into it.  Internal, Fixed weapon mount.  Pointed straight down.  Especially something like an MGL-12 with the "Additional Magazine" modification.  Two 15-round clips fullof grenades, ready to be "dropped" on the location of your choice.  Fill one magazine with a mix of smoke and glash-bang; fill the other with a mix of WP and HE.  Then, when things go very south ... you have a way to cover your escape/withdrawal, already sitting overhead.

[Pyromaster13]

put a grenade launcher into it.

That should your signature. 

[Hellion19]

One thing to keep in mind is that you need to have autosofts for drones to be effective autonomously. If you are remote-controlling them yourself, they don't need autosofts to work. It can get really pricey to have drones well-equipped to work autonomously because you need autosofts, upgraded response, and without you in the node they are vulnerable to hacking so you better have a good firewall, analyze programs, etc. If you want to go down that route, it's just not worth it for cheap drones because the base price will be dwarfed by the cost of the software and hardware upgrades.

What is generally a good software load for a strictly surveillance drone? Figured if I kept it fairly cheap it wouldn't be worth putting too much software on it that is high level but expect it will still run into problems at times if I reduce it too much. Might try to use a very similar software load as you posted for the 2x lone star strato's.

Sadly think I picked a somewhat complicated class to start off with but figured at this point I may as well push ahead and try to get it done either way. The class looks like it should be pretty fun as it gives me a ton of tools at my disposal that pretty much if I can build it then I can use it.... Though the other end of that same idea is that its really a pain trying to figure out how to build it . Figured as I play a little bit it may make a little more sense.

LTA drones make good "overwatch" tools - they can loiter in the general vicinity of a target zone, are ubiquitous enough to generally not be noticed / easily be overlooked, especially if you fly them a few hundred meters up.

And, for shits and giggles, put a grenade launcher into it.  Internal, Fixed weapon mount.  Pointed straight down.  Especially something like an MGL-12 with the "Additional Magazine" modification.  Two 15-round clips fullof grenades, ready to be "dropped" on the location of your choice.  Fill one magazine with a mix of smoke and glash-bang; fill the other with a mix of WP and HE.  Then, when things go very south ... you have a way to cover your escape/withdrawal, already sitting overhead.

Ya had a few ideas for random toys in the future and would consider that as a possibility depending the way the setting in the campaign goes.

[UmaroVI]

Generally speaking, surveillance is IMO best done with you remote-controlling the drone. You can get much better dice pools, and since both hiding and spotting are opposed it really matters. If you want a drone to work autonomously, the big things are ripping out its sensors and installing new ones (including a camera with Vision Enhancement 3 and a microphone with Audio Enhancement 3 in particular), Chameleon Coating, and the Clearsight and Covert Ops autosofts.