[Vandarl]

The Count's commlink is wireless on, broadcasting his fake SIN. His cyberdeck is running silent Sleeze set to 6 and Firewall to 5. All augmentations are wireless off at the moment.

[JackVII]

Also, Moto has a CHA of 1 and no social skills. He's socially awkward, to say the least. Checking his team for their commcodes without their knowledge and then messaging them seems right up his alley

Yup, that's exactly why Baron Mojo assensed everyone but Bad Johnny Juju. He already knows he's Awakened. He has to know who he should be thinking less of and applying that 2 Charisma towards. LOL

I am guessing Data Trails will have more on commcodes. Currently, I usually play that it's basically a universal code tied to your commlink that people can use to contact you. I would guess there is a way to re-assign commcodes, but nothing in the book indicates how it is done (Data Trails probably). Since it is a piece of information concerning a commlink that (currently) doesn't change, it seems like it will be very easy to have your commlink get burned if a competent decker is part of your opposition.

As I said before, I'm going to say Baron Mojo has his commlink On, but he probably (as a general rule) has it default Off since a) there are only 2 (now 3) people who have that commcode and b) he doesn't have any AR display devices, so having a commlink on for spotting AROs in the meat world does him little good at the moment.

[Celtibero]

guys, i know i am falling behind on the post et all, but RL is imposing, i really need to finish some work tonight, post coming up early tomorrow gents.

[martinchaen]

Take your time, man, it's all good.

[Bewilderbeast]

No problem, thanks for letting us know.

Side note: I just realized our group doesn't really have a dedicated combatant? Except maybe the pirate? We have a decker, a face/conjurer, a full mage, a strictly no-meatspace rigger, and a pirate. We're going to have to come up with some interesting approaches* to problems.

*Manifesting spirits throwing lightning bolts totally counts as an interesting approach, guys.

[martinchaen]

First of all, that was an AWESOME writeup, Celtibero, kudos! I greatly enjoyed the "We make the dots conNET!" pun

Bewilderbeast
Agreed; I'm capable of throwing FA fire from an Ares Alpha with the option of launching some flash-bangs from one drone, and I've got a Crokett EBR loaded with APDS rounds on the other, so I've got long range fire support covered, but I'm by no means a front line-combatant as my drones are apparently made out of paper mache, especially under the Run & Gun rules.

My aim (heh!) is to hover the sniper drone at long range (i.e. beyond the range of most normal weapons, so at around 300 meters or so, high up in the air), and have the drone take one Initiative Pass worth of Take Aim actions (once to reduce range penalties, once to increase accuracy (to 9) and 1 dice to the dice pool (wireless smartguns!) and then fire at whatever is attacking the team. I'm hoping the GM will allow me to fire through barriers using the camera feeds from my recon drones, which will be shadowing the team, and/or other team members video feeds, at a penalty of course, if it's impractical to take the drones inside somewhere.

The Ares Alpha drone is the most likely to actually accompany the team if they go in somewhere, as I can lay down some heavy suppressive fire with it to keep the mooks behind cover, and/or fire off the occasional grenade.

Spirits are tough, no doubt about it. But isn't that what we have two magicians for?

The good news is, I'm a pretty good shot with drones and vehicles, so if our resident decker can get me an account on defensive emplacements I can easily turn those on the enemy too. I'm rolling Gunnery 6 + Logic 7 + Hot-Sim 2 + Rigger Command Console 1 + Vehicle Control Rig 3 = 19 dice (-2 if Running Silent - 2 if operating on a different grid).

For my own Smartgun equipped weapons, it's the same as the above but +2 for Smartgun and +2 for Specialization with Ballistic weapons, but probably at least -1 for range. All in all, around 20 dice on the attack, and I might be able to get a surprise shot or two in by moving the drones around to ensure they are kept out of the line of fire (i.e. aim one IP, fire one IP, move and hide one IP, then repeat) and don't get shot down.

[EDIT]
With Hardened Armor, it's my understanding that a Force 6 Spirit is going to be a tough nut to crack, even with a surprise attack from my sniper drone.

If I get to roll my full 23 dice, representing my maximum damage potential, that's a mathematical average of 7.67 successes;

If the spirit gets to roll to avoid the attack, they roll anywhere from REA 5 + INT 6 = 11 dice (Spirit of Earth) to REA 10 + INT 6 = 16 dice, representing a mathematical average 3.67 and 5.33, respectively. This reduces my net hits to anywhere from 4 to 2.33, respectively.

The good news is that as long as I hit (i.e. one net hit) I'll always punch through their hardened armor due to the base (12+ minimum 1)P -7AP of the Crockett EBR with APDS. A Force 6 Spirit has a Hardened Armor value of 12 against normal attacks, which is reduced to 5 when hit by the sniper rounds, and the resist with their BOD 6 + Hardened Armor 5 = 3.67 + (5/2 rounded up = 3 autohits) = 6.67 soak.

On average, then, as long as I hit the spirit I'll do at least 6.33 boxes of damage, which isn't bad for a drone operator. The added bonus is that Spirits have range increments of F meters, so at least I'll be safe from retaliation for a while, since my drones are pretty fast. My best bet is to try and draw any spirits present away from the team and harass them with alternating drones from beyond range

[EDIT 2 for IC rolls]
Stealthily launching my Crockett EBR armed Roto-Drone to 300m altitude with the weapon in Wireless Off mode:
Jumped In Stealth [6]: Roto-Drone launch and hover at 300m: 13d6t5 3

Perception test with the same Roto-Drone to ensure there aren't any suckers trying to mess with my car, and no obvious gang/turf wars about to roll over us:
Jumped In Perception [6]: Looking for trouble outside the Banshee: 19d6t5 4

Computer test to mark the position of ghouls and prominent/violent gangers on my VR senses in order to target them through the roof if need be (not expecting this to give me any bonuses or anything, I just think it's cool from a narrative perspective):
Edit File [6]: Target marking: 13d6t5 5

[JackVII]

I don't believe an RCC provides any bonuses to dice rolls. There is a confusing line that makes it sound like riggers receive a total of +3 to dice rolls for drone/vehicle related stuff when in Hot-Sim, but I believe it was clarified in the FAQ thread that they just receive the normal +2 bonus as those tests are treated as Matrix Tests. Still, 22 dice is pretty ridiculous.

Stealthily launching my Crockett EBR armed Roto-Drone to 300m altitude with the weapon in Wireless Off mode:
Jumped In Stealth [6]: Roto-Drone launch and hover at 300m: 13d6t5 3

Can you walk me through this dice pool? I'm kind of confused since it says Jumped In and Moto would be pretty terrible at Stealth Rolls if he is jumped in to the drone.

Also, I guess we're playing with the non-FAQ answer on Gunnery? According to the FAQ answer, you use Agility when jumped in for Gunnery unless you're using a Passive Targeting or Active Targeting gunnery test.

[Kincaid]

Sorry to jump into the middle of things, but I was the guy who asked about the hot-sim VR + rigging question back in the day, so I figured I could point you guys to the response easily.

http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=11514.msg238706#msg238706

I haven't seen an update, but it's possible I missed one.  As of Sept '13, they stacked.

[martinchaen]

JackVII:
To answer your questions:
1. RCC does indeed provide the additional +1, at least according to Aaron. I'll see if I can find the quote.

[EDIT]: Thanks, Kincaid! That's what I was thinking, I knew I'd seen Aaron respond to a question like that. Much obliged.

2. Stealth for Jumped In Moto is (as per p270 of SR5):
Sneaking 1 + INT 6 + Hot-Sim 2 + Rigger Command Console 1 + Vehicle Control Rig 3 = 13 (not running silent, as it is beyond the 100m range of most people)

3. Gunnery uses Agility when Jumped In? That's crazy talk
Seriously, though, where was this stated? I've not heard of it, and the FAQ doesn't address this as far as I'm aware.

[EDIT]
I see what you're referring to, JackVII.

How does that mesh with the rules for remote gunnery which (in all but one place) specify logic + gunnery for remote firing?

It doesn't, but I think that's a typo. Sensor targeting uses Logic, remote targeting uses the normal attribute and skill like every other remote operation.

I'll let our GM weigh in here.

Celtibero, two rulings needed from you, both of which have been addressed (semi-) officially by Aaron:
1. Does the +1 bonus from a Rigger Command Console applying to Vehicle and Matrix Actions stack with the +2 bonus from Hot-Sim?
Source of Aaron's statement
My assumption until now has been that it does.

2. Does Jumped In Gunnery without Sensor Targeting use Logic or Agility as its linked attribute?
Source of Aaron's statement
My assumption until now has been that Logic is used; I was not aware of Aaron's reading of this.

[JackVII]

Yeah, that was the quote I was thinking about. It would also lead one to the answer that Jumped In Stealth checks as listed should be Agility based rather than Intuition based (since meat-body stealth is based on Agility rather than Intuition).

ETA: Also, I don't see anything that ties that +1 bonus to a Rigger Command Console. The VR & Riigging section in which it appears mentions control rigs, as far as I can tell. You know... if that is how it is ruled, I don't see why more hackers don't dump a few nuyen for a control rig since the text states it applies that +1 bonus to Matrix Actions, which would include hacking.

[martinchaen]

Ugh, I hope not, at that makes life a LOT more difficult for Riggers, which they quite frankly do not need given how they're already tricky to play (especially given the low armor value of most drones and the prohibitive expense of repairing them according to Run & Gun).

[JackVII]

I generally agree with you, I don't think it's fair that riggers have to have generally superior attributes across the board to be effective. I always thought that was pretty dumb.

The problem is that they provide riggers with so many gear and situation-based bonus dice that it is relatively easy to create a character with extremely high dice pools if they are even slightly optimized for it. I don't think the fragility to expense ratio of drones was a good way of balancing it, if that was their intent.

[martinchaen]

I'll happily take the Gunnery hit (I can make sensor tests, even with a -3), as long as Sneaking is left as is. Aaron does seem to confirm that Intuition is the intended Sneaking stat:

I have to object to this. First, remote control is different from rigger control. Remote control is described as a video game, while rigger control is direct neural interface. Jumped-in riggers use Intuition for Sneaking rolls, not Agility.

That is correct. Also, forgive me for pointing out that a specific rule doesn't always indicate a general one.

Second, Riggers are already relying on Reaction, Willpower, Intuition, and Logic for doing everything else, plus they actually have to possess the necessary skills. Why add Agility to the list? At this point, what benefit exactly does a rigger get from rigging, as opposed to just walking out there and doing it himself?

If it helps, you can always use sensor targeting (p. 184) to do your shooting, which uses Logic instead of Agility. You never actually have to fire a shot with Agility if you don't care to do so.

Time to read up on Sensor Targeting. Page 184, here I come!

[EDIT]
OK, so that's ridiculously easy; I roll 16 dice and I need one hit unless they are avoiding detection... Seriously? Why even roll; the chance of NOT getting a single hit on 16 dice is 0.15%, though I will take a -3 to the attack dice pool, and the Sensor becomes the limit for the weapon instead of Accuracy of the Weapon. That is potentially problematic; oh well, Take Aim it is.

Active

[Triskavanski]

Yeah.. its too easy to break drones.

Even with a holdout pistol, you could potentially kill off most of the drones in one shot.

[Kincaid]

Simply to commiserate: I play with a clinical neuropsychologist and there's no way he'd by the, "it's the same part of the brain" rationale and he'd eat up 45 minutes of table time explaining it to me.  I've houseruled that fully jumped-in riggers (which is a control rig thing, not a RCC thing) use the same attribute equivalencies as astral stuff (p. 314).