[deylinarr]

Long time fantasy player creating his first character for a Shadowrun game (5E) looking for some advice.....

I want to play the group's "wheel man" so have been reading the Rigger stuff.  At this point the idea of a swarm of drones is too much to manage out of the gate so Im thinking its just him and his ride, a man and his car.

Lots of the info and samples are about drone combat, but Im thinking that for what Im trying to accomplish a control rig and a car with an interface might be enough: he can just drive, or jump in for better driving and fighting......does it really matter what the Device Rating on that rig is if thats all Im doing with it?  What are my disadvantages to skipping the RCC?  Do I really need a high rating in Electronic Warfare?  And ultimately is it WORTH going this way at all (is a bounty hunter with a vanilla car just more viable than the benefits of the Rigger route)?

Obviously the answer to all of these can be "youre going to want drones in the future" but would love to get some thoughts from the experts from the perspective of building a fighter type who excels in vehicle operation and combat with his signature car.

Thanks in advance!

[Kuirem]

Nah, it's not worth to invest into a Control Rig if you aren't getting any drones. Just build a gunner with high Reaction through Wired Reflexes + Reaction Enhancers, pick a decent vehicle with enough seats for your team along with Pilot Ground Craft and it should do the trick.

Technically it's doable to build a Vehicle only rigger but unless your GM build campaign specifically for that you won't spend that much time driving.

[Dwagonzhan]

If you go dedicated Vehicle Rigger, definitely get an Alphaware (or better if your GM allows) Rating 1 Control Rig; especially if you do aircraft (or submersibles, which are incredibly rare) since margin for error in piloting either of those is much worse than ground vehicles.

Why Rating 1? Because there's Geneware and Nano-ware that boosts their effectiveness far more cost-effectively than higher grades of control rigs (in nuyen or essence).

And it is most definitely worth the investment, simply because a Control Rig increases the limit on everything the vehicle can do while a pilot is rigged in.

Shadowrun 5th Edition Core Rulebook, pg 266.

When you’re jumped into a vehicle, drone, or other device,
the limits of that device are increased by the rating
of your control rig. This includes vehicle and drone Sensor,
Speed, and Handling, and the Accuracy of mounted
weapons when used by the rigger.

This is INCREDIBLY important if you get into a chase or do vehicle combat, because if the pursuit uses a rigger pilot while you don't, barring luck or throwing big magical mojo at them (high force physical barrier, spirits) you aren't likely to win. (make sure you're good enough to use the improved limits too; because corp-sec and military pursuit units sure as hell are)

One caveat I will offer here is that...well, most GMs hate running Vehicle chase sequences, and opt to just roll abstracted Pilot and/or Gunnery tests to resolve the matter.
 (the complexity of chase rules has always been a complete headache to manage)

If that's the case, what Kuirem suggests is perfectly valid. Rig-less drivers also work well in street/gang level games, since virtually no gangs could afford to outfit even their best pilots with control rigs; let alone stack rig boosts on top of that.

Otherwise, DO NOT SKIMP OUT ON THE CONTROL RIG. Barring GM foolishness or mercy, you *WILL* pay dearly for it.
I've seen entire games go to shit and the whole team get caught and/or killed PURELY because of a couple nasty rounds in vehicle combat.

Ideally, you avoid chase scenes entirely by doing the job quietly, or fleeing the scene before they figure out who hit them and what their vehicle looks like.
...Shadowun is a world of anything but "ideal". If you run long enough, you WILL eventually get into such a situation, and most of the time, it's your driver/pilot who is going to get you out of it.

[Csjarrat]

second vote for the rig here. well worth getting at least a rating one rig. to be fair, if you're not going to get the rig, playing as an adept specialised in driving is quite cool

[deylinarr]

thanks all for taking the time.  One followup question if I could..... the more I read, the more Im seeing Data Processing as a limit on certain things like remote control vs jumping into the vehicle.  Not that I see myself RC's the car to me all the time, but if I did would buying the rating 1 rig give me a DP = 1 therefore a limit of 1 on those actions?

[fseperent]

The rating of the Control Rig is added to the limit when jumped in.

[忍]

Control Rig

• When you’re jumped into a vehicle or drone, the control rig provides its Rating as a dice pool bonus on all Vehicle skill tests.
• Additionally, the rating of your control rig is added to the Handling and Speed of any vehicle you are jumped into.
• As if that was not enough, your Vehicle Test thresholds are reduced by the rating of your control rig (to a minimum of 1), again when you’re jumped in.

Jump into Rigged Device

... If you are the device’s owner, or the device’s owner has given you permission to jump into the device, you don’t need to make a test...

Control Device

You perform an action through a device you control (or at least control sufficiently), using your commlink or deck like a remote control or video-game controller...

All actions you take while controlling a device use either the normal limit (such as Handling or Sensor) for that action or your Data Processing rating (of the commlink you're using), whichever is lower.

[emphasis mine]

Having a Control Rig wouldn't benefit you when using the Control Device action, just when jumped in.

[Dwagonzhan]

Since a vehicle rigger will have exactly ONE device they must be jumped into (their vehicle) to do their thing, the Data Processing limit doesn't matter.