[Rhal]

I am in the process of building a rigger, my first one ever, and was wondering if everyone could give me some advice on what I should put attributes at and skills (must haves, good to have, ignore completely).

[Crash_00]

What books will you have access too?

Also, there are three kinds of rigging, it'd be useful to know which one/ones you plan on using. The types are:
Autonomous Control: You issue commands and let the drones carry out the commands on their own. In this case, upgrading the drones is usually more important than your stats really. The drones will be rolling pilot + any relevant autosoft + any modifiers.

Command Rigging: You use your command program to directly remote control a given drone. Very effective due to the ease of getting a high command rating program, but every action you take is automatically a complex action. Usually here you're going to want to focus on a commlink that can run the high rating command programs and getting the skills you'll need (you'll always be rolling Command Rating + Skill for your rolls, instead of the normal Att + Skill).

Jumped In: You actually go VR and "are" the machine, seeing through it's sense and controlling it directly through DNI. In this case you'll want to focus on getting your response (drone) and sensors (drone) extremely high so that you have more dice (they replace your normal att for using skills in the drone).

[Rhal]

Allowed books are:

ShadowRun 4th Edition Core Book
Runner's Companion
Arsenal
Street Magic
Unwired
Augmentation (pending GM getting book)

As for the different types of rigging, I was think of a blending of Autonomous Control and Command Rigging - possibly with the ability to Jump In. Not sure if any of these are inherently better than the others.

[Sichr]

1. Install Move-by-wire.
With this, you get reatction upgrade that you should use when you are driving without being jumped in or otherwise remotely in controll
You also have ratingx2 slots for active skillsofts, that you can use for skills you can find usefull during the way

2. Get the highest possible Command program and upgrade it with Optimization 3 and Ergonomy options, so you can run it even on low performance devices without limiting capacity for other programs. High Rating ECCM also necessary so you are able to work even in jammed area. Databomb...so you can place a mine in every device you controll

3. Get your devices - comlink, vehicles, drones - response upgraded to maximum level, since response is crucial when you are jumped in. Also, Apply Hardening 6 to all those devices to make them more resistant versus EMP attacks

4. Buy Rig and Hot Sim modification (and datajack or skinlink so you dont depend on wifi in every case) 

5. Buy Nanohive and Rig booster nanites (Augmentation)

6. You need at least Electronic warfare from Cracking group, and Cybercombat when you got attacked. Hacking also for Spoof and Trace user actions. And Computers for lot of other things such as Matrix perception etc.

7. With HotsimVR, RIG and Nanites 3 you are able to get +7 dices for driving tests, so you dont necessarily need very high Driving skills. But you need those that are not Defaultable, like Pilot Aircraft (every single FlySpy drone needs this) and others. If you are going for remote control, buy Remote control specialization.

8. Navigation, Shadowing and Stealth skills are also good to have for lot of situations

9. And lot of other things, like datasearch (can be used to find lot of things in wireless chaoss, like commanding channels, smartgun data etc.)

10. Technical skills, accompanied with Knowledge skills on engineering, Automotive, Hardware, possibly even Software etc.

11. Good to have is More than metahuman and Natural hardening qualities

 

im writing this based on my current rigger experience, but many others may have another ideas...

[Crash_00]

Skillwise is pretty much flavor based on what you want your character to actually do as a rigger. Some important ones for most riggers are:
-Gunnery (anything mounted on your drones is going to be fired using gunnery). That said, if you do autonomous commands much, you'll want Targeting autosofts for your drones. Targeting autosofts are broken down by weapon skill (Pistols, Automatics, Longarms, Heavy Weapons, etc.), and must be bought for each one sepearately despite the fact that technically the drone would technically be rolling gunnery anyway. When remote control operating a drone (via the command program) you'll be rolling Command + Gunnery to fire your weapons. When a drone fires it's own weapons, it rolls Pilot + Targetting. When firing weapons jumped in, you roll Sensor + Gunnery. Remember, Gunnery isn't a combat skill. It's a vehicle skill, so anything that grants a bonus to vehicle skills will affect Gunnery.

-Perception. When viewing through a drone's sensors (jumped in or remote control) you'll be rolling Sensor + Perception. For autonomous controlled drones, they'll be needing a Clearsight autosoft to boost their perceptive abilities and get to roll Sensor + Clearsight.

-Infiltration. Covers any maneuvers that are intended to keep your drone out of sight, or in other words, sneaking along just like in your meat body. Remote Control users roll Command + Infiltration. Jumped in roll Response + Infiltration. Autonomous roll Pilot + Covert Ops (Covert Ops is an autosoft).

Other than those big three, you'll want your piloting skills (which really vary just depending on what you're wanting to be able to use). Most drones are covered by either Aircraft, Groundcraft, or Anthroform. Aircraft and Anthroform cannot be defaulted on, so picking them up at 1 if you aren't sure is always a good bet.

As you can see, attributes don't play a huge roll for riggers. You have a fairly free reign there. Many riggers go the logic route and provide their own servicing and repair, but you can easily take a decent loyalty contact to cover that front if you want.

Another thing to keep in mind, for remote control, is that your Command program is going to be replacing your attribute most of the time. So specialty skills like Locksmith, Hardware, etc. can easily be handled through the drone. Keep this in mind when designing the character. Similarly, the [Profession] autosoft from Unwired (must be taken once per skill being replaced) can easily be used to gain access to skills you haven't taken or make use of drones in unique ways ([Profession: Exotic Melee Weapon cutting torch to get through barriers for instance).

As for gear. you want to get a good commlink starting out. Most people use the DR5 Battle Buddy Basic out of War!, but since that isn't in your list of books, it looks like the best you can go for is the Fairlight Caliban. You can get a response upgrade to it, but I'd honestly just hold off until after creation so that you can grab a response 6 upgrade without having to use a Restricted Gear quality.

If you really want a top of the line commlink right out of the box, I highly recommend spending Restricted Gear and just picking up full blown Light Military Armor. It costs 22,000¥ for the armor and helmet, but it comes with a Commlink that has (Firewall, Response, Signal, System, and Encryption Rating 4). For another 8.5k when you buy it you can get your Response and Signal increased to 6. This totals 30,500¥ and a 5 pt. quality.

A Fairlight Caliban costs 8k and modules to increase it to Response 6 would be another 8k for a total of 16k and the 5 pt. quality (Restricted Gear for the upgrade). Which means that the armor would only end up costing you about 14.5k which is an absolute steal (and you'd have an extra point of signal and encryption 4 program).

Drones are really a matter of preference and game style. The only thing I really have to say is that tossing Firewall 6 in all your drones is a great security measure.

[UmaroVI]

Jumped In: You actually go VR and "are" the machine, seeing through it's sense and controlling it directly through DNI. In this case you'll want to focus on getting your response (commlink) and sensors (done) extremely high so that you have more dice (they replace your normal att for using skills in the drone).

This isn't correct. It's actually the drone's Response, not your commlink's Response, when jumping in. You use your commlink's response with Remote Control. SR4A 245.

[_Pax_]

5. Buy Nanohive and Rig booster nanites (Augmentation)

Rather than the nanohive and Control Rig Booster nanites, I'd suggest you get a Simsense Booster (Augmentation, p37):
Simsense Booster:  Thee implant incorporates a number of
serial neural stimulators inserted into the areas of the user’s cortex
that enhance the brain’s ability to process and respond to virtual
reality (VR) stimuli.  This reduces reaction times when operating
in VR, be it using a hot or cold interface (see VR Access Mode,
p. 225, SR4A). Characters possessing a simsense booster boast an
additional extra Initiative Pass when operating in VR (for a maximum
of three Initiative Passes when operating in cold sim and four
Initiative Passes when operating in hot sim).
[/hr]

An extra initiative pass means, you can Captains-Chair an extra drone .... or eke out a whole new set of actions from an existing drone.

[Henzington]

The nice part about jumped in is you can get the bonus from hot sim and a control rig when using a vehicle.  Much like hackers if you use VR the only attribute which directly affects your actions will be intuition which affects your initiative.

[Sichr]

5. Buy Nanohive and Rig booster nanites (Augmentation)

Rather than the nanohive and Control Rig Booster nanites, I'd suggest you get a Simsense Booster (Augmentation, p37):
Simsense Booster:  Thee implant incorporates a number of
serial neural stimulators inserted into the areas of the user’s cortex
that enhance the brain’s ability to process and respond to virtual
reality (VR) stimuli.  This reduces reaction times when operating
in VR, be it using a hot or cold interface (see VR Access Mode,
p. 225, SR4A). Characters possessing a simsense booster boast an
additional extra Initiative Pass when operating in VR (for a maximum
of three Initiative Passes when operating in cold sim and four
Initiative Passes when operating in hot sim).
[/hr]

An extra initiative pass means, you can Captains-Chair an extra drone .... or eke out a whole new set of actions from an existing drone.

Spiders choice

[Crash_00]

The nice part about jumped in is you can get the bonus from hot sim and a control rig when using a vehicle.  Much like hackers if you use VR the only attribute which directly affects your actions will be intuition which affects your initiative.

Response 5 + Gunnery 6 (Remote Control +2) + 2 Hot Sim + 2 Control Rig + 2 Smartlink + 2 Tactical Software (Highly Recommended) is a fairly conservative 21 dice for shooting people in the face.  Fairly cheap to accomplish. (24 dice later when you manage to get TacNet 4 and Response 6)

Autonomously controlled drones can get pretty high too, but it's much more expensive. Pilot 3 + Targeting 4 + Smartlink 2 + Tactical Software 2 is 11 dice for shooting people in the face (16 dice when you manage to get pilot to six and tacnet to 4). Much lower than jumped in, but you can have lots of them running around.