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(4e) Help me build a self aware war machine

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EVILGRANDMASTER

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« on: <03-01-19/1524:07> »
Okay... So im a new GM for shadowrun and picked up 4e because of the sheer customization options available...however it is so customizable that it has become the most confusing system I have picked up to date. XD

So when your done laughing I would like some help.

Essentially im going a high point setting. Resistance vs Military stuff...and the players are military.

I am trying to figure out how to make a custom... Drone? I am not certain if I should call it that concidering from what I read drones need riggers to operate.

I am looking to build a robot guardian for a sniper character that is essentially a mechanical tiger with a LMG turret on its backas well as a few other integrated defence options, namely the ability to bite or claw something.
needless to say I am finding it quite difficult...And am hitting a wall. Mainly with the idea of giving it an adaptive AI, and not making it a remote controlled toy.

Sorry for the lengthy request. Hope to hear back from you all soon

Edit: Something ive concidered is making an undead shiawase cybertooth tiger with no essence... but Id like to try and make a robot first if possible

Also...The verification methood for making posts is extremely frustrating to try and get through.

Ajax

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« Reply #1 on: <03-01-19/1641:59> »
Drones do not need Riggers to operate, they can be operated remotely by someone with a computer/commlink/cyberdeck and appropriate access permission (or a hacker who breaks in). Drones can also be independently operating, with PilotSoft programs controlling the whole thing. A Rigger’s special augmentations and training just make them a hell of a lot better than any of these other options.

By way of comparison: just about anyone with a grill can make a burger (standard user operating the drone) and you can also buy a premade microwaveable burger (software controlled drone), but Gordon Ramsay’s (the rigger) going to cook a way nicer burger than anyone else.

Anyhow, since it sounds like you’re going to be building this as an NPC enemy... You don’t actually need to worry much about the specifics. Come up with a set of stats that work for you and throw some dice.
Evil looms. Cowboy up. Kill it. Get paid.

EVILGRANDMASTER

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« Reply #2 on: <03-01-19/1652:48> »
Interesting...Alright.

Then how about the other possibility?

From what it sounds like... A cyber zombie with a pilotsoft? Or would it be a cyberzombie with some sort of spirit posession?

Essentially I am thinking of a Tiger skeleton with a whole bunch of augmentations. How could that work?

Ajax

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« Reply #3 on: <03-01-19/1707:22> »
Well, cybermancy is one of those areas of the game that has always been more of a GM's tool than a real game mechanic meant for use by the player characters. So there aren't really cut and dry rules for it. Honestly, your best bet is to just Make Something Up.

SR4 has stats for Great Cats in the Core Rulebook (p. 291), and Augmentation has a section devoted to Bio-Drones (living creatures converted into drones via cyberware) and Cybermancy (keeping someone alive via black magic after you've stuffed so much chrome into them they died). You could combine the two.

But I feel I should stress that neither of these technologies (especially Cybermancy) are meant as options for Player Character use. They're more plot points than game mechanics.
Evil looms. Cowboy up. Kill it. Get paid.

EVILGRANDMASTER

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« Reply #4 on: <03-01-19/1717:53> »
good. thats exactly the kind of stuff im looking for in this.

So would the cyberzombie need an autosoft? Or is it like a spirit in how it can be commanded? then comes the question of how to install a turret on the kitty's back.

Sorry for the endless stream of questions, I am still figuring out how to deal with robotics and programming in game.

Ajax

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« Reply #5 on: <03-01-19/1852:39> »
So would the cyberzombie need an autosoft? Or is it like a spirit in how it can be commanded?

No, a cyberzombie still has a mind of it's own. It's tortured, degraded, trapped in a living hell, utterly incapable of empathy, and crazier than psychotic honey-badger on PCP... But it's still a metahuman mind.

Quote from: Augmentation p. 144
Something in their minds and souls understands they should be dead, and the will to live abandons them. Apathy, depression, derangements,and dementia are common, despite the chemical cocktails, implants, and spells used to counter them. Magiccannotcorrect this,and technology provides only temporary stop-gaps as the mind drifts and loses ever more of its identity.

[T]hen comes the question of how to install a turret on the kitty's back.

Cyberware Weapon Mounts, Augmentation p.43, specifically the Articulated Weapon Arm sounds exactly like what you're looking for.
Evil looms. Cowboy up. Kill it. Get paid.