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smarterguns

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shinryu

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« on: <08-09-13/2225:01> »
so i am not one of the old-school players who bemoans the wireless smartgun as the end of shadowrun; i think there's a pretty defensible interpretation that the "lock-on" of the smartgun is helped by a combination of sensor fusion and environmental data in wireless mode, and the change from the dice pool bonus to the accuracy bonus is really more about a game-mechanical change than "suddenly old smartguns sux"; no, new smartguns is betters is all.

however, this does beg the question: why shouldn't a wireless smartgun benefit from sensor targeting rules? interpreting slightly creatively here, but if one could put a rating 3 sensor package into a targeting scope or similar package (don't see why not, effectively hand-held, has capacity) then why not use that for active targeting purposes? sure, you get the -3 to your perception + intuition test against metahumans, but you could run the sensor with wires into the smartgun hardware so there's no need to worry about wireless. a simple action could give your target up to a -3 defense penalty on top of rocking them with autofire. better yet, a wireless smartgun could let you paint targets with better sensors on connected drones or other separate devices on your person (like that nifty helmet on full body armor, say). seems like a win-win for corpsec; put high-quality sensors on your property or your guards and their guns, and your security is more likely to see intruders and more likely to hit them in the first place.

All4BigGuns

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« Reply #1 on: <08-09-13/2248:40> »
Changing it to the Accuracy bonus at a base is just so that they could have something quick and easy to make into the 'wireless bonus'. No, it doesn't spell the end of Shadowrun, but it does render the smart-link pretty much useless except to the best-of-the-best-of-the-best among marksman without wireless (you know, the sorts that don't need the smart-link normally anyway). Something like what you suggest would have probably been a better wireless bonus for it.
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RHat

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« Reply #2 on: <08-10-13/0205:46> »
Changing it to the Accuracy bonus at a base is just so that they could have something quick and easy to make into the 'wireless bonus'.

Not unless you think the commentary we've gotten on the subject is an intentional lie - we've been told that smartgun being converted to Accuracy preceded the concept of wireless bonuses.
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Michael Chandra

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« Reply #3 on: <08-10-13/0446:22> »
And nearly all dp gear has become limit-gear instead. Only some were then edited to add dp again as wireless bonus. Which I disagree with in most cases, by the way, but the accuracy-increase is decent. And the math has proven that the Accuracy increase matters significantly even for moderate dicepools. (I also did a random-rolls test at one point which summed that up quite nicely.)
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shinryu

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« Reply #4 on: <08-10-13/0630:16> »
again, i'm not down on the accuracy change; were it me, i would have done it as All4BigGuns suggests and handled the entire thing as a sensor targeting action, but let the sensor targeting be a free action if you were running wireless (sensor fusion and all letting you track multiple targets rather than having to aim and get range/data for just the one you're painting at the time). alternatively, you could have your smartgun bonus apply to multiple attacks rather than just one target if you were wireless.

however, i don't think the current rules and the idea of using sensor targeting are mutually exclusive; indeed, the example of riggers running smartguns through drones seems to imply that both systems work synergistically. so is there any reason that this shouldn't hold true for hand-held weapons? it's not even that huge of a bonus, really.