With rigger 5 out, the rigger AI got some upgrades. Sadly this came with the cost of more obfuscation.
Page 151 of Data Trails states,
(AI-driven drones use the attributes, skills, and Matrix Initiative of the AI.)
Ok cool. The AI's stats matter when jumped in a drone. However they don't have physical stats. They use something else, which is described in the Attributes section for AI. (page 146)
If an AI finds itself in a situation not covered in here and a Physical attribute is required (using Control Device to drive a car, for example), use the Foundation Attributes table for conversion (p. 110) even if the AI is outside a UV host.
Now drones don't usually have a Sleaze or Attack attribute, which would translate to Agility and Strength respectively for AI. (Although you can mod the drone to have Sleaze and/or Attack with rules in Data Trails.) This means (as per Data Trails) when an AI that is jumped into an Ares Duelist (for example) would attack, the AI would make a Blades + {Null Attribute} [Handling] roll to make an attack with one of its blade-arms.
Here comes Rigger 5 with some clarification. Under Drone Arm on page 125:
A drone’s cyberlimb starts with a Strength equal to its Body and an Agility equal to its Pilot.
Rigger 5 doesn't explicitly state that the Ares Duelist has a drone arm, but it does specify that they have a
light weapon mount (a vehicle mod) in their Standard Upgrades on page 155. (Also there is a minor conflict as to whether or not drone modification rules or vehicle modification rules are intended with the core rulebook drones on this table. The drone modification rules are "optional", however in order for a drone to have a Strength or Agility attribute the drone rules are needed. Otherwise a vehicle's "mechanical arm" and weapon mount pose some confusion.) [Yes, it
is a weapon mount, however there still are no attributes listed for those weapons.]
While in the CRB the drone's attack is described as using Pilot + [Weapon] Targeting autosoft [Accuracy] on page 183. This doesn't specifically imbue the Agility attribute via Pilot to an AI jumped into a drone. For a meatspace rigger, the gunnery skill comes into play [Insert Gunnery+ Agility vs Logic argument here]. For an AI whether or not Blades (or automatics and such) or Gunnery is used is a little confusing.
Ultimately this quandary poses two questions:
1. Given that AIs use their attributes and skills when jumped into a drone, what does an AI use to determine their dice pool? (Foundation stats // Drone stats)&&(Gunnery // Blades, Automatics, Exotic Weapon, etc)
2. How does one definitively determine the Strength and Agility attribute scores of a vehicle? (just Pilot // drone modification rules)
[spoiler]Possible stat lines:
Using Foundation
Body | | Vehicle's Body |
Agility | | Sleaze |
Reaction | | Data Processing |
Strength | | Attack |
Willpower | | AI stat |
Logic | | AI stat |
Intuition | | AI stat |
Charisma | | AI stat |
Using Drone
Body | | Vehicle's Body |
Agility | | Pilot(unless upgraded) |
Reaction | | unclear |
Strength | | Vehicle's Body |
Willpower | | AI stat |
Logic | | AI stat |
Intuition | | AI stat |
Charisma | | AI stat |
[/spoiler]
If there's some game mechanic or rule I've missed or overlooked please point it out. I'm not trying to make an argument for any permutation presented. I just want to understand the scenario of an AI jumped into a drone making an attack.