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Top BP allocations for Dronomancer?

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Billy_Club

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« on: <02-15-11/1919:48> »
Hey all,

I've mostly finished writing up a Dronomancer (Technomancer / Rigger) for a game that's about to start and wanted some advice from the community.  Figured this was the forum for it, as it is character creation stuff.

I've looked over what I came out with and feel like I am far too short on skills and also on the ratings of the complex forms I've taken.  Without posting the whole thing up here, I'd like to get some feedback on what the most important skills and complex forms are for a Dronomancer and how you'd set them up in a best case, i.e. how many points you'd put in each and specializations you'd recommend. 

I ended up spending max (50) on nuyen so I could get a healthy number of drones and a vehicle to start, with all the fixings in sensors and a healthy array of weapons and specialty equipment for them.  This has left the character entirely as a support guy as I don't have the skills or abilities to do much actively, as the plan was to have Sprites do pretty much all the grunt work.  I won't be jumping into drones myself (Sprites here), but I'll probably be the only person in the group capable of Hacking which will also heavily rely on Sprites.  The GM hasn't indicated whether there will be opposing Technomancers, so I'm going with the rather feeble assumption that there won't be any/many at least to start so I should be able to get away with Sprites handling all the hacking and controlling drones for me.

Again, some input on the skills/specializations/forms that you think are most important and some idea of the ranks I should be shooting for to be truly making best use of the class would be much appreciated. 

Thanks in advance!

Inarai

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« Reply #1 on: <02-16-11/0759:08> »
From what I can tell from my own recent technomancer build, and from what I've read on here, technomancers are typically point starved builds, no matter what BP allocation you're working with.  There's just so much you have to spread it around to - that's the normal state of affairs.  With that in mind, I would suggest it is a bad idea to burn 50 BP on nuyen.  You don't need that many drones to begin with; it may be more than you want to manage, and it's a lot easier to come by money in play (or get the drones by other means, IE, theft) than to get Karma.  If you keep the numbers lower, too, it's easier to get Machine Sprites to take care of most of your drones.

The thing with technomancers, as well, is that the base rating of their complex forms isn't a great measure of their ability - it's far more important to consider the sprites that they can get to help them (having them act independently when registered or directly assist you by, say, adding their rating to Complex Form ratings), and their ability to thread Complex Forms to upgrade them on the fly - but with that sustaining modifier, you don't want to be doing too much of that at once.  In other words, technomancers find their strength in their ability to improvise, to create the right tool for the job or upgrade an existing one so it can do it.

If you want to be jumping in often, I'd suggest having the appropriate vehicle skills, obviously, in addition to the Electronic Warfare, Hardware, and Software skills.  Cybercombat could come up, and if you want to do some hacking make Cracking a group.  Mechanic skill if you can afford it after grabbing perception, dodge, and Infiltration or the stealth group.  Rigger with a bullet in his head isn't much good, is he?  Just remember that in the case of most skills where you add a complex form rating to your dice pool, you can thread the form or have a sprite improve it (must be registered).  With that in mind, make sure your Compiling, Registering, and Software are all high - Decompiling you can probably get away without.

As for Complex Forms, make sure to grab ECCM, Stealth, Attack, Armour and/or Shield, Exploit if you expect to hack, Scan, Analyze, Sniffer, Spoof, and Track - so you can deal with jamming, fly under the radar, buy yourself at least a little time if someone tries to track your ID down (if you're using Sprites for pilots, only another technomancer would be able to do anything with your drones that way, but it's valuable all the same for staying in the shadows), cybercombat - which may not be of your own choice, finding wireless nodes for, say, interfering with an enemy rigger, finding stealthed icons in your drones in case of an enemy trying to hack them, finding wireless traffic and an access ID so you can take some degree of control of another rigger's drones.  Command is also obvious for remote control purposes, but with the limitations on Remote Control I would definitely avoid spending too much on that.

If you keep at least a couple of sprites registered, learn to love threading, and make sure your Fading Stat is high, you can get around what looks on paper to be weaker, by being flexible and being able to allocate your strength to where you need it on the fly.

Disclaimer:  I haven't played a whole lot of SR thus far, so much of this is pure book analysis and what I'm getting from reading other posts on this forum.  I may be wrong, but this is as best as I've been able to figure out.

Billy_Club

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« Reply #2 on: <02-17-11/1851:45> »
So I did little shifting to the character I was working on and this is what I have so far. Primary concept is that the character is an invalid who rarely ever leaves the confines of his rigger cocoon and so has very few skills which would be used in the outside world. It is a rather large liability if that isn't an option, but that will be one of the character quirks that I will get to deal with in game.

Technomancer / Rigger

Name: Jordan Weir
Street name: Mithridates

Race: Human (0 BP)

Attributes: (150 BP)
Body: 1
Agility: 1
Reaction: 1
Strength: 1
Charisma: 5
Intuition: 5
Willpower: 4
Logic: 5

Special Attributes: (85 BP)
Edge: 4
Resonance: 6

Positive Qualities: (+25 BP)
Technomacner + 5
Paragon: 01 + 5
Resonance Bond: Allocation(3) + 15

Negative Qualities: (35 BP)
Moderate Common Allergy: Seawater - 15
Infirm - 20

Active Skills: (96 BP)
Compiling (Machine Sprites) 5/7 - 22
Registering (Machine Sprites) 5/7 - 22
Software (Threading) 4/6 - 18
Gunnery (Ballistic) 3/5 - 14
First Aid (Remote) 4/6 - 18

Knowledge Skills:
English (L33tspeak): N
Japanese: 3
Arabic: 3
Sioux: 3
Security Design (Matrix): 4/6
Security Procedures: 4
Matrix Games: 3
Gang ID: 4
Biology: 4

Resonance Stream:  Info Savant

Complex Forms: (28 BP)
Analyze: 1
Armor: 1
Attack: 1
Browse: 1
Command: 6
Encrypt: 3
Exploit: 1
Spoof: 2
Stealth: 6
ECCM: 6

Lifestye: 8,000/mo Middle
Low Comforts
Middle Entertainment
Low Necessities
Middle Neighborhood
Middle Security
In Tune
Resonance Well
Living By Committee
AI in Residence

Gear:
5 x Micro Tapper Bugs (Unwired) - 5000
Wuxing Crimson Samurai w/ Stoner M202, underbarrel MGL-12, and many weapon/sensor add-ons - 23315
Modified Renraku Manservant 3, kitted for combat - 15975
Modified Ford LEBD-1 w/ sniper rifle and extras - 20425
Very modified GMC Bulldog - 82975
Modified Dragonfly Drone - 11500
4 x MCT Fly Spy - 8000
Modified Evo Orderly (Rigger Cocoon, Retrans Unit, Valkyrie Module*) - 10100
Modified Lockheed Vulcan - 7000
Half Form Fit Body Armor - 900
Fake SIN 4 - 4000
Auto Shop - 5000
Disposable Commlink - 300

Contacts:
Fixer 2/2
Guild Member 2/2
« Last Edit: <02-18-11/0351:26> by Billy_Club »

Inarai

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« Reply #3 on: <02-17-11/2345:20> »
Okay, I see part of the issue, specifically, holy crap you're spending a lot on gear.  Your van alone costs a good 17 BP, a solid 10 above to normal cost.  What have you got on there?

That's also quite a lot of drones going.  I would suggest, again, that it's easier to get gear through play than to get the Karma to upgrade everything else - which is big when you have no Hacking, Cybercombat, mechanical skills of any sort...  Your Armour and Attack Forms, as well, should probably be a bit higher - as is, you can't function in Cybercombat, defaulting to a dice pool of zero on Attack tests, and you can't rely on threading alone, or that sustaining modifier will get you.  Your lack of Vehicle Skills will also present serious issues - your drones aren't any good if you can't keep them from crashing.

In other words, you might want to make sure your skills and such are up to snuff, and then get the gear you can - you may not be able to have everything you want, and skills/attributes/complex forms seem to have a much slower upgrade curve.

You might also want to look at the Full Immersion Lifestyle in Unwired as it might fit your character a bit better - basically someone who's in the Matrix at all times, period.

And, again, I could be completely off base.  But the issue with your skills seems very, very real.

Billy_Club

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« Reply #4 on: <02-18-11/0021:35> »
Full submersion is far too expensive for my tastes, and doesn't really fit my character concept since I do want the problem of whether or not to venture outside the vehicle in order to accomplish missions.  If I am in full submersion, I get no choice really.  Stuck in a tube and all that.

I know the van is expensive and I did end up cutting some things out of it and shifting points to complex forms and skills, about 10BP worth since when I posted the above.  However, it is also my home away from home and contains everything in it that would enable me to operate my drone network even completely lacking matrix connectivity.

Some things to consider:

Cybercombat - Handled entirely by my handy Paladin sprite.  (Also the threading penalty doesn't apply to the form you are threading, so I could thread a high rating combat form if I wanted to, which I probably won't.)  I don't really care about hurting things in the Matrix, but the Paladin can protect me from any but the very worst threats in matrix combat (A rating 6 paladin sprite is rolling 25 dice for its basic opposed matrix defense test and 12 to soak. With its Castling power all damage going to me goes to him instead while it just sits there avoiding/soaking damage).

Piloting / gunnery - Again handled by sprites.  I don't plan on doing any jumping into drones really, partly because of the risk but mostly because the sprites can do it better than I can and for free.  This will usually be registered sprites for obvious reasons.

Improving complex forms in game is actually relatively cheap (1 x new rating), doesn't cost anything and is a fast test. Learning new ones is a bit more intensive, which is why I took so many at rating 1.

I've also been chatting with my teammates to see if there are any other skills that are absolute must-haves and haven't come up with any yet.  I also have the long term plan of getting the echo that allows turning skillsofts into complex forms, since the karma cost for an echoed skillwire is way better than what improving a skill normally is.  So in the long run I'll start picking skills up but in the mean time sprites will be pulling the slack.

Inarai

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« Reply #5 on: <02-18-11/0029:20> »
Cybercombat: You don't get Paladins.  You get Crack, Data, Fault, Machine, and Tutor sprites, as specified by the Dronomancer stream.  Keep in mind, too, that Registering sprites takes a matter of hours, and that you can only have one unregistered sprite compiled at a time.  In other words, if you run out of sprite tasks, or are at the beginning of the game, you're gonna be in a degree of trouble.

In order to get the Paladin Sprite, you'd need to get about 13 Karma and get your first grade of submersion, and take the Sprite Link echo.

Billy_Club

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« Reply #6 on: <02-18-11/0254:03> »
Ah, I'm not actually that stream.  I just use the term because I'm a technomancer that uses drones.   :)  I took the Info Savant stream.

Inarai

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« Reply #7 on: <02-18-11/0332:02> »
Aha.  It's usually best to be clear about these things.  :P

Regardless, keep in mind that you're limited to 5 (Charisma) registered sprites, and one unregistered - and in that context, make sure you know how you're planning on running your drones.  For example, running 4 Fly Spies at once might be difficult.

Billy_Club

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« Reply #8 on: <02-18-11/0350:53> »
Right, I meant to put my stream in the character build but I apparently missed it!  /headslap

I'm with you on the sprites and that will be a hurdle in the beginning. I don't plan on having them inhabit the little drones, as they are just mostly expendable observers for coordination and such. Mainly they'll be in the combat drones and even then probably not running all of them at once (that is a lot of firepower and a big attention getter).  As the game progresses, I'll link at least one of them to permanent drone duty.  Whichever drone sees the most regular use.  That will free up more space for registered sprite to fill different roles.