[joe15552]

So I'm just getting into looking at drones and the rules for them, and there's a big hole punched in my understanding of drone attributes.
My confusion began when I read the little tid-bit under "Drone Initiative" that says it is equal to the Pilot rating + Response.

This is confusing to me because I can't find a response rating for any drones. I see pilot and sensor, but no response.

My theory: All drones must have a comlink installed in them in order to have a response rating.

That's all I can come up with, but I can't find any rules for installing a comlink on a drone... I must not be understanding something everyone else understands... Anyone able to help?

[Dahrken]

See Arsenal page 102 :

As wireless-enabled devices, every vehicle/drone is considered to have a Device rating (see p. 213, SR4) that determines its standard Matrix attributes (Response, System, Firewall, and Signal). As noted on the Sample Devices table, p. 214, SR4, standard vehicles have Device ratings of 3, security vehicles have Device ratings of 4, and military vehicles have Device ratings of 5.

The individual Response, System, Firewall, and Signal ratings may be upgraded as normal (see p. 240, SR4). Note that Pilot rating is listed separately, and is not considered part of the Device rating.

I hope this helps you

[joe15552]

Yes it does! Thanks Dahrken. That means that I can upgrade my drone's response, signal, and system to 5 and it's firewall to 6 at char gen with a 12 availability limit! That was the missing piece of the puzzle.

Edit... well, apparently drone's system is it's pilot rating, so the best I can get at char gen is 4. Ah well. That's cool enough.

[KarmaInferno]

The Modular Electronics modification detailed in the SR4 Changes document will allow you to later increase the vehicle's ratings beyond base rating + 2 if you want.

Sadly, the extra content of the Changes document for some reason did not get included in the SR4A or any later books.



-k