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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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 Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 2:46 pm Post subject: Drones? |
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In real life we have Drone planes (and even some drone vehicles) that can operate (with someone controlling them) for hours on end, and even put a missile or three on target with a high rate of certainty..
What sort of stats would you give in SW format, for say a reaper or predator drone?
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Naaman
Vice Admiral
Joined: 29 Jul 2011
Posts: 3190
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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Hmmmm
Character or speeder scale when targeted by an enemy, but with loadouts ranging from character acale to starfighter scale (and possibly capitol scale, depending on how the GM defines these things).
Of course there would be fire control systems, various sensors (infrared, thermal, etc), and there would also be threat avoidance systems, but the pilot may not benefit much from these (I'll have to look into it, but I'm not aware of many cases wherein a drone has successfully escaped being shot out of the sky once its been targeted). |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 6:57 pm Post subject: |
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Honestly, being that this is Star Wars, I'd go with making it a droid, likely a 4th-Degree so that it can fire weapons. Communications being what they are in the SWU, real-time telemetry and command functions are only going to be possible on a local level, unless it can somehow incorporate its own Holo-Net transceiver.
The Empire uses the Viper Probe Droids as deep-space pickets as well as hunter-scouts (see the Star Wars Sourcebook, pg. 55-56). There is also mention in the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook of Alliance Intelligence using Deep Space Probe Droids for forward reconnaissance (see the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, pgs. 39-40, beginning with the text "Alliance probe droid D-127X").
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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I was wanting to make it a 'person controlled drone' so as to not do the droid way...
So that could potentially give PC's a chance to sensor/comm check into where the signals are coming from and taking it out, or hack in somehow and take over the drone etc..
But what would the skill be to operate a drone? Something under Mech or possibly Know or dex?
What about firing the weapons.. Would the dex skill "Vehicular weaponry" qualify or would it be more of a variant of the 'starship gunnery"?
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | I was wanting to make it a 'person controlled drone' so as to not do the droid way...
So that could potentially give PC's a chance to sensor/comm check into where the signals are coming from and taking it out, or hack in somehow and take over the drone etc.. |
In my opinion, droid brains can be fit into just about anything, so it is unlikely something like this wouldn't have at least a backup droid brain pilot in case it loses signal, complete with security protocols to provide at least some protection from hacking attempts. Not that it couldn't be done, just not likely.
A lot of your comms questions could potentially be answered by what we come up with over here.
| Quote: | But what would the skill be to operate a drone? Something under Mech or possibly Know or dex?
What about firing the weapons.. Would the dex skill "Vehicular weaponry" qualify or would it be more of a variant of the 'starship gunnery"? |
Mechanical to all of the above. All an operator would be doing is sitting at a console with a joystick, little different than flying a space transport or starfighter.
For that matter, I've always wondered why Vehicle Weaponry / Vehicle Blasters wasn't in Mechanical anyway. I can see it for something like a pintle-mounted E-Web, but weapons integrated into the vehicle itself (like the cannon on an AT-AT or a snowspeeder) are little different functionally than the laser cannon on a starfighter.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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Raven Redstar
Rear Admiral
Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 2648
Location: Salem, OR
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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You could easily just use a slave control remote circuit set up to pilot a remote speeder/starfighter.
Pilot makes their roll using the appropriate piloting skill, and just reflect the increased maneuverability or whatever due to the lack of a pilot within the fighter.
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RedKnight
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 01 Feb 2016
Posts: 103
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| Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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| as far as remote transmission - it could probably transmit to the ship that deployed and then the ship transmits the telemetry back via holonet but i really cant see some one deploying a droid fighter on solo operations to blow up Admiral ackbar at his nieces birthday party or anything. |
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Melkor
Ensign
Joined: 23 Aug 2016
Posts: 42
Location: Grants Pass Oregon
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| Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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| There is an arm mounted remote control unit you can install for your ship, I assume maxing out at freighter size. So I would make the assumption you could attach the same module to a droid and directly control it via remote. |
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garhkal
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 1:31 am Post subject: |
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How's about this for a 'test run'.
PU-3 Sli-kta drone
Size: 3 meters long, 4 meters wingspan
Flight altitude: 3,000 meters
Speed: 500kmh
Endurance: 16 hrs
Skill to operate: Drone piloting (Mech), Sensors (mech), Missile weapons (dex).
The Sli'kta drones are medium level long duration scout drones, often seen in recent space age tech worlds, as a means to alleviate the need for manned aircraft over numerous battles, or even for disaster relief support. These drones are equipped with a high freq burst crypto comm unit, to enable secure communications back and fourth to the controlling unit. Their sensor suite is sufficient to scan up to 12k in all directions in normal, low light, infrared, ground penetration, air quality, life signs, and can optionally allow for additional sensor units to scan for radiologist or chemical agents. They can be hooked up to carry 2 Hell-cat laser guided missiles, but doing so, drops their endurance (how long they can stay flying) to 12 hours.
When being used for 'camera monitoring' of a target, they can, even from where they are located at, get all the way down to tell how many freckles a person has.
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ForbinProject
Commander
Joined: 16 May 2016
Posts: 318
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 8:50 am Post subject: |
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Just pointing out one thing. Remotely piloted drones would be vulnerable to frequency jamming.
The drones would be great for a surprise attack or when used on low-tech worlds but if they are a massed produced item for sale, then they'll be in Imperial/Republic military databases and as soon as IFF sensors identify them frequency jamming will be put into effect to neutralize their threat. |
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14173
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 1:27 pm Post subject: |
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That they could be. however most pc groups (on ground ops at least) usually don't travel with powerful comm packs, needed to do the jamming..
And they would first have to know one is up there to jam it.
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Kytross
Line Captain
Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 782
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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| What about Darth Mail's search drones from episode 1? Do we have stats on those? |
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ForbinProject
Commander
Joined: 16 May 2016
Posts: 318
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | That they could be. however most pc groups (on ground ops at least) usually don't travel with powerful comm packs, needed to do the jamming..
And they would first have to know one is up there to jam it. |
My bad. I was thinking what might happen with the drones in the hands of PC's not the other way around. |
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ForbinProject
Commander
Joined: 16 May 2016
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| Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Kytross wrote: | | What about Darth Mail's search drones from episode 1? Do we have stats on those? |
Pretty sure those were probe droids not drones.
Dark Eye Probe Droid
Type: Arakyd Industries DRK-1 “Dark Eye” Probe Droid
DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 4D, dodge 5D
KNOWLEDGE 3D
Scholar: Jedi lore 6D, survival 7D
MECHANICAL 1D
PERCEPTION 3D
Hide 7D, search 10D, sneak 6D
STRENGTH 1D
TECHNICAL 1D
Equipped With:
-Anti-scan shell (scan-absorbing shell provides a +1D+1 bonus to hide skill rolls)
-Comlink
-Improved sensor package (+2 bonus to all search skill rolls)
-Infrared vision (the droid can see in the dark up to 30 meters)
-Laser cannon (5D damage, range: 3-30/100/300)
-Low light vision (the droid can see twice as far as a human in dim light)
-Motion sensors (+2 bonus to search checks against moving targets)
-Recording unit (the droid can record and play back up to 5 minutes of footage)
-Self-destruct system (the droid will self-destruct/explode under predetermined circumstances)
-Sonic sensors (+2 bonus to search checks that involve sound)
-Stun blaster (4D stun damage, range: 3-10/30/120)
-Poison dart needler (range 3-10/30/60, see below for other details)
-Telescopic vision (the droid’s visual sensors include a longrange capability)
-Weapon mounts (the droid has three appendages that have weapons attached to them)
Equipment Notes:
Poison Dart Needler: This needler gun is loaded with darts that contain a paralytic poison. The darts inflict no damage, but if used against an unarmored target (or an unarmored portion of a target, see the rules for called shots, SWD6, page 91), they inject their poison. The target of such an attack must succeed at a Difficult Strength check or be paralyzed and unable to move for 1D x 40 minutes (40-240 minutes). No ammunition total is listed, so assume the needler gun carries enough darts for ten shots.
Move: 16
Size: Tiny
Cost: Not available for sale.
Source: The Dark Side Sourcebook (pages 64-65), Arms and Equipment Guide (page 60) |
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MrNexx
Rear Admiral
Joined: 25 Mar 2016
Posts: 2248
Location: San Antonio
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| Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:56 am Post subject: |
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I'd say, as others pointed out, most places you'd have a drone in the modern day, you'd have a droid in SW... even if they had drones, I wouldn't be surprised if they had droid back-up brains for some of their functions ("Whoops, signal jamming means I don't have external control anymore. Droid brain has kicked in and done what it's supposed to do.")
With a lot of the smaller droids, you could probably rip out the brain and install remote controls, though.
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