Hi,
I am currently thinking about drones, their AI and the game play. And I am interest in – How do you handle this. Maybe I have overlooked something.
So – How do you handle, if it comes to automatic action of drones? As specially from player drones. E. g. autonomic driving, fire guns and hitting the right person. Do some scouting. Suffering damage. I guess a drone for a player means more than a simple drone for the MC as npc.
I try to keep AI fairly weak and limited. Left on their own, drone AIs will be pretty rudimentary (navigate safely from A to B, send a notification if someone enters the room). I don’t think it would be wise to let drones autonomously engage targets without supervision (for runners, since their use cases are… atypical from the manufacturer’s point of view).
Mechanically, it means that if a player tells me they let their drone do their own thing, it leaves me open to make a GM move. You could also let them Conduct an Operation with +Mind instead.
Likewise… autonomous or not, drones are basically a means for the operator to take action, not an excuse for excessive multi-tasking. They’re not intelligent, so while they don’t require manual control for every action, they do require supervision.
So I’m fine with the Driver operating his vehicle with a couple of autonomous drones providing air cover against pursuit… not so much with the same character to be engaged in a running highway battle in-vehicle while simultaneously fighting security guards halfway via drones from halfway across the city.
This is basically the same issue when directing gangs that AREN’T engaging in violence; there is a huge gap in guidance for the mechanical interaction with the rules at the table…
The easy answer is that drones/gangs don’t provide any mechanical interaction with the rules (outside of gang combat) and only allow for fictional positioning (a super unsatisfying conclusion IMHO).
Another option is to utilize Conduct an Operation as a way to randomize how well the autonomous assets where deployed since there isn’t a way to mechanically determine the quality of the asset.
Ah. ok. That is my impression, too. Maybe one step back. How do you handle a direct order. E. g. Driver and drone are close to each other and the order is – fire on car in front of my car. Or at that person there. Is there a move that handles the drone fire like it is for characters? Assuming that the target has it’s own damage clock.
I’m asking all that, because I am starting my first session. We got the world and things are moving on. 🙂
Thanks
Viktor Weimer If you’re ordering a a drone to shoot something, it’s the same moves as if the player did it directly… mix it up, play hardball, help or interfere, etc…
Thanks Simon Geard got it. For my excuse – I am moving from Shadowrun. Played The Sprawl on a con as on shot and directly loved it. But as it is. New System and style of play leads to new questions.
Viktor Weimer – something to keep in mind is that The Sprawl doesn’t have rules for shooting people at all, whether done by hand or by drone. It has rules for resolving situations, and while shooting people might be part of that resolution, it’s not part of the rules.
“Seizing an objective” might involve setting off a backpack-nuke and killing thousands – or it might just involve pointing a gun at someone and asking them politely to surrender. It’s the same move either way – it’s simply a question whether you can arrange circumstances that justify applying the move (you don’t get to “seize an objective” when you’re naked, unarmed, and opposed by an army).
Simon Geard – OK thanks. So in case you use mainly drones to solve a problem. Would it be OK to use Synth for the role? (searching, fire, ….) Because it is more a technical than a physical way to get it solved. Did I get it. 🙂