Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: "Jackson, Hank" <Hank.Jackson@*********.COM>
Subject: Drones Discussion
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 10:45:10 -0500
Hello everyone,

I've been following the drones discussion. Some people have mentioned
that a corp. will not want to invest in cyberware for someone who might
not be worth the investment. I wish to interject that a person does not
have to have a VCR to run a remote deck. They just need the skill.
Admittedly, they will not get a Control pool and an initiative
adjustment. They will also be cheese in combat with a rigger, but for
surveillance it might work. They also would not have to worry about
drone destruction damage. A person with a high skill and reasonable
Stealth might not ever have to get in a conflict.

Comments?
Galen
Message no. 2
From: Lehlan Decker <decker@****.FSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Drones Discussion
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 11:08:23 -0500
On Fri, Jan 23, 1998 at 10:45:10AM -0500, Jackson, Hank wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I've been following the drones discussion. Some people have mentioned
> that a corp. will not want to invest in cyberware for someone who might
> not be worth the investment. I wish to interject that a person does not
> have to have a VCR to run a remote deck. They just need the skill.
> Admittedly, they will not get a Control pool and an initiative
> adjustment. They will also be cheese in combat with a rigger, but for
> surveillance it might work. They also would not have to worry about
> drone destruction damage. A person with a high skill and reasonable
> Stealth might not ever have to get in a conflict.
>
> Comments?
> Galen
This is possible. but if I'm going to spend say 100k on drones, dropping
the loot for VCR-1, is chump change. It's also been mentioned before.
I'm guessing before a corp ever spent big nuyen on a person, they
would be subjected to a battery of psycholigical, and loyalty tests.
Hell someone with VCR-3, may even have a small cortex bomb.
In 205x, an expert system, could probably handle drones better then
the average un-VCR'ed person.
Later.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lehlan Decker 644-4534 Systems Development
decker@****.fsu.edu http://www.scri.fsu.edu/~decker
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Some people are alive, only because its illegal to kill them.
Message no. 3
From: Mon goose <landsquid@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Drones Discussion
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 14:50:55 PST
>> I've been following the drones discussion. Some people have
mentioned that a corp. will not want to invest in cyberware for
>>someone who might not be worth the investment.

I Don't think the Corp WOULD be "investing" in the cyber.
Instead,the corporation puts a nice, easy payment plan in the job
contract you sign. If you ever quit, the lump sum comes due. Including
the surgery cost, which you previously got cheap as it was part of your
health care.
Have you evr had a job where you neededto buy equipment : uniform,
radio, what not? If the payments are amortized over along periodof
time, it provides a stron incentivenot to quit. Sometimes your just
LEASING the pricier stuff, although that probably wouldn't apply to
cyber.

Not that this doesn't cost the corp some money, and that the job
interview and reviews won't involve some serious "loyalty affermation".
But installing cyber (especially VCR's) isn't more expensive than
technical training needed to do the job. Who pays for that training
now? Sometimes the company, somtimes theemployee. You probaly don't
apply to be a programmer in 2057 if you don't have a 'Jack.

>> I wish to interject that a person does not
>> have to have a VCR to run a remote deck. They just need the skill.
>> Admittedly, they will not get a Control pool and an initiative
>> adjustment. They will also be cheese in combat with a rigger, but
for surveillance it might work. They also would not have to worry about
drone destruction damage. A person with a high skill and reasonable
Stealth might not ever have to get in a conflict.
>>
>> Comments?

Assaid, the VCRis not topricycompared to the deck and drones, but those
don't have legs. A dishonest oppertator could "arrange"to have them
stollen, so not giving him a VCR doen't reduce financial risk mutch-in
fact,the iproved performance would probaly save money on drones and
failed missions, as well as providing another backup if a real rigger
gets sick / killed.

I think the plethora of drone equipment in theCorporate Security Catalog
speaks well to the Corporate attitude on using drones. Guards are like
watchers made of meat, and are good for PR. In fact, they are probably
better than drones for such things as noticing fishy behavior of a
person in a crowd, and asking a few subtle questions, as opposedto just
nuetralizing intruders (which drones excell at). Which are you going to
step asside with- Joe donut chomper, or Killbot MK XIV? What if you are
just fishy, and not a runner? Can Killbot's opperator question you
quietly and inobtrusively to tell the difference?

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Message no. 4
From: Ereskanti <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: Drones Discussion
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 17:52:14 EST
In a message dated 98-01-23 10:48:04 EST, Hank.Jackson@*********.COM writes:

> I've been following the drones discussion. Some people have mentioned
> that a corp. will not want to invest in cyberware for someone who might
> not be worth the investment. I wish to interject that a person does not
> have to have a VCR to run a remote deck. They just need the skill.
> Admittedly, they will not get a Control pool and an initiative
> adjustment. They will also be cheese in combat with a rigger, but for
> surveillance it might work. They also would not have to worry about
> drone destruction damage. A person with a high skill and reasonable
> Stealth might not ever have to get in a conflict.
>
> Comments?
>
Of course we have comments...

I agree with you Galen, a drone user doesn't -have- to be a Rigger. Hell, it
could be a "smart system" with a (meta)human user simply monitoring reports
and vidcams. It could be even more interesting if the person has the "Vehicle
Empathy" edge, and no VCR to speak of....

-K

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Drones Discussion, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!