[RPG] run all of the drone autosoft from an RCC

dronesshadowrun-sr5

I was reading the rules governing drones actions, and how an RCC can share autosoft stored on it to slaved drones. It is clearly stated that an RCC can only run [Device Rating] autosofts at once, however at no point is it ever mentioned that a singular autosoft cannot be shared with more than on slaved device. Sure it makes all the devices rely on the dog brain if something happens to the RCC or the connection, but that's a huge economy in softwares!

Here's my example if my explanation was fuzzy. I have 3 MCT-Nissan Roto-Drone with mounted Ares Alpha, and an Ares Roadmaster with mounted Ares Alpha as well. Instead of buying 4 Ares Alpha Targeting autosoft, could I slave them all to my RCC and run a single autosoft for the 4 of them?

Best Answer

Yes, programs that are run on the RCC are shared between all slaved drones. Since it's [Weapon] Targeting you need to run one Autosoft per weapon type used. Since you're only using Ares Alphas, you only need a single Autosoft for this purpose.

Note that you need to run all of the Autosofts on the RCC if you want this benefit, so if you want to run the Evasion autosoft for all your drones, you'd need to run 2 more softs on the RCC (one for each model) and for the Maneuvering, you'd need to run 2 more autosofts on the RCC. Also for every Autosoft you run on your RCC, one less point of Noise Reduction is available, so choose the programs wisely...

SR5 p.267, Noise Reduction & Sharing (emphasis mine)

The Sharing rating is the number of autosofts you can run on the RCC that simultaneously run on all slaved drones at the same time. One caveat: if a drone is running any of its own autosofts, it cannot benefit from the RCC’s autosofts.

The total of [the Sharing and Noise Reduction ratings] cannot exceed the device rating of the RCC.

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