Ah, got ya.
Oh, that's right—I thought you had gone with regular Wealthy (which would cover most of your stuff as it is).
Unfortunately, GURPS predates drone warfare by enough years to not have detailed sections on that stuff, though homebrewing things is probably appropriate. (They mention that any TL9 or greater vehicle can be piloted using a VR interface, but don't provide stats for this or talk about drones smaller than car size. My naive idea would be to roll either your piloting skill or the drone's skill for most tasks they might perform, taking either the higher or the lower of the two skills depending on what subroutines are installed)
Some tech from Ultratech you might be interested in:
-Robotic guided missiles with a tactical launcher (16-mile range, $2,500, 6dx30 damage) are good as a last resort for when you absolutely need to level a castle or village from a neighboring hilltop.
-All sorts of sleeping gas grenades and tasters
Transhuman Space appears to have some purchasable drone stats in its appendix, though TL isn't listed. This includes stats for "wearable AIs" with limited skill sets (similar to Iron Man's Jarvis), though that seems above TL9 (which usually lists true AI as prohibitively expensive); flying cameras with AIs are priced around $2,000-$5,000 each (and if you took out the AI and limited it to a simple patrol subroutine or manual control, that could work well).
Infinite Worlds prices drones capable of making parachronic jumps at $400k-500k, making sending a dumber bot with a pilot much more reasonable. There's also messenger drones, which are described as cheap but not statted out.
I wonder if you could have a central node with an AI controlling the camera drones? That would allow you to only worry about on AI unit and you could have pretty cheap camera drones feeding it information and allowing it to process it. Just give them some simple subroutines to cover the cases when you lose the connection.
That said, I've been thinking about what her equipment loadout would be like eventually. Right now, she has a battlesuit, a set of ballistic armor for when she can't use the battlesuit, some sets of tools for repairs and engineering work, and a few firearms. Eventually, I'd like to have some kind of heavy vehicle that could transport the disassembled mech, and has a crane to assemble it. A power source to charge weapons, suits, and other things, as well as various bits of gear so it can act as a mobile command base and coordinate the various drones (recon drones, combat robots, support drones, and the like.) Of course, that's subject to the GM's approval. As for the AI, I plan on Jaq being a pioneer in the area, so she'd be the one hired to make one. :D
I do like the idea of having a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency kind of weapons in reserve, although, given Jaq's disposition about weaponry, she'd probably be begging for clearance to use it.
"C'mon! It's not like I'm nukin' them! I promise, I'll keep the damage to a minimum this time!"
Maybe the license plate on the rig can read "OVERKILL."
Should have gadeteer. It would help costs by constructing suits and weapons from scratch. But not the quick version.
Ah, figured I was forgetting something. I got the ultra-tech book and I'm getting some ideas, so I may be doing some rebuilding. And I read you on the no quick version.
The bumper sticker on the back of our rig: "WE BRAKE FOR NOBODY."
Ah, that is a very good one. I think "BIG FOOT" would also be appropriate.
Although, given the hoppin' about, I think "TARDIS" would also work.
Anyway, I think I've got it this time. Not as much wiggle room with the equipment.
I still need to read through the Infinite Worlds book, so this is going to be very rough and vague until I can find where it fits into the setting.
Jaquline Cho was born on a world quickly abandoning fossil fuels and turning to other sources of energy. Advancements in computer hardware and software, and the first steps into wetware meant that the first true AIs were being developed and cybernetic prostheses were becoming available when she was graduating high school. Her obsessions with robotics and weaponry left her with few friends despite her natural charm. Enrolling at the finest engineering and technical school she could afford, she spent the next couple of years studying robotics, computer science and programming, various engineering disciplines, and physics. She was on the fast track to obtaining several degrees when a combination of two events halted her education.
The first was the declaration of war by an alliance of oil producing countries hit hardest by the rapid transition to greener forms of energy. The alliance managed to invade multiple countries and secure their power generators and receivers. Alarmed, her country enacted the draft, and Jaquline was in the first wave of draftees to boot camp. She graduated and was given her orders just in time for the collapse of the alliance as the various counties fell into in-fighting.
She could have continued her studies after this, if it hadn't been for the second event. A new board of professors had been elected to review student performance. Unfortunately, many of the professors on the new board had ties to various projects funded by wealthy patrons that wanted the best educations for their children. Unfortunately for Jaquline, her family was not among the patrons, and the number of courses she took had cut into the seats they could give those said children.
Jaquline received a letter informing her that her scholarship had been revoked due to her part in a prank that been blown out of proportion to give the professors the excuse they needed. Knowing she needed to get the money before she could ever hope to complete her education. AS the weeks passed by, and she desperately searched for meaningful employment in a market saturated with other draftees. Almost as a joke between her and her father, an former marine, she applied for one of the mercenary companies that had been tapped to deal with security in the now collapsed countries that had precipitated the crisis that caused her to get drafted in the first place.
Three days later, she, and her father were surprised that she'd been called in for an interview. Another week, and she was on her way to training. Having so recently gone through boot camp, she found it easy to slip back into the role of recruit. Three months later, she was on her way to civil war decimated lands she would have marched in on if they hadn't self-destructed. The next year and a half hardened the young woman to the sights of the human rights violations she witnessed. Thankful that her outfit had never perpetrated those crimes, she soon discovered that honor often had a downside. Her unit was being sent to the worst of the war-torn regions to find the remains of the various armies and neutralize them.
On the way to the drop-off point, her unit came under attack. The tilt-rotor she, and another two dozen mercenaries, occupied was hit. Unable to maintain altitude the pilot made for a relatively safe patch of ground for a crash landing. Jaquline was a member of the forward fire-team, the point as fate had it. Almost before the craft stopped lurching, she was out of the restraints and making for the open ramp of the cargo bay.
It was well she had, for mere seconds after crashing, the tilt-rotor was hit by a pair of rockets from shoulder-mounted box launchers. The first blew the pilots, the cockpit, and the forward quarter of the cargo bay to blazing shrapnel. The second turned the rest of the craft into wreckage. The concussion of the blast had knocked Jaquline to the dirt just as a fireball roared over her. She blacked out, even the heavy armor she wore unable to shield her from the battering impact. The attack craft escorting the tilt-rotors turned and made short work of the insurgents. Heavy smoke kept them from seeing that Jaquline had survived the ambush, and so they flew on, more cautious, and hoping for revenge.
Jaquline came to a few hours later as the first stars began to pepper the sky. She saw little through her blurry vision. A strange craft of some sort, and people in strange uniforms that she did not recognize. The closest motioned over to her, waving to the tattered pack that held the rest of her gear, most of which had managed to survive the explosions. She tried to look up, to see what was going on, but the darkness of unconsciousness claimed her again.