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I hope this is in the right place, forgive me if not. My question is this: Can I create a drone that my PC can ride in? If I have a Ysoki mechanic (Doesn't everyone?) who is small, why couldn't I create my drone (which is medium sized), to have a "cockpit" in which my PC could ride and fight?
Next Question: Would such a thing be society legal?
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You would likely get a better response posting this in the General Starfinder area. I have flagged the post to be moved if the admins agree.
As to your second question, I think it would be legal to "skin" the drone as you want as long as you don't try to get any mechanical benefits from it other than what is allowed within the drone mods. There would be a concern of Power Armor, which is clearly something that a character rides in.
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Cockpit? Not exactly. There is, however, a riding saddle drone mod. Since you're a ysoki you should be able to ride your drone using this and not have the drone slow down.
I would, however, warn you that the rules for this are currently really ambiguous, so will be subject to a lot of GM discretion, which can be problematic in society if you're going to be playing with a lot of different GMs.
Something issues with the riding drone that have yet to be cleared up as far as I know:
The Riding Saddle drone module says: "You can direct your drone mount in battle without attempting Survival checks." Does this lack of survival check requirement only apply to all potential survival checks with the ride action or only the "Control Mount in Battle" check. Some of these interactions are weird since the drone is not a traditional mount like for instance "Stay Mounted As a reaction, you can try to avoid falling off your mount when your mount rears or bolts unexpectedly, or when you take damage." Why would your mount rear or bolt unexpectedly, or the fact that you need to guide your drone with your feet or have to control it with a hand.
There's also the issue that you need to use a move action to move your mount, which has a weird interaction with the direct control action (namely you can use your move action to move your drone mount presumably but it can't full attack unless you use the direct control action.)
Beyond that, at level 7 you no longer need to use your move action to have your drone take a move action but if you're riding it the rules for riding say you still need to use your move action to move your mount taking away a lot of its utility level 7+ unless there's some sort of clarification.
I would just skip the "move action to move your mount" since the drone does have an AI. Albeit that would be the drone's only action for the round unless you spent the move action, as per mechanic rules.
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Can you ride 'in' your drone? Not entirely, no. It isn't a mecha suit. Howerver, I'm sure no one would give you much guff if your character looked like something in the happy middleground.
The action economy is actually as good as a normal mechanic, arguably better. Because your drone and you move at the same time, you're getting twice as much out of the action. You take an action, drone moves and takes an action, and you go along with it. That's like two moves and two actions between the two of you! Plus, it opens up the door to some really cool drone designs.
The REALLY problem is in the bulk rules. Combat drones, the strongest of them all, start at 14. That's 7 bulk's worth before they suffer movement penalties (which defeats the whole point) 70 bulk is 70 pounds, and Ysoki are 60 at a MINIMUM. So unless fasting and nudity are core parts of your character concept, you'll want to go Gnome or Halfling, who AVERAGE at 40 and 30 pounds respectively.
So yeah. The only way to use a core feature of a core class is to play a race that isn't Society legal without a boon. I strongly suggest GMing a couple SFS slots at your local convention.
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The action economy is actually as good as a normal mechanic, arguably better. Because your drone and you move at the same time, you're getting twice as much out of the action. You take an action, drone moves and takes an action, and you go along with it. That's like two moves and two actions between the two of you! Plus, it opens up the door to some really cool drone designs.
The problem is that's not how it works RAW, RAW riding takes a move action regardless of what you're riding, so in order to move the drone you need to take your move action to move it, it doesn't get to move independently, so its your standard, move to move it, and then it gets a standard or a move as its not under your direct control.
What's worse is that at level 7 when it could take both a move and a standard to attack without your direct control you still have to take your move to move it per the riding rules, so you always lose your move action.
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The action economy is actually as good as a normal mechanic, arguably better. Because your drone and you move at the same time, you're getting twice as much out of the action. You take an action, drone moves and takes an action, and you go along with it. That's like two moves and two actions between the two of you! Plus, it opens up the door to some really cool drone designs.The problem is that's not how it works RAW, RAW riding takes a move action regardless of what you're riding, so in order to move the drone you need to take your move action to move it, it doesn't get to move independently, so its your standard, move to move it, and then it gets a standard or a move as its not under your direct control.
What's worse is that at level 7 when it could take both a move and a standard to attack without your direct control you still have to take your move to move it per the riding rules, so you always lose your move action.
Oh. Well, after another read, it feels about the same as before but more on my turn and less on the drone's? I mean, if I spend my mechanic's move action to ride the drone, thus moving both bodies at once, I'm still getting two moving for the price of one. Then, the drone and the mechanic each get a standard action to shoot, so it all works out.
The level 7 Full Attack thing doesn't bother me. A -6 penalty to both shots makes it feel super situational.