Advanced GM : Magical Security, how to fool magical security in AAA Options

[Abstruse]

Back to the Vegas thing, you also have to remember that Las Vegas police are going to be much better off than most police officers. The city gets a good deal of tax money from the casinos and the geographic area of the city is more compact than others (due to the fact that it's just a bunch of sand once you leave city limits). Therefore the police are, on average, be better equipt and trained AND have to cover a smaller patrol area than most other major cities. And don't forget the copious amounts of private security because of the casinos as well.

The average response time to a robbery in progress call in a major city (more than 250,000) is anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes depending on the city. And that's average, so if you happen to know that the closest unit is 5 miles away in the middle of rush hour, that gives you a good 10-15 minutes to get what you need and get out of there, which is plenty of time if you know what you're doing.

Fortunately for the police, most bank robbers don't know what they're doing :P

The Abstruse One

[IcyCool]

I just wanted to point out that the method Polaris mentioned is a very viable tactic. If a team can find out what the average response time (it is not completely random) of lonestar for a given area is, they can plan a run in that time window. When combined with Cain's "Crying Wolf" tactic, a team can buy themselves the extra time they may need when doing the run.

Sometimes getting in and out without anyone knowing someone was there is less important than getting in and out without anyone knowing WHO was there.

[TinkerGnome]

The obvious foil to the "Crying Wolf" tactic is probably in common use. Ie, you set up low level wards around the outer perimeter and if anything crosses that, you know something is up (watcher spirits don't generally break through astral wards, I assume... they're not bright enough to without orders).

[Cain]

Of course, anyone smart enough to ward everything will likely also be smart enough to use a setup more like what I suggested, using low-cost watchers as astral patrollers and big elementals as astral response teams. You can beat that, too, by causing a ruckus elsewhere and drawing off the security teams. Or by sneaking past; watchers are easier to fool than elementals. There are ways and ways of defeating astral security, but you've got to be able to outsmart the system instead of individual spirits.

[TinkerGnome]

Well, one of the most important parts of any security system is being able to establish intent. If you have no wards up, then you can't afford an agressive response system for liability issues (even on corp property, I suppose, but then it's less important). If an astral being comes floating into your facility without having to overcome a barrier (and thus establishing its intent to intrude), you can't just blast it.

However, once someone has breached that fence, they are fair game. Take, for instance, the runway at Hartsfield International. It takes two minutes with a set of bolt cutters and about 10 meters of grassy slope to get onto it. However, the standing orders are shoot first, ask questions later. Astral security could easily flip the same way.

[Backgammon]

[Frag-o Delux]

What if the Mage or Shaman, set up a bunch of wards. Could try to find out how many and where, then set spirits out to destroy them all? Which one will he respond to first? Or smash a ward and see what happens. Have your decker and rigger listen to radio chatter and lock down stages. Have the Mage or Shaman watch on the astral to see what they do then. And a Sam with security procedures watch the grounds from a roof or something. If you can find out how they will respond to threats you can plan according to that. Also some corps hire LS or KE to chase down the runners on the streets. So you'll need to watch for that, see how long it takes the local law to show up. You don't have to breach the security all the way just enough to bring some alarms. One of our teams does it for fun and profit. We run buildings just for the security procedures, then sell the info to other runners who are looking to run that place. Or who are just interested. We make a semi desent living just tweaking the nose of the corps. And it is kinda hard to figure out who did it because no Johnson or fixer set it up. We just have a rep for knowing what the security is like.

[TinkerGnome]

There aren't many defenses for that. Aside from nasty booby traps or having you taken care of when word of what you're doing gets around (and it will).