Full Version: Under Siege
| QUOTE (gknoy) |
Of course, Dim Sum wanted something to attack a land target -- not such a good match with the submarine. Maybe the best way to get such a craft (capable of attacking a land target) is to BUY one on the shadow market. It's probably cheaper than funding a theft operation, and is more likely to succeed. That makes it more appetizing to the bean counters, too.  Or, rather than spending your hard earned nuyen on a ship, why not make a run into the manufacturer's host, and fake an order to a fake buyer (complete with datatrails to make the buyer's ID credible ...) Then again, that might be precisely how the shadow market DOES it ... IMO, the shadow market is a big "don't ask, don't tell" -- I don't care if they faked the order, or stole it, or built it themselves, as long as it does what I need. |
Hey, thanks for the comments, gknoy. Some good ideas there, a number of which others have mentioned before but you expanded on them. However, frankly, I just don't see a sub being hijacked without inside help - ie. having subverted crew or moles on board. Once you have someone on board helping you, it's a much easier proposition.
Actually, I think an attack sub is an excellent platform to launch attacks against land targets. To me, it's the perfect match between stealth and attack capability.
The reason why I'd prefer to steal a sub rather than buy one is that it does work out cheaper to steal than to buy one. Stealing also avoids the obvious paper trail to a buyer, and lastly, a bunch of runners like ourselves would never be able to obtain permission to buy such a vessel (and no manufacturer would be able to obtain sanction to sell one to us).
I thought about hacking the manufacturer's order list (that's how our group managed to get our hands on certain restricted items without obtaining the permits for them) but there's a big difference between taking delivery of, say, a consignment of milispec armour with forged documents and taking delivery of a submarine.
It's a lot easier to disappear with milispec armour than it is to do so with a sub in such circumstances.
| QUOTE (BitBasher) |
| But Shadowrun is not today, politically it's not even close. All they have to do was to pay a lump of cash to Ares or SK and say "Drop a Thor on these exact coordinates, right now". They hav to give no details, and situation resolved with no unnecessary publicity or media. This is the way I would have it handled in my game. There's some things you just cannot allow someone to do, especially involving a nuclear submarine. |
I agree with Bit that there are "some things that [a corp/government] just cannot allow someone (edit - I'm assuming Bit is referring to in-game characters and not to players ... players should be allowed to try anything
) to do." I'm sure every government/megacorp which owns/operates nuclear submarines in the 6th world must be in mortal fear of these vessels being hijacked so I would expect security and the response to such a hijack to be very high - almost extreme.However, just because the powers-that-be cannot allow such a thing to happen doesn't mean that it can't. A determined and resourceful group of runners or pirates could possibly get away with it (hence this thread to discuss ways to do it).
With regards to a government getting a corp to drop ordnance at a specified set of coordinates with much explanation and for a shitload of money, I'm with Herald of Verjigorm on this one. I think megacorps would have enough money to not be led by their greed in a potential shit-fan situation. The megacorp would want to know details and then weasel out some of kind concession from a government to execute the hit and keep it quiet, if at all.
Anyway, I would certainly hope that by the time the loss of the submarine is apparent to the government, the hijackers would be well underway from the scene of the crime and taking measures to hide/keep the boat.
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