Why not? I mean, the ones a lot of folks use go off with a hard look.

Right, but a blasting machine is a pretty significant piece of hardware, and generates a fairly strrong current... and Plastic explosives do not detonate without a detonator... so using the designation as "Type of Detonator Required" works... now, the classifications are a bit wonky to be sure, but meh... so what... I can suspend disbelief on that, how about you?

I want induction set of explosive would be good for a car bomb with grid link an all just as you hand wave how it reached you from any where.

Huh?

Take Car with gridguide and pilot upgrades.
Fill car with plastic explosives.
Tell the pilot to drive it to your destination all nice and normal like.
Pilot triggers the explosion when he gets to the destination, feeding electrical charge from the gridguide

That's not what it means by 'induction detonator', but… you realize you could just put the bomb in the car, right?

Pish Posh
This is more amusing

No, more amusing would be making the bomb out of moonshine and watching the victim try to drink his way out of the problem.

wow, interesting read. Of course, you all know that SnS rounds are real...

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadge...tgun-shell1.htm

There has been a recent 'guy with a gun' incident in the UK where the police actually used these.

I hate to necro this thread, especially since all I'm doing is proving that everything I said in this thread is wrong but...

Arsenal, Pg 89.

Arsenal.... why is it always Arsenal...

If they *hit* the *detonator*.

Since a M7 or M6 detonator is about the size of a .22 long rifle, good luck with that.


edit: sorry, it is an M7, not M5.

And there are no rules for hit locations, so you'll have to call a shot on a tiny target. If you (or the enemy) doesn't do that, there's zero chance.

IF the explosives are fire-sensitive; most of the standard explosives in SR aren't. All the really powerful explosives aren't.

altough they are not likely to explode, they still have a high probability of burning pretty hot... which can trigger another set of complications for whoever is carrying them.

whereas getting shot with a tracer round is like being tickled with a very soft feather, i suppose?

I just like how it mentioned plastic explosives as being able to be set of with magnetic field induction...

I don't know but somehow, that seems like a really bad idea...

Well if your a troll, maybe....

Only if you happen to be somewhere where there are magnetic fields. Like power lines...

Well, at least against the bullet you have your ballistic protection. Against burning explosive in your backpack or pocket you get only 1/2 impact, and it has the potential to ignite your spare magazines... And it can get even worse if the character is carrying a bunch of grenades...

A magnetic field won't set off the explosives themselves, but they could set off an unshunted electric blasting cap. A cell phone or a radio can do the same thing. Whenever i've done a demo range they would always get the field declared a no-fly zone since a helo creates so much static electricity it could set off unshunted caps just by flying over.

During the Vietnam war, the Vietcong would point claymore mines upward, with an unshunted blasting cap in the fuse well, in a potential LZ so when the helos would get near to land they set off the mines.

Well, there are no blasting caps in SR4 RAW. You just directly apply electricity (or magnetic fields) to the plastic explosive and BOOM!

Of course, this is totally insane, but I'm sure the Dev saw it somewhere in the comic book that they stole the rest of the combat mechanics from.

Except for the fact the book refers to detonators and blasting caps. Arsenal p87 is nothing *but* various detonators. SR4A Core does too: p325, Detonator Caps.

I want to know why they're using blasting caps and detonators at all.

Modern demolitionists don't use them much. They use DetCord/PrimaCord. Much more reliable and the 'signal' actually travels faster than electricity.



-karma

There are rules for that, too.

Just to add to the topic (based on the title), what are your thoughts on this: I recently watched an episode of Mythbusters where they ignite a "perp" on fire with the use of pepper spray and a taser projectile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV8oPisTOnY

I am not considering explosives going off but just that some simulated runner just got set on fire. Fire tends to be somewhat of a pain in buildings at times but I suppose it is enough an outlier that I am not sure it would deter the use of SnS. Hmm, some corp sec does a stray shot into the wrong object and now they have to explain why they set the building on fire? Maybe it would be a deterrent? *shrug*

Hehe, speaking of stray shots setting stuff on fire, it would be rather funny if runner either "accidentally" torched their objective on a smashNgrab or purposefully did it if they were doing a structure hit by using tracer, Ex, and/or Ex-Ex rounds.

You still need a Detonator to ignite the Det Cord/Prima Cord... as it is an explosive as well... It cannot go "Boom" without an initiator... This form a LOT of expereince in the field...

Yeah, but a detcord igniter is just a little handheld thing the size of a small flashlight. It's essentially a tube with a percussion cap in it - you load the percussion cap (or it's pre-loaded in disposable igniters) and stick the DetCord/PrimaCord/Shock Tubing in the open end. The other end has a ring you yank on, to set off the ignition.

There's computer-controlled versions as well.

None of which actually "explode" like the old blasting caps did. At most it's basically like taking the primer cap off a bullet cartridge and setting that off. It's not unlike a blank-firing pistol.

And I forgot the other big advantage of DetCord - it's electromagnetically insensitive. No stray radio waves setting the stuff off.

Here, an example for those who haven't seen how modern demolitions explosives are set off. It's actually pretty anticlimactic, a guy just pulls a ring-pin out of a small tube.


-karma

Construction Engineer, also has a significant amount of experience in the field.

There are 6-8 different 'cap' options in the book; one assumes that they cover the range of technology available today, and then some. The way language works, we'd probably call it a 'blasting cap' no matter what mechanism it actually used.

No experience in any field needed.

Think about this though...are you really going to hold the igniter (attached to the DetCord) in your hand to yank the Pullring? Really? I would highly doubt it (with the explosive rate of DetCord you will suffer the likely loss of fingers/hand/arm)... what is more likely is you will attach the igniter to a Small length of Fusing, which is attached to a Percussion Detonator, which is then attacked to a length of DetCord running to your Main Ring of explosives (All attached with DetCord)... At least that is how the Military does it...
You also have Electrical Options for this as well, some of which can be used wired, and other which may be used via Remote Radio/Computer...

Military applications STILL use detonators, both Electrical and Percussion, to ignite DetCord... I was unaware that Construction Demolitions have changed significantly from Military Applications. From what I have seen over the last few years, it is still as I described. Though your potential applications have come a long way for actual detonation, at the core, you still need a Detonator. Fulminate of Mercury for the win...

Of course, I may be caught up in the definition of "Explode" Here... no, Detonators are not like they were 50 years ago, most definitely...

I added a video - the guy really does just hold the igniter tube.

Generally, they don't run Detcord all the way up to handheld igniters - if they're using DetCord, the last few feet will be replaced with Shock Tubing, which is a little less explody. If the ignition is computer-controlled rather than manually initiated (many building demolitions are these days) you can in fact run the Detcord right up to the igniter in some systems.

Really, quite often these days Shock Tubing has replaced Detcord entirely as the commonly used "fuse" of choice in commercial demolitions. Rather than PETN inside a cord, it's a fine explosive powder. Less finicky than PETN. But most laymen have never heard of Shock Tubing, so I initially used Detcord as a reference since more folks have heard of that.



Yeah, Commercial stuff has the luxury of running fuse all over the place. Military often doesn't.

I've seen commercial-grade remote igniters that are little more than a standard ignition tube with a radio controlled release, and tiny length of shock tube that gets stuck into the explosive, but I've never actually seen them used. Most of the time commercial demolitions folks prefer non-wireless stuff - urban environments have way too much radio traffic for remote detonation to be 'safe'.


-karma

Well, I learn something new each and every day...
Thanks KarmaInferno...