[Poindexter]

wants to get some little bitty flying drones and attach explosives to them. (as any reasonable PC with disposable cash would do)
so far, i just been makin him buy microskimmers and grenades, then make an aero mech extended test to modify em.

he's been using em to frame gangs for attacking each other, blowing up cars and that sort of thing.

it feels too easy though.

mind tellin me not only what you, as a gm would have these (kinda stupid) gang members do to counter the threat, but also if you see any holes in the way im handling the actual mechanics of it?

thanks

[Whiskeyjack]

Gangs (as highly profitable enterprises) have deckers too! A gang leader might get suspicious (or might be paranoid) and have a decker looking around for shenanigans - a decker who might be able to take control of that drone (I assume the rigger isn't jumped in when he sends it on a suicide run, for the obvious reason).

[Tenlaar]

mind tellin me not only what you, as a gm would have these (kinda stupid) gang members do to counter the threat

Maybe it's not the kinda stupid gang members who do something to counter the threat.  Maybe it's some not stupid at all people above and/or behind the gangs who's businesses are disrupted when inter-gang warfare erupts.

As for mechanics, only one thing jumps out at me.  From the microskimmer description on p.465...

It is operated with the Pilot Groundcraft skill; the hovercraft specialization applies.

[martinchaen]

Sick the cops on 'em

[Xenon]

... a decker who might be able to take control of that drone (I assume the rigger isn't jumped in when he sends it on a suicide run, for the obvious reason).

If the rigger is using remote control (rather than instructing the dog brain autopilot what to do) then a hostile decker can't really override the control (unless he got a control rig and can jump in, but most deckers are not at the same time riggers...)

[LionofPerth]

My first point to slow this down would be the police in some level. You're setting off a number of explosives. That will gets someone attention. Especially if you're using sneaky means to deliver it.

Knight Errant or Lone Star, if you want to be a real bastard, a megacorp with a strong interest in what their product being used to do.

I'd suspect the gang in question may have their own rigger or decker on hand. They could in theory build some sort of signal jammer, that way they shut things down in an area entirely. Brutal and effective.

If they're a fairly well equipped group, they might have some specialised equipment to scan for the specific frequencies used to jam them specifically. It's very much how smart you want them to be and how well supplied they are.

[Xenon]

it is a pretty cool plan to get the gangs to fight each other. you could play along and see where it goes

[Poindexter]

it is a pretty cool plan to get the gangs to fight each other. you could play along and see where it goes

See, THAT is what i've been doing, and it's been cool, but i don't want it to get old, y'know? I wanna find some additional holes in the plan, so i can throw tougher and tougher ones at em, the longer they keep doing it, just to keep shit interesting.

[OneofSorrow]

Have one of the gangs hire runners to investigate people who are hitting them all the time.   Namely their team and tell them the guy who is doing it is using drones.  Could make for some interesting plot twist. 

[Aranador]

Could be a third party that has an interest in the 'stability' of the region and is covertly investigating - that discovers the drone bombs and traces them.

[Csjarrat]

Yeah, if its just a grenade thats going off on top of one of these drones, then its likely that after the carnage has finished and the smoke clears, fragments of drone casing and internals are found which put the gangs "in the know" about the methodology of the attacks.

[LionofPerth]

Yeah, if its just a grenade thats going off on top of one of these drones, then its likely that after the carnage has finished and the smoke clears, fragments of drone casing and internals are found which put the gangs "in the know" about the methodology of the attacks.

Or anyone who wants to know about what's going on and who might be doing it. You're leaving a prime evidence trail for others to follow by doing this.

[SlowDeck]

This makes me wonder if the Horizon Flying Eye would also leave evidence after using its smoke and flashbang mod...

[Csjarrat]

This makes me wonder if the Horizon Flying Eye would also leave evidence after using its smoke and flashbang mod...

Depends how bothered your GM is about it. AFAIK there is nothing explicit in the rules to say they do/don't but common sense says there will be shrapnel and fragments of casing left. its only a small explosion after all, not like a 500lbs bomb or anything

[RHat]

You could have a third, smarter gang come into play that wants to grab up some territory, and wants to use the rigger to do it...