[Senko]

I think this is the right area as a safehouse is technically gear. Anyway I have an idea for a safehouse and I'm curious how people would rate IRS likelihood of working (probably on a scale from extremely risky but it just might work to you'll kill yourself if you try this). Now the basic idea is to set up two bolt holes the first one as secure as you can make it in another country. The second with plenty of food and bottled water plus other necessities in a shipping container for a fake import/export company. Most of the time its just shipping enough cargo to keep running butt when everyhing falls apart and all your other boltholes are compromised you hide in this container and trigger a command to include it in the batch shipped to your other country holding facility where you exit through one of the concealed exits (as long as you have one free side) and make your way to the other bolt hole having hopefully cut your trail as the shipping companies under its own fake sin as is the other bolt hole.

[TormDK]

Given that shipping would likely be fully automated in the future, I don't see the problem with it, if the fake SiN in question had at least a rating 4 or higher. Customs would be declared automatically, but likely the contents of the containers would still be scanned to avoid refugees (aka, the runner unless he has a national SiN to whereever he is being shipped, which would then question why he'd need to go by contrainer .

Also the front Company would also require some Investment, "Small time business" in the future likely isn't as small time as we imagine today Check out the Wikipedia article on "Panamax". Post-Panamax ships can carry 12.000 such units, so from that angle there's plenty of room for one hidden away contrainer. I think the biggest problem is getting it loaded where the SiN would need to pass the scanner test, and thus the Investment for this getaway safehouse would cost some nuyen after all.

So the idea itself could work I think, but it would likely better if you had a high loyalty connection in a warehouse foreman or similar that knew about the container, yet was trusted enough to keep that secret in the event that it needed to be use.

[Vidnaut]

I think this is the right area as a safehouse is technically gear. Anyway I have an idea for a safehouse and I'm curious how people would rate IRS likelihood of working (probably on a scale from extremely risky but it just might work to you'll kill yourself if you try this). Now the basic idea is to set up two bolt holes the first one as secure as you can make it in another country. The second with plenty of food and bottled water plus other necessities in a shipping container for a fake import/export company. Most of the time its just shipping enough cargo to keep running butt when everyhing falls apart and all your other boltholes are compromised you hide in this container and trigger a command to include it in the batch shipped to your other country holding facility where you exit through one of the concealed exits (as long as you have one free side) and make your way to the other bolt hole having hopefully cut your trail as the shipping companies under its own fake sin as is the other bolt hole.

Okay, the fragg'n thing has too many moving parts right from the get-go.  You have to keep track of events in multiple countries as a failure on one end means failure on another.  The shipping company angle also creates complications since a sufficient amount of scrutiny will see through it and, like all things faked, it's a matter of "when" rather than "if."  The shipping container is a classic safehouse of last resort because it's primarily, amongst its other "virtues",  inexpensive.  The maintenance of that fake shipping front thing invalidates that.  If you want that sort of thing you can just make friends with the Yaks or Triads and their human trafficking operations let you tag along for a "modest" fee.

Overall though, if you have to flee the country you're just simply better off hiring a professional (coyote) to smuggle you out if required on-demand.  Heck, you'd probably save money doing that larger one-time cost than burning money maintaining an escape plan that could very well be compromised when you most need it.  There's always a T-bird flying to Denver for the right price.

[Prodigy]

Also, keep in mind that intermodal containers sitting on land last a while. Intermodal containers that are frequently shipped overseas get replaced yearly due to decay. While weather may not damage the stuff inside, weather plays hell on the outside and those things decay rapidly. That is $3-4K per year just in the box cost.

[Senko]

Just to clarify a few things.

1) When I say last resort I mean things have gone so horribly, horribly wrong its get out or get killed and given the reward offered for your head you can't trust anyone. Your probably not even safe overseas but at least their less attention focused on looking for you there for now.

2) As part of this that particular shipping container wont see regular use just sitting in your warehouse till replaced/needed. As indicated above moneys not really an issue here as if your risking it you need the best chance possible. There are other bolt holes that would be used for less extreme situations that include cheaper options when you just need time for things to cool off and this would only be used once in all likelihood.

3) Your not running your own shipping line just a fake company, 2 warehouses and a contract with a commercial shipper.

[farothel]

As said above, it's much cheaper and easier to just pay a smuggler to get you out of the country.  And I know for a fact that a lot of containers today are already scanned to check for drugs and/or people inside.  It's a very easy scanning system (after the container is put on a truck, the truck simply drives through the scanner) so I assume that it's also done in the 2070s, unless you go from AAA dock to AAA dock (but getting your container there is also a problem, especially if that's the AAA who's looking for you).

Simply take a high loyalty smuggler contact at character generation (you can get that into about any background) so that he won't blab to the cops and you're good (and a high loyalty contact might even give you a discount on the run).

[Sendaz]

The idea is interesting, but the aforementioned use of a proper smuggler is probably easier.

If you are going with this though, why not add in some subterfuge?

If you are going to have a trigger set off one shipment, why not a couple?

So things go south it should trigger 3-5  similar built cargo containers to go to other regions as well.
You just hop in the one you want, trigger the go command and off goes the various containers.
That way if they do track you that far, they have to still chase down all the cargos sent out. Probably tie in a DNA grenade to go off in the warehouse to muddy the tracking as well as have one go off inside the containers once they reach their destination so they can not verify with any certainty if you were or were not in any particular container right off the bat.  Warding is a whole other matter to offset being tracked astrally, but that you will have to decide on your own.

[Senko]

Again I'm less concerned about cost than I am about tracing/being sold out a threat with even the most loyal contact.

As for the warehouse I actually had in mind a triggered payment to a shadowrun team with a reputation for collateral damage to take out the competitions warehouse (payment/job sent 2-11 days after the container leaves said storage facility. The DNA grenade on the container sounds good. Yes they may scan it but I figured high hacking/the right materials could beat that?

[CanRay]

*Cough*

[Namikaze]

CanRay beat me to it.

[JimmyCrisis]

I think it sounds like a great idea.  All you have to do is sneak out of the container before it's scanned or shield your container in such a way that the scan doesn't pick you up.  With a little runner gear, you'd be home free in no time.  Have some basic sensors installed into the container so that you know the coast is clear.

[Senko]

I'm more concerned about the whole we stack your crate in the middle of a pule of then so you cant get out ever. Suppose you could arrange a shieldinh you can lower damage in strategic spots to hack a move.

That book is more about the theory behind making one as opposed to whether this is a viable scheme as a last resort to get out of a country.

[Vidnaut]

I think it sounds like a great idea.  All you have to do is sneak out of the container before it's scanned or shield your container in such a way that the scan doesn't pick you up.  With a little runner gear, you'd be home free in no time.  Have some basic sensors installed into the container so that you know the coast is clear.

You forgot the bribe money to encourage any unforeseen circumstances turn their gaze the other way (as well as those they administer) or unimpede themselves at the arrival dock.  Shielding and sensors are just extra due diligence to the orchestration and timing.

[JimmyCrisis]

I'd rather spend 20000+ nuyen on Poly ruthenium and a grapplegun than 50 nuyen on a dock worker.  If you have enemies scary enough that you need to flee the country, it's not worth the risk of leaving a trail.  At least if I failed on my escape attempt, it would be my fault, not a betrayal of confidence.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

I agree that this is too complex.  My standard is to create a 'drop-box safehouse' - a 5x5 or 5x10 storage unit with the Absolute Necessities: specifically a really good fake SIN, a fast getaway vehicle, basic armor and clothing, and basic weapons and ammo.  With luck and good purchasing, this'll set you back 25-40k for a year's worth of rent on the place.  If you're ever up the creek sans paddle, burned of gear and people hunting for you, you go here, get the stuff, and simply drive away - and across whatever borders you think are necessary to cross.

With your top-notch fake SIN, you shouldn't have a problem crossing a border; if you're especially smart, you'll have a reason to be crossing that border, i.e. you have your fake SIN make you a citizen of the country you're returning to.  (For Seattle, that'd be the Salish-Sidhe.)  If you're especially flush, you have two or three fake SINs; you drop one once you're halfway through that country, and start using the next one - which has you as a citizen of the next country over, again 'returning home'.  (You might even get free health care from the border guards who happen to see you as an upright citizen returning home after a bad encounter in 'the city'.)

I'll admit that I don't usually include fake SINs in mine, but then, I usually purchase one for every district of Seattle, so it can get a little pricey ...