[Devil]

Like what? You mean like the way the bomb was made? Or the attention it creates?

Also, what different methods of assassination would you use?

[Novocrane]

This discussion makes me wonder what a professional assassin character would look like in Shadowrun. Someone who specializes in wetwork. Personally, i'd take advantage of drones and the ability to remotely control sniper rifles. Poisons for killing in high security situations. Demolitions is probably a good skill for such a character to take. Vehicle bombs are quite effective.

On a runner level? I'd say a mix of the above, a set of flyspy drones with telematics infrastructure to keep track of nodes going active / passive / hidden in an area, automated hacking 'link, drone weapons, 'ware or gear for fooling biometrics & either Holowear/RPC or more 'ware for disguise. Jury Rigging, for arranged "accidents". Not that you need to go so tech-orientated.

If I were going to assassinate someone on a plane, I'd slip a hydrophone / secondary function explosive device into their food / drink. This is going to be smaller than an icecube, as the hydrophone was intended to go in a drink. The explosive needs no explanation, but the hydrophone capsule starts growing filaments after a set period of time, meant to anchor it inside building pipes. Then you just need to figure out what sound should trigger the hydrophone. (and the explosive)

[Crunch]

Like what? You mean like the way the bomb was made? Or the attention it creates?

Also, what different methods of assassination would you use?

Materials, techniques, etc. Even in the present bomb analysis is pretty detailed and exact.

[Devil]

If you never make the same bomb twice and you don't use them all the time then that evidence wouldn't do any good, right? If it would have done any good in the first place. I suppose I don't know much about it, but it seems like detonators and explosives are mass produced too, judging by availability and cost. Harder to trace, so at worst it evens out with the futuristic forensics, right?

[Crunch]

If you never make the same bomb twice and you don't use them all the time then that evidence wouldn't do any good, right? If it would have done any good in the first place. I suppose I don't know much about it, but it seems like detonators and explosives are mass produced too, judging by availability and cost. Harder to trace, so at worst it evens out with the futuristic forensics, right?

In the real world (and shadowrun may vary) the stuff you need to make a bomb is surprisingly traceable, and a bomb maker's tendencies can be as individual (and as unconscious) as handwriting. I suspect that in a world of SINS and universal databases that's even more true.

[Hellion]

Here's the one thing that just popped into my mind..... Mage gets onto flight, casts mob mind spell and orders everyone affected to attack the target..... With the right metamagics it sounds very doable

[Prodigy]

Crunch is very right on how traceable explosives are. That being said tracing it to an individual is very hard to do. If one guy blows up multiple people over several incidents, then it gets a lot easier. Without revealing the actual technique to tracking explosives, one guy usually uses the same materials, wires the bombs the same, etc.

Also, to look at a real life hitman, Robert Pronge used remote detonated grenades under cars for years. He never got caught. How do I know about him? Another hitman (Richard Kuklinski) killed him. Remote explosives don't have to be indiscriminate, you just have to be careful.

@Joker: A surprisingly few companies make explosives and they all leave "prints". Very easy to trace an explosive back to a company, even after detonation.

CEXC teams (Combined Explosives eXploitation Cells) are REALLY good at tracking explosives.

[Devil]

companies as in megacorps and subsidiaries? It's tracable, sure, but not that easily when you use a fake sin and maybe a disguise to buy it, right? Or if you snag it on the black market.

An alternative is vehicle hacking. A skilled hacker could erase any trace of their involvement in a crash. Frame jobs would be incredibly easy. A hacker could also take advantage of other aspects of technological dependence. Elevators, security systems, drones. Additionally, methods of killing that aren't normally very viable could also become quite viable for a skilled hacker.

[Mithlas]

if you're trying to hit/extract a target, i suspect there are much more vulnerable places to do it in than on a semi-ballistic flight. not like you can do a mission impossible and bail out with a parachute at that altitude

Have you seen the original TV show? They definitely had the gumption, and with the tech available in Shadowrun 2070s it's probably easily available to people who can get onto semiballistic flights anyway to smuggle on the high-altitude suits and HALO parachutes.

That being said, I think Joker's already made the best points about alternatives to obvious weapons on well-tracked flights. When you're a shadowrunner, forensics is usually not your friend.

[Prodigy]

Yeah Joker that's what I was saying. Tracing the explosives to the company that made them is easy. Tracking them to a particular guy is the incredibly difficult part. Not impossible, but difficult.

[Mäx]

Yeah Joker that's what I was saying. Tracing the explosives to the company that made them is easy. Tracking them to a particular guy is the incredibly difficult part. Not impossible, but difficult.

If possible, using materials made by a rival mega corp, makes the tracking of the individual who bought the materials much closer to impossible

[DamienHollow]

This discussion makes me wonder what a professional assassin character would look like in Shadowrun. Someone who specializes in wetwork. Personally, i'd take advantage of drones and the ability to remotely control sniper rifles. Poisons for killing in high security situations. Demolitions is probably a good skill for such a character to take. Vehicle bombs are quite effective.

I'd recommend Dragonfly drones and outfit them with syringes. They're small, fast, and cheep.

[Aryeonos]

How dumb it would be to fire a Gauss Rifle inside the pressurized hull of a ballistic plane during mid-flight is another matter entirely.

Dumb? There's a high chance of target fatality! But if you're worrying about reentry with in an intact atmosphere (babies), be a changeling with claws. Take it a step further and learn some martial arts and take some maneuvers.

[KarmaInferno]

But if you're worrying about reentry with in an intact atmosphere (babies),

Are you saying to plug the hull breach with babies?



-k

[Devil]

That makes about as much sense as his plan.