Hi all, I'm hoping to get some ideas for alternate solutions to a problem I'm creating for my PCs. I'm still in the early stages of the adventure generation, so a lot of details are missing. This also means that you can feel free to add anything you feel would add to the scenario.

I plan to have the PCs land on a planet that's currently in the midst of some kind of conflict. The PCs are smuggling in something needed by one of the sides (weapons, medical supplies, etc.). The PCs are not necessarily working for either of the sides, they could just be working for a local opportunist.

They meet with their contact and spend some time finalizing the deal and sorting out the payment, refuelling, maybe hitting up some shops; just stuff to waste some time. During this time, one of the factions gains control of some form of anti-air weapon with the implication/assumption that it would be used on the PCs' ship if they were to attempt to take off.

And here's where I need some help. There's the obvious course of action of simply heading to the weapon and either liberating or disabling it, but I'm hoping to find some alternate solutions to offer to the players. I'm especially hoping to find solutions that either do not involve combat or where the chances of combat are very low.

One final note: all of the solution should require the PCs to leave the shuttle port; the whole point of this obstacle is to get the PCs away from their ship.

Here are a couple ideas I've had:

Somehow causing a large blackout that would take the weapon offline

Arranging a meeting with a leader in the faction and convincing them (bribe, threat, charm, etc.) to allow the PCs to leave

Thanks for your help.

Have the anti-air weapon guarded by a force that makes attacking head-on foolish. If it's an important installation, it's not unrealistic to expect that they'd station plenty of troops, turrets, and even ground vehicles around it to prevent the exact sort of sabotage you don't want your players to try.

The power grid stunt is always a classic, and has many, many doorways into it.

An alternative is to dress as mechanics and/or the guards coming in from patrol/new shift and going in that way. A group I had invaded an Imperial Base like that; one Human dressed like an officer, the Kel Dor and another Human dressed like Stormtroopers, while the Givin and Twi'lek were being "escorted" as "manual labor" to do the repairs.

If there's a local group that hates this group with the gun, see if they can be bribed to take it out or at least cause a distraction for the party to do what they must.

Decoys.

During the Cold War, the Soviets' plan for a nuclear exchange was to overwhelm U.S. missile defenses through the use of hundreds or thousands of decoy warheads. You couldn't destroy all of the warheads in flight, and eventually some of the ones carrying an actual payload would make it through.

In this case it could mean sending up dozens of objects that might be ships, getting everyone to launch at the same time and overwhelming the weapon, electronically spoofing the targeting system on the air defense weapon to think there are ships that aren't there, or even projecting holograms of multiple ships launching. Then your players just roll the dice and hope the air defense weapon takes the bait. Or they "cry wolf" so many times, often enough, that when they do actually launch into space, the crew of the air defense weapon assumes that it's just another decoy.

Edit: Typos.

Only an idiot ties a defensive weapon emplacement into the local power grid. The power grid is always vulnerable to attack, so your weapons would be powered independent of it.

The anti air weapon is built over a series of old catacombs known only a few locals. One of those locals leads the PCs to the catacombs where they place explosives. either at that time or when they are ready to leave they trigger the explosives causing the anti aircraft facility to collapse into the catacombs.

Alternatively they could use some sort of tunneling equipment to create a tunnel underneath and do the same thing.

Its not a conventional gun system, but a series of high powered system jammers and auto-slicers that have been hidden at various points around the region. They have to knock out at least 3 of them to take off safely.

When in doubt, drop a ship on it.

KOTOR MMO storyline for the Smuggler has this covered!

The premise is that the smuggler lands and wants to deliver a cargo load of blasters but then learns after landing that the local separatists have taken over the local air defences and the character has to go out and find out how they did it and how to counter it.

This really depends on your players though!

Allow your player to take someone on board of their ship (kidnapping, charm...) that the people manning the weapon must keep alive.

It could create nice obligations and nemesis

Allow your player to take someone on board of their ship (kidnapping, charm...) that the people manning the weapon must keep alive.

It could create nice obligations and nemesis

Taking hostages might get them a temporary victory in this situation (although there's no guarantee they wouldn't be shot down anyway), but its going to attract a lot of negative attention to the group.

Modify a shield generator to create a shield over the emplacement that prevents energy beams from leaving instead of entering. The PCs should be able to make their escape while the ememy moves the emplacement or searches out the shield generator to destroy it.

A modification of this tactic if the PCs are aiding the oter side of the conflic is to pump paralitic gas in to the shielded area and then capture the enemy troops.

Hacking into the aiming system of the weapon. They can still fire but are off the mark

Thanks everyone for all of the suggestions.

Allow your player to take someone on board of their ship (kidnapping, charm...) that the people manning the weapon must keep alive.

It could create nice obligations and nemesis

Taking hostages might get them a temporary victory in this situation (although there's no guarantee they wouldn't be shot down anyway), but its going to attract a lot of negative attention to the group.

Exactly, is it not fitting for scoundrels?

Allow your player to take someone on board of their ship (kidnapping, charm...) that the people manning the weapon must keep alive.

It could create nice obligations and nemesis

Taking hostages might get them a temporary victory in this situation (although there's no guarantee they wouldn't be shot down anyway), but its going to attract a lot of negative attention to the group.

Exactly, is it not fitting for scoundrels?

Only if your idea of scoundrels = terrorists/murder-hobos.

Allow your player to take someone on board of their ship (kidnapping, charm...) that the people manning the weapon must keep alive.

It could create nice obligations and nemesis

Taking hostages might get them a temporary victory in this situation (although there's no guarantee they wouldn't be shot down anyway), but its going to attract a lot of negative attention to the group.

Exactly, is it not fitting for scoundrels?

Only if your idea of scoundrels = terrorists/murder-hobos.

Not at all my idea, as I have never written that they should kill anybody. The PC are opportunist profiting from a conflict on a planet. One side is ready to shoot them down when leaving the planet. Ensuring something or someone valuable to this side of the conflict is on board of their ship might give them some form of protection. Of course they are sure to have make enemies in the process. I do not see how is that murder-hobos.

Allow your player to take someone on board of their ship (kidnapping, charm...) that the people manning the weapon must keep alive.

It could create nice obligations and nemesis

Taking hostages might get them a temporary victory in this situation (although there's no guarantee they wouldn't be shot down anyway), but its going to attract a lot of negative attention to the group.

Exactly, is it not fitting for scoundrels?

Only if your idea of scoundrels = terrorists/murder-hobos.

Not at all my idea, as I have never written that they should kill anybody. The PC are opportunist profiting from a conflict on a planet. One side is ready to shoot them down when leaving the planet. Ensuring something or someone valuable to this side of the conflict is on board of their ship might give them some form of protection. Of course they are sure to have make enemies in the process. I do not see how is that murder-hobos.

Taking hostages and placing them into situations that can result in their deaths is an undeniably violent act. It's not a defensive action, and regardless of whether you inflict the harm upon them or they are harmed by those you're acting against, you've caused the harm. That's why it's the path of the terrorist/murder-hobo.

Allow your player to take someone on board of their ship (kidnapping, charm...) that the people manning the weapon must keep alive.

It could create nice obligations and nemesis

Taking hostages might get them a temporary victory in this situation (although there's no guarantee they wouldn't be shot down anyway), but its going to attract a lot of negative attention to the group.

Exactly, is it not fitting for scoundrels?

Only if your idea of scoundrels = terrorists/murder-hobos.

Not at all my idea, as I have never written that they should kill anybody. The PC are opportunist profiting from a conflict on a planet. One side is ready to shoot them down when leaving the planet. Ensuring something or someone valuable to this side of the conflict is on board of their ship might give them some form of protection. Of course they are sure to have make enemies in the process. I do not see how is that murder-hobos.

Taking hostages and placing them into situations that can result in their deaths is an undeniably violent act. It's not a defensive action, and regardless of whether you inflict the harm upon them or they are harmed by those you're acting against, you've caused the harm. That's why it's the path of the terrorist/murder-hobo.

My understanding of murder-hobo is PC acting violently with most or all npc they meet and killing people all over the place.

What about a scenario in which a PC plays a bounty hunter and capture his acquisition, is that also out of bound?

A bounty hunter is responsible for the safety of his acquisition. The code forbids killing captives or allowing them to be killed once they are captured and are no longer a threat. That's pretty much the exact opposite of taking hostages.

A bounty hunter is responsible for the safety of his acquisition. The code forbids killing captives or allowing them to be killed one they are no longer a threat. That's pretty much the exact opposite of taking hostages.

I suppose it is not much use that we continue to hijack this thread. It is always interesting from having different point of view.

My idea is that the bounty hunter want to keep his acquisition alive to get paid. While in the example I have given, they want to keep the acquisition alive to survive. After that the acquisition is delivered to people who want them harm in the first case while in the second the acquisition will be freed.