Fake ids, and not being in a system?

[garhkal]

Often i see pcs who make use of fake IDs, just make the id, and rarely if ever give any thought to actually inputting them somehow into databases that the imperials (or other planetary LE) would check.

So..
A) do you even worry about that, or gloss over whether its in a system or not
B) if you do consider that, how often does it crop up?
C) If checked for, how long do you think it would take to properly run and verify its in a system somewhere?
D) how hard would it be to hack INTO one of those systems to put someone's fake ID in?
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Tinman]

Some information on this is available in Platt's Smuggler's Guide (WEG40141, pg. 38-39) and deals mainly with BoSS and documentation for spacers. It also explains how different spaceports get their information from BoSS, in that they don't all have equal access to timely updates to compare information on incoming vessels and captains against.

Establishing false identities was one of the regular challenges for our Rebel Alliance Intel operations group. Two members of the group were experienced infiltrators, and sometimes we would need to establish some sort of false identity for them pertaining to a particular task. Other times, we would be given a packet by a Case Officer which (usually in part) tasked us with establishing an identity for someone else. Often we weren't told why, though sometimes we later discovered the purpose of that in the course of events.

We established "levels" of durability for false credentials and identities. Those could range from a set of identification which would be recognized locally to the extent that it would get a person access once or twice, to false identities which would withstand a high level of scrutiny anywhere within the Empire's sphere of control. The latter was something we only had to do a handful of times, though we would groan (not in front of officers) when given those.

Generally this involved our slicer gaining access to the appropriate systems, usually working in tandem with one of our infiltrators, and adding the appropriate records. Then it was a matter of forging the physical documentation, whether that was gaining access to a specialized datapad and modifying its contents, or creating some sort of physical identification. In situations where no chances could be taken, we had a handful of contacts with forgers more talented than we had in the group.

In instances where an identity had to be very durable against scrutiny, there were also various other steps. False financial transactions (post dated) would be fed in to commercial systems, apartments were rented and doctored up to make it seem as though they'd been occupied, records were altered to make it appear that the tenancy was longer than it actually had been, employee records were added to reflect jobs not actually held, droids were tampered with to "remember" the existence of people they'd never met, and all manner of other minor tasks. The one thing which aided us was that citizens of the Empire often didn't want to stand out or make waves, and people in general didn't want to attract the notice of large numbers of individuals, so being unobtrusive and forgettable to most others on many worlds was simply considered the nature of a good citizen.

Occasionally we would deal in identity theft, which sometimes involved less work but came with its own particular difficulties on a case by case basis.

There was also a time factor, and sometimes less experienced Case Officers had to have it explained to them that the data we introduced required time to propagate though various networks across systems. Otherwise one might end up with problems like identities being recognized at a port of departure, but not at the destination. (We once had to extract a saboteur who made this mistake, and was captured, before the local authorities were able to figure out who it was they had.)

[Kytross]

I tend to run difficulty based on the computer system they're trying to slice.

On Tatooine, where there seems to be no system, an easy, or very easy, con roll is all it takes.

On Coruscant you're going to have to hack the local DMV, or military ID place, which is much harder. A good fake ID can get you into a bar or club, but it won't pass a background check. That requires slicing.

[garhkal]

And are those systems interlinked? So if i make a fake ID on say Tattoine at Mos eisley, then travel say to Bespin, that ID pings as good cause its in system? Or is their system not pulling data from Tattoine??
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Tinman]

[Jedi Skyler]

I was always under the impression that this was the reason why there were all those different specializations listed under the Forgery skill; they were there to be an attempt to give a halfway decently thought-out set of specializations to cover the different aspects of building a false identity. However, it was also my understanding that they were done in that manner to help keep up the fast-paced game that WEG wanted to provide; WEG wanted to provide an experience basically like being dropped into the movie.

I have to say, I really appreciate the lengths to which you all go with items like this; it definitely makes for a much more involved game. And, most importantly (IMHO), it entices players to pick characters other than carbon copies of Luke, Han, and Leia. I personally have been partial to slicers for a long time, and the way you guys approach this makes it possible for a player to run a character like Ghent in the EU, arguably one of the best slicers in the galaxy, in the employ of Talon Kardde. He's in an organization where he can concentrate on doing what he's best at, and can relax in the knowledge that others are keeping him safe by doing what they're best at.

All that said, Tinman is absolutely correct; the level of 'civilization,' as it were, present where the false ID packet is introduced, will be indicative of how readily said information will be available galaxy-wide. And, of course, all the little 'extras' that can be done to help back up that identity will help make it stand up to more and more intense scrutiny.

And with the immense bureaucracy the Empire has become (by being the immense bureaucracy the Republic was before it), there are going to be people who just want to punch their time clock, do their nine to five, and go home without any Imperial entanglements. So it's possible that one of these bored individuals might allow a fake ID through just on the grounds that it's the end of their bloody shift, and they wanna go home. But it's ALSO possible that the fact that information was not yet present across the board would raise all sorts of alarms...even on a backwater world, some young officer who's trying to get off that God-forsaken world might be trying to make a name for himself, and so would pursue this situation with relish.

[garhkal]

One of the imperial officers i had many years ago, found 2 of 5 ids in a group that were fake.. First guy was a REAL poor fake (18 forgery roll), and i made that guy SWEAT it like crazy.. as he went to the next person in like (Botched his search roll, on a 29 forgery rolled ID), then the 3rd (22 search roll on a 34 ID), then the 4th (40 search, open ended 3 times on a 37 forgery roll), then the last (28 roll on a 32 forgery roll..)

To which as he passed the id back to everyone, gave a "Pass my complements onto your forger (to the gal who had the 37 rolled ID), but You my little friend, seriously need to fire your forger.. Now if one of you would be willing to deposit 2500, on your way out the door, you shall all have a nice day"...
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!