Carriage Strike: Pearl Attaway
There are two notable events in this video:
- Removing Pearl Attaway from the train so she can be moved outside the station.
- A unique assassination style for Syndicate which uses a carriage to effect an Eagle Strike. I call it a "Carriage Strike". Thanks to DAZ for collaborating on the design.
First, the set up. I run around and enter through the South Station in order to clear a path for the abduction of Attaway. It's usually pretty easy: double assassinate the guards at the door and assassinate the brute from the mail cart. There's a female sniper on top of the other train. I tried ignoring her but sometimes she'd catch me throwing Pearl from the train. So now I shoot the sniper before the kidnapping.
Now comes the hard part. You can kidnap Pearl Attaway but it won't let you escort her to the platform or even to the next train car. That's considered a jump and you can't jump while holding a hostage. I had very little success intentionally releasing Attaway with 
. She falls onto the tracks where she usually either dies or gets stuck. Once or twice I managed to get her up onto the platform this way.
A more reliable method is to lead her toward the platform and allow her to escape. You can't do this if you have the skill which prevents prisoners from escaping. Usually she will fall into the gap, quiver a bit, and then teleport up onto the platform or the train. Either way you can kidnap her again from the platform. Just be sure to stand back from the edge or else the button will cause you to drop instead of kidnap her (as shown in the outtake at the end of the video).
What actually happened in the final take of this video was a lucky accident. Another guard had seen the sniper's body and came to investigate. Just as Pearl was escaping my grasp, this guard bumped into her and knocked her right onto the platform! In the fight that ensued I was careful not to strike Attaway. If you fire a gun anywhere in her vicinity, the game assumes you're going for the assassination and shoots her dead.
Next I led her outside through the South Station. There are a bunch of smokestacks which are perfect for a Carriage Strike near the bridge over the Thames. I let Attaway escape near the curb in front of the red door. She doesn't flee or fight. She just stands wherever you put her, waiting to be assassinated.
So, the Carriage Strike. It turns out that in Syndicate you can survive a fall from a great distance if you land on a carriage or in a wagon. In fact, the carriage sort of sucks you in like a magnet and you don't suffer any damage. I initiated the fall by dropping from a zipline because the game mechanics try to prevent you from taking a fatal plunge any other way. Once on the roof of the carriage, it's a simple air assassination.
Aww... I was going to comment on a "carriage strike" ... just never got around to it... 
Also, can't you place her in a carriage and drive anywhere rather than having the walk with her all that way?
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Also, can't you place her in a carriage and drive anywhere rather than having the walk with her all that way?
Yes. It just seemed like more trouble than it was worth. These smokestacks are in the same neighborhood as the train station. With a carriage you could drive to an even higher Carriage Strike situation. DAZ says there's a limit to how far you can safely drop onto a carriage. I have yet to find that limit.
Actually naw, I don't think there is! It's just, it gets harder and harder to activate its "suction" effect the higher up you try to drop off, not to mention you might gravitate to other obstacles. So it just becomes harder to do. Now we just have to find the highest point in the game world. Which is... Big Ben.
also, while you're at it, you can try to time it such that you never actually grab the zipline - shoot it, mash the drop button to the carriage, then assassinate - pretty close to the ol' eagle strike...
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
I almost can't believe you actually pulled this off. Good stuff haha!
Just for everyone else's benefit, DAZ and I discussed Eagle Strike and Stunt assassinations in Syndicate.
My experience with Stunt assassinations is that a fall from a certain height causes about 50% damage and anything higher than that is fatal. It doesn't matter whether you have that skill which makes landing silent and less damaging. The magic height happens to be the same as the roof of South Station. Zipline downward and you've got an unimpressive stunt assassination. Zipline slightly upward and you're dead.
DAZ has managed to do Catch Ledges unreliably in Syndicate. I tried and failed to Catch Ledge by dropping from a zipline while stationary. DAZ says the trick is to be moving forward on the zipline when you drop. This momentum is carried into your fall and can result in a successful Catch Ledge if your trajectory intersects with an edge. The trick is to drop at exactly the right time. You don't have to press a button to catch the ledge. It's automatic if you've timed it correctly.
DAZ has managed to do Catch Ledges unreliably in Syndicate. I tried and failed to Catch Ledge by dropping from a zipline while stationary. DAZ says the trick is to be moving forward on the zipline when you drop. This momentum is carried into your fall and can result in a successful Catch Ledge if your trajectory intersects with an edge. The trick is to drop at exactly the right time. You don't have to press a button to catch the ledge. It's automatic if you've timed it correctly.
I think this is because you aren't dropping, you are leaping to the ledge. It's very obvious when you are close to the end of the zipline that when you push the button sometimes you warp forward to catch the ledge.
Also, one more question on the stunts... does the tuck and roll ability from Unity work in Syndicate? I haven't tried. If so, you may be able to time it right for a stunt-roll-assassination. ?
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Rolling works in Syndicate. It's something the game never tells you, but you have it innately. It is easier to trigger it than in Unity, you can just be mashing the Drop button while falling and you should always get it. It's easy enough to time where you can just tap it though, as long as you do it before you actually hit the ground.
2:10 - 2:17ish