Smuggler Archive

A space expansion extension of the Smuggler profession, crime lords are capable of surrounding themselves with thugs, running seemingly legitimate businesses, providing people with exciting new jobs/missions and getting interesting and powerful items from their abilities.

While smuggler would provide high end content in my ideas for allowing them to get to some locations and accept certain types of missions, Crime Lords would be capable of getting players to incredibly difficult and epic encounters, akin to fighting Gods in EverQuest. Large planetary and Spacial combat battles through their information of where they are going to take place.

Instead of the optional third Hutt faction, this Profession would fill in at that capacity. It would make the player who takes up Crime Lord a faction unto themselves, yet not exclude members of the GCW. It would be in addition to it, kind of like a sub faction.

Member recruitment would be akin to joining a GCW faction now. A set minimum amount of faction to join, and then they could promote themselves through the ranks to get better privileges and options through the syndicate.

The Crime Lord Prerequisites:

Unlike Smugglers, Crime Lords are more into the business management end of criminal activity, instead of the more violent nature of it. Do not mistake them for being unprotected however through their use of hired hands.

The Crime Lord would require Underworld 4 and Profiteer 4 from the Smuggler Skill tree that I have proposed (Underworld and Spices if you want to think of it normally), and Business 4 from the Artisan skill tree. This also Naturally includes Pistol and Unarmed 4 as they are the Smuggler prerequisites as well.

That's a total of 121 skill points used in the prerequisite. The same amount used by players who are Master Smugglers. This leaves 129 skill points for progression into mastering crime lord and other professions. You could potentially even be a master smuggler/Master Crime lord and still have 37 skill points remaining. For those who would want to be both. They could also obtain Master Crime Lord and Master Merchant with 3 skill points remaining.

The Crime Lord Skill Tree

1-A
Novice Crime Lord
Title Given: Novice Crime Lord
Required XP: Merchant XP. After all, you are a business man now!
Skill Points: 6

Place: Casino (See: 2-A)
Crime Lord: Create Criminal Syndicate (See: 2-B)
Crime Lord: Place Mission Terminal
Crime Lord: Peace Offering
Spy Network: Summon Spy (See: 2-C)
Bodyguard: Hire Bodyguard (Brawler) (See: 2-D)
Syndicate Missions: Delivery
Syndicate Perk: Clothing (See: 2-E)
Syndicate Landing Clearance: ? (See: 2-F)

+1 Active Bodyguard
+1 Stored Bodyguard
+1 Corrupted Vendor (See: 2-G)
+5 Resilience (See: 2-H)
+10 Bodyguard Maximum Level.
+20 Influence. (See: 2-I)

Schematic:

Syndicate Kit

1-B
Hired Help
Required XP: Smuggling (See: 2-J)

Level 1:
Skill Points: 5

Bodyguard: Marksman

+1 Bodyguard Maximum Level.
+5 Resilience

Level 2:
Skill Points: 4

Bodyguard: Basic Combat Conditioning

+2 Bodyguard Maximum Level.
+5 Resilience

Level 3:
Skill Points: 3

Bodyguard: Weapon Specialization

+3 Bodyguard Maximum Level.
+10 Resilience

Level 4:
Title Given: Mobster
Skill Points: 2

Bodyguard: Improved Combat Conditioning

+1 Stored Bodyguard
+4 Bodyguard Maximum Level.
+10 Resilience

1-C
Spy Network
Required XP: Syndicate (See: 2-K)

Level 1:
Skill Points: 5

Syndicate Missions: Destroy
Spy Network: Infiltrator

+1 Bodyguard Maximum Level.

Level 2:
Skill Points: 4

Syndicate Missions: Smuggler
Spy Network: Detailed Information

+2 Bodyguard Maximum Level.

Level 3:
Skill Points: 3

Syndicate Missions: Bounty Hunter
Spy Network: Off world Connections

+3 Bodyguard Maximum Level.

Level 4:
Title Given: Information Broker
Skill Points: 2

Syndicate Missions: Increased Mission Difficulty
Spy Network: Cost Reduction

+4 Bodyguard Maximum Level.

1-D
Criminal Genius
Required XP: Syndicate

Level 1:
Skill Points: 5

Crime Lord: Syndicate War
Syndicate Perk: Vehicle

+1 Bodyguard Maximum Level.

Level 2:
Skill Points: 4

Syndicate Perk: Domestic Items
Syndicate Perk: Spices

+2 Bodyguard Maximum Level.

Level 3:
Skill Points: 3

Syndicate Perk: Defensive Structures
Syndicate Perk: Droids

+3 Bodyguard Maximum Level.

Level 4:
Title Given: Conspirator
Skill Points: 2

Crime Lord: Place Bounty
Syndicate Perk: Weapons

+4 Bodyguard Maximum Level.

1-E
Business Opportunities
Required XP: Syndicate

Level 1:
Skill Points: 5

Hired Protection: Medical Center. (See: 2-L)
Syndicate Landing Clearance: ?

+1 Bodyguard Maximum Level.
+1 Corrupted Vendor

Level 2:
Skill Points: 4

Hired Protection: Cantina.
Syndicate Landing Clearance: ?

+1 Corrupted Vendor
+2 Bodyguard Maximum Level.

Level 3:
Skill Points: 3

Hired Protection: Home.
Syndicate Landing Clearance: ?

+1 Corrupted Vendor
+3 Bodyguard Maximum Level.

Level 4:
Title Given: Racketeer
Skill Points: 2

Hired Protection: Cloning Center.
Syndicate Landing Clearance: ?

+1 Corrupted Vendor
+4 Bodyguard Maximum Level.

1-F
Master Crime Lord
Title Given: Criminal Mastermind
Skill Points: 1

Place: Criminal Stronghold
Bodyguard: Elite Combat Training
Syndicate Missions: Increased Returns
Spy Network: Saboteur
Syndicate Perk: Armor
Hired Protection: City
Syndicate Landing Clearance: ?

+1 Stored Bodyguard
+1 Corrupted Vendor
+10 Resilience
+20 Bodyguard Maximum Level.
+20 Influence.

Message Edited by Smuggler_Caylin on 10-18-2004 02:13 PM

The Infamous Caylin Borealis - First Master Smuggler on Bria
One of the Four Horsemen of the Smuggler Apocalypse!
:The Ghost with the Most:

2-0
Important Information and Explanations:

2-A
Crime Lord Establishments:

The Casino.
Casinos would be new architect craftable buildings that act as gambling joints for player cities. There you would find games of chance and hopefully a way to play Sabacc inside Star Wars Galaxies. These are the buildings that will enable the crime lord owner to create a criminal syndicate of his own.

Players could gamble there and win more money, but in the spirit of making this more of a business, I would hope that a % of the money players lost there to the games, would be given to the owner of the establishment. In essence, a Casino helps pay for itself.

Criminal Stronghold
At Master Crime lord, the player gains the ability to place a Criminal Stronghold. A larger establishment, hopefully rich in design and large in size, with all the amenities of the Casino as well. Players should hopefully be able hold both a Cantina and a Stronghold if need be, this way, in the creation of Syndicates, there would be no issues in transferring the headquarters of the Crime Lords operation from the Casino to the Stronghold.

2-B
The Criminal Syndicate:

What is a Criminal Syndicate:

Criminal Syndicates are player created factions, that while participants in PvP combat, are not necessarily tied to the Galactic Civil War. In the past there were talks of a third faction to compete with Rebel or Imperial, known as Hutt faction. However, it is my idea that we should disregard an NPC run faction, and instead, take the matter into the players hands. They are the unknown quantity, working for their own agenda.

There is a problem of virtually thousands of individual syndicates would probably bog down the servers. Just as player cities are limited on planets it would be preferable to find a way to limit Criminal Syndicates.

Just as Prince Xizor worked under the Empire, so could syndicate members still claim loyalty to a GCW faction. The criminal Syndicate factions created by crime lords are just means for setting up a new form of guild, that could potentially sell information to either sides, and assist either side in their conflict at the drop of a hat...or a jingle of a bunch of credits. They are militaristic, and thus have a ranking system akin to a GCW faction. They are a faction in and of themselves, but are a sub-faction if you will so as not to directly conflict with the GCW loyalties of the players.

Through progression of the Crime Lord, syndicate members would gain access to possibly illegalfaction perks, that would be purchased through faction points from NPC members of their syndicate, and take part in their own little battles and such to further enhance the environment of Star Wars Galaxies.

When a player joins a syndicate, they are considered PvP able and ready at *all* times. There is no covert option for them to employ. If your syndicate is at war with another one, you should be ready for a fight at any time. There is no mercy of any kind in the criminal underworld.

Setting up a Syndicate

If a Crime Lord wishes to progress in his skill tree, he will probably want to form his own Criminal Syndicate in his Casino. Through terminal options on the building, he should be able to select an option that would create a syndicate. He could personalize the name of the organization, and an NPC that could be placed in his inventory that can only be placed in that building at this time, this NPC will act as the Syndicate Major Domo, and creating him will be akin to creating a vendor. This NPC is the being the Crime Lord interacts with in order to give commands to his organization.

When a syndicate is created, there is a new maintenance fee. After all, running a syndicate takes money, so the Crime Lord will have to make a significant investment into the organization.

Upon placing the Major Domo, spawn points will be activated within the Casino or Stronghold. These will be NPC's who are common thugs and are proud members of your little criminal underworld, that were hired by the Major Domo to work under you. In essence, the major domo does your real dirty work after you tell him what you need done.

If at master crime lord, you wish to transfer your headquarters to your Stronghold, you should have an option to relocate your headquarters to that location through the radial menu on the building. Essentially moving the Major Domo from the previous location, to that location.

The thugs that are part of your operation will continue to spawn so long as you are up to date on your syndicate maintenance, and their strength and re spawn rate are affected by the Influence modifier explained later. They will also aide and protect anyone who is a member of your operation. There should be a setting with the Casino or Stronghold, the helps alter the behavior of the NPC thugs that work under you. You should be able to give them preferred enemies. If your syndicate is at war with another syndicate, they will automatically attack their rivals, but special commands such as attacking overt rebels, or overt imperials or even both should be an additional option. This helps the owner of the establishment choose who is welcomed in their business, home or even city.

Gaining Syndicate XP without creating one:

Already existing criminal organizations that are run by NPCs could be used to facilitate the experience gain of an ambitious crime lord. There is certainly a chance in advancement in organizations run by Crime Lords such as Jabba or Lady Valerian. Additional members of their factions with management skills should prove invaluable.

By talking with the Major Domos of those respective criminal factions that a Crime Lord can join, they will be given missions to complete to gain experience in running a Syndicate. It should not be an easy journey but it will allow progression of Crime Lords who are not able to set up their own player syndicate.

When all is said and done, your new syndicate is created, there are abilities you can now take advantage of. The first thing a crime lord will want to probably do is place a syndicate mission terminal inside his Casino.

Missions
Syndicate mission terminals operate like many other mission terminals in the game, the skill of the crime lord allows for different missions to become available, yet for every mission that is successfully completed the Crime lord gets a bit of a kick back, which would be a % of the reward of the mission. This shows that the Crime lord benefits from having people take missions, and it helps bring in the most important thing for many Crime lords...credits.

• Delivery: (Novice)
  Standard delivery missions, take an item from one NPC and deliver it to another. Open to any player. Completion yields the faction points for that Syndicate, as well as a cash reward.
  
  
  
  
• Destroy (Spy Network I)
  Destroy missions that are available to everyone. These center on destroying NPC criminal installations. Getting rid of the competition so to speak. Credits and Syndicate faction upon completion.
  
  
  
  
• Smuggler (Spy Network II)
  This allows for a new tab to display that is able to be seen by Smugglers only. Criminal delivery missions that result in smuggling xp, credits and syndicate faction for the player who completes them.
  
  
  
  
• Bounty Hunter (Spy Network III)
  This opens up an option for Bounty Hunters and only Bounty Hunters to do what they do best, hunt people down. Just like they get from their own terminals, yet depending on circumstances, special bounties may appear for those players who have wronged or made personal enemies of the Crime Lord in charge. Investigation and Syndicate faction and cash being among the rewards upon completion.
  

At Spy Network IV there is an ability called 'Increase Difficulty'. What this does is essentially raise the possible mission difficulty that these missions could be. For instance, in the beginning of your syndicate and it is rather weak, taking on larger jobs shouldn't be risked, yet as your organization grows more powerful, larger risks could be taken and greater rewards could be obtained. For instance having missions capped at a Mission Difficulty of 15... then once this ability is achieved they could possibly go up to 32 or greater, depending on the skill of the individual looking at the missions, and the targets in mind.

At Master Crime Lord, I placed an ability that would increase returns, this would essentially increase the kickback percentage given to the Crime Lord when missions were completed, thus getting him even more money than usual. Benefiting from the situation in every possible way.

Dealing with other Crime Lords:

Often, one of the best ways for a Crime Lord to progress in skill, is to have members of a rival syndicate eliminated. Here are some abilities that the smuggler makes use of to further his Syndicates cause.

• Peace Offering (Novice):
  This Skill is used in attempt to bribe a rival syndicate from continuing aggression against your own syndicate. After all, when you first begin building your power base, you are vulnerable and in no position to attack another syndicate, but can possibly placate them for a time by offering a tribute of some sort
  
  

  When this skill is used through the Major Domo, the Crime Lord sees what Syndicates have declared war against them, there they can select which syndicate they would like to negotiate with, and then offer an amount of credits and a proposed amount of time. The other crime lord, next they login, is notified that an offer has been made, they then proceed to talk to their major domos, and if they choose to accept the money and the time, peace is automatically declared between the two syndicates, and will remain that way until the time proposed is met.
  

  
  
• Syndicate War (Criminal Genius I):
  Having progressed beyond your initial vulnerability, the Crime lord is now given the chance to pronounce a war against a rival player syndicate. Any members of your syndicate can openly attack members of the opposing one. They are also granted the same liberty. Again, there is no covert function.
  
  
  
• Place Bounty (Criminal Genius IV):
  In the event that you are at war with another Syndicate, this ability allows the Crime Lord to choose a particular member of the opposing syndicate that they might want 'dealt with' and offer a reward. Passing Bounty Hunters who look at the Crime Lords terminals, can then accept those missions, and attempt to claim the reward on the players head. Please note, it should not be able to be done to any player who is *not* a member of the warring syndicate.

Joining a Criminal Syndicate:

Players who are interested in joining a syndicate gain another way to participate in PvP, new items as faction perks and chances at gaining access to new and interesting content. To join is similar to joining a GCW faction, a minimum of 200 points in that syndicate. You gain that by taking missions from syndicate terminals. They are then able to progress up the ranks of the Syndicate to better attain the benefits it has to offer. Smugglers should be able to offer their services to buy and sell faction here, just as they do for the GCW recruiters. A percentage of the money used in this process, should go to the Crime Lord.

Leaving a Criminal Syndicate:

If a player wishes to leave a criminal syndicate, he tells the Major Domo, however, can't have people just quitting a criminal syndicate without a punishment. Upon leaving, the player has a bounty placed on his head, that is available on all Bounty Hunter terminals. Depending on the rank of the person in the syndicate, the higher the bounty posted. Once resigned, the player can not attempt to join that syndicate again for at least 24 hours, this prevents bounty hunters from having players join and leave syndicates easily, just to get them on terminals and then kill them for investigation XP too quickly.

Message Edited by Smuggler_Caylin on 10-18-2004 02:07 PM

The Infamous Caylin Borealis - First Master Smuggler on Bria
One of the Four Horsemen of the Smuggler Apocalypse!
:The Ghost with the Most:

2-E
Syndicate Perks:

Criminal Syndicates are known for getting their hands on technology and items that for all intensive purposes, governments and other law abiding organizations wish did not exist. So of course, the crime lord would be interested in getting these, and making them available to his syndicate.

When a Crime Lord gains the ability to provide his Syndicate with a new faction perk, he needs to talk to his major domo. He is given the option of setting what he wants to be the faction perk for whatever item in question, and has to pay the major domo for a craftable item that the Crime Lord will have to work with. Consider it a template for a schematic.

This item is used by the Syndicate Kit that Crime Lords can craft at Novice. Here they play with the perk they bought from the Major Domo which could be anything from clothing to weapons. He can choose from various designs, colors and utility for the products that are issued with his toolkit, and when finished, hand it back to the major domo, who analysis it, and then tells you how much it would cost to have the item issued as a faction perk to your syndicate. When these perks are purchased via syndicate faction, depending on the designs chosen, various levels of player crafters may be needed to make use of them.

For instance I may have the colors, design and possibly even interesting skill bonuses in some clothing I want issued as a perk to my Syndicate, but when I purchase the perk with my Syndicate faction, it is in the form of a schematic, and I need to find a compliant tailor with the skill level dictated by the schematic, in order to have it crafted for me. Different designs requiring different resources.

In many cases, using these perks requires you to be a member of that syndicate. Notable exceptions being Defensive Structures, Spices and Droids, as far as I am concerned.

The Syndicates influence should have a factor in what options are available as well. For very powerful organizations should be capable of finding hidden and forbidden technologies, that smaller ones should be incapable of gaining. For instance when I mention mandalorian armor as a perk, that would be an option to only the most powerful of syndicates.

Proposals for Perks:

• Clothing (Novice):
  New clothing designs with set colors to give a uniform look. Possibly even skill bonuses to enhance. Schematics used by Tailors. When this is first done, there should be an option to have this look applied to all the NPC thugs who work for your syndicate, as a standard uniform.
  
  
  
  
• Vehicles (Criminal Genius I):
  New Chassis, designs and perhaps even a bit of speed over the originals in use today. Schematics used by Artisans.
  
  
  
  
• Domestic Items (Criminal Genius II):
  New furniture items, used for decorations.
  Chef recipes that could require illegal ingredients.
  
  
  
  
• Spices (Criminal Genius II):
  Interesting chemical combinations that provide enhancements of one type or another. Schematic used by Smugglers.
  
  
  
• Defensive Structures (Criminal Genius III):
  New adaptable turrets and GCW base structures. Architects use this schematic.
  
  
  
  
• Droids (Criminal Genius III)
  New droid chassis with new and interesting capabilities. Use your imagination, and let the DE profession grow and benefit through the use of these schematics.
  
  
  
  
• Weapons (Criminal Genius IV):
  New weapons, think along the lines of that Featherweight FWG5 or Nyms Slugthrower. Interesting weapon designs and bonuses for weaponsmiths to craft.
  
  
  
  
• Armor (Master):
  New and interesting armor designs. Chances for class specific armor that is very very expensive and difficult. Perhaps, a master crime lord would have the resources to have his organization make some highly experimental armor depending on their influence level. Different stats and designs regardless of that though. Obviously the schematics must be used by an armorsmith.

2-F
Syndicate Landing Clearance:

This helps any member of the Syndicate, if the Crime Lord has gained this, to reach new and exciting locations perhaps located in the Space Expansion. They have access to these new lands, and so are able to take part in a great deal of interesting encounters that should hopefully be rich in content and very high in difficulty. I currently do not know what these locations should be though.

2-G
Corrupted Vendors:

Many Smugglers have found it absurd that selling contraband on Bazaars, and normal vendors does not correctly portray that contraband items are illegal. So with the inclusion of this ability, any and all contraband items, sliced/unsliced/spices, anything that is subject to contraband scans should no longer be able to be sold on the bazaar or Player vendor.

Unless of course, that player vendor is owned by a Crime Lord!

After creation of the vendor, the crime lord, depending on his skill, can choose to corrupt the vendors circuitry or morality and enable vendors that he owns to sell contraband items. However, this is at an increased maintenance rate.

The Corrupted Vendor modifier does not symbolize the creation of new vendors, but is used in addition to them. So this skill completely compliments the Merchant skill tree, and with prereqs as they are for the crime lord, they are easily capable of getting more merchants should they wish.

2-H
Resilience:

Basically see my Smuggler Revamp thread and the details there. It's a % resist skill mod that lowers the duration of negative status effects, from dizzy to poison and disease.

Message Edited by Smuggler_Caylin on 10-18-2004 02:09 PM

The Infamous Caylin Borealis - First Master Smuggler on Bria
One of the Four Horsemen of the Smuggler Apocalypse!
:The Ghost with the Most:

There, cleaned it up a bit, put in a few minor things, and put Corrupted vendors where it belongs.

I even put a fancy quote at the top. Yay me!

I'm glad I'm a Smuggler too

Ideas are always welcomed. Like in my revamp though, I'll be using my own judgement as a guide. As much as I know I'm wasting my time doing this, I can always dream...

The Infamous Caylin Borealis - First Master Smuggler on Bria
One of the Four Horsemen of the Smuggler Apocalypse!
:The Ghost with the Most:

Alright, I gotta make you correct one thing.

GENIUS. G-E-N-I-U-S.

That's been bugging me.

/applaud

I really enjoyed the thread.It is a shame that no one outside of this forum will probably ever see it.