Smuggler Archive

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HimFan wrote:
Yes but in the end it comes down to what our Smuggler Correspondent wants to write down for the devs to read.

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Mentski wrote:

I made a post a minute ago in its own thread, but I thought a bulletted version of my ideas to revamp the spice tree (and in effect, other smuggler related issues), would be of use here.

• Make spice a spawning/surveyable/mined resource, with qualities which would effect the products made out of it (e.g. toxicity, enhancement effects,etc) this resource would be highly illegal (ties in to ideas above about other powerful resources being marked as contraband), anyone caught in a search is liable to a fine and/of confiscation of the resource.
• Change the spice crafting tree into a spice refining tree, where the smuggler refines the spice into a potent drug. experimentation along with the raw spices qualities, would allow for improvements of the product (example using a spice with a high stat enhancing quality, but a low toxicity, to reduce the downer and increase the buff on some muon)
• The new spice resource may also be used in some way by other professions, chefs may be able to add spice additives, or weaponsmiths could make guns with nasty DoT style effects, (these may be available through limited schematics, for example)Of course, a spice improved product would be considered contraband, too.
• Certain raw spices with certain qualities spawn on different planets (much like how the spawns for quality avian meat for good doc buffs do) hence require transporting, and hopefully, smuggling.

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Mentski wrote:
doh. double postage.

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• NPC Mission Functionality




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  NPC Smuggler missions are accessed by slicing Artisan Terminals. The Artisan Terminal UI is used, but without a "Crafting" tab. Unlike the Standard Terminal Slice, there is no time limit between Artisan Terminal Slices.


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  The Delivery Tab lists NPC Smuggling Missions, including the NPC Giver, The Mission Title, and the Reward.


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  As the Smuggler progresses up the Underworld Tree, more difficult (interplanetary travel, possible hostile NPC spawns, etc.) and more rewarding missions are given.


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  Upon accepting the mission, a locked container will appear in the Smuggler's inventory, containing the items to be transported. These items are not available to the Player Community by any other means. The higher the mission difficulty, the more lucrative the loot.


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  Tampering with the Lock, in anyway, will result in a mission failure. Repeated failures within a set time period, perhaps an hour, will result in a Player Bounty on the Smuggler's head. The value of this Bounty is determined by two factors: the difficulty of the missions and the number of failures.


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  Successful delivery of the Container will result in a mission payout and a variable amount of "Underworld XP" used to traverse up the Smuggling Branch. Slicing a Mission Container will result in half this amount.

• Player Mission Functionality




• An NPC with a random name, player or NPC race, with the title "a Smuggler Contact" is placed within the Cantina of all Starport Cities. At Master Smuggler, Player's can place their own "Smuggler Contacts" within Player Cities.


• A Player wishing to hire a Smuggler to move controlled/illicit items will Converse with the Contact, and througha simple textboxUI create the outline of a mission.


• Upon completion of the Mission Listing, the details are placed in a "Special Orders" tab of the Sliced Artisan Terminal UI. Only Smugglers with Underworld IV have access to this tab. The Player who created the mission will be the only thing listed on the UI. Details of the mission can be accessed through the process found in other missions.


• When a Master Smuggler accepts a mission a System Message and/or E-Mail is sent to the Mission Creator. The two players then negotiate price and time, and any other nuances of the "contract".


• To avoid thievery Players withMaster Artisan have the ability to create "MagSeal Containers", requiring the use of a General Crafting Tool, 20 Metal, and 5 Copper. These function exactly like standard containers, with the following exceptions:




• MagSeal Containers can not be sliced.


• A "Set Access" option appears in the radial menu, allowing the possessor of an "Unlocked" MagSeal to set the access rights to the Container. The UI is similar to, if not exactly like, the Administration and Access functions of structures.


• A "Lock" option, also in the radial menu, which allows anyone on the Access List to seal the container.


• An "Unlock" option, which allows Players on the Access list to unseal the container.

I was toying with the idea of having the Player(s) do everything with the NPC (include giving the items/reward to it, and having the Smuggler pick it up), however that would complicate the interface and, IMO, lessen the interaction between the Smuggler and his/her employer.

Any ideas? Comments?

1. A user can mix and match any spice they want.


2. There would be aspice meter like the food and drink meters for chef products. This would measure the amount of spice in the user's sytem.


3. Each spice would have a stat like the food and drink filling stat.For ease of communication, this stat will be called "strain" for the rest of the post.Each spice would addits setamountof strainto the spice meter.


4. Each spice would have an additional stat which would be unique for spices. For ease of communication, this stat will be called "addictiveness" for the rest of the post.

Spice use while already high.

1. Using a spice while already high will add the strain of the new spice to the strain of the spice already in use.


2. Should a useruse over the set amount ofstrain a body can handle, they would recieve a VERY brief benefit from all the spices used before dieing. This would simulate overdosing.


3. Users can only accumulate strain while high.


4. Strain lasts only as long as the high.

Spice use while on a downer.

1. Users can not accumulate strain while on a downer as the spice in use before has left the user's sytem which is what produces the downer effect.


2. Users may take another hit of the spice or spices they were using to negate the downer and put them on another high. (Note: Should the user take more than one spice at this time, the total strain will be the sum of each used spice's strain. It works just like if the user is high in this matter.)


3. Should the user choose to negate the downer by taking another hit of the spice, the addictiness stat will be used as a multiplier to the set downer effect.


4. Should the user negate the effects of the downer to the point where the downer significantly lowers the effected attributes below zero, the player will become incapacitated for the duration of the downer. This simulates physical dependency.

Now, some of this might be a bit confusing, so here are examples using the most well known spices.

Examples: Spice use in general

1. A user could take pixie and muon at the same time.


2. Requires no example as the example is already in the game.


3. Also needs no example as the example is already in the game.


4. Pretty self explanitory. It would be something like .2 or .05 or the like.

Examples: Spice use whilealready high

1. This would work just like taking two brandies at the same time.


2. The user decides to try using both pixie and muon at the same time. Unfortunately, the radiation of the muon exponentiolly increases the potency of the pixie giving the user a very intense high but for a very brief time as the strain is too much for their body to handle so the body shuts down. Insta kills are already in the game. I wouldn't think it would be hard to add it as an effect to exceeding the strain.


3. Self explanatory


4. The user takes muon. The strain is added to the bar. As long as the user has the positive effects of the high, the strain is in the bar. As soon as the downer hits and the user loses the positive effects of the spice, the strain is removed from the bar.

Examples: Spice use while on a downer

1. Downer effects are produced by the substance leaving the sytem and the body trying to recover. There is nothing in the sytem anymore hence, no need to keep anything in the meter.


2. The user's muon just wore off and they are short five hundred mind, focus, and willpower. The user takes another muon, gets that five hundred mind, focus, and willpower back as well as gains the additional five hundred from the high. Because the user is now high again, should the user take a hit of a different spice to negate that downer, they would accumulate strain just like normal.


3. The user takes that hit of muon while on the downer. Because muon has an addictiveness of .1 (just an example. has no real meaning), their next downer will take off 10% more mind, focus, and willpower as well as last 10% longer.


4. The user has taken muon on a downer sequentially (one after the other). Because of this, theyare now going to lose one thousand mind, focus, and willpower on his next downer when they only had five hundred mind, focus, and willpower to begin with. This will put them at negative five hundred mind, focus, and willpower. Because, that is so far past zero, their next downer will instantly incapacitate them for the duration of the downer.

This would be easy to implement for the following reasons.

• The code for the meter is already in the game (food and drink meters).


• The code for the strain stat is already in the game (filling stat on food and drink).


• The code for addiction stat is already in the game (think weapon speed, weapon damage, armor effectiveness. Even simpler, think of armor piercing on unarmered targets).


• The code for instant deaths is already in the game (who hasn't been instantly db'ed while fighting something likekrayts or night sisters?)


• Those are the only real differences in this system from what we currently have.

This would be good for spices as it adds not only the drug persona it has lacked,but it adds a very unique usage for it. It is this posters opinion, people would use spices just for the coolness factor even if the benefits were not as good as currently available short term buff products (i.e. chef products)

Questions or comments are always welcome.

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PillowTech wrote:
WOW I really like thess ideas!!!

Few questions.

Would we be able to use extractors to pull out spice from the ground?

If so what kinda extractors?

And what stops other profession from pulling the "raw" spice from the ground? (although we may want them to pull the raw spice)

What can I say I liked the bulletted format too.

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I'd say raw spice would be a mineral, and therefore mined and surveyed as such. Let anyone mine it, anyone with survey skills survey for it. itsan illegal resource, however, and subject to scans. The idea is that raw spice would be a component with uses to other professions, so anyone can mine it, etc. However, as smugglers, we're the only people who can (a percentage of the time, at least) get away with transporting it around, and of course, we can also craft with it, to make refined spice with stat-buffing/damage mitigation/etc qualities.

Vampirerobot wrote:

Although thats true, we are going to balance it out so its at least a fun and not too boring and/or annoying to play, I cant imagine many people hand mining dathomir for a bit of spice unless they were very desperate, its got to be able to be auto mined, raw spice must become a valuable, yet illegal resource

But I guess I still wonder, because in a lot of the "spice" descriptions, it seems like the word Spice is really a catch-all for any kind of drug. There are droid lubricants, jet fuel, medical drugs, herbs and spices, all kinds of things that fit under the blanket term "Spice".

You are describing how it is already (to an extent), and to be quite honest, its not working too well, is it?

these non-spice spices are all but redundant to the high level ones anyway. revamping the spice skills would mean doing away with non-spice spices like this and making new ones where the base resource neededis raw spice. of course, they would need addtives from other resources, such as fruit flavouring, maybe a little radioactive kick. Not saying your idea hasnt got value, just twisting it a bit so the main component is still the major component.

In my idea, remember, raw spice would have qualitys that reflect what we could do in experimental effectiveness (another thing asked for) the toxicity quality could change the downer time, while we could have an addiction value too... no other resource HAS these type of quality values, which is pretty much why in my opinion, why spice experimentation wouldn't work in the spice skill tree's current form.

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Mentski wrote:

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Ternque01 wrote:

Well, we really aren't chefs, i agree. I heard an idea where raw spice is mined. Smuggler would have a "refinement"skill where we'd have the know-how to alter the spice or perhaps augment it with additives, or put it into other forms... Damn, we need someone in our forum who acutally makes drugs to give us the downlow, ahhahahahaha!

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Thats what he was replying to, just above

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I knew that! *tries not to look dumb*

No seriously, I read it somewhere last night, and was (yes) too lazy to find where. It's only too comical that it's right above his post, hehe.

I've been doing a hard take home final, so please forgive me

Okay, so as to the effects of spice, I see we have come up with alot of great uses for them - such as having a stat DoT effect on player crafted weapons and a few more.

I think we all want to make the regular use of spices to be more potent. I personally feel that they need to recreate spices or just make them powerful to the point that spices take up the role they are supposed to have in the Star Wars universe - an important one.

Of course, I want this done in a balanced way so that they do not drawf over doc buffs or chef foods, but enought to make them a valuable commodity

I am just stating the obvious here, but I think we as a community need to put this in the revamp document under the spice tree or even salient details.