Smuggler Archive
Thread: Revamp Discussion: Contraband & Smuggling Missions
The Combat Balance will be gear towarded Sliced Weapons and Armor, without them you will be at a disadvantage. There is your incentive
Daker-Naritus wrote:
This is my point...
For smuggling to work, there has to be a market for the smuggled items. There has to someone to buy those items the Smuggler bootlegs from Jabba.
If you make smuggled items so annoying to own that no one will put up with it, there is no market and nothing for smugglers to do (outside of NPC missions).
SBRD0C wrote:
Smuggler_Caylin wrote:
That I can't support unless the player knows that advancement in the smuggler tree essentially requires the player to consent to PVP combat. No other profession requires that and I don't like the thought of PVP being the centralised consequence of breaking the law.
My understanding of the system is that visibilty only raises significantly from missions if the smuggler decides to shortchange the NPC customers.. So it would be rather optional. Though I'm not entirely sure if the Visibilty increase for getting caught with 'Highly Illegal' Items would be sufficient to get a Bounty on you right away, THAT may be something we should look at.. though from the previous posts you OBVIOUSLY know MY opinion in the matter =)
One of the Four Horsemen of the Smuggler Apocalypse! 
Daker-Naritus wrote:
By the way....
Please don't think I am a smuggler hater...
I have been a smuggler and definately agree that Smuggler needs MAJOR love, and more of a smuggling role in the game. I definately also agree that players should occassionally be forced to have a smuggler help them more things. PC smuggling is a must.
My main problem is that I think there is a better way (even if I haven't come up with it yet) to create a PC smuggling market without (a) ruining the spice/slice market or (b) creating an every night annoyance.
Think we may just have to agree to disagree Dakar, we really aren't getting anywhere going in circles 
Though I can obviously see that, you not being a PvP oriented player, Slicing is not something that would greatly benefit you anyway.. Weapons/abilities are good enough to do PvE without the need to slice. as for spices.. theres no market for that right now(at least not for me).. can't get any worse really.
As for the slicing market, as I see it slicing shouldn't be a market. The ability to slice is not something a smuggler should necessarily sell(though it is good for extra cred) buta survival skill that helps him avoid Bounties, improve his gear, and speed up travel to escape those nasty BHs... you saw GM mention a travel system right? Will put my money down that is the smuggler provided way for Players to get around traveling delays that they wanted to give to smuggler NPCs a few months ago..
So you see in the end it is a Win-Win, cause not only can I smuggler for you if you need, I can also speed up your travels.
Smuggler_Caylin wrote:
SBRD0C wrote:
Smuggler_Caylin wrote:
That I can't support unless the player knows that advancement in the smuggler tree essentially requires the player to consent to PVP combat. No other profession requires that and I don't like the thought of PVP being the centralised consequence of breaking the law.
My understanding of the system is that visibilty only raises significantly from missions if the smuggler decides to shortchange the NPC customers.. So it would be rather optional. Though I'm not entirely sure if the Visibilty increase for getting caught with 'Highly Illegal' Items would be sufficient to get a Bounty on you right away, THAT may be something we should look at.. though from the previous posts you OBVIOUSLY know MY opinion in the matter =)
It also raises if you fail a mission it seems, so it is still too easily tied into unconsensual pvp. PvE consequences, sure, but PVP is another matter.
Perhaps the XP could be tied to succesfully evading a scan as well as finishing missions? not a total solution, but would certainly help Non-PvP folks to get XP without making huge jumps in visibility
*edited here*
Just thought of something, Perhaps The visibilty could be acrued only if the smuggler 'sliced' into the locked cargo? and if an Honest smuggler times out a mission there be no visibility penalty and teh still locked cargo would be removed from thier inventory?
Message Edited by SBRD0C on 06-16-2004 08:56 PM
Without knowing how the Travel ticket system works, I can’t be sure if this is viable alternative; but I have an idea for smuggling that may not require full inventory scans at all of the travel terminals.
What I am thinking is that the named planetary resources that are used in crafting could be required to be smuggled off that planet. (Nym doesn’t like all that Lokian wild wheat being scrounged off his planet without getting his fair cut. Or the Imperials are cracking down on poaching on Endor, so Endorian Wooly Hide is illegal to export off planet.)
Could it be possible for some of these types of specific items to work as an anti-travel ticket?
If a player has the item in their inventory, and use a Travel ticket or travel droid, they receive a message saying they can’t leave the planet with the item. The player would then need to give the item to an NPC who would give them a receipt for the item, the player specifies where they want the item delivered; and the player can then leave the planet. The player would receive an email when the smuggler completed the job, then they can speak to the NPC at the destination and turn in their receipt for the return of the item.
The Smuggler would then use the NPC (possibly similar to a mission terminal, or vendor) and the see a listing of the available jobs needing to leave that planet and their destination. When the smuggler accepts the mission; they receive some sort of token to smuggle to take to an NPC at the destination to receive their payment and XP. (Or, the actual item to smuggle—if they want to allow Bounties on the smuggler that doesn’t deliver the item in a standard time-limit).
If the Smuggler fails the check at the travel terminal (maybe a different one than the normal player one) some NPC’s show up; the smuggler has the option to fight, bribe or try to talk his way out, and if those checks fail he has to fight, and death causes him to fail the misssion.
If this anti-travel ticket was viable, it would remove the need for inventory scans at travel ports, and the only check required would be on the less populated planets.
The illegal resources could be changed periodically. (making this dynamic content, to boot!) It would also be cool if Nym’s NPC’s could do random searches of players on Lok for their illegal resources, like the Imperial crackdown. And these could be changed along with the resource; so at some time Ewok's may shake you down for your Endorian Wooly Hide.
Overall, I think it would be best if there was smuggling but it didn't involve the smuggler after the initial delivery of the item, so the contraband scans would still be in place and have a penalty, but it's solely up to the player to deal with that.
The full thread is here:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=smuggler&message.id=85749#M85749
Smuggler_Caylin wrote:
I'm not going to go 'perhaps if they did this' right now, I'm just commenting on what they have and showing where I feel there may be problems.
Mind-reading is not what we are supposed to be doing here.
Too much has been suggested as an alternative to start doing 'perhaps this' over and over again. We have so many ideas we can fill a warehouse, but it doesn't mean that it will be implemented the way we think. Lets try not to do the 'perhaps' stuff, but focus on what we actually have.
Not trying to say that 'Perhaps' They will make it that way Caylin.. just suggesting my Idea for an Alternative, as you posted above discussion these prosals + possible alternatives is the purpose of this thread
Jhovial wrote:
These arent suppose to be used by everyone all of the time. Its sad that they ever were.
See now I disagree with this.....
There are basic 2 types ofskills in the game: (1) combat and (2) combat support.
All combat support skillmust have a prevalent role in the game, or those players with those skills have nothing to do.
If players wearing armor is not supposed to be the norm, how do armorsmiths make a living?
If buffs were not supposed to be the norm, how do doctors make a living?
If food was not supposed to be regularly used, how do chefs make a living?
I think slicing was inserted into the game as the normal course of activities...along with weapons and armor, smugglers were intended to play the key role of enhancing them after you buy them. That enhancement isn't free by any means...it makes them wear out much faster. Smugglers only 2 products at release were spices and slices, if they weren't intended to be used, why was that it?
Later devs needed a way to increase the imperial presence in the game. They made the unfortunate decision of declaring all smuggler services illegal, and punishing players for using smuggler services. I have always disagreed with that decision.
However, I think the original intent of the game was to make slicing services and spices an integral part of the game, and I think that shoulf be preserved.
To keep smugglers from being "spice/slice jockies" I think GM is on the right track.....add smuggling missions to the game, and make it so that certain components used to manufacture spices (and maybe slicing material) have to be "borrowed" fromsmuggling missions. I think the other half, PC smuggling, can be accomplished by making it so that certain items in the game HAVE to be smuggled. I just don't think that spices and slices are those certain items.
Edit: corrected my abysmal spelling.
Message Edited by Daker-Naritus on 06-16-2004 11:03 PM