Smuggler Archive
Thread: Revamp Discussion: Contraband & Smuggling Missions
Thunderheart wrote:
Zeritul wrote:
GreenMarine wrote:
You will want to buy JTL, though.It's really cool.
Is this some kind of Jedi mind trick?
*waves hand*
Of course not...
its not really star wars without space crafts anyway... and I can't wait to build them either...
anyway after reading that revamp(since my final template is going to smuggler/shipwright/Force Sensitive Crafter) i'm really liking it. Sounds so much better then the current smuggler...
But any word on if there will be new prereqs yet?
, but as a BH, I do have one thing to talk about regarding the potential smuggler bounties - feign death. 
Britamart wrote:
any thoughts to the possibilty of smugglers getting on BH terms? I think pc bounties are one the best ideas to come around in a long time, and would love to see them expanded upon.
He said that if a smuggler fails a mission or withholds cargo/cash he can wind up on the terms, same thing if he botches a BH terminal slice.
lund0529 wrote:
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for adding smuggler content, but...
Places like Kaadara, which I used to love, have all but become ghost towns after the crackdown (except for people farming faction). Sliced armor and weapons are very much a part of most players' inventories.
I myselfroutinely carry a full suit of sliced composite, and at least one of each rifle that I'm certified to use for each damage type. Some are sliced for speed, others for damage.
Here are a couple of ideas I'll put up for discussion.
1) It's not illegal to carry sliced gear, but it is illegal to slice them. Thus slicing gear becomes the contraband more so than the gear itself. The act of slicing causes a new "contraband TEF". Keeps the content to the smugglers, and doesn't hurt the overall community. Smugglers will be more inclined to practice their craft in remote or slummy areas. (Mos Eisley should be a haven for smugglers)
2) Sliced gear is illegal, but the quality of the slice/slicer makes the slice harder to spot. In this situation, a master smuggler, with the best tools, and a bit of luck, can slice a weapon so well that the chances of it being spotted in a search are almost non-existant. This keeps the content across all professions that use armor and weapons, and also drives players to seek out the best slicers.
For either one, a player should be able to apply for a "permit" to carry said sliced item. It could be a form of money sink or insurance. Depending on faction, profession, etc, permits could be more or less expensive and/or easy to acquire. AND Smuggler's can forge them as part of the underworld tree.
Forged papers, of course, are contraband too, but the better they are, the less likely they'll get spotted.
Scan Frequency
Contraband scan frequency will be somewhat increased. Scan bottlenecks will be introduced at various locations in major cities, such as starport entries and medical centers.
Look a this one again. In above mentioned Kaadara, I'm usually thrown from my bike to be scanned on city entry, scanned on the way to the bank, and scanned 2-3 more times as I'm standing there.
If you're scanned, you should get a timer before you're scanned again. The timer should be reduced if you're a known/frequent offender, or seen to have dealings with those who are (Contraband TEF)
EDIT: Oh yeah, and if players constantly get harassed for their sliced gear and spices, that can't be good for smuggler business.
Message Edited by lund0529 on 06-16-200403:30 PM
Message Edited by lund0529 on 06-16-2004 03:31 PM
You may have missed that at certain levels of contraband, there may be options to pay a fine/bribe, instead of losing the item and/or engaging in combat. Who doesn't carry around full suits of sliced composite and multiple, sliced weapons?
Regardless, though, I personally feel that if someone's willing to violate the laws by taking advantage of illegal merchandise, then they should be willing to pay the price--one way or another.
Great ideas, GM--I hope all goes forward smoothly and as you can see, you've made a great many people very happy!
Actually I kinda prefer the older method. It would tell me what strings were not allowable. With this new method, entire paragraphs could show up missing with their new 'auto-edit' and that isn't cool.
OdiousEncounter wrote:
Okay, submitting that post i just got the message:
"Message Body: Your post has been changed because invalid HTML was found in the message body. The invalid HTML has been removed. Please review the message and submit the message when you are satisfied."
Meaning i just hit submit again, and it worked! This is SOOOOO much better than pasting Dev posts into notepad when replying to one. Where's that Lithium person? He deserves a hug.
One of the Four Horsemen of the Smuggler Apocalypse! 
Thunderheart wrote:
DrevenStrobe wrote:
Hey TH...if you're still around...
Just to momentarily hijack this thread...
Did you happen to catch my question about the possibility of a Slicing "Friday Feature" in the Weekly Roundtable thread?
If so, any word on that?
I did see that, but it doesnt have enough meat fora friday feature, though it will certainly be part of a Friday Feature that would showcase the smuggler revamp, but thats a ways off. It seems like it might be a good foundation for a 19 questions smuggler question though...
TH:
What happened to the new Wookie PvP armor and it's Friday Feature?
GreenMarine wrote:
Contraband
Quasi-legal. A player caught with quasi-legal goods will be attacked.
Banned. A player caught with banned goods will be attacked. The player’s visibility will increase slightly for each violation.
Highly Illegal. A player caught with highly illegal goods will be attacked, the goods confiscated (if the attacked player is defeated), and the player’s visibility will increase. Highly illegal objects cannot be transported via the standard travel system by anyone other than a smuggler. The player must use the new smuggler travel system in order to move highly illegal goods. (This new system will be discussed later.)
Illegal objects will display their legality in the examine properties list.
-----I hope this applies to ALL people, including Neutrals. Basically, as in most things in this game, the players can CHOOSE their level of involvement. If they want to use spice or sliced gear, they would CHOOSE to the possibility of being attacked and maybe having the item confiscated. If they dont want to bother with that, they they CHOOSE not to use sliced gear or spices. I'd also like to see illegal goods unable to be SOLD on vendors, and especially the bazzar. But if things do get sold on player vendors, the vendor owners visiibility goes up every time someone browses the vendor. Essentially, if I was selling a narcotic in my little shop on main street, it woudl only be a matter of time until one of the people browsing the store would see the drugs and make a call to the cops. Peddling in spice should be done in dark alleys.
A faction aligned player who is caught with contraband will lose a percentage of faction appropriate to the degree of the crime.
-----Hopefully at least a couple hundred points for minor stuff, an dpotentially over a thousand for major (kicking them out of the "army" until they clean up their act). You gotta make it real dangerous to be sporting illegal goods.
Imperial aligned players will now only be immune to scans regarding quasi-legal goods if they have the rank of corporal or better.
I agree with others, it should be Staff SGT at least.
Old sliced weapons and armor will be converted to have the legality level of “banned.”
-----Yay!!
Cargo Legality
Smuggling mission cargo is highly illegal. Any non-smuggler caught carrying a crate of any item to be delivered from a smuggling mission will be attacked and have the cargo confiscated.
Due to the illegality of the cargo, the authorities may occasionally hear about a particular supplier’s intent to move goods. Smugglers on a smuggler mission may encounter attacks from planetary or Imperial authorities, depending on the difficulty of the mission. Killing these enemies is not necessary to complete the mission.
-----Hopefully the authorities will be beefy....otherwise you will be introducing a new way to farm faction points.
I am very excited about this. I understand it will probably be January or so before this may see the light, but its something to look forward to!
My one hope is that you guys will find a way to allow Smugglers to take their part in the Galaxy as people who skirt the line between legal and illegal....most often dipping below the line, hehehehe. We should be the bane of the Authorities, and hunted rigorously.
People looking to take advantage of just one aspect of the profession, like slicing their own weapons for resale, should not bother as the dangers are such that a large-scale business like that would have an At-ST parked on your doorstep 24/7. The mass retailing of pre-sliced goods should die...hard. A Squad of Nova Troopers and a few AT's patroling the area where such goods are sold, scanning every single person passign by, would discourage such activities. People selling sliced goods on their vendor should quickly find themselves hunted by BH.
Let Smugglers retire back where we like it, in the shadows.
Greenmarine. Thank you for the time and effort in putting this together. Let m try and break down my thoughts on your idea as clearly and concisely as possible.
Contraband
- Quasi Legal I like the repercussions you have suggested here. Good start but I'm with the idea that certain troopers will ask for a fine, or in more remote areas, accept some form of bribe.
- Highly IIlegal I think this is fantastic. What I'd like to see at some point is an impound lot ( the location can be leaked to the player base in future patches if it cannot fit into the revamp. This would be a base in its own right, requiring a break in to get into. I would suggest that the mobs in this area be suitably tough, and social, but one where a route from entrance to the actual holding chamber is free of any mobs at all. That way a stealthy smuggler could break in and retrieve items. I suggest random items that have been confiscated could be placed in containers here. The smuggler could sell the item back to its original owner or keep it. Morality it would appear seems to run through our profession.
Imperial aligned players will now only be immune to scans regarding quasi-legal goods if they have the rank of corporal or better. Its been said before but this might be a little low.
Old sliced weapons and armor will be converted to have the legality level of “banned.” Good. People need to realise sliced weapons are not the norm in this game.
Contraband scan frequency will be somewhat increased. Scan bottlenecks will be introduced at various locations in major cities, such as starport entries and medical centers.
At the moment the only cities I know of where I can be scanned is Kadaara and on the odd occasion Kor Vella. I'd like to see an imperial presence in a great deal more cities, perhaps with some AT-STs and maybe even a dreaded AT-AT at some point. Please increase scans in the wild. I have yet to see one of these take place.
The game's "visibility" system will be expanded. Any player can now accumulate small amounts of visibility for a contraband infraction. The amount of visibility will be dependent on the severity of the infraction. Be careful this isnt too much. I dont want to see people walking up and down Kadaara with dozens of smuggled weapons just so they can grief Bounty Hunters.
Smugglers may attempt to find out or reduce the visibility of any player by slicing a bounty hunter terminal. Failure to successfully slice the terminal will result in the smuggler being immediately added to the terminal. Brilliant.
Smugglers on a smuggler mission may encounter attacks from planetary or Imperial authorities, ( Imperials should suffer at the hands of rebel raids )depending on the difficulty of the mission. Killing these enemies is not necessary to complete the mission. Dont forget to have the usual scans were used to look for these objects too.
Im sure this will be discussed at a later stage but my particular interest lies in the bounty itself. What I don't want to see is a situation where people gain enough visibility to get on the terminals and stay there till they are killed. What Id like to see is the bounty itself generating a new type of mission for the smuggler where he has to slice certain things in a set order, or disuade the person financing the mission ( perhaps with a knife between the ribs ) from paying out thereby cancelling the mission.
In short I just want to bear in mind that the hunt itself should be content for both the bounty hunter and the smuggler. Standing by, waiting for waves and waves of bounty hunters, is not content for us, only for them.
frkjerm wrote:
Just a thought from a non-smuggler.
You are giving a benifit for imperial smugglers and not to rebel smugglers.
Why not let rebel smugglers pick up rebel smuggleing mission (not spices and such but maybe top secret plans for the rebal alliance) with some sort of increase payment or factional reward to give some benifit to the rebels.
It also make sence that the rebels would have a great need to smuggle stuff.
That's a great idea. I'm going to take this one step further (and ruffle some feathers along the way) and suggest, once the 3rd faction is in place and the revamp is in place, cracking down on Imperial smugglers period. I'm not sure whether to draw the line at the title thats worn or completely removing smugglers from the empire all-together. I think the same could be done for bounty hunters. The entire idea of having criminals (smugglers and bounty hunters) ranked in the imperial army is a bit far fetched. We can still support the empire through our contacts, connections, actions and whatnot, so perhaps we shouldn't be allowed to join at all?
perhaps something like "a backround check has revealed a questionable past" or something... who knows. Maybe I'm on the crack.
(just in case anyone is wondering I am an Imperial smuggler)
Message Edited by Ipseck on 06-16-2004 02:22 PM
Also, keep the Stormtroopers as they are in the crackdown. Novatroopers are NOT a police force. Stormtroopers (or even lower ranked troops) do the "police" work. They're dangerous to "normal" folk (shopkeepers and such) and "regular" military-types (the guys on the Tantive IV), but fall in droves to "heroic" individuals (Han, Chewbacca, etc). Therefore, "elite" combat characters should be able to take them out.