Smuggler Archive

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GreenMarine wrote:

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RhettSarlin wrote:

glitterstim is found ONE place in the galaxy, on kessel. you want to potentially make it CRAFTABLE? i know it might be good for the player economy, but it SUCKS for continuity!

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Chill out. It was an example. Instead of glitterstim insert "blah blah random spice X". If glitterstim is ever included, I'm sure we can find a way to make it fit with continuity.

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In the same sense that hundreds of Jedi running around during this part of the time line is fitting with continuity? At this point I don't care, provided it's fun, but if you say something like this, why won't you just shift the timeline a bit to make Jedi fit in?

The marine is in green.

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Master_Jaydawg wrote:

First off I have to say WOW this sounds great GreenMarine!

Questions:

-You said old sliced items such as weapons and armor would be given the illegality as banned, so is there a plan to change something in the slicing weapons and armor that makes them different illegality levels after the revamp (this only pertains to the act of slicing armor and weapons after the smuggler revamp is in so for example would it be possible to slice somethign and have it only be considered quasi legal or do something drastic to the item and have it be highly illegal)?

Yes. Better slices would be more illegal than weak, newbie slices. This is something to be detailed in the slicing section of our discussion (still a ways off).

-With the smuggler being able to slice the BH terminal to view or reduce someones visibility it was stated that if the smuggler fails slicing he/she automatically ends up on the terminal. Now will the smuggler be able to slice the terminal again immediately and remove themselves from the terminal or are they permnanently stuck on there untill a bh mission on them is either fullfilled or failed?

Obviously I wouldn't let that happen. There was a suggestion to only allow 1 check/attempt per day per player. That's 1 check per player checked, not smuggler doing the checking. So a smuggler could check several people, including themselves, but not more than once for each person.

-Will slicing bh terminals be like a miniature puzzle/game? Will we see this type of slicing implemented elsewhere in the game?

That was my original goal for slicing, but I never had the time to get the art assets for it. I don't know about the future. I'll have to think about it. It would be cool.

-Will other underworld bosses include the likes of Borvo, the Lady Hutt, maybe a Blacksun Vigo?

I'm not familiar with the plans that are set for all of the various underworld bosses, so I'd have to brainstorm with the other designers and see which I can use and which I cannot.

-Will Rebels and Imperials also offer smuggling missions?

It seems reasonable that they could do so.

-Will there be some type of notification to let a smuggler know how much visibility if any they will gain from skimming from a cargo or payment? Ex. You go to take half the cargo for yourself and your character has a thought bubble "Hmm.. Jabba's not gonna like this."

Probably. It depends on what we come up with as a solution for the raging PvP debate.

-Would it be possible to try and get more credits out of whoever your delivering cargo to either by persuasion or threatening? This could result in them deciding they don't want it after all and then you might have to pay jabba out of your own pocket at least if you chose to threaten the buyer.

Possibly. That might be an interesting underworld skill.

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AloraElon wrote:

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Osrim wrote:

Other ranking ideas:

Drug lords

These are the smugglers whose spice is detected most often (given the player carrying it visibility)The authorities can trace the spice and it come back to you.(in game terms a record is kept of the illegal goods creator)

Benefits could be bonus to spice creation.

Troublesome slicers

Like drug lords but with sliced weapons/armour.Bonuses to slicing skills.

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Not a good idea to makecreation of spice or slicing activities increase visibility to bounty hunters. This would force active Smugglers who do a lot of slicing into PvP encounters with Bounty Hunters, even players who don't enjoy PvP. The system as proposed by Green Marine is better. Visibility comes only from taking Smuggler missions.and nobody is forced into PvP.

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wookgunner wrote:

If you read the Han Solo Trilogy, you will find...

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Regarding illegal contraband and smuggling, I don't think that end user items should be the most illegal items. I don't think it would enhance the play experience for smugglers or for other players at all. If the consequences for having illegal items is too severe, people just won't use them, and then an entire half of the smuggler tree would be useless. Noone would want sliced items or spices anymore. I personally believe that end-user sliced items should be only quasi-illegal, and that getting caught with quasi-illegal items should bring a minor punishment. However, I also think that end-user slicing is far too powerful. I think end-user items should only get a 5-10% slice (I'll explain where the balance of the slice should go in a minute).

For spices, I think the punishment should depend on how much you have. The amount you have should determine how likely you are to get caught, but once you're caught the stormtroopers should then"know" how much spice you have on you and decide whether you just have the spice for personal use, or if you're a smuggler, and punish you accordingly.

Now, I personally think that the bulk of the slicing side of things should change dramatically, and in a way that will lend itself more to smugglers smuggling sliced goods, rather than allregular players turning into smugglers just to get their gun through customs. I think that slicing should take more of a role on the crafting side of things, slicing components and resources. A smuggler might slice a crate of projectile pistol barrels, giving them 5-10% in one or more stats, and a new randomserial number for the crate. Asmuggler could also'spike', or 'dope'a block of resources,choosing one or two attributes to increase, and then increase it by only50-100 points or 5-10%(maybe more or less, depending on balance, and never abovelike 990 or 999 or so for the final result). The new resource should get a new random name, also. You can never make more than a crate's worth of identical sliced components, and you can never make more than a block of identical spiked resources, so crafters can't do huge runs ofsouped upitems. Slicing components would require special consumable tools, and spiking resources would have extremely specific resource requirements depending on the resource you're spiking.

The reason for making slicing so much more complicated wouldn't just be to make slicing more fun and challenging, though. I think there's a way to also use this new system to make smuggling more fun and challenging, and to keep smuggling specifically in the hands of smugglers in a way that uses PLAYER created content. The way to do this is to make it so that while slicing weapons or armor can be done on the spot, slicing components and spiking resources can only be done at special NPC slicing stations (like crafting stations). Each slicing station is hidden in a seedy spot, like a back room in Jabba's palace, and a smuggler has to gain the NPC station owner's trust through doing missions before they can use that station. Also, each station can only be used for certain types of components or resources. For instance, Jabba's component slicing station is only good for weapon barrels, Tantel armor segments, and stun protection layers.His resource spiking station is only good for non-ferrous metals. Nym's slicing station would be good for slicing blaster power handlers and composite armor segments, and his resource spiking station would only be good for spikingcereal flora foods. The station for slicing ship components could bein Jabba's space casino. Each planet would have a different seedy location for a different component slicing station and resource spiking station, this way smugglers would have to travel to get their components/resourcesto the crafter they've contracted with. Not all types of components would be sliceable, but all resources would besliceable, so all crafters would at least want the services of smugglers for spiking their resources.

The likelihood of smuggling these items through customs would depend both on the skill level of the smuggler, and the quality of his smuggling "container" which smugglers could craft. Sliced components would be considered illegal, and if found would be confiscated and the player would receive a severe fine, and the smuggler would have to work something out with the crafter he contracted with. Spiked resources, on the other hand, would be considered highly illegal, and not only would they be confiscated, and the smuggler fined, but the player would be attacked. Scans would not be able to tell if a final product uses sliced components or spiked resources, however. Smuggling would be kept within the smuggler community.

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GreenMarine wrote:

Funny you mention that, our gameplay code is written in Java.

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AIEEE! And the reason for SWG's performance problems suddenly becomes clear.

</languagebigotry>

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Rueger_Karde wrote:

Thread......is.....dy.....ing......

need....input....from.....green....marine.......

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Kylrathin wrote:

Lots of people seem to agree that a mere PvP death isn't enough to deter smugglers from spreading unbalancing items all over the galaxy. The penalty has to be severe for dying to a Bounty Hunter due to failure to deliver (although a smuggler simply not completing a mission should also have a penalty - these are not nice people that smugglers deal with). My suggestion is base it on how unbalancing the item is. Penalties could involve:

*Loss of XP

*Loss of a skill box

*Loss of multiple skill boxes

*-5000 net faction points in whatever faction gave the smuggler the mission he/she failed to put him/her on the BH terminals

*-5000 net faction points in ALL criminal factions

*-5000 net Rebel and/or Imperial faction points

*Fines of various amounts

For instance: I am a 3-2-3-3 smuggler (specific skills aren't important, just that I am about halfway to mastery) and I take a job that will pay me 10k to deliver a birthday cake with a pistol in it toLady Valerian'scousin who is in jail on a prison freighter. For some reason, my friend Joe offers me 50k for this pistol,so Isell it to him. Valerian's cousin rots on that ship,she gets ticked, and takes out a bounty on my head. Fred the BH picks up the mission, hunts me down, and eliminates me. I should drop to -5000 Lady Valerian faction, and maybe that's it. Now, let's change some variables in that story.

First, let's say I'm a Master Smuggler. In that case, now the pistol is actually a modified DX2 with a mind poison DoT and increased max damage. Immediately, that changes the original payout to 100k. And let's say the prison freighter is guarded by battle droids, or Rebel soldiers, or maybe an opposite faction like CorSec. Now the payout is 150k. And Joe now offers me 500k for it, and I sell it to him, and Valerian's cousin rots. Now, if I die to a BH who took a mission to kill me, I drop to -5000 Valerian faction, but also -5000 Rebel or Corsec faction as well. I also lose my Master skill box, and 50k credits just for good measure.

Does screwing up instantly land me on the terminals? Not necessarily. Every once in a great while, a crime lord will offer a smuggling job far above a smuggler's current abilities. There is no payout for completion. Instead, upon successful delivery, the crime faction owes the smuggler a favor. Favors decay after 1 month real-time, and can be accumulated if the smuggler is lucky enough to get more than one mission in that time, AND good enough to pull them off. And in the first scenario, if I have a favor saved up with a rival faction, then maybe I can cash in that favor. The rival faction fakes my death, 'proof' is sent to Valerian, and I am removed from the terminals with either minimal faction loss or none.

In the 2nd scenario, though, due to the unbalancing nature of the weapon involved, maybe no saved favors would work. Instead, when I visit my rival faction leader and try to turn in a favor, he tells me "Sorry, this is even over my head. I MAY be able to help if you do this, though." And then I get a smuggling mission twice as hard as the one Valerian gave me. And if I fail, then I'm -5000 faction automatically and immediately with BOTH factions, and I'm on the terminals until I'm dead, with no recourse, and if I die I lose my master box AND another box, and 100k credits.

Just brainstorming!

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