Smuggler Archive
Thread: smuggling idea
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Oddman
Sun Apr 04, 2004 1:28 am
#1
OK, so I had an idea about how to introduce some smuggling content without too much trouble.
(Bear with me its a long post but a relatively simple idea.)
Taxes!
Seriously. Here me out.
Introduce a progressive tax system on resources that are taken from one planet to another. Lets throw out some numbers.
For *ANY* resource: (import tax)
0 -10,000 units ....... No Tax. (This is considered personal use.)
10,001 - 50,000 units ........ 100 Credits per 1000 units (small enterprise)
50,001 - and more units ...... 200 Credits per 1000 units (large enterprise)
So any boutique operators (say a smuggler with just enough resources to make a few clamps)doesn't get taxed at all. Small or Novice operators get taxed lightly and heavy hitters bear the worst of it. So that Bob the Crafter who has 500,000 units of steel harvested on Tat and moving back to his place on Naboo would be asked to pay 100,000 credits. Notice that the eventual hit to the consumer would be rather small. A box of clamps uses 2500 units of metal (right?) so the cost would only be 450 in taxes, or less than 20 per clamp. But the crafter would have a real incentive to finda smuggler and pay him 50k (as an example)to move the material, for a net savings to the crafter 50k. Each resource container could be given a simple flag (taxed/untaxed) and the flag would be checked the first time that the player uses a starport.
Voila! Instant smuggling content that doesn't seriously affect the economy of SWG. And yes items made on the planets where the resources are harvested would be a bit cheaper than those made from imported materials. But that is nice and realistic. But lets take it a step further.
Resources of 801 - 900 OQ would get an extra 100 credits per 1000 units export tax. Resources of901 or greaterOQ would get an extra 200 credits per 1000 units export tax. So....
For801- 900 OQresource: (import and export tax)
0 -10,000 units ....... No Tax.
10,001 - 50,000 units ........ 200 Credits per 1000 units
50,001 - and more units .....300 Credits per 1000 units
For901 or greaterOQresource: (import and export tax)
0 -10,000 units ....... No Tax.
10,001 - 50,000 units ........ 300 Credits per 1000 units
50,001 - and more units .....400 Credits per 1000 units
So that if Bob the Crafter wants to make really top flight armor he is gonna pay some serious cred for mining off-world from his factories 500,000 units of the best quality stuff would cost him 400,000 creds in taxes. Do you think he'd look for a smuggler? ;-)
But it can't be all profit and games can it? No... we want some risk so that the straightlaced types can feel better about being good citizens. So what happens if you are caught smuggling? That depends...
I think we should have skill mods in two different trees that would affect smuggling. In the Slicing tree (jury rigging) we get the ability to actually avoid the contraband scanners. The skill would improve as you went up, with a bump at Master. The specific numbers aren't important, we'd just need a reasonable chance to succeed. In the Underworld tree we would get the chance to mitigate the repercussions from getting caught (fast-talking and bribing). The mitigation could be used to allow for increasing (as the smuggler gets better) amounts of the material that could be retained even after getting caught.
For example: Bob the Crafter decides that 400k for his 500k units of awesome steel is just too much to pay to the stinking empire so he contacts Cool Dude the Smuggler. Cool Dude agrees to move Bob's stuff for a negotiated fee. Unfortunately Cool Dude's shieldinggoes on the fritz at just the wrong time and he gets caught. Now what?
Perhaps if Cool Dude isn't very good at negotiating Bob will only get to keep 40% of the original amount and pay full taxes on that portion. Cool dude won't be smuggling for Bob again anytime soon.
But if Cool Dude is a great talker and knows how to grease palms Bob might get to keep 90% of his goods and only pay 60% of the normal taxes on them. Bob and Cool Dude both know that you can't beat the empire all the time and accept the losses with a shrug and a drink at the local cantina (Cool Dude is buying of course.)
____
I think this could really work. We know SWG already has scanning capabilities so that isn't a problem. All that it might take is the addition of few flags (possibly only visible in the examine window) that would note the owner and the tax status. Thenegotiation (if you are caught)does not have to be anymore complicated than the dialogues we have with the recruiters for purchasing factionperks. And I really think that this would bring instant smuggling to the game.
What do you all think?
Mori-Mori
Mon Apr 05, 2004 2:58 pm
#3
interesting?
crafters won't like this at all (which adds to its appeal but might make it harder to implement). i think it would be too easy to bypass, though, by breaking the resources into smaller portions among (non-smuggler) friends.
crafters won't like this at all (which adds to its appeal but might make it harder to implement). i think it would be too easy to bypass, though, by breaking the resources into smaller portions among (non-smuggler) friends.
JamesHighwest
Mon Apr 05, 2004 3:10 pm
#4
It likely won't make it. It doesn't hurt the super rich crafters and could only hurt the crafters who don't have much in the way of credits.
tomfett678
Thu Jun 03, 2004 11:57 pm
#5
ok right now i look at smuggler and cry.were smugglers who cant smuggle and r useless.so heres an idea that would make us very helpfull.
everyone needs recources.merchants need goods so do WS,AS,etc, why not make recources from a planet like natural recources or other unable to leave a planet,like goverment policy or sumthing..why is lokian wheat on naboo?make smuggler able to pass through with them,the better the skill the easyer it is of course.it dosent make total sence but im sure any smuggler would like to play a role is the game. a WS would pay big to smuggle in sum weapon schamatics. sure he can craft on the planet but what if he wants his 12+ crafting station.just an idea tell me what u think.
Ezkiel
Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:16 pm
#6
What if smuggling was implemented into the game just like BH does its bounty hunting. Set up smuggling mission terms or NPC mission givers. Then the smuggler goes to the term and looks at various missions. Early missions would have him smuggling merchandise to on planet NPCs, and later ones, with bigger pay, have him going off planet. During the course of the mission (based on difficulty of mission) the smuggler may face resistance in space as well as on ground before arriving at the delivery spot.
At master smuggler level you could smuggler player Jedi’s also. The player Jedi would go to the NPC or smug term and request a smuggling job and pay the fee to the terminal at time of mission creation. The Jedi would then wait to be contacted by the hired smuggler. As soon as the smuggler agreed to the mission he would also be vulnerable to attack by the BH who might be pursuing the Jedi, thus involving three of the most iconic star wars classes in a player driven story.
The finale would be when the smuggler drops off said Jedi in the appointed location (chosen by the Jedi during mission creation), and is paid by the mission system using the money the Jedi paid to create the mission. Perhaps even if the BH is able to catch up and defeat both players, then he gets his reward plus the smugglers pay as a bounty on him.
DigiDante
Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:18 pm
#7
I like the idea that Master Smugglers while grouped with a Jedi hide the jedi from Bounty Hunter droids.
In return given Smuggler would be placed on the terminals and it would be a random guess to see which jedi is being hidden with which smuggler...
Therefore BH's wouldnt be able to grief n00b jedis, but in return would come after smugglers....
Ezkiel
Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:19 pm
#8
DigiDante wrote:
I like the idea that Master Smugglers while grouped with a Jedi hide the jedi from Bounty Hunter droids.
In return given Smuggler would be placed on the terminals and it would be a random guess to see which jedi is being hidden with which smuggler...
Therefore BH's wouldnt be able to grief n00b jedis, but in return would come after smugglers....
as a smuggler its VERY exciting to think ill be hunted by a bh. its one of the coolest things i can think of for our profession, and its perfectly in line with the films.
DigiDante
Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:21 pm
#9
Indeed... I particularly think implimenting Smuggler Bounties would be awesome, but for my case... my smuggler has 0 combat besides what is in the prereqs and profession itself. I cannot fend off a BH, but keeping a jedi grouped would proove to be interesting... I lay a few panic shots and my jedi rolls in for damage.
Boycarino
Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:25 pm
#10
I think it would be neato if the Smuggler could remove/slice some visibility from Jedi but in doing would create an amount of visibility for him/herself. Of course this would entail Smuggler's being able to be hunted by Bounty Hunters, but I think most of us would be ok with this. I really like the idea of some kind of relationship between the icon professions. Jedi being able to hide while grouped with a smuggler would be cool, but I can see that open to exploit perhaps. Maybe time limits or (once again) increasing the visibility of the Smuggler could compensate.
DANGIT! You got me. I swore I would never add to these dreamy posts of smuggler ideas because they get me excited for things that just will not be. But much fun non the less.
Ezkiel
Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:37 pm
#11
Boycarino wrote:
I think it would be neato if the Smuggler could remove/slice some visibility from Jedi but in doing would create an amount of visibility for him/herself. Of course this would entail Smuggler's being able to be hunted by Bounty Hunters, but I think most of us would be ok with this. I really like the idea of some kind of relationship between the icon professions. Jedi being able to hide while grouped with a smuggler would be cool, but I can see that open to exploit perhaps. Maybe time limits or (once again) increasing the visibility of the Smuggler could compensate.
DANGIT! You got me. I swore I would never add to these dreamy posts of smuggler ideas because they get me excited for things that just will not be. But much fun non the less.
well ideas are healthy. even if they dont plan to happen anytime soon, doesnt mean things like this will NEVER happen. never is a long time.
Ternque01
Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:12 pm
#12
Damn great idea Ezkiel. I am just wondering what would motivate a Jedi to contact a smuggler? Once Jedi are on the terminals, they just need help getting off them, not in traveling somewhere.
I have a very great solution to the problem! Once a Jedi goes on the terminals, a smuggler is called for help. The smuggler has the power to disrupt tracking droids by a trick they learned smuggling spice. The smuggler can confuse tracking droids, making them inaccurate. While a smuggler disrupts these droids, the droids can only readout random waypoint locations that are within 1.5km of the smuggler's location. At this time the smuggler, if found, will be the only one with a TEF. The BH has 30 minutes from the time a smuggler is hired by the Jedito kill the smuggler before the Jedi's visibility is dropped from the BH terminals. Furthermore, the BH cannot get a TEF or attack the Jedi until the smuggler dies, at which point the droids begin working again, and the BH moves onto the Jedi!
Holy crap! This is a VERY good idea Ezkiel! Wes, I would deeply appreciate this idea getting spread to the developers - or perhaps Ezkiel could do it as well. Wow!
Smuggler_Caylin
Tue Dec 14, 2004 6:02 pm
#13
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What if smuggling was implemented into the game just like BH
does its bounty hunting. Set up smuggling mission terms or NPC mission givers.
Then the smuggler goes to the term and looks at various missions.
does its bounty hunting. Set up smuggling mission terms or NPC mission givers.
Then the smuggler goes to the term and looks at various missions.
This part is inline with many requests we have.
One idea is to have slicing terminals give access to these special missions on
normal terminals, that type of thing. A specific 'this is a smuggler terminal'
is a bit obvious for a criminal organization.
One idea is to have slicing terminals give access to these special missions on
normal terminals, that type of thing. A specific 'this is a smuggler terminal'
is a bit obvious for a criminal organization.
Then again I like the thought that I'm picking
up missions from 'contacts' I may see an add in the paper using a known smuggler
mission cypher, but I need to make a house call to get the mission.
up missions from 'contacts' I may see an add in the paper using a known smuggler
mission cypher, but I need to make a house call to get the mission.
Early missions would have him smuggling merchandise to
on planet NPCs, and later ones, with bigger pay, have him going off planet.
During the course of the mission (based on difficulty of mission) the smuggler
may face resistance in space as well as on ground before arriving at the
delivery spot.
on planet NPCs, and later ones, with bigger pay, have him going off planet.
During the course of the mission (based on difficulty of mission) the smuggler
may face resistance in space as well as on ground before arriving at the
delivery spot.
While a good idea in theory, we have to make
sure that there iscontent for those who will not possess Jump to
Lightspeed. The need to develop difficult and rewarding missions for ground-only
smugglers is very important. In the event that is brought into balance then I
would be all for this type of scenario.
sure that there iscontent for those who will not possess Jump to
Lightspeed. The need to develop difficult and rewarding missions for ground-only
smugglers is very important. In the event that is brought into balance then I
would be all for this type of scenario.
At master smuggler level you could smuggler player Jedi’s
also. The player Jedi would go to the NPC or smug term and request a smuggling
job and pay the fee to the terminal at time of mission creation. The Jedi would
then wait to be contacted by the hired smuggler. As soon as the smuggler agreed
to the mission he would also be vulnerable to attack by the BH who might be
pursuing the Jedi, thus involving three of the most iconic star wars classes in
a player driven story.
also. The player Jedi would go to the NPC or smug term and request a smuggling
job and pay the fee to the terminal at time of mission creation. The Jedi would
then wait to be contacted by the hired smuggler. As soon as the smuggler agreed
to the mission he would also be vulnerable to attack by the BH who might be
pursuing the Jedi, thus involving three of the most iconic star wars classes in
a player driven story.
When I think of this, it would be cool. I don't
know the limitations of the developers/programmers though. Yet I would like to
figure out a few things.
know the limitations of the developers/programmers though. Yet I would like to
figure out a few things.
- Why would a Jedi need someone else to transport
them? They can use a ship of their own at this point as easy as we
can. - Is gating the travel of Jedi acceptable and
will their community accept that restriction in order to provide us
content? - Is this within the concept of bounty hunter
missions extending into space?
The finale would be when the smuggler drops off said Jedi in
the appointed location (chosen by the Jedi during mission creation), and is paid
by the mission system using the money the Jedi paid to create the mission.
Perhaps even if the BH is able to catch up and defeat both players, then he gets
his reward plus the smugglers pay as a bounty on him.
the appointed location (chosen by the Jedi during mission creation), and is paid
by the mission system using the money the Jedi paid to create the mission.
Perhaps even if the BH is able to catch up and defeat both players, then he gets
his reward plus the smugglers pay as a bounty on him.
That would be great. I tried to establish
something along the mission system for player smuggling but not of other
players. I wouldn't mind something like this.
something along the mission system for player smuggling but not of other
players. I wouldn't mind something like this.
One of the Four Horsemen of the Smuggler Apocalypse! 
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