Smuggler Archive
Thread: An additional idea for contraband scans
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flumpet
Thu Feb 03, 2005 5:01 pm
#1
I had an interesting thought regarding contraband scans and sliced weapons the other day, and I figured I'd share it. Obviously, this idea should be brought in along with many of the other proposed changes to contraband scans.
So, there's been a lot of debate about what should be done with sliced items once they're detected. Ideas from nothing to confiscation of the item have been proposed. A harsh penalty is necessary (see the post on Harsh Penalties in this forum, excellent post!) to keep sliced weapons relatively rare, but they also should remain useful, and nobody wants their uber weapon confiscated, that's just no fun. So...what to do with them?
How about, un-slice them. The Imperial authorities recognize the need for citizens to carry personal armaments in this dangerous time, but illegal modifications cannot be tolerated. So, if a person is caught with a sliced item, the slice should be removed from the item. This should, of course, come on top of fines, and probably a little Stormtrooper brutality as well. I personally feel that ONLY the item which the scanning team first recognizes as sliced should be unsliced, because unslicing everything in a player's inventory is just a major pain, not fun.
This will have several effects: First, it will give smugglers a more steady stream of income. People who insist on having sliced weapons will have to see a smuggler every time they get caught.
Second, it encourages people to not get caught. One of the ways to not get caught is to bring a smuggler in your group when passing through heavily patrolled areas, to take advantage of the scan-evasion skill. Groups will hire smugglers to smuggle them through tough areas.
Finally, it allows smugglers to have a second chance at slicing an item if the first slice was undesirable. This is NOT the method the devs should use to allow smugglers to pick the stat they slice, but with the current system, anything is better than nothing. Don't like that you got an encumbrance slice on a 0 encumbrance shield generator? Go get caught with it, and slice it again!
At any rate, there's my idea, let me know what you all think!
-Cail Starstrider of Lowca
Kamileon
Thu Feb 03, 2005 5:36 pm
#2
I think that the very reason that items could be unsliced and re-sliced to get the desired slice would be why such a thing would never be implemented, unless un-slicing didn't allow the weapon to be sliced again.
The other implication with that is that the original stats would still need to be stored on the item, or else there would be nothing to revert to. Additionally, since armor and weapon effectiveness goes down with wear, then it would also serve as free, no-risk repair on the item, bringing it back to original stats, and making it able to be sliced again. This would remove a vital money sink from the economy, and severely hurt weapon and armorsmith business, as players could effectively buy a weapon and set of armor once, and never need another one. Alternately, if only the type and % of the slice was carried on the item, any worn out items would still be reverted to disproportionate levels.
e.g. If a 100 damage weapon was sliced for 30%, it would be a 130 damage weapon. At this point, they either do their algebra and figure out x times 1.30 = 130 and revert it back to 100 properly, or do the math wrong, and take 30% of 130 away (making it a weaker weapon than it originall was. Or, if the weapon's worn itself out, and maybe now is doing 90 damage, the thing still gets the wrong amount of damage taken away/put back, no matter.
The other implication with that is that the original stats would still need to be stored on the item, or else there would be nothing to revert to. Additionally, since armor and weapon effectiveness goes down with wear, then it would also serve as free, no-risk repair on the item, bringing it back to original stats, and making it able to be sliced again. This would remove a vital money sink from the economy, and severely hurt weapon and armorsmith business, as players could effectively buy a weapon and set of armor once, and never need another one. Alternately, if only the type and % of the slice was carried on the item, any worn out items would still be reverted to disproportionate levels.
e.g. If a 100 damage weapon was sliced for 30%, it would be a 130 damage weapon. At this point, they either do their algebra and figure out x times 1.30 = 130 and revert it back to 100 properly, or do the math wrong, and take 30% of 130 away (making it a weaker weapon than it originall was. Or, if the weapon's worn itself out, and maybe now is doing 90 damage, the thing still gets the wrong amount of damage taken away/put back, no matter.
Message Edited by Kamileon on 02-03-2005 04:41 PM
Aelik Orrigo: Smuggler, Pilot, and Ranger. Kettemoor
flumpet
Thu Feb 03, 2005 6:19 pm
#3
Does the effectiveness go down with wear? I haven't really noticed before, and was unaware of it. I mean, I know that overall condition drops over time, I wasn't under the impression that anything else did, though? If this is indeed the case, I concede the point. I didn't mean this idea to grant a free repair shop, and actually figured it would be MORE of a money-sink, as people would have to keep paying to get their weapons sliced.
As far as your first and second points go, smugglers should be allowed to choose which stat to slice. We're screwed over enough as it is, the least they could do is let us pick wich statistic we slice on a given item. As far as storing the original condition goes, you wouldn't need to do that, merely store the amount of the slice and which stat it affected. This also takes care of your "free repair" issue.
Let's use your example of a 30% damage slice (boy wouldn't that be nice) on a 100 damage weapon. The weapon becomes a 130 damage weapon, store on the item that the slice improved damage by 30 points.
The item degrades over time to a 90 damage weapon with the slice. That's a 40 point decay. Then, assume the player gets caught and the slice gets removed. We then subtract that from 90 to get an unsliced damage of 60, which is, still, a 40 point decay from the original stat of 100. 100+30-40-30 is the same as 100-40. Decay remains unaffected, thus so do the weapon and armorsmiths.
Hope that clarifies my post a bit, thanks for bringing up that fuzzy spot
-Cail Starstrider
As far as your first and second points go, smugglers should be allowed to choose which stat to slice. We're screwed over enough as it is, the least they could do is let us pick wich statistic we slice on a given item. As far as storing the original condition goes, you wouldn't need to do that, merely store the amount of the slice and which stat it affected. This also takes care of your "free repair" issue.
Let's use your example of a 30% damage slice (boy wouldn't that be nice) on a 100 damage weapon. The weapon becomes a 130 damage weapon, store on the item that the slice improved damage by 30 points.
The item degrades over time to a 90 damage weapon with the slice. That's a 40 point decay. Then, assume the player gets caught and the slice gets removed. We then subtract that from 90 to get an unsliced damage of 60, which is, still, a 40 point decay from the original stat of 100. 100+30-40-30 is the same as 100-40. Decay remains unaffected, thus so do the weapon and armorsmiths.
Hope that clarifies my post a bit, thanks for bringing up that fuzzy spot
-Cail Starstrider
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