Smuggler Archive

Wes, through out history, craftsman of all trades have always customized their tools to do what they want them to. Why is it then, that a smuggler that is attempting to make an item do more than it was intended to, must use tools that are found? Why wouldn't the manufacturer of the item just included it in the item to make it better from the beginning?

Not to get hung up on the whole "the old way was better" spiel, but finding these items on (or 'in' as with the case of kryats) PvE's just doesn't make any sense to me. In today's market, many companies offer attachments for items to make them cooler, more decorative, more mobile, etc. What we do as a smuggler with our version of slicing is supposed to be illegal. I would draw a comparison to the new slicing version we have astaking an semi-automatic rifle,replacing the standard 10 shot clip withthe extended 30 shot magazine, putting a scope rail and scope on the top - but you got to go find those items in the woods instead of going to your local gunsmith to buy them.

What illegal slicing would be is breaking open the compartment that contains the firing pin and springs and removing the items that make the rifle semi-automatic to allow it to fire full automatic - very illegal today! For that, one would need specialized tools - of which, I would believe the user would need to specialize in order to make it work as I am fairly positive that there are no conversion kits sold in any store in the US.

The old system required us to have parts made by a AS or a WS which I always viewed as the base ingredients. Much like modelers do for movie props and models - they buy up tons of model cars and the like and cannibalize the parts that look, or do what they want. Those same modelers then will cut, bend, expand, and further modify that piece so that it is what they want using their own sets of custom cutting tools, clamping systems, magnifying glasses, and propane torches. That is not too different from what we would do with laser knives and molecular clamps in my opinion.

Now the random results were, of course, way out of balance with what a smuggler was doing. Never once could I imagine Han Solo modifying the Millennium Falcon's engines to get more speed, only to find out that he increased the rate of fire for the laser cannons. WE THANK WHICH EVER DEV FIXED THAT!

The only thing they needed to do to fix the old system,though, was to add a secodary menu after choosing to slice an object that would allow you to choose which area you wanted to slice. The entire rigamarole system that they havegiven usis overkill to the extreme. It is like a child outgrowing its bottle and giving it a fine Swarovski crystal champaigne flute to drink from.