Smuggler Archive

Ha, so listen to this.

Instead of a Smuggler revamp.

Instead of "no-jedi" servers.

A spinoff game. Same engine.

SW: Underworld.

Time period: between 3 and 4.

Wait for it... Huge, detailed Cities and Space Stations only. No useless greenery

Transportation is in Real Time, either by shuttle or in your own ship.

Focus of ships is on Cargo and Courier ships rather than factioned fighters.

The "crafting" system works on the same basic principles, but is contained within the Skills system apart from the combat type.

Combat "professions" are still basically the same, slightly modified of course, and no longer "professions." Professions are the career you choose for your character, be it Smuggler, BH, Slicer/Data Broker, Fixer aspiring Crime Lord, Pirate, Mercenary, or what have you. These are container within a Skills system in which you can dabble in any myriad combination you wish. You could be a Mercenary that specializes in assassination, a Smuggler who knows his way around the Holonet, a Crime Lord that has an in house weapons modification racket, a BH with a penchant for piracy.

No Jedi.

Quality SW locales, like Mos Eisley, Nar Shadaa, Coruscant (accessible only through trickery and cooperation), Corellia (Coronet like you've never seen it before ), space stations, Backwater dive planets, One or two business only places (like Kessel)

A focus on in depth, unique and varied environments. No two cantinas will look the same.

Full fledged contraband system, including the possibility of item confiscation.

With the exception of maybe, sewer rats, and a few other exceptions, most MOBs will be NPCs.

Each specific profession will have it's own special meta-game, unique from the others. You will have access to all the meta-games, but Can only be a master of one, with some proficiency in a second.

Rather than crafting outright, a Crime Lord orders a shipment of parts, a Smuggler brings in the parts, a Fixer assembles the parts into the item, and they are either hawked to a third party merchant, or sold through the Crime Lord. No factory runs, but possibly mini-runs by use of a manufacturing droid. (Large amounts of an item can be obtained via this method, replacing the Fixer with an NPC, but the product will be of a massively inferior quality)

Theft and "PvP": Everyone is ALWAYS attackable. You can thieve from others, pickpocketing, or mugging. All of these systems are buffered against griefing by a VERY robust Law Enforcement system. Violence and theft are investigated by the LE agencies, stolen goods are tracked, found, and returned. Violence and possession of stolen property are significant crimes and dealt with in harsh manners. Response times vary from place to place, but are always very fast. Anti-grief measures: theft is on a lottery system, a bribe to officials will improve the chances of a safe return, stolen items will be flagged as stolen in the description, someone who comes into possession of a stolen item can speak to a Data Broker, find out the true owner, and return it, to avoid harsh penatlies if caught with the item.

Advancement through the Skills system is based both on experience, the more you do it the better you are, and a fixed quest system. Quest NPCs, some of which are VERY hidden, and sometimes change locations (sometimes they can't be found at all) give quests related to the profession at hand, which is the true method to mastery of a profession. To master your profession you will have to work together with other professions (You might need a very proficient Slicer and a mercenary to get you to Coruscant for a quest or NPC for instance).

Of course, visible holsters and weapons and all that.

How do we get clothing, medicine, and other sundry items? Can they be crafted? I want to craft them.

-- All that will be quasi crafted. The Crime Lord is really going to be the Crafter/Merchant class. They order these things, have to arrange to get them delivered, have to choose color, have to have good connections to ask for better quality, Sometimes the quality is right on the mark, other times, they're stuck with inferior goods. The risk of this is lessened by being a better Crime Lord. Basically all the stuff from crafting, only renamed. Instead of Resources, it's Connections. Instead of Experimentation points, it's Respect/Fear. Aside from that they manage their "business," instead of vendors, roving NPC street dealers can be recruited into the cartel, along with some NPC toughs to shake down certain clients.

The Holonet will be very robust, acting as a conduit for information for all professions, and factoring into several meta-games in different ways. a BH might use it to get publicly available information about their mark, a Smuggler might use it to keep abreast of the latest news/shipping routes, a Crime Lord might keep track of the Law Enforcements progress on hunting him down. a Slicer/Data Broker's meta game would in fact be the Holonet, they might use their skills to get non-public info on a mark for a BH, or alter shipping routes to lead someone into a Pirate trap, maybe even, at the high levels, alter criminal records.

Needless to say because of the interdepencies between the Crime Lord and other professions, as well as theft, Smuggling at its core will have significant player interaction. And that's just the routine cargo transportation. Many professions will have many reasons to want to travel to another place aboard your ship. Maybe a Fixer just ran off with a crate of weapons that belong to his boss. He wants to get away from his normal hangouts, and away from that BH on his tail. This means that in addition to NPC Law Enforcement agents, Player BH's will come after your cargo on occasion, as well as player Pirates, and sometimes the occasional Mercenary or Crime Lord.

A fairly realistic Health system: Everyone will have the same basic health. This can be slightly modified with stims and other various methods. Some species will have a bit more as well. The same goes for NPCs. They'll have the same Health as you, give or take species, and a random chance they have stims or whatever. Outcome will be mostly based on your skills in combat, as well as your equipment. A BH going after an infamous pirate better come packing, and have some good armor if he wants to survive. This takes the focus off combat and puts it into a more real world frame of mind. Is that haggard looking thug walking past you going to whip out a hand cannon and blast a hole in you, just to steal your wallet?

Storage and housing:

Smugglers, Pirates, Mercenaries, all have varying amounts of extra storage space both on their person, and on their ship. Smugglers extra storage is protected under their skill checks, as is the rest of their storage ability. Data Brokers have a vast amount of Holonet data storage space, for their various data files, expandable by upgrading their Slicing gear. Crime Lords will have the ability to rent Warehouses in certain districts. All professions will be able to rent Storage Units in some of the more developed cities, can find temporary storage in the form of credit-operated lockers in starports, and of course, apartments.

Ranging from a tiny Studio to vast, grand penthouses, with scenic views, they will be on a rental basis, on a first come, first serve basis, to promote realism (not everyone lives in a penthouse). Bear in mind that since All players must rely on other players, That Crime Lord in the corner penthouse might be one bad business deal away from being out on the street. Openings can be made available. Being caught as a thief or murderer too many times is a surefire way to get evicted.

Well, I'll think of more later I'm sure, but yea, guess who's at work