Smuggler Archive
Thread: How Our Planned NPC Smuggling System Isn't All That NPC Afterall...
What do we REALLY want???
1. Make a verbal contract with another player needing smugging.
2. Actually SMUGGLE the goods.
3. Encounter some fun resistance through the law/BH's that requires our slick skills.
4. Delivery of that item DIRECTLY to our customer where we get PAID.
I don't mean to pick anything OBVIOUS out to you guys and gals, but this is what is going to occur with this "lame" NPC smuggling system. You aren't going to have smugglers making factory runs of spice... that stuff will need to be obtained with blood, sweat, and tears. You can bet that if a player needs some they will in alot of cases have to talk directly to a smuggler to get it; that smuggler is you.
Isn't this really the exact type of interaction we really desired in the first damn place?
Assuming that the developers make spice rare enough to keep from infiltrating vendors, you as a smuggler WILL finally get to fill some smuggling orders for other damn players. Ban the stuff from vendors and you will get your player smuggling. Keep it on them and you will only fill orders by stocking a vendor and making the chance for REAL player-to-smuggler deals from ever happening.
Something to think about...
I can't wait to see how it will turn out, when complete and implemented.
Now seems a VERY sensitive time for the devs to be aware that we don't want spices on vendors. If we remove spices from vendors with the smuggler revamp, players WILL HAVE to make contracts with smugglers in order to obtain them. These are drugs, people; they don't need to be sold in grocery stores. Put spice dealings back on the street... where smugglers playing the damn game will be!
Wes, did the devs ask for feedback from you yet concerning our feelings about spices/slices on vendors? I have a feeling that this detail will be a thousand times more crucial than we might have previously considered!
Spices on vendors will destroy the potential for this planned smuggling system to allow us to make direct contracts with other players.
A casual player who is a smuggler will likely not have players needing them because these players could just go to some vendor instead. When can the casual smuggler smuggle???
LaughingWolf wrote:
Good point, Axob.
I can't wait to see how it will turn out, when complete and implemented.
Aye, and how I pray for PC BH's. I can't imagine being just hunted by robot NPC's all of the time
Great post, Ternque, the opportunities that'll come with the proposed spice smuggling system shouldn't be overlooked even when we're bummed out about other forms of player smuggling.
No joke.
SpinningCloud wrote:
Contraband should be treated as such or there's no point to calling it contraband.
Take note please Wes, I think taking ALL contraband from vendors is a great idea. Only idea that would be better is to leave it on vendors but have law enforcement take note when items are placed on vendors or bought from them with serious consequences when caught.
SInce the later isn't going happen then I say remove it all.
JTGAlpha wrote:Ehhhhh kinda. But supply won't be able to keep up with demand. We'll see. We don't know how much we get or if it's worth anything.And there's still no contraband system.
Supply being unable to keep up with demand would be awesome for spice. We'd be contracted on a regular basis to acquire specific types and deliver them to waiting customers. That'd go a long way towards the kind of smuggling I'd like to do, personally.
JTGAlpha wrote:
Ehhhhh kinda. But supply won't be able to keep up with demand. We'll see. We don't know how much we get or if it's worth anything.
And there's still no contraband system.
I don't give a damn about the value of it. Just so long as it's valuable enough to be sought after is all that is required. My focus in this thread isn't about the market value. It is about how the spice is obtained and does the method of obtainment nuture verbal contracts between players and smugglers. Sure supply and demand are intimately related, but the only aspect of supply that I demand is that the supply lines lead directly to a player smuggler and not some cheese-generic vendor.
If you put smuggled spices on a vendor that a player constantly runs missions to keep stocked, these vendors will be a conduit which takes player-to-smuggler interactions away from casual smugglers. Why would a player track down a smuggler when they can go to Spice Mart and pick up baby diapers at the same time???
It would be a HEALTHY thing for smugglers, the underworld, and contraband in general to be bought and sold on the streets. Players need to become accustomed to thinking that they need to talk with a smuggler face to face in order to get spices. They do not need to have running to a vendor being the first thing that pops in their head, catch my drift?
It is obvious that we do not have a ROBUST player smuggling plan for us. It is clear that no real contraband system exists. The only way we are going to have the experience of making shady, dark-corner deals with other players is by protecting that experience from all forms of mechanics that detract from it. Spice vendors have got to go. I am not going to sell my smuggler soul by having these opportunities for roleplay snatched away from me by a vending machine!!!
I am going to write Wes and talk to him about the importance of protecting the one experience of smuggling stuff for other players that will be thrown our way in quite some time... possibly ever.
TomoRainer wrote:
JTGAlpha wrote:
Ehhhhh kinda. But supply won't be able to keep up with demand. We'll see. We don't know how much we get or if it's worth anything.
And there's still no contraband system.
Supply being unable to keep up with demand would be awesome for spice. We'd be contracted on a regular basis to acquire specific types and deliver them to waiting customers. That'd go a long way towards the kind of smuggling I'd like to do, personally.
I hope that is the way it will cook up as well.