Trader ID should be limited to hauling legal stuff. Not sure about limiting the smuggler ID though as they are always under heavy suspicion. I believe they could carry some legal stuff along the illegal cargo but of course without using lawful bases/stations/planets.
Where can we buy a Smuggler ID ?
How come one cannot buy a trader ID ?
I don't really know the requirements to access to the respective ID. All i know is when my characters can buy a Smuggler ID, they no longer have access to the Trader ID.
I think there is an easy way to incorporate the smuggler ID into the roleplay of the game. When a legal player catches a player smuggling they can insist that the culprit change his ID to smuggler, as well as any fine that is charged. That makes sense. They just say, "As punishment for being caught smuggling i want you to pay x credits and place this smuggler bumpersticker on your ship to alert other cops of your crimes. You must do this for a week blah blah blah." Police could even carry extra smuggler IDs for just this purpose(I know the rules would have to be adjusted to allow cops to carry the extra ID). If the criminal does not carry the smuggler ID then next time that same legal person catches him smuggling he can say I warned you, then chase him out of the system or blast them. If he has the smuggler ID, more fines. It would be nice for the smuggler ID to be available at Manhattem, NB, NT, and NL for this to happen.
Not so easy but neat would be to make the smuggler ID deteriorate like the alien organisms after a longer time (say 10 or so hours play time), that could be cool.
A pirate demanding a player get a smuggler ID does not quite make sense to me. Pirates would be happy selling their stuff to anyone, and in Malta or Crete where their law says that stuff is legal, i do not see them as being suspicious of legal traders. Cuban cigars are illegal in America but legal in Cuba. Cubans still would gladly sell their cigars to Americans.
My 2 cents.
I have also found that the amount of money you make per time spent for smuggled goods is pretty much the same as the best legal routes. I'm not sure if this was done on purpose but i think that it is perfect this way. Players choose to do either not because they make more doing one or the other but because they want to be legal or illegal.
We need to make them look the same, and add a few subtle differences in on the smuggling version so that people who study hard the person in question will notice a difference. So, if the police are just glancing over the ID, they are more likely going to miss it.
While being quite funny, your sig was the biggest one i've ever seen so far. No more than 700x250 please. ~utrack http://pastebin.com/SYQXBufs
' Wrote:We need to make them look the same, and add a few subtle differences in on the smuggling version so that people who study hard the person in question will notice a difference. So, if the police are just glancing over the ID, they are more likely going to miss it.
Good thought, but it's not fixing the right problem. Whether a guy's ID says Smuggler or not, it's carrying the goods (bads?) that gives a cop the right to fire on him. Won't matter how much reading he has to do to verify Trader vs Smuggler.
The way I see it, that's the whole problem with the Smuggler ID in the first place. If you're scanned and you're carrying cardamine, you're smuggling and you're guilty as hell. If you're scanned and you're carrying teddy bears, you're not guilty and you can go about your business. And what if you are smuggling that cardamine but a Navy ship spots you in Kepler where there's no jurisdiction? The situation matters far more than the ID itself.
As for whether Traders are allowed to smuggle or not, if that were santionable there would be no game balance at all between the Smugger and Trader ID (or house corp IDs). My Universal and BMM characters would swap out their IDs for Smuggler within the hour, even if I never intended on smuggling, just to get the flexibility to be able to decide what I wanted to do on a whim like a human being. As long as the police players follow the rules there would be no downside to that. None.
The whole value of the ID is that it signals intent regardless of where you are or how badly you've screwed up your tag. That works like a charm for characters who need to announce what they are without ambiguity like military or police. It even works well for pirates (they're flying gang colours) and corporations (advertising), but it's rediculous for a smuggler.
I really like where Skoorb was going with his idea. Everybody is a potential smuggler til they're caught with their hand in the cookie jar and prove it, then they get slapped with a (probationary?) Smuggler ID. Sadly, cops carrying 2 IDs around isn't going to fly. And even if they were allowed, it can't work the way things are now cause the cop would have to land on what's essentially an enemy base to aquire the Smuggler ID.:( Also, it still wouldn't get around the initial problem of having to scan the guy's cargo to see if he's a smuggler in name or in practice. Haha, the whole situation is a mess.
Trader ID: Can smuggle (should probably keep it to a minimum for RP purposes)
Smuggler ID: Can trade legal commodities (see above in parenthesis)
With either ID, a pirate or lawful must either demand tax or cargo before killing the owner of said ID.
This is the way it is for now folks. We may be discussing some changes here in the near future, but as of right now, those are where the scenarios lie in relation to server rules.
<span style="color:#FF0000"><strike>RETIRED</strike></span>
ON MY WAY OUT OF RETIREMENT
Trader ID: Can smuggle (should probably keep it to a minimum for RP purposes)
Smuggler ID: Can trade legal commodities (see above in parenthesis)
With either ID, a pirate or lawful must either demand tax or cargo before killing the owner of said ID.
This is the way it is for now folks. We may be discussing some changes here in the near future, but as of right now, those are where the scenarios lie in relation to server rules.
Well that wraps this up nicely. However, what about bases? It isn't really smuggling if you take it from "place where you are welcome" to "place where you are welcome". That's just unlawful supplying. So, can traders dock on quasi-lawful bases to grab/sell cargo, and can smugglers dock on lawful bases to pick up/drop cargo? Virtually every smuggling route requires docking on a lawful base, so I'm assuming it should be fine... otherwise, the entire concept is screwed.
By the way, if anyone calls an Orbital Spa and Cruise base (specifically the Hawaii = smuggling central) a "normal lawful base" I *will* beat you up with a dirty sock. Read the rumors on Mactan, OSAC doesn't care who gives them money, and they have no problems harboring criminals.
The Smuggler ID is stupid. It results in people calling themselves Smugglers carrying entirely legal cargo (OORP), and in lawful factions allowing a self-declared criminal (with a 'I am a criminal' Smuggler ID) to pass by without challenge just because they happen not to be carrying contraband at that time (again, OORP). Just scrap it, have everyone carry a trader ID whether they're a lawful or unlawful trader.
No longer active online due to a dwindling amount of non-PvP (trading, pirating, mining, etc.) fun in the new version.
The smuggler ID is important. It should indicate to unlawfuls that you are one of them, and that is basically how all unlawfuls on the server seem to take it. Meaning no matter what is in the smugglers hold, the unlawfuls aren't going to try and pirate them.
unlawfuls should go after all trader ID'ed in their systems. Why would they not? A trader ID indicates you are in with the houses, and unlawfuls should go after those people.
Lawfuls should watch all with smuggler id's closely, because it means they are in with the unlawfuls. However a lawful realizes that just because someone brags about being unlawful, what matters is that they really are or not. As was mentioned, the only thing lawfuls should care about is what is in your hold.
Hmm, where have I come? Why does it seem so familiar to this one?