the navy is taxing smugglers like pirates tax traders..
isnt that a bit oorp
4 Million Credit Fine + Cargo Loss ** zoom in for clear view **
a smuggler loses all his cargo anyway, and a 4 million credit fine is imposed on him, what happened to arrest and trial and that sort of thing
all the navy wants is an excuse to blow people up
eventually the LNS_Montana, a liberty cruiser, destroyed the smuggler
It isn't that OORP or anything. Nowadays, drug runners aren't let off with just confiscation of cargo. They get jailed or fined. Jailing players is out of the scope of the Freelancer engine, so the lawful authorities fine the smugglers instead.
' Wrote:It isn't that OORP or anything. Nowadays, drug runners aren't let off with just confiscation of cargo. They get jailed or fined. Jailing players is out of the scope of the Freelancer engine, so the lawful authorities fine the smugglers instead.
The navy does not tend to blow up smugglers that run tho.
Jailing is out of the scope because no one wants to put in the effort to RP it.
' Wrote:the navy is taxing smugglers like pirates tax traders..
isnt that a bit oorp
4 Million Credit Fine + Cargo Loss ** zoom in for clear view **
Let's say the cops catch someone who's selling illegal drugs. Now, that person has to pay a fine - if he's lucky. There might be jail time, I'm no legal expert.
But do the cops just let him keep the drugs? No.
So, he gets fined (use the right word) and/or imprisoned, and he loses the "cargo".
And no, 4mil is not really a lot for a typical transport pilot.
That said, while blowing him up may be a bit extreme, I'd like to see you propose a better option.
Before starting and stating any crap, check your facts. The guys was a known smuggler, he was warned multiple times but he kept cruising away. He was disrupted, shot at by a cruiser and a gunboat and he still wouldn't surrender. For a few moments he stopped, only to.. what ? Brag about how the navy is corrupt, and then cruise away again? That's when he was destroyed. And yes, I knew 2 rogue gunboats were sniffing around us, that's why I rushed the whole thing.
So what do you want to do? Slap their wrists? There are only two forms of punishment that the engine gives us: fines and death. He chose death, simple as that... cuz we can't make them pay...
Smugglers are breaking the law. They know that they are breaking the law.
And sadly you can't really "arrest and trial" a player if you're not an admin.
Following happened to me in Leeds:
QCRF caught a Deuterium smuggler and ordered him to unload his cargo on Planet New London. Since there was some ruckus going on at that moment I was ordered to bring him there. So, after multiple attempts to escape we eventually made it to NL. He docked there - and refused to drop his cargo. Nothing we could do about that. After much talking he finally decided to drop it.
So the QCRF did not tax him or destroyed his cargo. They just ordered him to sell it on NL. And he refused - out of the bounds of RP, but that's another story.
Oh and apparently making him to sell his cargo did not hurt him enough because he just did the same thing 10 minutes later again...
So, if LSF would not tax the smugglers it would be a huge mess. They have much more traffic in their systems than anybody else.
And as I said - If it doesn't hurt the smuggler he will do it again and again.
// do the npc police ask for a 4 million credit fine...
confiscating cargo is enough
And BHG Piranha NPCs ask Cruisers to drop their Fleet Commanders, we don't do that. LPI/LN NPCs ask people to drop pirate pilots, we don't do that...
I think if a smuggler is caught by the law they should not be able to enter the system for 4 hours. Kind of like an arrest.
Also you can RP arresnting someone it just takes effort from both sides. Effort that is really lacking because its easier just to blow each other up.