(11-17-2012, 04:25 AM)Coin Wrote: @ OP if you see a smuggler - they ain't doing it right.
um, so if im sat at malta with my squad, ready to escort some smugglers, im not doing it right? okay.
Unfortunately, during my smuggling days (years ago), I had to be just as weary of the criminals as I was of the cops. More than once I had outcasts try to rob me of the cardamine I had purchased not a minute before at Malta.
Smuggling was always too risky for the reward, which is why most smugglers end up just giving up and going to lawful trade routes. The only times I ever made decent money smuggling was when players/factions were paying me an additional bounty on top of the value of the cargo for RP purposes (like taking a load of cardmine or weapons or parts to one of their bases to help progress their storyarcs).
Lawful traders only have to worry about pirates, which can be deterred by escorts, payment, or planning ahead. Smugglers have to deal with both criminals (even the ones they're working for), pirates, and lawfuls, as well as both lawful and unlawful NPCs attempting to demand their cargo. Further, rules were put into the mod with 4.85/4.86 which put unnecessary restrictions on most smugglers, particularly those flying under the junker ID, making the job even more difficult.
Personally I dont see the point in either side anymore - you either have money now or you dont, trying to make money as a newer player (or one coming back to disco, in my case) is nearly impossible with how much the mod has changed, allowing pirate cruisers and whatnot. Might as well just give all new players a billion credits to work with and let disco be what it's become - a pewpew fest. RP only exists on the forums now anyways.