Since some time has passed with no comments or further public discussion developing, and I am feeling a bit inspired, I will note a few observations and thoughts as someone who regularly smuggles and from time to time dabbles in stopping smugglers - even though they rarely exist in current iteration of Disco gameplay.
As a smuggler, I can say that the most thrilling part of it is often the last leg of the trip, where the risk of detection or being stopped is the greatest. That's what smuggling should be focused on - shorter routes with plenty of opportunities for the smugglers and lawfuls to interact.
The unappealing parts for the curent iteration are the long haul from the Edge worlds (both Cardamine, Relics and some other routes suffer from this) and general lack of opposition (even the 46th stopped logging or switched to full Conn mode lately).
Not sure that CSU or route changes are going to do much to make smuggling a more interesting affair. They feel more like cosmetic changes at this point.
To make smuggling feel "fresh" and interesting again I'd suggest focusing on new gameplay ideas or improvements tied to this mechanic. A few of them were tried in the events made over the past year or so. Some of them proved quite popular, others less so, but all of them were a nice attempt to freshen up the same old gameplay.
From these I will mention ID bonuses for smuggling, multiple sellpoints (with boosted income for the freighters), confiscation sellpoints and other similar stuff.
I am convinced that smuggling should be one of the core pillars of Discovery's gameplay loop, the thing I'd like to call the Trader - Pirate - Lawful - Smuggler loop.
The premise is simple: trading by Traders should attract various Pirates looking to make a quick buck.
These in turn should make Lawfuls (and hired guns) log to protect these transports and make some cash from bounties.
The unfolding chaos of engagement should be the catalyst that would enable Smugglers and other Quasi-Lawfuls to slip through the patrols more reliably and earn increased income on their trades.
As the number of logged Lawfuls increases, regular trade becomes less safe and profitable than Smuggling so the trading part of server pop slowly switches to mostly Smugglers.
When the Lawfuls win the Smugglers switch back to Traders due to increased risk of detection and cargo loss.
If the Unlawfuls win the smuggling should become less profitable with the increased competition and supply of illegal goods, leading the players to go back to being simple Traders.
And the loop repeats.
The current loop is broken. Pirates are rare because Piracy doesn't pay enough compared to the required investment or chance of success and it's boring to pirate the same people over and over. Unlawfuls mostly log for raids instead of cargo piracy or covering Smugglers. Lawfuls mostly play caps (and military chars) without access to /net and reliable means of catching or identifying smugglers.
I am by no means a man of authority on any of this, but it seems to me the static nature of Freelancer's economy is something that prevents the loop from closing fully. Events add part of the dynamism (and bump profits) so the loop works much better in those cases.
Kudos for trying to offer some transparency in the dev process, and I hope your plan for the rework is coming up well.
