Smugglers and Mooring Rings

[Baltar]

I ain't slandering all smugglers. I admit I may have been a little broad by just using the word smuggler with no prefix or suffix. If you're an RP smuggler, good on you, so am I. But there's more to smuggling RP than just getting your payday.

Yup ... there is more ... but you need to direct that statement at the Trader ID. Traders ... especially those on the Niobium/Diamond run ... have no sense of role play. I sit in Sigma 13 and try to convince them to take the trade lanes rather than taking the short cut using the jumpholes. They don't listen. They just give me the "hey, its all about the money." So much for role play.

Bounty Hunters, to my understanding, have no right to open fire on smugglers within Liberty, unless given orders by the LN. So that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

But they do ... and it is.

You are obviously a smuggler who plays his role. Therefore, I have not slandered you. I apologise if you took it wrong, but this is targeted at smugglers who aren't roleplaying, just power trading.

I don't mind people getting onto specific traders or specific pirates or what-not ... and the good role playing bounty hunters would rather we (including me) refer to specific hunters ... rather than throw everyone into the same bucket.

I suppose the best way to get support for this idea is to bring it up in a "constructive" way rather than push people's buttons. I for one would fully support such an idea. Its good for both lawful and unlawful and its good for challenging those traders and smugglers that blow people off for a quick buck. But it should have been brought up as a positive rather than out of frustration (as I have a habit of doing).

No, but I expect some sort of a reaction when I say "Halt! xxxx." That's the moment the donuts hit the floor. But incase you haven't noticed, the LPI uses Liberators, and it is very hard to kill a smuggler in the 30 seconds it takes for them to get to the mooring fixture and dock.
No, what smugglers should do when sprung is turn around their ship and head for the closest unlawful base to take refuge, with added RP of course.

My point was "don't call a smuggler OORP simply because you can't catch him before he docks." The idea for being able to stop him before he can dock is a "capability" you can gain. We can all think of the nit-noid things we consider OORP ... but they're not all OORP because they annoy us. I've learned this a bit over time. There are many things I really REALLY get annoyed by ... like bounty hunters hanging out next to Junker bases. I wouldn't mind hunters hangin about Junker bases if LPI didn't mind my Rogue GB hangin around Manhattan. It gets a bit "annoying" to see lawfuls get away with stuff that unlawfuls cannot get away with. Makes you just wanna throw your hands up and say "what the?"

You have actually just proven my point. The only difference between a player scan and an NPC scan is that it is not built into the game engine that a base becomes hostile to you once sprung for contraband by a player. It is the same thing as if you were fighting a bunch of players outside their base, were loosing so you docked with their base, as opposed to fighting a bunch of npcs outside their base, and loosing, but you can't dock, you have to run.

Again ... just because you cannot stop them ... don't call them OORP. I do not call Traders who dock on Naha OORP ... even when they have Rheinland IFFs. Quite interesting seeing that actually. Keep in mind Rheinland and GMG are not best of friends. There was an 80 year war between the two if you recall. Results of that 80 year war is the debris fields in Sigma 13. The debris field is what we Junkers thrive on ... and this is where these traders continuously trespass. But no ... I'll avoid calling them OORP. Instead ... I'll just send my pirate after them.

I would be glad to take that 1 minute to RP, or longer, if the smugglers allowed it, but they simply don't. The oorp smugglers are only interested in their powertrading, not their rp. We need this TO be able to rp

I wish we could get rid of the quick dock feature ... you know ... where you wait till you're almost touching the moor before hittin F3. Wish you had to go through the whole dock sequence ... now THAT would be role play. Traders do the quick dock to us pirates too.

Carrying contraband makes you a smuggler. Getting caught makes you unresourceful. Remember, it is possible, once again I say I have made hundreds of millions of credits smuggling Cardamine past LPI and LN, and never been caught. This post doesn't concern carrying Couterfeit software either, cause it is still very easy to escape with that for smuggling, but that's not an issue like this.

Carrying contraband in the open for good guys to catch you is NOT smuggling. Read the definition. Smuggling is done "stealthily" and avoid authorities. The whole point is NOT to get caught. And it really doesn't matter what you carry ... in Kusari, Engine Components are contraband. In Sigma 13, I treat Prisoners and Military Vehicles and such as contraband. Prisoners are to unlawfuls what Slaves are to lawfuls.

I even got in an argument with this Zoner trader who was carrying Prisoners. I normally do not pirate Zoners ... but this one I took exception to. He claimed they were terrorists who were causing trouble on Gran Canaria. I told him all prisoners were contraband in Sigma 13. SO ... HIS role play was he was getting rid of terrorists and I should understand ... MY role play was that he was carrying contraband ... friends and family of unlawfuls. So who is right? Who was OORP? Well ... he kept telling me I was OORP for attacking him for carrying terrorist prisoners. Kinda makes you wanna scream doesn't it?

Another instance ... me in a Rogue GB moving Water from Montezuma to Alcatraz and Pharmaceuticals back. I was in a Rogue GB with a Rogue ID and Rogue IFF ... amazingly ... two or three LSF let me do my thing. Unfortunately ... some guy in a Liberty Battle Cruiser saw an opportunity to harass me. So ... no role play existed beyond the most basic ... "me Liberty Navy ... you Rogue ... you die." ... simply amazing.

1. Smuggler arrives, like all traders I scan him for contraband.
2. I immediately take a screencap, then type xxxx, halt!
3. Smuggler is already too close to the mooring fixture to fire at him
4. Smuggler docks
5. I read the smuggler the laws about smuggling and demand he pay the fine
6. Smuggler logs out
7. I'm calling you oorp because you dock after being caught.

So when a Trader does this to me? I mean ... Traders docking on Yanagi to avoid piracy? Traders docking on Kyoto to avoid piracy? Tell ya what ... when you can solve my problem ... we'll both be happy.

Just accept that he got away ... I have to. If you ask me ... the whole docking ring thing is a joke. Docking rings and moors are a game mechanism to allow you to dock on a planet. In "reality" a ship would not dock on a ring or moor to access the planet. In "reality" a smuggler would enter the atmosphere in an area of the planet less likely to be heavily populated by the law. They'd enter orbit and then proceed into the admosphere ... then they'd find a safe place to land (not in the middle of a populated city full of cops). Just look at it as they got to the planet and entered atmo ... now its the planetary cops turn to catch em.

Once again, like I said in the first post, every smuggler and his dog is gonna jump on this and whine about it. But lets not listen to them, they're just too afraid for a little challenge in the presently easy task.

Once again ... I like the idea of disabling the ring and moor. Not arguing this point. I am simply disagreeing with you on what you call OORP. Drop the OORP crap and we'll get along. Calling someone a whiner because they disagree with you is childish. Just accept the fact that not everyone will agree with you. Continue to call people whiners and OORPers is not constructive ... in fact ... you're pretty much asking for flames.

Things could be done to balance it out, like making the payout of smuggled goods on planets higher, the Outcasts and Corsairs would have to respond to this new technology by offering a greater profit for smugglers, or no one would ship their goods.

1. True ... but then you still have to deal with those LPI who will end up disabling the rings and moors at the first sight of a transport or freighter. We'll end up being stopped for nothing "while" you scan rather than "because" of your scan. We'll show up at Manhattan ... ring and moor disabled immediately ... "trader come close for scan" ... clean ... "carry on" ... not clean ... guns in full glory.

2. You'll also have to deal with the overzealous LPI who will stop a transport with 3499 units of Food and 1 unit of Cardamine ... "drop that Cardamine or die."

It will happen ... in fact ... #2 happens now.

If you started making 16mil for a Firefly filled with Cardamine instead of 9, would you still do it?

I make over 1 mil per minute on my runs. Average run is 20 min for some 23-25 mil. And guess what ... I don't take my stuff to Manhattan.

This is just a suggestion, so how about some constructive critisism instead of trying to crap all over it. At present it is too easy for smugglers, and no matter how much we say we're gonna crack down on smugglers, it simply isn't possible due to rule constrictions. Don't think for a second I'm just biased because I'm a LPI, because I'm also a successful smuggler. I've seen the other side, I know what its like. So tell me Baltar, do you have a Liberty Lawful character? Have you tried stopping any smugglers recently? If not, them who are you to comment on how the LPI operates?

I FLIPPING AGREE WITH YOU ON THE SUGGESTION. HOW MANY TIMES DO I GOTTA SAY THAT?

My "problem" is with you calling a smuggler OORP because you can't catch him. And you're gonna have to deal with your own role play once this suggestion is implemented. Because like it or not ... it will get abused.

Knock the mooring ring idea all you want, but leave the LPI/LN out of it.

Its good to see you support the idea regardless though...

*SIGH* Sir ... who started knocking who? Badmouthing smugglers and I'm supposed to be ok about that. LPI and LN were examples. I coulda picked on any lawful group. But now that you realize how upsetting it is when you're lumped into a stereotype ... please drop the Smuggler rant.


EDIT: If you can find my syntax problem ... kindly point it out to me so I can get the quotes going correctly.