Smugglers and Mooring Rings

[bearlee89]

Every LPI, LN, LSF etc member knows what its' like to be sitting outside Manhatten, idly scanning cargos, when all of a sudden you see some Adv. Train or Pirate transporter hauling a huge shipment of Cadamine or artifacts, or some such.
Immediately you scream for them to halt, but they don't listen. They're too close to the planet for you to blow them up in your poor Liberator, what can you do? It's very OORP for a smuggler to dock with a lawful base after being sprung for contraband goods. I've been an LPI officer for about a week or so now, and I see it nearly every day.
(By they way, saying "what cardi?" is the oldest, and most used excuse ever, try coming up with something original.)
So once the persons docked, there's nothing we can do, they won't pay the fine, they're safe, and just log out and wait for all the lawmen to go away.



Hmmm... Do patrols and catch them before they get near Manhattan (it's called a train cruise disruptor for a reason). And as for it being OORP for a smuggler to dock on a lawful base after being "caught"? Must smugglers would be wanting to dock as fast as possible, run with their goods and get them out of their hands as soon as possible so there is no evidence. The easiest way to get them would be to take screenshots of what they are carrying when you scan them, if it's contraband, halt them, if they don't halt, tell them you have evidence. Most smugglers will RP with you while docked/undocked after they drop their goods, but only if you approach them like a human being and not some berserk bad cop guy who threatens them every other sentence typed. Very unproffessional. And if they still refuse to pay the fine (if you really do have evidence) then put them on a list for the LN, LPI, LSF to check on the boards and make sure that they are stopped upon entering the system...not upon entering the 2k proximity of the mooring bay.




So here's my suggestion, I believe it would have benefits not just in Liberty, but right across Sirius. Make Mooring Rings able to be temporarily disabled, like tradelanes. This will give lawfuls an actual chance to stop Smugglers from docking with their bases. If your not slippery enough to get by unseen, then you should get caught and have your cargo destroyed. Hell, my smuggler ain't been sprung yet, and I've shipped hundreds of millions of credits worth of Cardamine into Liberty.



And how would this effect the people trying to undock? Hm? And with Manhattan being the starting planet (till the mod) what do you think the random new player in a starflea is going to do once they see they can tick you off in a heartbeat? Exactly. And as you know, shooting the docking ring on a planet causes it to go hostile with you. And with routine patrols of Dreadnaughts and cruisers (NPCs) do you honestly think you'd want to be halting a smuggler while being shot at by a few cap ships?


Now, every smuggler and his dog is going to jump on this and try to shut the idea down, but lets not listen to them, they ain't looking for RP, they're just looking to make cash. There are smugglers out there who do it for the fun and the RP, like me. But they're vastly outnumbered by all these other oorp smugglers. As an LPI recruit, I just have to wonder sometimes, whats even the point of telling a smuggler to stop, you know they ain't gonna, might as well just make Cardi, Artifacts, etc legal.


Notice: at LEAST 85% of all OORP smugglers are doing the diamond/niobium run. And telling a smuggler to stop doesn't really do crap. Your words won't disengage my cruise. Do what pirates do, catch em before they can get close to docking, CD them, tell them to halt, RP out a scan, take an SS, tell them that you know what their carrying etc... RP it all out, and keep them CD'd away from a jh/jg/dockable item. Call in reinforcements if you need to. and TADA! You caught a smuggler.



Again, these oorp smugglers are ruining the point in RPing contraband within systems. This modification won't make it impossible to smuggle, it will just make it more of a challenge. Give you more RP oppurtinities than just "What cardamine? What artifacts?"
If you're only smuggling for the money then you're in the wrong route. This isn't about making our jobs easy, this is about making our jobs possible. At present the only real way to stop a smuggler flying in and speed docking with Manhatten is to park a big ol' battlecruiser in front of the mooring ring and shoot anything carrying contraband. Its nearly impossible to give a smuggler fair warning before blowing them up, without them docking before you can finish, in all my time as an LPI officer, I have never seen an inbound contraband shipment stopped outside of Manhatten.


Granted, I haven't been stopped, but that was mainly because they were all chasing me and I knew I could make it...HAHA! But I did undock, demand that evidence be shown, and then I paid the fine. And I honostly don't know what you're complaining about. Pirates can only pirate in GB's, fighters, and bombers. Where as, the lawfuls can 'halt contraband" (pirate smugglers) in ANY ship they want.

My opinion: Try harder, catch em sooner.




Once again, I believe making Mooring rings able to be temporarily disabled will be a great asset to RP right across Sirius.

~Joseph L. "Sky_Jocky" Truman of the Liberty Police Inc.
Who's with me?!

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