Ok i know this could well turn into a flame fest so lets all try and keep it civil.
What i would like to know is what you all would do in this situation from either viewpoint.
Today i was smuggling and as i got to Houston a police tagged bomber was camping the docking ring and i hot docked. Yes i know you lawfuls say it is ooRP but if you are going to camp out in front of the docking ring i will hot dock.
Anyway the pilot tells me to halt just as i dock so i start my Mr. Innocent RP how i was empty and just came here to load a legal cargo yada yada yada. The pilot demands i undock immediatly so i load engine components as i am RP'ing with the guy and undock, as i am moving towards the jump gate he hits me with a CD.
So i start playing the indignant trader bit and he demads a 4 million credit "fine" for smuggling. I ask what proof he has i have commited a crime and only get more accusations. Now normally i will not use OOC chat at all in game unless in private but i asked the guy "// do you have a SS of my cargo?" and he says yes so i reply "// then you can tell me the exact amout of cargo i had right?" and he replys "yes i can" so i wait for him to call up the SS and after a bit i ask if he has the amount of cargo i had and he replys with a number not even in the ballpark of what i had. So I reply that he had the wrong guiy and i am a legal trader and start to enter the jump gate.
At this point he opens fire on me and i start yelling for help in system chat because a rogue police vessle is attacking me. He replys that i have broken the law and if i do not pay he will destroy me.
Now he has absolutely no proof i broke any laws but at this point is trying to blow me away. I have tried to run without firing and making the stuation worse but the guy keeps dropping the trade lanes so i engage and destroy him. not what i wanted to do but i will not go down without a fight.
Now don't get me wrong i am NOT saying the guy was in the wrong here but from an RP standpoint i got very little out of a situation that had some very good RP potential. About all i got from the guy was I R COP U R criminal pewpewpew.
When i smuggle i carry an amount of goods that are a random amount less than what i can load and i KNOW what that amount is. That way when i get stopped and i ask them how much cargo i had i know if they have proof or not. In a my word against thiers situation i will not take thier word for it unlees they have proof and if they do have proof i will pay the fine and RP it as well as i can. I don't think asking for proof of what a smuggler actually had onboard is too much is it?
Oh and if he had blown me up i would have took the lumps and went on with having fun in fact i fully expected him to win the fight and can't figure out why he did not.
So what would you all have done?
In a situation like that, hotdocking it understandable.
I wont argue that it is or isnt in RP, I have my own code of conduct where hotdocking is concerned.
If the police/navy/military/lawful guy took a screen log, then he is perfectly entitled to deal with you himself when you undock, or report you to the appropriate clan with attached proof so your name can be put on a criminal record of sorts.
Attacking without having that proof or displaying some knowledge of what was in your hold, and without RPing that properly, is absolutely unacceptable. And you did what you had to do.
Actually, to be perfectly honest, when lawfuls stop me and I have tainted goods, I start running right off, I aint payin no fines, and I most certainly can not survive an altercation with lawful vessels yet.
And taking the goods to Beaumont was likely the 'wiser' solution to avoiding lawfuls, but I will admit to running into the same issue when I try to smuggle to the planets themselves for those few extra irresistable credits....
there's ways to get between rheinland and liberty space that dont involve jump gates, as long as you have decent rep with the right factions. I wont tell you how to do it here, since I cant have lawfuls learning about those routes =P
Breathe, take a break and you'll feel better about it eventually. This has been discussed before and, in truth, there was no conclusion. Some think it's okay to fast dock, some say it isn't. Some say it's okay, but as you do you'll end up framed by ground forces, some say you don't. There's a lot of some say. Role playing hardly can happen unilaterally.
This situation is somewhat parallel to a trader telling a pirate that he hasn't enough money to give him. There's little room for dealing with a deadlocked situation. Think of it like this: When you corner someone, they ought to react or give in. Problem is that there's little saying how that reaction will be.
To be honest... You two had a bad encounter. That's about all that can be said about it. At least all that can be said without actually being there.
Or, as Kosh would say: Understanding is a three edged sword. There's your side, their side and the truth.
Oh don't get me wrong i am not mad or upset and to be honest it was a fun time i was just hoping for a bit more RP out of it. Also my take on hot docking is that a smuggler would take any advantage he could get not to mention there are much better places to stop smugglers than right in front of the docking ring where they can dock so fast.
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