The Smuggling discussion thread

[GammaZ]

Upon taking this missions you are randomly interdicted by authorities saying something about "smuggling suspect". If you stack a lot of them you will be interdicted a lot. And paired with new hard interdiction it is a problem. If you submit you have high chance of being scanned and fined, if you try to evade you have a good chance of loosing it...
Another problem is that this cops sometimes follow you to the station and start scan immediately after you exit supercruise.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

Holy cow... and it doesn't even have high Rep/Rank requirements 0.o
I can do half a dozen of these in a Cobra any day and noone will ever scan me in a fast enough ship...

Can't even imagine what kind of Smuggling Missions might appear for an ELITE Ranked CMDR being Allied with the Faction (??)

Anyway... talk about easy money
Won't argue with that.

PS.
I would imagine one would have to literally fight & sneak the way through what would have to be a long-range "mine field" full of Pirates and Security as required.
Just from reading (still busy moving my Ships to my new home over a full day now ), however, that doesn't seem the case?

 

[askavir]

I don't see a problem with it. For one thing, it allows people to do something else than chain-trading to earn money, which is a good thing. If I can make money with soemthing else than carrying my anaconda in a 2 jump route that never changes I'm all for it. I actually like smuggling but quit because iof the low payouts.



TBH smuggling never was that profitable, hence why it was a fringe occupation. the main downside to smuggling is that you are kept to low scale ops, you can't really have a smuggling equivalent of Fedex/UPS...

Pablo Escobar never moved so much quantities as Fedex, but he sure made a fortune just shipping some kg at a time.

 

[GammaZ]

PS.
I would imagine one would have to literally fight & sneak the way through what would have to be a long-range "mine field" full of Pirates and Security as required.
Just from reading (still busy moving my Ships to my new home over a full day now ), however, that doesn't seem the case?

May be not a "mine field", but something like this happens:

Spoiler

All within single system....
I used DBS because it is easier to evade interdictions in than cobra.

 

[Chaz]

It was a bit like this immediately after the last big update but after a week or so all the big money smuggling missions soon dried up. Don't expect it to last in other words.

 

[Zeta Legion]

Missions are actually approaching decent payouts now, they don't need a nerf. If anything they need to be buffed more to compete with the likes of trading and ALD bounty farming. I believe a more comprehensive mission structure overhaul is due with Horizons though.

Legal cargo hauling missions, salvage missions, some types of assassination, criminal combat missions, pirate missions, and courier missions still need help though. Pirate kill missions are decent money if you stack a ton of them up and do them all at once.

 

[CMDR Kantos Kan]

This.

Smuggling should have always been more profitable than trading. that's the only reason why smuggling exists at all.

But the danger of smuggling needs serious buffs. If caught smuggling you should become wanted. And the station should never let you dock.

Hmm, isn't your suggestion a little excessive? I mean, I can kill many ships in one system when undermining and any station in the same system will let me dock.

 

[777Driver]

This.

Smuggling should have always been more profitable than trading. that's the only reason why smuggling exists at all.

But the danger of smuggling needs serious buffs. If caught smuggling you should become wanted. And the station should never let you dock.

Yup, but I would go as far as saying you should make zero profit if caught smuggling. After that you are targeted as high priority for police scans in that system.

 

[Banana's_Are_Good_For_You]

Higher rewards are to get players to test it basically.
I can see the values or the responses to it being adjusted at some point.
I like how they're thinking of making smuggling that bit more challenging though.

 

[Bazorlag]

Yup, but I would go as far as saying you should make zero profit if caught smuggling. After that you are targeted as high priority for police scans in that system.

Definitely. Heck, throw in a risk of getting killed by them too if you bring in stuff that they really hate.

 

[Zeta Legion]

Definitely. Heck, throw in a risk of getting killed by them too if you bring in stuff that they really hate.

Instead of just hitting you with a (ignorable 99% of the time) fine, have the authorities actually confiscate your goods upon docking if you were scanned. If you try to escape instead of docking after being scanned, have the cops put a Bounty on you! Hell, add in a little pop-up quest to bribe the cops for 25-50% of the quest profits depending on your local rep to look the other way while you dock.

You could even have different types of minor/major faction governments influence how easy/tough on crime the station law enforcement is.

 

[Slack]

What rank did you need ?

I'm Rear Admiral with the feds, but no longer allied with them. I was doing a mission for the Empire with who i only hold a rank of "Lord".

 

[Lobstris]

Hmm, isn't your suggestion a little excessive? I mean, I can kill many ships in one system when undermining and any station in the same system will let me dock.

Two wrongs don't make a right. One of the things Elite is sorely lacking is consequences to actions - being scanned whilst smuggling should get you a larger fine than at present (it used to but people moaned), and smuggling a large amount of something really illegal should get you a 6 day bounty as well as the pointy end of an Anaconda (as it now sometimes does in 1.4). At the very least avoiding an interdiction/failing to submit to a scan should also be a 200 - 400 cr fine.
.
I don't PowerPlay, but if you can undermine systems, kill ships, and then still dock in the same system with out needing to make any form of recompense - then I'd count that as a very weak game system too.
.
*Edit* I do believe eventually that goods will get 'marked' as unsellable, and you'll have to pay a fee to a fence to remove the mark, or sell on the black market. Some of this mechanism appeared in an earlier beta build, but was too draconian without the ability to unmark things.

 

[Andromalius]

Pablo Escobar never moved so much quantities as Fedex, but he sure made a fortune just shipping some kg at a time.

Pablo Escobar wasn't a smuggler.

 

[ShimEnki]

Why nerf something you can choose to avoid? Just to begrudge others who may enjoy earning a bit more reward?

I just dont comprehend that.

Maybe i just require a better scanner

 

[Ian Skippy]

Why nerf something you can choose to avoid? Just to begrudge others who may enjoy earning a bit more reward?

I just dont comprehend that.

Probably for the same reason most of us dont want a 'push here for a billion credits' button, even if you dont have to push it

 

[Zeta Legion]

Probably for the same reason most of us dont want a 'push here for a billion credits' button, even if you dont have to push it

If that's the case, then why target smuggling of all things? It still doesn't make equitable profits to ALD bounty farming or trading, not even close.

 

[Slack]

Yup, but I would go as far as saying you should make zero profit if caught smuggling. After that you are targeted as high priority for police scans in that system.

During this 20 min run I only got interdicted twice and since my smuggling cobra boosts at 460, it was very easy to get away. Also I can get to the mail slot so fast that even if i start getting scanned almost instantly i can still get through before the scan is complete. There is no challenge at all.

Also the amount paid out makes no sense. If you pick up say 400 illicit cargo in your 150m ship to deliver, which IS smuggling, you might might make 1.2 million. Versus someone that just goes to a different menu in their 400k ship and pick up 8 of the same cargo and makes 1.8m? Not only do you make less credits but its far more difficult to deliver 400 illicit cargo than it is to deliver 8 as any ship that can deliver 400 will be much slower and therefore more susceptible to scans.

 

[ShimEnki]

Probably for the same reason most of us dont want a 'push here for a billion credits' button, even if you dont have to push it

Yup...probably for the same reason...which is? Why personalize other peoples choices...if you dont want to push that button so you can enjoy whatever experience...then simply dont and i would equally defend your freedom to have THAT choice too.

Since i started playing i do not recall even once, where a PC showed up in my solo field of play wherein their choices infected my experience.

 

[Night_Saber]

I think that in 1.3 it was TOO easy money. Smuggling missions became more interesting with hardcore unavoidable interdiction and "eye-of-beholder" authorities that numbered as hell... Everyone want your cargo and even ship!