The title is pretty self explanatory. Is there any places to do smuggling missions in big quantities available, or are they long gone? (Slave missions)
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
Is there Anything like Robigo available?
- Thread starter KnightRider3x
- Start date
If they are still around nobody is saying anything. I haven't heard anything.
Try Palins alien tech missions at Obsidian orbital.
Some of the passenger missions are very similar. You have to carry some very nervous guys from A to B without getting scanned. I though some of the dialogue during the missions was pretty good, and I got chased by varios NPCs. Those missions really reminded me of the Robigo ones. I can't remember the dialogue, but it went something like, "You do not what your doing do you?". I shouted at the PC, "Don't worry. I'm a veteran of hundreds of Robigo runs. I know how to avoid these guys. You couldn't be in safer hands".
The only similar thing is bulk smuggling. Like from torval space (cheaper slaves), to delaine space (black market prices higher). As for missions, smuggling missions pay less than regular missions, however that's supposed to work???
It's sad to see Robigo died, I never even had the game before it disappeared, wish I could of done it.
It's sad to see Robigo died, I never even had the game before it disappeared, wish I could of done it.
Highest payouts I've seen recently is smuggling narcotics around the Pleiades sector. most missions are for a couple of mill, some up to 8 million for a large capacity ship. combined with the high paying legal haulage missions and thargoid samples, I'd say the devs really want cmdrs moving here.
Except they are not gone, only thing that has changed is fail on scan, now at most you receive a fine and a hit on the faction rep. Do people actually play this game?
Whilst fail on scan definitely added a nice challenge, I can imagine the devs wanting to get rid of it due to to the amount of junk emails the first line support team had to deal with, probably huge amounts of refund requests from missions stackers wanting compensation because they had no clue how stealth mechanics work in game.. Can you remember the amount of that was on the forum back then?
'Repeat after me, silent running is not an invisibility cloak'
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This is correct. However I must say that the fail on scan was the ingredient that made those missions awesome. Or better said, it was the most important element.
Usually it involved travelling from the outskirts for hundreds of light years, carrying a quite large potential sum, you would risk "all or nothing". It was usually a 2 hour or more commitment, involved travelling great distances across sometimes unscoopable star fields, route/outfitting planning, stealth (or speed) docking, and nothing (at the time) gave the same rush as having to dock at a military outpost full of police eagles knowing that you would "lose" a fortune if you messed up.
It felt like a small adventure. And this is the feeling that lacks in some many other activities in this game: adventure.
Trading all this to simply getting a fine is far from the same, fines are no deterrent at all, I very rarely pay fines unless it's on my own "home" system at the time of getting the fine. Basically they removed the element that made those missions exciting and replaced with a version where it's basically impossible to fail, removing any possible excitement and turning them into just another form of farming. The all or nothing, the big pay vs hours for nothing was what made me care. And making me care, is the mark of great gameplay.
So those missions were indeed not removed per se, but what lingers is only a pale shadow of what made those missions feel great. The awesome part of smuggling is the fear of getting caught and the excitement of getting away with it. Remove the fear of getting caught, and the excitement of getting away disappears as well.
That feeling of "a small adventure" those missions had is what is seriously lacking in most missions. Closest we got at the moment is carrying illegal passengers, at least until FD finally caves in to the "I can't evade scans in my anaconda!" crowd and removes the "getting killed" element and replace it with a fine as well. The day this happens, carrying illegal passengers will become in practice the same as carrying normal passengers, just like smuggling missions today feel pretty much like normal cargo missions.
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I agree that probably is why they were removed. However the mentality behind it is killing a lot of the fun in this game. I've honestly never seen a game developed for the risk-averse to the degree that this one is and there has to come a point where the devs point out to people that this is not Farmerama. For all the supposed love of 'immersion' flying around a risk-free galaxy when you want to play as basically Han Solo is, well terrible really.
I miss those missions still, if I'm honest they were the last lot of missions that I really enjoyed, as opposed to being something that I do for credits or rank rather than just for the fun of doing them.
Tbh I still find them a lot fun and still get tense, been running normal cargo missions to all the ports around Pleiades, will generally pick up a few narcotic runs. Shutting down systems and running silent into the military surface ports is very satisfying whilst flying a massive cargo ship, payouts are good too.
Definitely not the nail biting do or die tension from fail on scan, however still a lot of fun. My rep needs to be perfect in order to keep getting the high paid legal missions, so getting scanned and fined is not an option.
This^^
Smuggling is now just a cargo delivery.
No risk, no chase, no fun.
I'm still campaigning for the return of "fail on scan".
It doesn't have to be on every mission, but as a new criteria in smuggling missions.
So where it says "goods are considered illegal in most systems", it can also say "this mission will fail if scanned".
It's a shame, FD nailed it with Robigo (and other long range smuggling) and only needed to work out the kinks.
It was a brilliant mix of risk, reward, and insane fun.
It should have been a template for how high risk/ high reward missions should be.
Instead, they basically removed it.
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
There is still risk, however smuggling definitely could do with some work. People seem to have short memories, I don't think anyone wants to go back to Psychic law enforcement (Every single run would result in the cops being tipped off)
Fail on scan should be brought back, however definitely leave out the psychic cops, and the ability to shoot a cop to avoid a scan. The whole point of smuggling is to haul illegal goods unnoticed amongst countless legal traders, it's not really about taking part in the cannonball run whilst having the entire cast of Benny hill chasing you across the galaxy.
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I probably wouldn't have minded if any of the previous pressure had been retained, but on top of the mitigated consequence it's actually difficult to get caught in the first place. With a full inventory of smuggling missions, one used to reasonably expect an interdiction after most jumps, and anything slower than a cobra couldn't reliably break away from cop scans when loaded with cargo by just boosting in a straight line. Last time I tried smuggling I think I was interdicted a couple of times tops, but on top of making the process easier I have access to drive mods, so was unimpeachable on interdiction anyway.
That you can reliably make it into station by traveling in...shock, horror! a straight line is the creamy, sugary icing on the cake.
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The resident psychic cops were indeed off-putting because they didn't make much sense.
But I am all in favour for "natural" difficulty, like incresed smuggling activity increasing police presence at stations as well, and most especially when caught not only the mission would fail, but the illegal goods should be impounded as well. It's daft that when being caught with illegal goods (during missions or otherwise) we only get a slap on the wrist but are still allowed to dock and sell the illegal goods anyway.
Would also prefer that smuggling destinations would primarily be places were it's harder to dock unscanned, like outposts or planetary ports, instead of stations where we could just boost in. If fact, boosting should immediately alert every cop nearby to your location.
Smuggling has immense potential to be the rush dose this game needs, selling illegal goods should pay high but the potential consequences should be serious as well.
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They were such a kicker... stacking them up, jumping from star to star, closing up on the star and putting my back to it... hoping I won't be interdicted in the process by the 5 to 10 npcs that were trying to get me, and watching them all pulled out of supercruise due the proximity to the star while trying to get me. And then, on the final stretch... some npcs drooping out of sc just above or in front of me, while trying to dock at the station. At the outposts it was the most difficult to evade being scanned by them, but not impossible by any means either.
It was fun... real fun, a rush. Instead of building on it, they've removed it. Is hard to understand the decision-making process at FD.
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