2.2 and Imperial Slaves

Imperial Slaves are commodities. As such they are treated as cargo, this is only logical.
I can assure that my Rear Admiral Rank in the Glorious Federation has nothing to do with my views on the subject.

I sincerly object and sign the petition for human-right of cabin-travel for any kind of slaves - or at least imperial slaves becouse no one else sane enough would even think of using the term slave for theire laborers.

So. Yes. Slaves or Imperial-Slaves should never again be treated as cargo. This is utterly humiliating and disturbing to further have slaves (also imerpials but maybe they would deserve it) travel as crago.
 
Moreover, without a non-commodity version of slavery or iSlavery there's no way for abolitionists to exist.

How do you set slaves free? If there's slavery and there's a history of lore/RP based conflict about slavery set between the empire and federation (and Aisling's been thrown into the mix) why isn't there a mechanic for players who want to be abolitionists? What? Am I supposed to trust that the black market I sell them to is "freeing" the slaves? Or do I just have to imagine that jettisoning a hold full of slaves in the docking bay is "freedom"?

C'mon slavery is something the player base loves to bring up. Let us have a way to transport slaves as something other than a commodity and let us have a way to set them free.
 
I have to agree whole-heartedly. It's been tolerable that Imperial Slaves were treated as cargo, until now, because passenger gameplay wasn't added. Imperials who are up on their lore took for granted that Imperial Slaves would be treated as passengers once that element of gameplay was added. I hope this post is noticed by the dev team in time to make this change.
 
Sandro's comment is off-putting compared to FD's descriptions of Imperial Slavery. I hope this gets straightened out or FD comes up with a better lore explanation of what happens when you trade Imperial Slaves (other than cryopods).

I don't think that cryopods are a mistreatment or that they contradict existing lore. I understand that Imperial supporters like to push the narrative towards an humanization of slavery to make void the main argument against the Empire, but I think it's also necessary to keep the frontier in a grey zone otherwise it would nullify one of the key points in the lore.


Or design neglect ;)

It would have been a design decision based on restrictions of the game at launch. The features of the game has expanded since launch so previously unaddressed features can now be addressed.

Only FD may answer that, but I remember that cargo life support existed in the old versions of Elite, so it would be something to think about in the first steps of development...
 
In the (old, I know) design archive of passengers transport, the lowest class of passenger cabin was 'stasis tube rack'.

I feel that the need of such modules for slave trading could be interesting for both :

(1) lore (any gameplay which differentiate the superpowers is always good I think),

(2) trading specialization (in my opinion, customizing a ship to maximize profit in a specific career brings depth to the trading gameplay)

(https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...kin-for-passage-Passengers-in-Elite-Dangerous)

Disclaimer : I am not Imperial
 
CMDR Corrigendum is absolutely right. The empire is build on a foundation of law and honor. Our people will not tolerate that our citizens are treated like cargo. They have rights.
 
Call me Mr Cynical but I smell Imperial Propaganda at work here.

See, the thing about cryo chambers is that they cost credits don't they? So much cheaper just to use an electric cattle prod to herd them all into the cargo hold.

I guess there's logistics involved in the decision. Slaves in cryopod do not require any food, water, or heat. It's easier to transfer them from one ship to another in their standardised containers. Their carriage insurance may be lower due to their increased chance of surviving transportation, and their decreased chance of escape.

But more important to the anti-slaver is the fact that they can slice through the thin skin of an Imperial Cutter in the comforting knowledge that the only important lives on the destroyed ship are safe and sound in their protective cocoons.
 
I thought that cryopods were safer than cabins - they can preserve cargo in space while passenger cabins can potentially explode due to their pressurization. Cryopods also allow for cryosleep training, so slaves can be trained for a specific task during delivery. The Navy takes advantage from these programs to train the naval infantry during deployments. Maxwell Corp. has been a provider of special purpose cryopods for special units of the Federal Navy. Their training programs are classified.

Soldiers and slaves don't need to enjoy the view for different reasons, and cryopods are an efficient and inexpensive solution for their transport in full safety.

PS- those posts by MB are very old, and he said that they were looking into it. I assume that if cargo life support wasn't in 1.0, it was for a design decision.

Do you have any sources on this cryosleep training in Elite? Never heard of it. It sounds Utopian in design, and rather unethical, but if it could be used to train folks out of prejudices that keep Imperial Slaves out of cabins, then I suppose it can't be all bad.

Also, regarding the age of the sources, Michael Brookes also noted:
Michael Brookes said:
So, the fiction within the game is certainly intended to provide pointers. So if you read newsfeeds, you can get clues as to new markets for you to exploit, specialists that you can visit so you can get that extra sort of power from your lasers, and generally we want to provide interesting hints for interesting things for people to discover and hunt down for themselves.

The whole "specialists you can visit so you can get that extra sort of power from your lasers" was only realized with a few months ago with 2.1. I see no reason to discount Michael Brookes' comments just minutes prior that state Imperial Slaves don't get stuffed into cryopods. Again, this is established lore laid out by Michael Brookes in the fiction diaries, not my headcannon. If Brookes or Braben come out with some statement that this is retconned, then we'll deal with it. Until then, I'm campaigning for proper treatment of Imperial Slaves now that passengers are going to be a thing.
 
I would like to see this discrepancy resolved so that when 2.2 is released it isn't used against us in abolitionist propaganda.
 
I'm sure I read somewhere that Imp Slaves are given basic accommodation, and certainly not stuffed in the back of the fridge. Not on my Cutter anyway.
 
Yeah there's a whole mechanic in the DDF description about being able to free imperial slaves and them getting a bit fed up about it. Not sure how that stands without confirmation of it at a later point. Someone remember for next QA session.
 
Interesting post, OP. Repped just because you stated your case so well and without anger or whining. Yay!

It does make sense from the Imperial viewpoint to treat Imperial Slaves as passengers.

But I kinda doubt the system they are putting in will account for that in any way. It would mean a lot of work re-defining an existing commodity into something else. And there'd have to be UI work and whatnot. It would not be trivial, as far as I can tell.

So I expect I will just continue to pack them into my Corvette for transport, because it amuses me to use a Corvette for that purpose. Don't worry, they won't be mistreated. Just transported and sold for a profit.

And I'll get Imperial Rep for doing it. Win-win. ;)
 
As per DDF.

  • Imperial Slaves must always be transported by passenger cabins.
  • Non-Imperial Slaves will always be transported by stasis chambers.
  • Some contacts can offer a commander the ability to sell their passengers into slavery [which has] an extremely significant impact on commander reputations.
  • Selling Important passengers/contacts into slaves is possible and will feed strongly into the mission/event creation system.
  • Commanders can purchase fake IDs as data chits.
  • Using a cockpit interface a commander can apply an ID to a slave filled stasis canister/passenger cabin containing Imperial slaves which converts them into free passengers.
  • When docked, a commander can offload such passengers to local immigration, for increased humanity reputation and increased reputation with factions that oppose slavery.
  • Some humanitarian contacts can take delivery of such passengers, for increased humanity reputation (and improved relationship with the contact).
  • Imperial slaves do not in general view being freed as a good thing; they can be offloaded when docked, but there is a chance (based on commander reputations) that they will issue an Imperial attempted murder crime against the commander that frees them (the commander still gains increased reputation with factions that oppose slavery, but loses reputation with the Empire).
  • For every slave freed there is a chance that a reward encounter can be generated at some point in the future.
  • Once applied, a fake ID cannot be removed on ship.
  • Commanders may use illegal services at various docks to remove an ID from the system, turning a passenger/freed slave into a slave (or make a stasis canister carrying slaves/passengers read like it's carrying another commodity).
  • Any canister containing slaves but marked as something other counts as illegal goods in systems where slavery is legal if detected.
  • Any canister containing slaves but marked as something other counts as attempted murder in systems where slavery is illegal if detected.
  • Passengers transported by stasis canister can sold as slaves at a market.
  • The commander's reputations are significantly affected.
  • There is a chance that a revenge mission/event may be generated for each passenger sold in this manner.
  • There is a chance that the commander may instantly gain an attempted murder crime for each passenger sold in this manner from a faction that opposes slavery (representing the nationality of the passenger).
  • Many passengers refuse to be transported via stasis canister (for pretty much this reason).
  • Selling important characters into slavery is possible if they are transported by stasis canister.
  • Some nefarious contacts allow commander's to sell passengers from cabins (including important characters) into slavery.
  • Selling important characters into slavery feeds strongly into the missions/events system.
  • Slaves and Events/Missions


Trading and dealing in the slave trade opens up lots of interesting possibilities:



  • Sting operations when selling slaves to contacts.
  • Revenge missions from disgruntled associates.
  • Imperial slave defectors.
  • Betraying important passengers for a third party’s benefit.
 
and I am curious how many of those "free cabin slaves" will voluntaryly disembark at theire destination! looking forward for disembarking riots CG in September :D
 
Also, with passengers being a thing, we totally need a mechanic about freeing slaves! For the cleaner Empire, long live the Princess!
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom