Improved Smuggling

[Bobsy]

The problem:

While I think the physical mechanics of smuggling (stealthing past station security with your bay full of contraband) has been achieved pretty well, I'm finding the profit made from smuggling (or rather, the lack of profit) rather unsatisfying, and not especially worth the trouble you have to go through to offload the cargo. Essentially, the risk of engaging in smuggling currently far exceeds the rewards of completing a run, and thus it doesn't seem worthwhile as an activity, compared to legitimate trading. The two main issues I've found with smuggling are:

1. Very small profit margins, too small to match the inherent risk in breaking the law
2. Imperial stations have no black market (is there any actual reason for this other than oversight?)

The simple solution:

1. Increase price of goods sold on black market - at least for non-stolen illegal goods
2. Establish black markets in larger imperial stations.

The more complex solution:

• Link black markets to criminal factions within systems. Black markets appear in stations in systems where the local criminal faction(s) have sufficient influence (~5% or more). This means that super-peaceful systems with tight security control will be able to put a stop to the black market entirely... but players can use missions to raise the influence of their favourite local crime faction so that a black market is set up.
• Restrict access to black markets to players that have proven their trustworthiness with a criminal faction. Essentially you can only use a black market if you have raised your reputation with that faction to at least neutral. The kicker? All criminal factions start off unfriendly, although raising rep to neutral only takes one or two missions.
• All prohibited goods in a normal station (that cannot be locally produced, such as narcotics in an agricultural station) are listed as high demand and sell for considerably more than they would if they were legal. This is common sense, as anything that legitimate traders aren't bringing in will be in short supply.
• Criminal factions give smuggling missions - identical to haulage missions, only the cargo is illegal in the destination system.

Criminal bases would therefore become the preferred port for pirates and salvagers picking up stolen cargo, while actual smugglers would prefer legitimate ports where they can access black markets.