The spice trade could be made more lucrative overall. I've always thought "spices" and other comestibles were a trade euphemism for recreational pharmaceuticals anyway. Class A smuggling opportunity here. (Would like to make the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs one day.)

Penalties for being caught shouldn't be too onerous though or this dries up fast. Fines and bribes probably a better solution than large faction hits.

Possible mechanism: avoiding a scan by a border patrol. No smuggling in a Behemoth, you want to be able to outrun those patrols. Successfully running away after being scanned preserves your cargo but you incur a large faction hit (enough to make stopping upon being scanned the better option).

Some RP opportunities here upon being caught - pay a fine, lose the cargo, and take a small faction hit or attempt to bribe the official and keep your cargo but take a large faction hit if the bribe is refused.

EDIT: Incarnate mentioned smuggling addons. Yes! Smuggling holds which convert a small percentage of a ship's total cargo space into shielded holds impervious to scans (or adjusts the likelihood of being discovered downward).

I like the idea, however I don't see how this could possibly work. If this were apporved, we would also need to implement standby and patrolling fighter-class ships equipped with scanning and damaging weapons..

Avoiding a scan could be as simple as maintaining a minimum distance from a ship which is tracking you and threatening to scan you until you jump. Placement could be at borders or stations or any combination of these two. How often a border patrol is encountered could also be a variable. Combat would not necessarily be involved but if necessary a Strike Force™ could always be called in. I prefer something like this to a more "dice-driven" solution as it seems more in the spirit of VO.

it's hard to smuggle if you can't carry another player.

*if* we had multi-player ship, we could very well smuggle players around and that would be fun.

imagine two itani players. one, serco-hated, boards the serco-neutral pilot. this latest one enters serco territory and docks in a serco station, where the other can disembark and get some ship from there (presumably, being inside the station already, the hated pilot already cleared border). from there, both players bring them serco what's rightfully deserved (aka, a fresh bowl of i-hate-you-coz-you-aint-human neutron soup).

just saying.

I've always thought "spices" and other comestibles were a trade euphemism for recreational pharmaceuticals anyway.

Well, you have read "Dune", haven't you? This feature as you describe it would be cool.

[stamp of approval]

Smuggling, Corvus blackmarket... expansion... all here:

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/19515