Corvus are a piratical faction and yet, for the most part Corvus stations are way too law-abiding for my taste. Yes, they take a very relaxed view of death and violence in the station NFZ, but they really should be more corrupt.

So, the following would be easy improvements:

1) Take the old unrat code and apply it to Corvus station guards, so they routinely ask anyone who isn't very well liked by Corvus for a bribe, the bribe to be calculated on the cost of the ship the player is flying and its cargo.

2) Allow players to buy Corvus faction standing, for astronomical amounts of money.

3) Allow players to temporarily make another player unwelcome at a given station, meaning the guards there need to be paid to look the other way.

4) Introduce some contraband goods that Corvus sell, which are not liked by law-abiding factions but which sell for enormous profits in a few stations, and get you ganked by the station strike force in others (and vary the attitude of stations over time so what previously sold well becomes unwelcome because of a crack-down by the local law).

you forgot the part about not letting people with good standing with the main factions dock.

Corvus is not a piratical faction. They have some unethical ways of doing business but on a whole are not worse than Xang Xi. Or the others really.

That aside, the suggestions are very good, sounds fun and good RP

1) Yes.

2) No. Never, ever, ever.

3) No.

4) Yes: venturing into monitored/guarded space with these should be just like doing so as KOS, except that you can dock with certain back-water stations to sell.

Hortan, you're talking out of your ass. Corvus is not as limited as a "pirate" faction, but it is nothing like XX. For starters, just what does Corvus do other than sell black market weapons and ships? Nothing -- unlike XX, which is an active corporation. Corvus is a collection of like-minded persons, a syndicate,dedicated to advancing their own interests by any means necessary... we're just not yet privy to what those interests are.

I like these ideas... (though as stated, they are not pirates... just unethical).

Peytros I like your idea too... but, I would suggest make it the pilots have to be KoS with at least one major faction. This would force people to choose between nations... (which is coming anyways)... and having access to Corvus stations and goods.

As for contraband and illegal items certain things come to mind right off the bat. This would open up new doors for things like smuggling. Especially if nations had a border patrol with cargo scanners. But, I digress as that is for a different thread.

weapons, drugs, human cargo, stolen tech... etc...etc...

Unrats ftw.

I don't think I'll say no, but not a +1 either. Define astronomical.

-1

Make a special type of station guard to guard nationspace wormholes. Arm a hog2 with a cargo scanner and agt, have it scan any player exiting the wormhole into nationspace, and have it attack/call for SF if illegal goods are present. A fine would be the penalty for being caught, along with a slight faction loss (-10 to -50).

+1, except (2) standing cannot be bought.

include bribe and ok.

haha Lecter, off course I am. As are we all regarding Corvus, who is, according to the backstory, loosely ruled by a syndicate, and who's motives are at best obscure and hidden as you so rightly state.
But seriously, what does XX do that Corvus doesn't? Sell weapons? Sell Ships? As far as I know, XX doesn't have special weapons (help me out here, I am not the weapon type), neither does Corvus. But Corvus has the Corvult and the Cormaud...

My point is, all the different factions that are primarily in grey (Corvus, XX, Ineubis) should be immensely corrupt, dark and immoral. You could grade it with Corvus being the most and Ineubis being the least, but still.

Xang Xi is (according to the rp material in-game) a weapons component manufacturer that contracts with UIT. They're a little shady, sure, but they're a legitimate corporation that does legitimate business. Corvus, on the other hand, is not even a company, but an organization of criminal overlords with unknown intentions.

Aeolus is clearly less immoral than Ineubis. Their specials are a light moth and a light rep gun.

Anyways, +1 for all excluding #2. I don't really see what Lecter has against the bribes for a temp kos, but it could be rather interesting if implemented correctly.

Aeolus is clearly less immoral than Ineubis. Their specials are a light moth and a light rep gun.

Uh, what? How the hell does selling trade ships inherently make them a morally upstanding company?

"+1, except (2) standing cannot be bought."

Except at Corvus stations, where for 30 million, you can buy standing with any major faction. It isn't so far fetched that they might accept an even larger payout to boost a pilots standing.

Uh, it's designed to get you only to "dislike" and no higher. So it's entirely "far fetched" to suggest that they might accept even more credits to automagically give you what you need to get out there and do some fucking missions for.

All the grey space corps (and, for that matter, the yellow space ones, too) are shady, corrupt, and amoral. Corvus just doesn't bother putting on lipstick.

But where is the great struggles between the corporations that make up UIT? Would it be too far-fetched that they rely upon Corvus to do their dirty work and keep their hands clean? Maybe the corporations can give missions to intercept specific convoys and sabotage other corporations to people on "the outside" of UIT politics (UIT KOS).

The corporations in general have to be the epitome of a social trap, where they "...act to obtain short-term individual gains, which in the long run leads to a loss for the group as a whole." The law is a concept twisted by the other corporations to use against Corvus.

Actually, Corvus used to issue piracy missions in direct opposition to convoy missions. Maybe it wouldn't be too hard to bring those back, even without the UnRats to lend an assist.