I suggest that certain spices and goods be considered contraband at certain stations, but that they sell extremely well at a handful of stations. For instance:

Divinia Spices: sell poorly in all Itani stations; moderately well in Odia or Sedina; better than moderately well in Helios at the Aeolus station; but extremely well in Bethashee.

Bethashee Spices: sell poorly in all Serco stations; moderately well in Odia or Bractus; better than moderately well in the Tunguska station in Edras; but extremely well in Divinia.

Pelatus Spices: sell poorly in Greyspace; but moderately well everywhere else except Deneb, where they sell extremely well.

Deneb Rum: Sells poorly in Deneb; okay in Itani and Serco stations that are not capitals. But sells moderately well in all of Greyspace. However, in UIT space and at non-UIT stations, it sells better than moderately to extremely well, varying with individual stations.

Synthetic Tequila: Have it sell extremely well in a handful of stations around the VO galaxy. Right now, it can only be obtained by shooting unrats or from other players. Perhaps a clandestine distillery mission tree would be a great way to introduce a few additional crates.

***Contraband***

So, all the above could be introduced as a way of creating some interesting trade without them being contraband. Of course, if the market is flooded, they should tank quickly, but even if the idea of "contraband" isn't created, I'd be willing to start scanning ships for these items as they begin to make the long trek to far away trade destinations.

But, if the devs could figure out how to make these items trigger border turrets or sf, I think there are some benefits. First, what would the contraband look like:

Divinia Spices: Contraband to Serco and UIT (but not UIT sub-factions). Not contraband to Itan or Grey stations.

Bethashee Spices: Contraband to Itan and UIT (but not UIT sub-factions). Not contraband to Serco or Grey.

Pelatus Spices: Contraband to Itan, Serco, and UIT (but not UIT sub-factions). Not contraband to Grey. Perhaps this spice has some lower consequence for hauling since it's situated midway to UIT/Itan/Serco.

Deneb Rum: Contraband everywhere except Greyspace.

Synthetic Tequila: Contraband everywhere except Greyspace.

Dau wine: nobody wants that low % crap. Not contraband anywhere.

*********************

Mechanisms for enforcement

Pass too close to a turret or SF or station guard and they scan the cargo and you are temp-kos if under a certain amount (perhaps 48cu is considered "personal consumption," though Look ...no hands would probably disagree since his threshold is somewhat higher for the booze). Above 49 cu and above gets you automatic and permanent -600 faction.

How to defeat: use a scanner blocker or spoofer. Obviously an XC isn't going to be a good ship to transport with.

If the turrets, sf, and station guards can't be used to scan cargo and trigger actions, then maybe introduce a Border Patrol Observer bot similar to the Milinar Observers that fly around and peep at us while we do hive skirms.

Get caught, and a bounty is placed by the nation depending on the amounts of cargo caught with.

*****Benefits*****

I see this as adding some new dynamic to trade. Opportunities to earn some credits with a slightly different role play. Perhaps certain types of weapons could be added (Law Neuts, Corvus Ultra Positron, etc) to the contraband list. A smuggler role play would add a new dimension to piracy, create a market for the scanners, blockers, and spoofers; and make the Party Errand mission tree very interesting.

Vendetta online has Traders, Miners, Military, Manufacturers, and Pirates.

There are no smugglers.

Inc... Ray... help put the capital "S" in smuggling. :)

+1

A tactical reason to use a spoofer is a great idea as opposed to the current reasons, of which there are none.

This sounds like a great idea to me. It actually makes the spoofer useful. Presently alot of us pirates just automaticaly smoke any ship we see running a spoofer. It also just sounds like alot of fun.

building on this, items listed as contraband get a (Banned item in <nation list>) attached onto them in the commodity list, next to the item name. While the above items could be permanently listed, I think it could be cool if items would be marked as banned on a more periodic scale, for example, a comm news article comes out listing that large batches of "Verasi Koffee" were sabotaged, and to make sure the bad batches get cleaned up, the UIT government could place a temporary embargo on those items.

Just an example, better ideas could definitely be considered, but that way the "banned" items aren't relegated to just specific things that might seem lore-wise inconsequential.

However, even the base idea is great~

Smuggling is a system I've been looking at for many years. Most of my concepts are a bit more complex than this, and get into things like.. banned weaponry, or NPC border patrols that actively hail you and scan your cargo at major crossing points.

But, perhaps a more simplistic approach, like this, would be a good way to play around with the mechanics, before adding some of the more substantial goals I had in mind.

As Luxen notes, it could also be made fairly dynamic. Not just for cases like, say, "spoiling" of particular products, but also fitting into the Dynamic Conflict concept (not discussed on here in a loong time) which is still intended for grayspace, in which minor political factions / corporations will periodically move in and out of alignment (and warfare) with one another. This could impact the value of goods that cannot be acquired (which is the goal of the dynamic economy), but also include political ramifications of temporary "bans" on items in particular places.

Anyway, that all goes down a bit of a garden path.. a simple implementation is best for starters, something to get it going initially.

Sounds like a cool role-play dynamic, even in it's simplest form. This could also be coupled with faction or nation missions involving stopping smugglers or capturing smuggled cargo into or from certain areas.

addon suggestions:

itani dolls contraband in serco/uit/itan authorized in gray
serco implants contraband outside serco
cybernetic grades AA to FF contraband in serco, uit and itan depending on the type
widowmakers allowed only in corvus.
Lenb forbidden in monitored space except corvus.
TU allowed in gray only
Avalons allowed in gray only
Cargo scanner forbidden in uit/serco/itan
greyhound forbidden in uit/itan/serco
corvus holos forbidden in uit/serco/itan
serco education disks forbidden in itan
itani education disks forbidden in serco
prom/svg forbidden in itan
ibg/valks forbidden in serco

You can obtain TUs through a mission for biocom, and Avalons are a rare drop from the twin static queen escort's guardians. cargo scanner can be bought at all nation's capitols, and has legitimate uses (I use it to help time when a group of collectors are going to go find their queen).

+1 to the basic implementation
+1 to the "garden path"

suggested addon:

Advanced Scanner Spoofer -- actually produces randomized results that reflect common goods traded within that system