I know it's been mentioned in the (distant) past, but I wanted to renew the issue and see if it was planned, rejected, or just forgotten.

We should be able to transport ship parts such as batteries, weapons, etc. Now that we have non-uniform-sized cargo, they could even take up 5-6 cargo units, as long as it's possible to carry these things.

I'm partly thinking of course of the Corvus goodies, but some would probably say just go back to Corvus, or buy a ship there and load it up, take it home, and sell the unequipped ship. But it would make sense if we could transport more than the equipped items, even if they are huge and heavy compared to normal cargo.

Any thoughts or opposing views?

The typical critique of this idea went along the lines of high level players 'gifting' high level weapons to low level players. I see it more as a money making opportunity, adding a little more scope to the game. Couple this with an official (possibly station based) player to player trading system and we're in business!

What about batteries, which have negligible mass?

Yes!

I agree that Weapons/eq should be able to be loaded in as unusable but transportable cargo.

Kinda makes you think... negligible mass, infinite power.. wonderful devices, these batteries.. =P

I hadn't thought of gift-giving.. but doesn't (almost) every other MMO game (with equippable items) have that aspect? As it is now, the only thing you can give someone (foolproof) is money. Cargo can be intercepted, and weapons are only available from the stations..

(Edit: and other games put the restrictions on equipping the item, not buying it..)

No major hang-ups that I see so far..

Actually, that'd be awesome, since it'd create an entire black-market system...

Yeah, we discussed this Monday actually. Not too hard to implement, but the crucial thing is the "license" issue. If we allow you to transport any item, we might as well let you buy any item but not be able to equip it onto your ship (but you could load it in a cargo bay).

I imagine most people would want this. The major issue then becomes the interface is going to be annoying to use with all those items in it (which it is anyway if you have high levels...).

And then you can go back and re-evaluate the existence of the license system as a game design element and start to completely redesign the game...

Or, better yet, keep stuff like they are - you need a license to buy the weapon, still. Makes gunrunning high end stuff very much more interesting. Hell, if you have a station inventory, it could even become critical to stock pirate bases. Supply, demand, etc..

But then your fully-licensed buddy can just buy you anything you want, totally circumventing the system. Maybe that's good, I dunno...

I have a severe tendency to entertain possibilities and point out consequences but not to make any choices.

Yea, I can totally see the negative side to this, but...

It would create a seperate entirely player-driven economy, and would your friend really be willing to buy you the "good stuff" everytime you died? The idea of having to stock the pirate stations is really cool as well

Then again, it does circumnvent the license levels if you have someone willing to help you out...

didn't really further the discussion, but just some thoughts...

But you can only get 1 license level higher from the black martket right? That way you could still get your illegal goods but it wouldn't let "gifting" get too much power.

If nothing else, the fact that you a) still don't get any decent ship and b) can't buy back the weapon (since you don't have the license), i.e has to pester your friend again should make it somewhat self regulating. Most experienced players would probably ask the newbies to take a hike and get their own damn licenses after buying the stuff for them for the third time..

"...and other games put the restrictions on equipping the item, not buying it..."

Thinking about it, that would totally destroy any chance of a black market. Unless you could "forge" licences for a price. I like the idea that you can equip any S-slot or L-slot weapon, etc. if it's in your possession. That doesn't mean that equipping it is "legal"....

But like kriss said, having to re-negotiate the black market item each time you die would somewhat limit the rampant "item piracy" brought about by a black market. Maybe have an inventory checker at the capitol system stations that makes sure you're licenced to use a particular item. Confiscate it if you're not.. That would force the black market to the fringe/neutral territories.

And the buy screen spam - just make a filter thing that hides all items below levels a/b/c/d and above w/x/y/z.. or would that be too confusing? Maybe a heirarchy in the buy screen would help things. So at any given menu you only see weapons/ship components/trade items. Just those simple categories would help that screen tremendously.

Ah, but you could think of the process of equipping weapons as being done by dockworkers at a station, and thus the license requirements are enforced by regulations at a local level; if you were to go to Corvus or something, they might be more lenient (they actually are already more lenient. but they won't sell you anything more than one or two levels higher than you are..). If Corvus would equip anything to any ship, then there would have to be some negative consequences to going there (piracy in unprotected space, I guess) to counterbalance it. I suspect this might happen automatically but I don't know.

And yes, I agree that pestering your higher-level friends every time you blew up would create a somewhat self-limiting situation (unless they handed you a large stockpile and the auto-buyback would pull from it automatically).

The buy menu would ideally be categorized or subcategorized along some choice of the following groupable parameters: energy/ammo-based weapons, small weapons, large weapons, batteries, commodities, gadgets.

The leniency could be expanded beyond Corvus. And the only reason non-Serco/Itani/UIT systems would respect government licenses is a good-will gesture for good trade. But honestly, who would know? =)

[...insert some extra story line involving Serco/Itani inspectors at possible trade partner stations...]

Or maybe the dockworkers could be totally insulated legally, and only install what they're paid (!!) to install. (Could a small charge for every equip be a good thing? Only a couple credits usually...) And put all the legal issues on the pilot. Not sure how that compares exactly to U.S. law, but it's conceivable that VO laws place all license responsibility on the pilots.

I like the idea of Serco/Itani inspectors checking your ship for contraband in the central stations. Makes an entire smuggling sub-culture possible. Peddle your FC batts, dodge the blockades, escape the inspectors... =)

Just continuing the line of thought..

Hrm.. I'd agree. It makes sense to have a hard time running around with contraband in the central systems and getting away with it, while the fringe systems may care less (not to mention systems not owned by your nation, if you're allowed to land). Dock workers can make it even more funny - try to equip something and either it works, it doesn't work or they want a bribe.

By making them sentinent, it'd be possible to add all sorts of plotlines later on ("Say, where did you obtain that piece of obviously advanced weapons technology, citizen?", "You do realize there's a ban on Xithrite ore, right? Confiscated..")

</brainstorm>

*bump* I like this idea.

Anyway, you could also have certain more lawful stations block you from docking without a contraband scan. If you are discovered (x% chance, someitmes the scanners break down, sometimes they just don't work) to have contraband, the station could A. lock you out, then B. give you a good sized faction hit and C. put you on temporary KoS for bringing illegal weaponry into the sector or skip all that and D. ask for a bribe

holy crap! Steve! :)

and, yes this *may* screw the game, but a1k0n, why not try it?

I second the thought of at least trying it, see how it works, at least partially. Implement enough of the easy part to see how it goes, then worry about polishing up the holes if it looks good.

Also, I agree that the license requirements should be there on buying the items, but ALSO on equipping, and have either/or be lower or nonexistant in contraband areas (possibly randomly?)

As for cluttering the interface: what if you could filter the buy interface by license type? I.E. only show items with license requirements in such-and-such a range. That way you don't have to be bothered with wading through all the stuff that's 5 licenses below you normally.

--mcn

I come from Eve-online if that makes any difference.

I played here a bit and being able to put ship stuff in cargo was one of the first things that I noticed and wanted in. This is before I read here.

Now I know why its not done yet and I agree that carries risks. How about:

you can only cargo stuff that your liccence allows you to use? Can it be coded like that?
If not then I still think that giving it a go, for a few weeks is still worth the risk.

just my 2p

I just wanted to say I think scuba steve's idea is awesome. What would be cool is to work out some way to acquire forged identities in the pirate systems that could circumvent the scanners of different factions, although there should be some definite trade-offs.

Also, regarding the interface being annoying with all the items listed. Maybe there could be a way to sub-divide the list into ores, trade-goods, small weapons, large weapons, etc.?