Liberty Rules

[Praetyre]

Right ho.. the idea that the military freely sells their ships is, in my opinion, ridiculous. No military in the world sells submarines to civilians, and logically, the Liberty Navy doesn't sell Gunboats or goodness-knows-what-else to anyone with a credit card who isn't blatantly hostile. It's a game mechanic, like non-High Command people being able to use the Alaska jump gate. As some have pointed out, if you can't use the Magellan one, how on Manhattan are you going to get through the Alaska one?

Furthermore, the fines were read, reviewed, vetted, reduced and approved by 4 different people (namely, the individuals RPing as Brian Copeland, David Copperfield, Richard Woolsey and Christina Robinson) at various stages of their development. I wrote them, but I didn't have the final say, they did, and they approved it. I merely posted the agreed upon final version.

Obviously, in some cases, common sense has to be applied. If someone is using 1 ton of counterfeit software to represent a holy book, then prosecuting them for that is fairly ridiculous. Admittedly, using contraband to represent what is really not illegal was somewhat of a bad idea if you travel in the houses, but certainly, the over zealousness of some officers in applying the law is also at fault here. In all honesty, though, it actually makes sense from an RP standpoint.

Zoners left the Houses because they thought they were all fascist flat foots. If a Zoner thinks that of Liberty, then that's actually good RP.

However, if someone is smuggling, giving them a 1 million fine is patently ridiculous. They can make several million per round on a good trade route, and there are real life bails set higher than this. I know this, because I run the BLS and semiregularily smuggle, making around 10 million per round. The fines are intended to simulate jail time, which is otherwise impossible to implement within the game engine.

Honestly, people are impossible to please. You let the independents run loose, and people complain they are oppressing the masses. You try and reign them in and make them accountable to a single system, and people complain you are oppressing the independents and the masses. It's a penal code, not a Boy Scout disciplinary guidebook. It's SUPPOSED to be unreasonable, harsh and disciplinary. That's the whole point.

If the fines didn't deter people, people would carry on commiting illegal acts because they can afford to do so. It would be a mockery of a justice system, like giving double murderers a slap on the wrist.

I can make around 9 mil in about 10 minutes on a trade run. Imposing penalties that can be recouped in such a short time is, frankly, nothing less than silly. 15 mil actually takes time to reearn, and so actually deters people from commiting an act. How does imposing miniscule fines on people do that? You can argue all you want that they won't pay, but really, what's more worth your while? Paying a fine you can recoup in about 20-40 minutes, or being hunted in Liberty?

Why is it that people complain when Liberty objects to wanna-be cops trying to police our space, yet they don't bat an eyelid when the RM or KNF does it? I know Rheinland is supposed to be a fascist state, but really, theft of vehicles and impersonation of officers is a law that applies everywhere from China to Switzerland.

If you have a problem with the fines, take it up with the people who have the final say. Turkish and sdssn!p3r. I don't have that power.

Rheinland has 8 million penalties for all contraband on the first offense, and death for the 2nd. Now, look at our 45,000 and 450,000 for Synth Marijuana. The RM once ORDERED ALL LC capital ships grounded for flying Rheinland Cruisers, and nobody complained about it.

Liberty is a libertarian Jeffersonian democracy, but there are certain laws common to any nation, and stealing and identify theft will get you booked for a long time whether it's Nazi Germany or Galt's Gulch.

This reminds me of Badger's piracy debate, actually. http://discoverygc.com/forums/index.php?sh...;p=148872&#

As he so well put it;

If income is all you're worried about: I know of at least 7 legal trade runs that make around 8-12 million in twenty minutes, and I've only been back in Disco for a month or so. Even a lower paying route could net you 10 million for half an hour's work.

I think that common sense needs to be the prime ingredient in these laws. People who are cooperative should get no or lower fines. Some fines, in retrospect, are too high, and I aim to discuss lowering them to more manageable levels (the 150 mil to 30 mil, for example)

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