"Role-play oriented cargo" with an in-game additional perk purpose

[nOmnomnOm]

A fun idea, but the downside I see is that then PVP'ers are now targeting those with this RP cargo, for that boost in turn speed. It invites more possibility for people to destroy you to gain the benefit, without the RP.

I would say that instead of buffing some ship stat, that it does something that won't impact PVP'ing, but buffs something related to trading (as your examples gave) or something RP like. I like the medical equipment idea, and perhaps something to decrease the scan time on a Hyperspace scanner, or decreases the amount of time to cloak. Something that, as you said, is gameplay oriented, but doesn't pose a benefit to straight up PVP. Otherwise the RP cargo will no longer be for an RP element only.

I'll think some more too on what could be done as well - I'm a fan of the idea!

Just remember that what i am thinking is that the commodities wont stack. Maybe there would be a special slot for that actual commodity that upon death you would even lose and have to get back? dunno.

They dont stack and you can have a buff for just one of them. So... even for PvP... a player that has a better turn speed but less scanning could be leveled against a player that has better gun damage but less of something else... but think about also what happens when a trader wants to put these types of pvp buffs on his ship. He will therefore sacrifice the cargo perks he could have.

Also... the perks for pvp could be like 5-10% ? Maybe even adding a perk for core regeneration or core size. A reactor engineer for example.
If you think about it, the core would be buffed but you wont have a buff on turn speed. So it is going with the play style as well as your role play.