Beginning anew

[Tenacity]

hehe, back when i was a 'rookie' smuggler (like... 8 months ago), I came into new york via the colorado jump hole with a hold full of cardamine bound for manhattan.

Nowdays, I suggest that you -never- smuggle to manhattan, it's too risky. Part of the allure of being a junker is the fact that the lawfuls ignore you so long as you have a 'clean record' - if you get caught smuggling, they will never ignore you again.

Anyways, back when I was a rookie smuggler with this hold full of cargo, I decided to RP my way into manhattan - i knew there were a number of liberty lawfuls sitting outside the planet, so I did something along the lines of:

Tenacity: May**y th** *s **ansport Tena**ty!
Liberty lawfuls: We read you, what's the problem?
Tenacity: **der att**k
Liberty lawfuls: What is your location?
Tenacity: M**day! Pi***burg Debris fie**!
Liberty lawfuls: Roger, we're on our way!

I waited about 20 seconds (I was -just- outside sensor range behind manhattan), and swooped in once they left to drop off my cargo.

Of course, it hasnt worked since then as they know my name now =P

Anyways, here's what few tips I can give you, most of it has to be learned on your own:

1. Never run the same route twice. This is hard for new smugglers to get used to as they dont have neuralnet info on a lot of different bases/planets, so they cant tell where something will sell good. The best advice I can give on this point is to land anywhere and everywhere you are able, and tag along with other smugglers occasionally to learn their routes.

There are about a million different ways to get from one place to another in sirius. Most players are lazy and take the quickest or most direct path, and thats why most of them end up getting caught. You need to learn to be unpredictable, always be a step ahead of the lawfuls and always know about more jump holes or bases than they do. Superior knowledge of your environment is key to success as a smuggler, because if the lawfuls -ever- get a step ahead of you, you're caught.

2. Dont look suspicious. A lot of smugglers stay completely silent in systems chat when they're carrying contraband - that makes you look like someone who doesnt want to socialize, and generally that makes you look like you're guilty of something. I spend a lot of my time making idle chat with people - lawfuls and unlawfuls alike - in system chat while I'm smuggling, because as long as they're distracted by what I'm saying, they arent focusing on where I might be or what cargo I might be hauling.

3. Know your limitations. If you fly a very large, slow ship, running into an asteroid field is only going to get you caught as you helplessly bounce off of rocks left and right. Most good smugglers use scrap fields, asteroid fields, and nebulas to escape whenever they're found out, and doing that in a large ship is very difficult. As I said before, I prefer the pirate transport, firefly transport, or borderworlds transport for smuggling, all of them have a good amount of cargo (3400-3600) and are small enough and agile enough to manuver through those hazards.

4. Know the limitations of your opposition. The lawfuls are not all-knowing, all-powerful gods with machineguns, there are places that lawfuls cannot (or should not) go, and there are limitations on the ships and equipment they use to catch you. For example, dark matter clouds reduce the range at which another player can pick you up on scanners - I have used dark matter clouds in texas and galileo -a lot- in order to escape a pursuer. Further, asteroid fields are very difficult for lawfuls in capships to get through, I've lost a lot of liberty cruisers and dreadnaughts by flying into the badlands where they simply cannot pursue due to the debris.

5. Learn the tricks of the trade. There are really too many 'tricks' to post here, but I'll enlighten you to some of my favored ones. The first is used when getting rid of pursuers at cruise speed - you're running away at cruise and they're following. If they get within 4000 meters (4k), engine kill, do a 180 degree turn, and start firing off cruise disruptors. You will remain travelling at cruise speed while they get stuck going normal speed for a few seconds, and this allows you to build distance. It's best used when you're in close proximity to a jump gate or jump hole, as you can jump and get a head start on them while they struggle to charge up their cruise engines again.

Another trick I like using is ducking into friendly guard systems. Example, as a junker I have done extensive work for most factions in the game, which has raised my rep with them. I'm nuetral towards the lane hacker guard, unioner guard, rogue guard, and others. When someone is pursuing me, I can jump through a hole into a guard system and have a beer while the NPC's rip the lawful to shreds.

Finally, one very easy but very common trick is to simply dissapear. Scanners have a 14k range before they show another player, that 14k range works in a 'sphere' around each ship. Now, 90% of the people playing here fly on the 'normal plane' - meaning, the vertical level at which all trade lanes, bases, planets, etc. are positioned. If you fly straight up or straight down until you're 15k or more above or below the normal plane, you can freely move about a system without ever showing up on anyone's sensors.

6. Always have an excuse, a scapegoat, or an ally. You are going to get caught eventually, it comes with the trade - I was caught numerous times when I first started, but in the past 6 or so months I've only been caught twice, and both times were pure bad luck (sucks when a BAF player decides to launch from leeds right as you cruise by with 3400 cardamine, y'know?). Anyways, the point here is that there is always an excuse you can come up with to try and justify your cargo. It will not always work, but sometimes the lawfuls will play along and let you go because you offered some decent attempt at RP. If the excuse fails, find someone to blame it on. If that fails, hope that you have an allied player close enough to distract the lawful with a little weapons fire while you make your escape.

7. You are not immune to piracy, so make some friends. A lot of smugglers make the mistake of thinking that they are "immune" to pirates. That is not true in any way, shape, or form - I have been pirated numerous times while smuggling. The key here is to get to know the other players on the server, figure out what they fight for or what makes them tick, so that you can talk yourself out of a situation without having to give up money or your life. Many times, a pirate (if they're pirating for RP, and not for cash) will let you go if you just give them a small 'sample' of your cargo. It is MUCH better to lose 30 cardamine than to have to pay 3 million credits, and most of the time a GC or outcast will take the cardamine instead of the money if you offer it. Likewise, when I smuggle synthetic marijuana and a corsair tries to pirate me, I always offer them a 'sample of the day', and give the a few units of the cargo.

That's all i can think of for now, good luck and dont get caught =P

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