This is how it could be done:
1. Create a new fraction ' a trading/escorting company that is on the surface doing legal business. Make sure you have official business ' and are seen doing it.
2. Use smuggler ID ' pirates and smugglers are entirely different kettles of fish. Affiliate yourself RP wise with any and all pirates to your heart's desire, but do not be one.
3. Give it a name and a tag ' yeah, even UPS, but state the official transcription as something else ' Unified Power traders of Sirius or whatever the heck you want. Only the ship captains will know the REAL meaning of the tag, and the real business. OR:
4. Don't give it a tag ' just list the ship names of the participants in the fraction tread. But when you RP between the members or with customers ingame or on forum ALWAYS use the full shipname with the tag. (Hey, it is gonna be cool :))
5. Smuggle everything that is somehow restricted by anyone ' if there is a profit in it. BUT ' do not expect to profit hugely ' the most profitable smuggler runs are loooong ' longer than the most profitable legal and RP clear ones. You cannot make your entire living by smuggling. You can make better than normal, but no smuggler in history lived on smuggling alone ' sorry Buck, ain't gonna happen :cool: .
6. Bribe away or coerce (by any means available) cops, naval officers, corporate managers, bounty hunters, unlawful types ' anybody you can ' as long as they help you make a profit.
7. Employ UNSUSPISIOUS ships for the final runs ' the PT are way too obvious to land on major lawful planets and bases. Remember there is ' logically speaking - such thing as land based authorities ' what is a space yard/customs cop gonna think when he/she sees that big huge infamous tin can land on his/her turf!?!-Yeah, right ' 'LOOOOKY WHAT WE HAVE HERRRRE! (credit signs from the bust bonus jingling in his/her head ' these people get percentage of the busted cargo's value and no amount of bribe is gonna cover the percentage from busting that huge a shipment)'. You cannot bribe everyone. Maybe, just maybe it can be RPed, but I am not going to fight that fight ' it is not worth it. The best smugglers are always the most unsuspicious ones. That the PT is not. In fact, it is said in the ship's name, guys ' Pirate train. Not smuggler ' pirate. Its use is to unload the cargo from pirated vessels (which should be the only allowed piracy in Disco. But that is a whole other bag of cats :):):) ).
To sum things up ' a smuggling enterprise is feasible, if a) you do not expect to make all of your profits by smuggling, b) lose the pirate train and c) you get permission to actually create the fraction.
I am ready and willing to help create this, but bear in mind that I was away from Disco for more than two years, don't know anybody here, nobody knows me , and before that I was on for a couple months only.
OK, this is long enough. Kidd over and out.
"Come on, people. We have a job to do, so let's be about it" - Lady Dame Steadholder Admiral Honor Alexander-Harrington, RMN A weapon is a device for making your enemy change his mind. The mind is the only battlefield that matters. Everything else is just ... fuss.
Lieutenant Lord Miles Naismith Vorkosigan / Admiral Miles Naismith/ "Always aim for the stars, boy. Even if you miss, you'll at least not end up shooting your leg"
Ascribed to General Count Piotr Pier Vorkosigan
<span style="color:#FFFF33">"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."</span>
Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear.
