Smuggling in freighters

[pipsqueak]

I think the same logic should apply for smuggling to junker and other unlawful bases. This give the smaller ships the opportunity to broker. pay em a 100k to load you up and a 100k to unload you. No one is stopping bigger ships from smuggling. We are making sure that when huge 5k ship lands on a designated corporate pad on a planet, it is not loaded to the rim with illigal .

Unlawfulo pads will become opportunity points for smaller ships to make money. they wait for huge ships to arrive so they can be unleaded.

Power traders can still trade legally and work a little harder to trade illegally.

PEACE

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[Galacius]

I think the same logic should apply for smuggling to junker and other unlawful bases. This give the smaller ships the opportunity to broker. pay em a 100k to load you up and a 100k to unload you. No one is stopping bigger ships from smuggling. We are making sure that when huge 5k ship lands on a designated corporate pad on a planet, it is not loaded to the rim with illigal .

Unlawfulo pads will become opportunity points for smaller ships to make money. they wait for huge ships to arrive so they can be unleaded.

Power traders can still trade legally and work a little harder to trade illegally.

PEACE

This would really harm the slave/cardi runs in slave liners and other such ships, also wouldnt make sense for a slave liner not to be able to drop its load or pick up more. You do know that the traditional slaving ships are thrice the size of most 5k transports?

[Janus]

This would really harm the slave/cardi runs in slave liners and other such ships, also wouldnt make sense for a slave liner not to be able to drop its load or pick up more. You do know that the traditional slaving ships are thrice the size of most 5k transports?

I'd actually be happy with an increase in slaving profits. Now, bear with me a minute, this'll take a bit to explain and swings a little off the topic of freighters before coming back to it.

Limit the Slaver ID to freighters, Liners and those transports that are actually designed to carry people, the yacht and armoured trans spring to mind. I'd personally also like to see a middle weight liner/people trans of some kind that isn't the yacht. 1800-2000 unit, mini liner. Anyway... Make the Slaver ID a requirement for carrying slaves. Then put slave profits up so that slave runs in Pilgrims are the most profitable runs in game, balanced by the fact they can't carry 5k of cardi or whatever back again. If you wanna be a junker slaver or whatever, get a junker IFF on your liner.

That protects RP slavers whilst making a boost to freighters possible.

With that in place, and having given this a lot of thought this morning....

Make some bases completely undockable by anything bigger than a gunboat (physically) or freighter (cargo capacity). Put the price sat these bases up for the stuff they buy. If they can't attract the big transport ships, they have to pay more for their commodity. Places like Armstrong spring to mind, some other bases that should be "small". This would also give legit freighters a chance to make some money.

The reason I've included gunboats in this is that they typically have half the cargo space of a drom/camara. This gives you a choice of space vs guns. It would also go some way to making the Conference the trading ship it's infocard says it's supposed to be, according to the infocard.

There would need to be some work done on the commodities again, but I think this could work.

As an example of this, for making legit profits - Take pharms from Cryer. You can take these to either Shasta or Armstrong. Leave the pharms price at Shasta alone, double the price at Armstrong. If you've got a big ship (and it's in RP) take your pharms to Shasta. If you've got a small one, go to Armstrong. The goal would be that the freighter would make more money at Armstrong than Shasta, less than a transport would at Shasta. In this particular example, you'd probably have to take pharms off Barrier gate as a buyable commodity.

This could be done with a number of legit bases, the other liners perhaps, although that affects living cargo routes. but makes sense. You could take your liner full of people to the Hawaii, but you'd need a small ship to transfer them. Given that those people that run the living cargo routes have expresed a desire for more, this could be part of an overhaul of the whole living cargo routes system. There are no doubt a number of other bases that could be designated "small" for this purpose, making them effectively freighter only.

Getting back to smuggling finally.

Have an unlawful route that allows big transports, for example, Malta to Rochester. Using the proposed "double base" system, the transport could offload at Rochester for similar profits to what it would make now but at that "base, you wouldn't be able buy Cardi. Alternatively, the transport could hire freighters to run his load into the "smuggling port" at Manhatten, increasing his overall profits, but increasing the time taken as well as the risk. As I mentioned earlier, these freighters would be more vulnverable to the LPI, giving them a useful role beyond than being shot down by every unlawful faction in New York. Who takes on the risk of that cargo being lost, the transport pilot that brought it in or the the freighter pilot that's running it to New York. Does the freighter pilot buy the cargo outright in the hope of making some money or does he get paid a flat fee with the transport pilot taking responsibility for losses? All that could be handled InRP adding a whole new element to smuggling.

In the meantime, the lone freighter pilot, having made it all the way in from Malta, heads straight for New York, sells his cardi and swans off back again.

As a further thought, the double base system could be used for more legit trading too. Rather than having pure "smuggling ports" on planets, they could be used for other commodties too. Sure, a planet wants 5k units of oxygen or food or whatever else it uses a lot of, but somethings it might only want smaller amounts of. Again, giving freighters something to do.

As a final note, heavy lifters and armoured trans should perhaps be refined as freighters for the purposes of this, with neccessary modifications to armament and such. The heavy lifter is, after all, designed to do what's been proposed, short distance shuttling of commodities and the A-trans is perfect for small, high value commodities as well as transporting people from a PC liner to a static one. The heavy lifter should perhaps be made squishier to keep it in it's in system role, with the a-trans being the best of the long distance freighters. Both could infact be shrunk, cargo wise, at the same time kicking out some of the un(der) used import freighters, giving a range of similarly sized but different purposed freighters and at the same time keeping the appeal of some of the faction ones such as the bactrian and correo.

[pipsqueak]

This would really harm the slave/cardi runs in slave liners and other such ships, also wouldnt make sense for a slave liner not to be able to drop its load or pick up more. You do know that the traditional slaving ships are thrice the size of most 5k transports?

ah....how do I explain the potential of this approach. The universe is your canvas my friend, you paint it what color you want. This will not limit slaves on slave liners cause they could always add the slaves on the mooring portion of the planet.

The only problem I foresee is the size of the mod will go up by about 50 to 80 percent as two entries for most of the bases would have to be made. It is simple work but tedious never thee less.

PEACE

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[Elsdragon]

Is that much worth it? I dont think so.........

Freighters should be gunned up however. SOmewhere between a SHF an a GS

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No longer a slave to the man!

[Galacius]

Is that much worth it? I dont think so.........

Freighters should be gunned up however. SOmewhere between a SHF an a GS

I agree 100% on this and would suggest following the motto of "equal but different" on balance vs the transports.

As we have it now there are no freighters that cost much more then what? 2.9 mill? If it where to be balanced against the transports it needs to cost about 50-100 mil and be worth what you pay. I dont want something that costs a mere fraction of another to have as much profit potential.

Lets look at what could be changed and brainstorm on that for a new tier of freighter.

-Armor could be boosted, somewhere between a gunship and a shf and still be balanced.

-Size is a big question...Do you go with shf size or do you range around gunship/low end transport size?

-Maneuverability I feel should play in with size. If its gunship/transport size make it dance like a gunship shf? vhf or shf maneuverability.

-On the cargo I have no clue.

-It has to have a perk, something that makes it distinct from transports and makes it comparable to the high end ones. Stealth might be good, size/cargo might be another that's something we should discuss.

-Guns are another iffy one. If the perk was big who says you would even need that many guns?


My idea is either something similar to the conference and salvager (I feel these are unique enough ships we should take their design philosophy and consider it) but maybe less guns/armor and more maneuverability? The other idea which I mentioned earlier is a tridente sized freighter with 900-1800 cargo and stealth capabilities. Make it like a flying black wing in the vein of the b2 bomber. Maybe only give it a few guns to none at all.


This would be far simpler then redoing most of the bases in the game plus keep the game still small. I just suggest we mess with the idea of a freighter that's different but equal to the high end transports, since the current ones are lower tier ships that seem to only be used as stepping stones.
I still feel stealth is the answer to this.

[pipsqueak]

you are missing the point. If they are made equal in terms, then there is no need for one to exist. They are two different ships and two different classes.

The problem is a huge corporate transports coming in with Cardi. That should be a no no...
(It is specially annoying when they make a point to announce in system chat when they made a successful delivery ... but that is my own personal peeve)

Personally I would prefer we take that option out for ships over 1k cargo, the reason being, in reality when they are discovered in soace, they sbould not be able to land and sell that cargo since ship that side can only land in designated huge hubs. This is the same reason you do not see 747's being used for cocaine smuggling by columbian drug lords.

No one is suggesting a frieghter will be making as much as a transport, but making 3.5 to 4 mil on a smuggling run to a main planet makes it interesting to all parties.

A bigger ship could still fly in with a load full of cardi, park itself about 15 k from manhatten and sell the cargo to freighters to sell at 90 percent the cost of delivery.

As for slaves, they can be added to the mooring portion of unlawful bases.

As for fortifying the small ships more? no... you want to fly like a smugglar, then accept all the risks that come with it.

You remove challenge and the fun goes with it....

PEACE

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[Galacius]

you are missing the point. If they are made equal in terms, then there is no need for one to exist. They are two different ships and two different classes.

The problem is a huge corporate transports coming in with Cardi. That should be a no no...
(It is specially annoying when they make a point to announce in system chat when they made a successful delivery ... but that is my own personal peeve)

Personally I would prefer we take that option out for ships over 1k cargo, the reason being, in reality when they are discovered in soace, they sbould not be able to land and sell that cargo since ship that side can only land in designated huge hubs. This is the same reason you do not see 747's being used for cocaine smuggling by columbian drug lords.

No one is suggesting a frieghter will be making as much as a transport, but making 3.5 to 4 mil on a smuggling run to a main planet makes it interesting to all parties.

A bigger ship could still fly in with a load full of cardi, park itself about 15 k from manhatten and sell the cargo to freighters to sell at 90 percent the cost of delivery.

As for slaves, they can be added to the mooring portion of unlawful bases.

As for fortifying the small ships more? no... you want to fly like a smugglar, then accept all the risks that come with it.

You remove challenge and the fun goes with it....

PEACE

I think these ideas would really harm a lot of things. I doubt anyone really wants to rely on a swarm of freighters to get goods off ships. I see so much room for players exploiting other players that the admins load would probably triple.

You can make things equal but quite different. You wouldnt have to lose the freighter feel with a new tier of one.

Also I ask what exactly should stop another tier of freighters from being added? Compare the rhino and the camara or dromedary...not terribly different though there is a clear improvement. Now compare a gull to a shire/zoner whale/advanced train, and youll see that leap is huge! I like to think in tiers since I have a mmorpg background, say freighters start at tier 0 (rhino) and go to tier 2 (camara/dromedary) while transports start at 2.5-3 (gull) and go up to tier 8 (best of the best transports). I dont see why its wrong to suggest maybe a tier 5-7 class freighter that doesnt have much more cargo then a 3 but has some interesting perk to it that makes it fun and exciting.

Speaking of exciting I dont know if I could take much more excitement smuggling. I have been chased around by zas hs cr gmg and all others, waited them out when they camp jh (I hate that so much), been pirated chased down and all sorts of things. I doubt I could take much more excitement.

Not saying your idea is horrible Im just saying you need to look at this one to. Think of it this way admins will become even more overworked by random freighter guys ripping off people, and the server would feel more strain with more bases on it. Now if you add a new tier of freighter in some people could design the freighters (I would be willing to commission one if they go ahead with a stealth idea) and it would be very simple to add it in.

[Janus]

Not saying your idea is horrible Im just saying you need to look at this one to. Think of it this way admins will become even more overworked by random freighter guys ripping off people, and the server would feel more strain with more bases on it. Now if you add a new tier of freighter in some people could design the freighters (I would be willing to commission one if they go ahead with a stealth idea) and it would be very simple to add it in.

Hence my comment about the freighter pilots buying their loads outright.

If they buy a load at somewhere between the price the transport pilot could sell it and the freighter pilot could buy it locally, everyone wins.

[pipsqueak]

well interaction is all what multiplayer is all about.

smuggling should be high risk/high reward. Specially if you plan to use a transport.

Freelancer is not about power trading or how many millions you can make per hour. Its about the adventure you have while you do it.

I imagine people Using battleship class ships or barges floating in space farther away from the planet where players will trade goods and haggle for prices. (hopefully local authorities will respect the barges as a base and leave it alone)

Imagine... a barge with 3 repair ships and a squad of bombers and small transports rping a base. Trader comes in in a transport and sells cardi to him haggle for price takes risk etc etc as opposed to who can make a beline for a mooring ring....

sigh... if you still think that rp is not what we are all about...

so be it....
but this is what would be more fun in my eyes....
PEACE

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