Oolite Bulletins

<chortles>

SandJ wrote:

And I never knew they actually provide "How to take drugs safely" advice, FFS.

What marvellous market research and training information our Police provide.

Why should I need to dock at a station to find out the price of narcotics on the streets spacelanes? Not only do the police provide updates on prices, they also issue press releases on market shortages and popular markets. All in all, the Police are probably doing millions of pounds worth of work on behalf of organised crime and the demanding consumer. Would GalCop be any different?

Sign yourself up for a drugs awareness course. I scared the crap out of the local door supervisors (bouncers) with my knowledge on what it looks like, how to take it and the effects there-after. This was even on NO knowledge of the drugs in question.

I love smuggling. But it's a fair amount of hassle and you can do better in general just running the Furs/Computers game.

Of course, I do it anyway. It scratches my misbehaviour itch much better than mugging Pythons out by the witchpoint beacon.

I feel like the hassle side of it should exist, but the existing mechanism is a bit tedious (I love Hacker Outposts for this and other reasons). But I think it could be made more interesting... the Total Patrol thing is a good start, but the mechanism for getting into trouble could be souped up.

Off the top of my head, making alterations to my ship for smuggling things out of stations without automatically getting scanned might be possible, in exchange for lower cargo cap, increased problems caused by legal status, and also much greater potential rewards for successful smuggling.

I know they say that running drugs comes out economically not far off working at McDonald's in our world, but I'm clearly beyond that kind of life. I own a space ship. Why would I bother smuggling at all in that case?

Other than, obviously, the fact that I'm a Bad Person

Talisker wrote:

...making alterations to my ship for smuggling things out of stations without automatically getting scanned might be possible...

GalCop have teams of highly trained sniffer Doggoids on every station. You won't get past them!

Talisker wrote:

... the mechanism for getting into trouble could be souped up.

The 'mechanism' for that is to try and dock without first clearing your legal status - load-up with narcotics, make one jump, and fight your way in!
Under my own RoE, I try to do that without actually splashing any Vipers - they're just guys doing a rotten job, after all.

Smivs wrote:

GalCop have teams of highly trained sniffer Doggoids on every station. You won't get past them!

Canoids surely?

PhantorGorth wrote:

Smivs wrote:

GalCop have teams of highly trained sniffer Doggoids on every station. You won't get past them!

Canoids surely?

No, they're like Dogs, not tins

Smivs wrote:

GalCop have teams of highly trained sniffer Doggoids on every station. You won't get past them!

Anyway how do they sniff out laser side arms?

Smivs wrote:

No, they're like Dogs, not tins

PhantorGorth wrote:

Anyway how do they sniff out laser side arms?

By the pits the laser arms make?

PhantorGorth wrote:

Smivs wrote:

GalCop have teams of highly trained sniffer Doggoids on every station. You won't get past them!

Anyway how do they sniff out laser side arms?

I find it amusing that Firearms are illegal in the first place:
- military laser capable of punching through the toughest hulls from half a planetary radius away? Fine.
- guided missile capable of destroying most small or medium ships instantly? Fine.
- WMD capable of clearing a region of space the size of a large moon in seconds? Fine.
- small crate of hand weapons in the cargo hold? Instant Offender status!

Clearly the solution for anyone wanting to export Firearms is to buy the crate, open it up, bolt the contents onto the outside of the hull, and take off as normal. When they dock at their destination, they can put the guns back in the crate and then sell them on the local market.

Actually, the majority of hand weapons are shipped perfectly legitimately and legally as Machinery. The Firearms category is a Galcop sting operation to catch out the less alert smugglers.

cim wrote:

Clearly the solution for anyone wanting to export Firearms is to buy the crate, open it up, bolt the contents onto the outside of the hull, and take off as normal. When they dock at their destination, they can put the guns back in the crate and then sell them on the local market.

cim wrote:

I find it amusing that Firearms are illegal in the first place:
- military laser capable of punching through the toughest hulls from half a planetary radius away? Fine.
- guided missile capable of destroying most small or medium ships instantly? Fine.
- WMD capable of clearing a region of space the size of a large moon in seconds? Fine.
- small crate of hand weapons in the cargo hold? Instant Offender status!

Clearly the solution for anyone wanting to export Firearms is to buy the crate, open it up, bolt the contents onto the outside of the hull, and take off as normal. When they dock at their destination, they can put the guns back in the crate and then sell them on the local market.

Actually, the majority of hand weapons are shipped perfectly legitimately and legally as Machinery. The Firearms category is a Galcop sting operation to catch out the less alert smugglers.

Not illegal, just "controlled". It's more to do with keeping a firm line between what happens above the atmosphere, where the Co-op runs things, and what goes on below it, where the various planetary authorities jealously guard their sovereignty (and where the hand-weapons would be of use).

And this is why I hunt... free nasty-goodies to sell and no Offense.

Disembodied wrote:

Not illegal, just "controlled". It's more to do with keeping a firm line between what happens above the atmosphere, where the Co-op runs things, and what goes on below it, where the various planetary authorities jealously guard their sovereignty (and where the hand-weapons would be of use).

The problem with that line of argument is that, in that case, the planet's political type should have no effect on how well the system is policed by GalCop.

Diziet Sma wrote:

Disembodied wrote:

Not illegal, just "controlled". It's more to do with keeping a firm line between what happens above the atmosphere, where the Co-op runs things, and what goes on below it, where the various planetary authorities jealously guard their sovereignty (and where the hand-weapons would be of use).

The problem with that line of argument is that, in that case, the planet's political type should have no effect on how well the system is policed by GalCop.

Not necessarily: the more organised systems provide more funding to support GalCop's local activities. More stable government = more cash = more Vipers on the spacelanes. Plus I'm sure there'll be an element of the squeaky wheels getting the grease: stronger, more co-ordinated voices within the Co-op will be able to demand more protection for their home systems.