Is Smuggling Even Possible

[Skorne Tet'Zu]

Not the my Current Character would Smuggle anything... but for Future Reference :)....

My current ship has 6 Cargo Holds: 2 x 300, 2 x 225 and 2 x 190 Shielded. Plus it has a Class A Signal Jammer (Increasing chance of evasion by 10%).

I had picked up 2 Vials of Aurora (.10 Mass each; for a Total of .20 Mass... Less than 1 Mass Total). When I got scanned I had a 65% Chance of evading the Scan. Besides the fact that it's awfully close to a 50/50 chance; how can 2 small vials get picked up so easily? Again... with the thought of actually running a Smuggling Operation it would be Impossible to actually bring enough Contraband to an Active City to make it worth while. Chances are I wouldn't be able to sneak in One Vial (since I couldn't get 2 passed); so the profile margin (assuming I got one in) would be so low, I'd do better bringing in Pencil Holders :(.

So... What's the Deal?!? Any Smugglers out there actually making a difference?!?

[Gravity 🌌]

Where was the aurora during the scan? Evading scans works only in the cargo hold.
Small items like aurora can also be placed in the med kit boxes at the landing bay. They are undetectable there.

[robbyhensley]

You can smuggle, did it plenty with 89% to 91% chance to evade.

never found it worth while messing with the contraband though. It just didn't pay to be worth the while and sale gating. I had so many arms and armor to sell and wound up not even picking it up anymore because I made plenty without selling anything.

Maybe early game when making a few thousand credits was slow and you needed to grab and sell everything. Not long though before I did it only for the RP, until I just wasn't feeling like the hassle of moving it through the vendor cash flow gate. Not playing a waiting game, done with that.

Do get caught though. I have carried much more than I could sell at any one drop for up to 10 jumps before the scan block failed. Just be sure when testing this to save before jumping to a policed system, so if it fails you can just reload and retry or sell elsewhere .. assuming you were not trying to get caught and needed the credits.

[robbyhensley]

Originally posted by Density:

Where was the aurora during the scan? Evading scans works only in the cargo hold.
Small items like aurora can also be placed in the med kit boxes at the landing bay. They are undetectable there.

This is true, be sure to have the contraband in your cargo hold. I assume since you said 65% then you had it in cargo or it would have said 0%.

[ZombieHunter]

There is a way to smuggle into and out of Neon but I will leave it to the OP to find it. And this is not just about your cargo hold being shielded.

[chipartist]

Contraband crates have around ten high-value items each, so I open them and stash the goods at my outpost (not policed) until I have enough to make a run to the vendors. Along with all the other loot I sell off, they are worth the effort, which is just points into Security, really. I have the top end scan blocker and high-ish Payload skills, so it's always an 89% chance for me. I don't deal with Aurora because it's not profitable enough to make the risk worthwhile, plus it might piss off Andreja lol. But Stolen Artwork, Mech Parts, Xeno Warfare Data, etc., all have decently high price tags. I use every Trade Authority storefront in the settled systems to move the booty.

[Numenorean]

Got stuff in my cargo; bought shielded cargo and added a scanner jammer; so far got no intercept except once (1 in 8 attempts was a failure). Seems to work as expected, considering that there is no way to completely avoid to be scanned in the end; unless you want to just drop stuff in your ship on the floor

[Cutlass Jack]

I've successfully smugged. But honestly its not worth the effort. A hold worth of weapons you looted off corpses will make you more money with no risk.

[Skorne Tet'Zu]

Originally posted by Density:

Where was the aurora during the scan? Evading scans works only in the cargo hold.
Small items like aurora can also be placed in the med kit boxes at the landing bay. They are undetectable there.

As Robbie pointed out it would have been a 0% Chance to Evade if the items were not in a Shielded Cargo Hold... so Yes... they were in the Hold.

If I did decide to become a Smuggler it wouldn't be for the cash (Unless, of course, I found an actual Profitable Smuggling run); it would be for the Role Play. But if it can't be done... then there is no point Role Playing a Smuggler; and if I have to hope I can get 1 vial of Aurora through; then obviously it would not be worth it.

Originally posted by robbyhensley:

... to save before jumping to a policed system, so if it fails you can just reload and retry or sell elsewhere .. assuming you were not trying to get caught and needed the credits.

=IF= I do decide to play a Smuggler I actually don't want to get away with it 100% of the time; where would be the fun in that :)... but also... I don't want to get caught 100% of the time; again... where's the fun in that.

Based on what I read... the chances of getting caught are suppose to be based on the Total Weight of the Illegal Cargo vs the Total Size of the Shield Cargo Hold; which is why I can't understand why a 380 Mass Shield Cargo Hold only has a 65% Chance of hiding a .20 Mass of Contraband; seems to me that should be roughly a 99.99990% Chance is Evading Detection; and that's without the Additional 10% from the Scanner Jammer.

[Vlad 254]

As others have said also add a scan jammer and chance to evade for me went up to 90%

I sell a lot of contraband as it adds up fast.

[jonnin]

splitting hairs... smuggling is tough (the quests to deliver illegal packages). You can try some foolishness... your jetpack can bypass the entry to NA and akila city, but not neon. Your sidekick can hold the stuff and doesn't seem to ever get caught unless they fixed that exploit. Cargo shielded and blocked sorta kinda works. Getting caught fails the quest and earns you a bounty, no big deal. You can also just shoot everyone and land anyway, no one seems to care.

selling contra is profitable and easy and unrelated to the above.

[Mathias Giovanni]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3104799348