EVE General Discussion

so i have some -uh- stuff i need to get from low-sec to hi-sec and yeah, it happens to be illegal. im still determined to get it thru, but im a lil'bit concerned about the faction loss and fines for getting caught

so my question about smuggling are as follows:

1. how often does a faction navy customs agent scan ships? is it a constant rate and the busier the gate the greater your chance of not getting scanned?

2. can faction navies see thru cloaks? if i hop in my covops and a hold full of my favorite contraband, does the cloak really help? approaching a gate? leaving a gate?

3. how long do faction navies really take to lock your ship? ive been concorded before, and a corp-mate of mine has had his cloak 'jammed' by the local police, but ive never had to deal with the police shooting at me...

4. if i dump all my isk on an alt before a smuggling run and i get hit with a fine that exceeds my isk-on-hand, can the navy make my wallet go negtive?

5. faction loss listed on a cargo's legality tab. is that number per unit of contraband, or per infraction? ie, would 500 units of high grade booster just destroy one's standing, or is it just that hit for that one time you're caught?

i know i originally had more questions... but ill post for now and edit with more questions later...

thx

ST

there's no reward to it afaik

I'm pretty sure that stuff sells for little or nothing and its not worth the fines to haul it

could be wrong though, but it always appeared to me to be a dead end

and, tbh, im not in it for the reward... more for the challenge and to help out a friend... i just dont want a 2B isk fine levied against me, haha

You know where the vagina is located, but not how to utilize it.

Back on topic....

You get the fine IMMEDIATELY upon scan and can't get out of it. You can run with the stuff and get away without it being confiscated.

That orca trick was nerfed a few months ago. No longer helps, think even that smuggling bonus from implants was removed as well but not entirely sure.

so i tried making a smuggling run a couple nights ago and, ofc, i got busted... but i did learn a few important things...

1) once you're busted, the fine is indeed immediately levied against your wallet, so there's no escaping that. however, the fine is based upon the current regional market value of the contraband youre carrying. since i had just bought up all of the available units in my region, the only thing customs had to go on was a 100-isk-per-unit-lol-underbid on the buy orders! my fine was so low as to be almost laughable!

2) once you're busted, you immediately get a popup about being webbed, scrammed, and held for your own good until you turn over the contraband they'd scanned. haha. i did notice that i wasnt webbed or scrammed at this point, i was just locked out of my neocom. i couldnt click anything except their box to give up the goods....

now youve been warned: the next part requires both speed and luck, but all you have to do is hit 'esc' to drop their little were-gonna-take-yer-stuffs box (and get their you-will-be-destroyed-grrr-were-madz info box), and click 'dock' on the nearest station to your line of travel. now this is where the speed and luck come in handy because (im pretty sure) this is when they start trying to lock you for the webbing and scramming they claimed earlier... as long as you can make the turn and jump to warp before they get you locked, yer golden! why? read on...

3) have you ever noticed that customs only hangs around on gates? ive never seen them on a station... now i tend to stay away from major trade hubs (two plus years and never been to jita, yaaay!) so i cant say 'always'... maybe theres just no donut stands in stations, but docking and undocking from stations is pretty easy. which also means that transporting contraband between stations in the same solar system is close to risk-free...

another warning now: concord does sometimes hang around stations, esp when there's station-gamers nearby, and concord does scan for some contraband... however, with a little advance research and scouting, even concord can be circumvented...

4) standings hits are another thing that you cant avoid when you get busted, this happens just as fast as the fines hit yer wallet... however, i did discover that your social skills help mitigate your standings hit. i cant rem if its diplo or bureaucracy that helps, maybe both, but my hit was lol-worthy, and i was carrying some of the baddest stuff i could in my region.

5) the last thing i realized? smuggling is fun!

if any more experienced smugglers out there notice anything ive missed, or something you think im just plain wrong about, please reply and let me know! enlighten me, please!
and if its some kind of trade secret, feel free to eve-mail me, haha

fly em like you stole em!

ST