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Quick Lore Break:
In recent months the CONCORD Inner Circle has started seriously considering a new approach to the issue of New Eden's illicit booster trade. Prohibition was successful in reducing booster addiction rates, but has had serious downsides across the cluster.
The illegal booster trade has enriched the great pirate factions (especially the Serpentis Corporation and their Angel Cartel partners), and led to an increase in underworld violence as local pirate bands compete for slices of this lucrative pie.
Escalating enforcement requirements have stretched the resources of the DED and the empire customs authorities to their breaking points.

In response to these issues, the Inner Circle is planning a complete shift in their approach to boosters. Booster possession, trade and consumption by capsuleers will be legalized, and licenses for legal booster production will be available to certain non-capsuleer corporations (X-Sense being the first authorized manufacturer). Booster production and research by pirate corporations and unlicensed capsuleers will continue to be illegal.
Some CONCORD resources will be diverted to harm reduction programs (mainly focused on treating addiction among non-capsuleer populations).

This change in approach is obviously good news for the X-Sense corporation, and experts predict that it will deal a non-trivial blow to the income of the Serpentis Corporation and Angel Cartel. Nobody yet knows how these powerful pirates will respond, but it's a safe assumption that they won't take it lying down.


In practical terms we are planning to legalize all raw and processed boosters in all areas of Empire space, starting in the 118.6 release at the end of June.

This change will only impact boosters (there is a similar but separate change planned that will also legalize Ectoplasm). Other illegal items will continue to have their bans enforced by empire customs officers (so if you try and carry slaves through the Republic they will continue to be cross with you).

Manufacturing and reactions for boosters aren't changing at this time, and will continue to be restricted in highsec space. CONCORD is only providing licences for booster manufacturing to X-Sense at the moment meaning that capsuleer production will continue to be prohibited by the empires. From a design perspective, we're happy with this section of industry being unique to lower security bands.

Beyond the storyline connection, we want to make this change because the current system of booster illegality is not serving a strong purpose in gameplay. It makes the use of boosters annoying for many pilots, and causes other frustrations such as blocking contracting of ships that have boosters in their cargoholds.

We won't rule out potentially making more changes to the system of item legality and smuggling in the future (including but not limited to complete reworks of the system) but we believe that this change is a significant benefit to the game by itself.

This change is on SISI now so we encourage you to give it a try and let us know what you think.

Thanks and happy boosting!

if this leads to an addiction problem, my parents will have a word with you.

ZOMG YESSSSSSSS!!!!!! Cannot say what a great change this is. Mostly for contracting purposes.

It was completely trivial to bypass customs officials anyway. In hundreds of trips through empire space with boosters in my alt's cargo, I have never once lost a ship or had to give up my cargo. Unlike Han Solo, I never get boarded.

The tie-in to X-Sense is an interesting one. Other than as just a story/lore item, will X-Sense have any practical gameplay with boosters? BPCs, etc?

does this mean we will be able to manufacture them in HS with the new industry arrays or will reactions still be low sec and below?

Well this is unexpected.

This could be very cool and a way to get more people into them. I have to admit the ‘smuggling’ part was sometimes fun though. I always sang the ‘Bandit’ song in my head.

So boosters will be available to contract now?

The big question is what about booster production? I would hate to see yet another industry move to hi-sec by default. Lowsec is starving for industry (content) as it is it would be nice to keep production there. Booster production actually does provide gameplay in lowsec but if anyone can set up a hi-sec operation I don’t see it lasting past release day. I think there still should be some ‘shadyness’ to boosters and keeping production in lowsec could do that. I mean does Concord really want all these meth-labs in their nice suburban hisec?

Edit: Oh I just re-read the post and this explains (calms) my concerns, very good. Don't read Dev post before tea.
"Manufacturing and reactions for boosters aren't changing at this time, and will continue to be restricted in highsec space."
Edit 2: Please, please please continue this after the new structures come out too!

as a drug producer since years i actually like the idea even though i will most likely lose some money

while you're at it, mind checking out the balancing between certain boosters? boosters like x-instincts, frentix and sooth sayer are very weak(their side effects pretty much always ruin the purpose of the drug)

for example the Sooth Sayer(+falloff) mostly used by Cynabal/Vagabond pilots can give you a velocity or/and shield capacity penalty.... these side effects make them completely useless for those ships.


curious whats gonna change about that

o/
Hard Knocks' and Sujarento's main drug supplier :)

I just realized how cool doing research on addiction would be if you had access to capsuleers.

"Sir and/or Madam, please take these highly addictive and dangerous drugs for three months, then jump into a clean clone and allow us to observe your responses. We will, of course, supply you with the clones for this experiment, along with the drugs. Think of the benefits this could provide for the non-capsuleer popu... Ahem, yes, well, of course we would also compensate you handsomely for your time."

what boosters isn't this true for?

Fozzie, this is great! Please make sure they're also removed from the banned items list in Contracts while you're at it :)

It's the second time this has happened to us. This was our response last time.I hope we will adapt and survive again.

Of course personally I do feel disappointed to see this interesting niche of the game be removed. Smuggling/dealing simply will not be the same and will all be entirely impersonal station trades now.

Since we began counting in 2013 between us all we've delivered 131,424 units of drugs through private contracts. Not only stations, but also WHs, motherships and capital ship fleets! One of our top dealers has sold 78,969,501,540 ISK worth this way. So well done gawrshmapooo I think that record will now stand indefinitely.

I do think it's a mistake to "simplify" things without really replacing with too much else, and on first glance seems will be yet another reason not to do something in low-sec.

I do realise though, for a lot of users this will be a good thing and there is no part in arguing against that.

We'll figure a new approach and interest angle I'm sure. Feels like an end of the era. I hope Fozzie does consider to revisit it sometime. Though CCP Grey said the same in the linked post above, so won't hold out for anything!