Smuggling Comaprtments

[drnuncheon]

If you're lucky, your used ship might have smuggling compartments.

But if you're not, how much would they cost to have put in?

And either way, how much space would they have, and how difficult are they to detect?

I have a feeling these questions may become pertinent when I start up my game…

 

[AndrewW]

Are you planning on smuggling yourself?

It would be rather dependent on what you want. Smaller compartments are likely to be less noticed. One could put in shielding to fool scanning but then this would also take up some of the space.

 

[drnuncheon]

Are you planning on smuggling yourself?

As the GM, I will only be smuggling ideas in from outside sources. But I would not be surprised to find my players on the "free as in non-taxable" side of Free Trading.

 

[whtknght]

Smuggling compartment don't cost you anything, they are part of your cargo capacity.

As for how hard they are to detect, that depends on how good the engineer that made them was, what scanners are being used, how close the customs agent is looking. The most important thing for players to remember, don't give the customs agent a reason to look to close.

 

[AndrewW]

Smuggle yourselfs, modify the ships log so it looks like it was abandoned or took off without a crew, let it be captured by a tractor beam then sneak aboard the space station that captures the ship by pretending to be the scanning crew...

Or could go the Firefly route and put the stuff out in the open so it doesn't look like your intention was to smuggle.

 

[whtknght]

Or could go the Firefly route and put the stuff out in the open so it doesn't look like your intention was to smuggle.

but first you have to hide it then immediately pull it all back out.

 

[drnuncheon]

As for how hard they are to detect, that depends on how good the engineer that made them was, what scanners are being used, how close the customs agent is looking.

I agree, but the core rules don't give me anything to go on. They just have one entry on the 'Old Ships' table: "vessel contains concealed smuggling compartments". Nothing about size, price, difficulty of detection, how good the engineer was, what kind of shielding, etc.

Hence my questions.

J

 

[AndrewW]

As for how hard they are to detect, that depends on how good the engineer that made them was, what scanners are being used, how close the customs agent is looking.

I agree, but the core rules don't give me anything to go on. They just have one entry on the 'Old Ships' table: "vessel contains concealed smuggling compartments". Nothing about size, price, difficulty of detection, how good the engineer was, what kind of shielding, etc.

Hence my questions.

J

Nope they didn't detail those out. Guess it's an exercise for the referee.

 

[alex_greene]

The original CT ship designs used to leave spare space behind after all the components had been factored in. The original CT Free Trader had something like 2 tons of spare space that couldn't be used for anything else.

The concealed smuggling compartments in the ship can be factored into that spare space - the voids that fit behind the bulkhead walls, in the empty spaces in the engine compartments, hidden in the aircon vents, in wells beneath the floor grilles in the corridors and so on.

Bear in mind the fact that customs officers will have encountered concealed smuggling spaces, and it's likely that the experienced ones will know just where to look because they've seen it all before.

 

[towerwarlock]

Unless, you happen to roll up so many smuggling compartments that 1) even the owner of the ship doesn't know where they all are or 2) They are in a strange enough place that no one thought to look there: So that's where that funny smell was coming from.

My favorite is when the inspector asks you if you are smuggling something and you say "I do not know, let me check." and then you open a random smuggling compartment you just found and show him what's inside.

 

[simonh]

If you're lucky, your used ship might have smuggling compartments.

Assuming that:

a) You know weher they are.

and

b) Nothing important was ripped out of the ship to make space for the smuggling compartment. Especialy if the compartment is hidden in the engineering section. And that you know what was ripped out.

"Engineering, we need that power boost now!"
"I'm sorry captain, but the flux junctions just aren't delivering their rated output. It looks like half of them are missing."
"What do you mean missing?"
"I've checked where they're supposed to be, but there's just this big container full of pobble beads."

Simon

 

[drnuncheon]

Assuming that:

a) You know weher they are.

Another good reason to want guidelines for detecting them!

 

[alex_greene]

'Course, there's always the old "the ship falls into the players' hands at an auction after its previous owner lost it in a wager / got shot down / disappeared, and the juicy rumour is, his last big stash is stowed away somewhere in board ... only, when the previous owner ceased to be, he took the secret of its location with him to his grave / jail cell / other dimension" storyline that ought to keep the guys busy during any given Jump.

 

[daryen]

Assuming that:

a) You know weher they are.

Another good reason to want guidelines for detecting them!

Of course, that ignores the point that if the player characters have guidelines for detecting such compartments, then the authorities have them, too. And, quite frankly, the authorities are the professionals.

It would seem to me that doing a detailed scan (whatever that means) of the ship should show just about every area that such a compartment could be. Then it is just a matter of checking them all.

 

[GypsyComet]

This feeds back to the sensors discussion ( Sensors topic ). Just what are the hi-tech sensors of the 3I capable of? At what ranges, and over how long a period?

The scanner rolly seen in Star Wars IV is a decent example. It rolled right over the top of the smuggling compartments and didn't see them. Was that because its a "sit in the center of the ship and scan" device, or was it scanning at the time and got fooled by the shielding?

The closest Traveller has to that sort of thing would be the densitometer. For precisely these sorts of reasons, I prefer the densitometer to be a touchy, myopic device.

 

[simonh]

The principle of Maximum Gaming Fun dictates that compartment scanning tech can't be infallible.

An old ship that's gone through many maintenance checks and had numerous repairs on far-flung worlds could have all kinds of unfamiliar and differently designed parts in all sorts of potential configurations.

Maybe it's also possible to install densitometer masks that alter the neutrino shadow of an object so that it looks like something else. Hard to pull off on a large scale or very close up, but good enough at a distance or for smaller volumes. The neutrino output of the ship's reactors might also interfere with densitometer signals in the area of the engineering section.

Simon Hibbs

 

[drnuncheon]

Of course, that ignores the point that if the player characters have guidelines for detecting such compartments, then the authorities have them, too. And, quite frankly, the authorities are the professionals.

True, but the PCs have a lot more time to do it in.

In any case, I was more looking for rules that could be used to adjudicate the situation when someone (whether its the PCs or the authorities) tries to locate a smuggling compartment.

It would seem to me that doing a detailed scan (whatever that means) of the ship should show just about every area that such a compartment could be. Then it is just a matter of checking them all.

The question then becomes: how long does that take? Are you really going to do a millimeter-grade densitometer scan of an entire ship to find a hidden compartment? Even a Beowulf? And are you going to do that to every ship that comes through your port? Heck no. You're only going to invest that kind of time and effort if you have a good reason to suspect that you're going to find something.

 

[lurker]

In any case, I was more looking for rules that could be used to adjudicate the situation when someone (whether its the PCs or the authorities) tries to locate a smuggling compartment.

It would seem to me that doing a detailed scan (whatever that means) of the ship should show just about every area that such a compartment could be. Then it is just a matter of checking them all.

The question then becomes: how long does that take? Are you really going to do a millimeter-grade densitometer scan of an entire ship to find a hidden compartment? Even a Beowulf? And are you going to do that to every ship that comes through your port? Heck no. You're only going to invest that kind of time and effort if you have a good reason to suspect that you're going to find something.

This is obviously a very case by case thing that a GM needs to figure out. Lets try to break it down a little.

1) DM based on quality of the smuggling compartment.
1A) Time spent building it.
1B) TL of construction.
1C) Skill levels of those who constructed it.

2) DM for people looking for smuggled goods.
2A) Time spent searching.
2Ai) How convinced they are you are smuggling something. (They have video evidence of your obtaining something vs got a tip vs doing a random check)
2Aii) How valuable the suspected item(s) are (It's the leader of the rebellion vs it's a single box of illegal cigars)
2B) TL of any equipment used for locating the smuggling compartment.
2C) Skill levels of those searching (crew can get lucky and the new junior member of the search team is assigned to the area where the smuggling compartment is)

3) Additional skill checks can effect this.
3A) Admin or persuasion skill to convince the officials you have nothing to hide.
3B) Bribery
3C) There is also my favorite, Deception, similar to the firefly method of putting the goods in plain sight so that they don't search and find the 'smuggled' doctor and sister. You have a more obvious 'decoy' smuggling compartment and the crew acts all nervous when the searchers get near it. Inside there is something that is only slightly illegal and you get a slap on the wrist, goods taken, small fine. The real smuggled goods are in the much more difficult to find smuggling compartment.

What other DM's can people think of?

 

[daryen]

It would seem to me that doing a detailed scan (whatever that means) of the ship should show just about every area that such a compartment could be. Then it is just a matter of checking them all.

The question then becomes: how long does that take? Are you really going to do a millimeter-grade densitometer scan of an entire ship to find a hidden compartment? Even a Beowulf? And are you going to do that to every ship that comes through your port? Heck no. You're only going to invest that kind of time and effort if you have a good reason to suspect that you're going to find something.

Oh, I completely agree! I think doing such a detailed scan should take time and be bothersome.

All I am trying to point out is that:
1) Unless players are careless, or just got the ship, they should take the time to know what is and isn't in their ship. It takes effort, but the players deserve what they get if they don't take that effort.

2) Hidden compartments are only facilitators, not protection. If the players don't give the authorities a reason to look, they won't. If the players do give the authorities a reason to look, then those hidden compartments will likely be small protection if the authorities have a reasonable TL and/or are reasonably competent.

(Which is the other thing to point out. If the authorities are idiots, have no time, have no interest, are corrupt, or don't have resources, then the players are much better off. But that would be true with or without hidden compartments.)

I guess, to get down to brass tacks, the real question is if the hidden compartments are a tool the players use to accomplish the plan, or if the hidden compartments are the whole plan. If it is the whole plan, things should break down fairly quickly.