Smuggling in Modern Traveller

[MasterGwydion]

Is smuggling still a thing in Traveller? Just curious, since I recently had to come up with a smuggling plan for a recent adventure. After trying to figure out how a smuggling ring might be set up, it occurred to me that one ship with a deconstruction chamber and an enhanced fabricator could smuggle an almost unlimited amount of things with no way to have them be detected. Has anyone else come up against this issue?

The most I think about it, the more I realize that they could be built as part of an autodoc or some of the fancier low berths. Fully functional. Make it part of a hospital ship and you have unlimited smuggling in a warzone.

"You can inspect the low berth if you want, but we will have to revive the patient first." lolz

 

[rinku]

Maybe. You'd need to fabricate a situation where the destination cannot just set up their own fabrication operation, or there'd be no point.

If a thing is illegal, the precursor materials that can make it are also likely to be highly regulated, like drug precursors are. So instead of hiding the illegal goods, you need to hide the fabricator feedstock needed to produce them. Probably won't apply to the highest grades of fabricator, but those may be highly restricted in and of themselves on a high law planet because of how easily they can make banned stuff.

Smuggling the data files is probably a thing, but that's a bit boring... unless customs can use that as an excuse to plug into your system and implants...

As a rule of thumb with a scheme or bright idea, unless it's truly unique or novel, assume that many people have already thought of it and tried it, laws have been passed to stop it, and the authorities are looking out for it.

Happy thought - food grade fabricators should be able to print out as much recreational stimulants as a party crew might require.

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

Yes! Smuggling is still alive and well.
Half the challenge is avoiding customs, the other half is delivering the goods without getting caught/betrayed/lost

 

[MasterGwydion]

Yes! Smuggling is still alive and well.
Half the challenge is avoiding customs, the other half is delivering the goods without getting caught/betrayed/lost

My point was that if there is no physical object to smuggle, avoiding customs and avoiding getting caught with the goods become much easier. Kind of like smuggling using a portable hole.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Considering the number of types of hidden compartment in High Guard it would seem things are being smuggled.

One NPC I've created has a ship in which he found 2 hidden compartments. 1 he uses as a docking space for his G-Bike. The other had 4 of its 5 tons become a hidden studio which has a hidden compartment of 1 ton within it. Who looks for a hidden compartment in a hidden compartment?

 

[MasterGwydion]

Maybe. You'd need to fabricate a situation where the destination cannot just set up their own fabrication operation, or there'd be no point.

Fabricators could easily be illegal on-planet, but controlling the fabricator aboard the hospital ship is much harder.

If a thing is illegal, the precursor materials that can make it are also likely to be highly regulated, like drug precursors are. So instead of hiding the illegal goods, you need to hide the fabricator feedstock needed to produce them. Probably won't apply to the highest grades of fabricator, but those may be highly restricted in and of themselves on a high law planet because of how easily they can make banned stuff.

Agreed, but in this specific instance how would I go about doing that? It is aboard a TL15 hospital ship. It has radioactives and molecular compounds of almost any combination.

Smuggling the data files is probably a thing, but that's a bit boring... unless customs can use that as an excuse to plug into your system and implants...

Yeah, smuggling datafiles feels more Cyberpunk than Traveller. Once in a while that would be a good adventure, but I wouldn't want to overuse that.

As a rule of thumb with a scheme or bright idea, unless it's truly unique or novel, assume that many people have already thought of it and tried it, laws have been passed to stop it, and the authorities are looking out for it.

Yeah. I just need to figure out how to do that and not overly hamper legitimate humanitarian relief ships.

Happy thought - food grade fabricators should be able to print out as much recreational stimulants as a party crew might require.

*sings* "Oh Happy Day!"

side note - the feedstock for plants ought to be pretty simple and cheap as well, considering that you can 3D print a whole person in Traveller wheat chaff.

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

Fabricators aren’t replicators. A TL-13 fabricator can create cloned meat, but it won’t have the same taste as a Sylean Wagyu, raised in low-G for extra tenderness and airy volume.

Holy artifacts and scriptures lose value if they are created by a soulless machine.

IMTU, customs searches often include searches of computer files, looking for contraband or even simply illicit ledgers

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

Also, fabricators have hardwired limits on what they can print.
CSC and the Robot Handbook “Most commercially sourced fabrication chambers are specifically blocked from creating weapons, currency, copywritten materials or controlled substances, however the specific restrictions vary by government and manufacturer.”

Even on a hospital ship, there would be some protection against any orderly randomly dialing up liters of Tricerin- just for a quick Credit

 

[MasterGwydion]

Fabricators aren’t replicators. A TL-13 fabricator can create cloned meat, but it won’t have the same taste as a Sylean Wagyu, raised in low-G for extra tenderness and airy volume.

Why can't it? It can create new limbs for humans that the body doesn't reject and has 100% functionality or even higher functionality if you want to pay for a higher quality limb.

Holy artifacts and scriptures lose value if they are created by a soulless machine.

Agreed. Art as well.

IMTU, customs searches often include searches of computer files, looking for contraband or even simply illicit ledgers

I do not know any corporation that just allows the search of proprietary computer files just because an agent feels like it. Specially not in as openly corrupt society as Charted Space. Your proprietary files would be in your competitors' hands by the end of the business day.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Also, fabricators have hardwired limits on what they can print.
CSC and the Robot Handbook “Most commercially sourced fabrication chambers are specifically blocked from creating weapons, currency, copywritten materials or controlled substances, however the specific restrictions vary by government and manufacturer.”

Even on a hospital ship, there would be some protection against any orderly randomly dialing up liters of Tricerin- just for a quick Credit

Agreed, but how would anyone know if the system had been hacked to allow for that or not? How would customs people know? I doubt they have copies of each proprietary fabricator software to compare it to.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Yeah, smuggling datafiles feels more Cyberpunk than Traveller. Once in a while that would be a good adventure, but I wouldn't want to overuse that.

Throw them a bit of a curve. After they agree to carry the data files reveal the target is a TL 5 or TL 6 world and the data files are on punch cards or magnetic tapes. Lots more volume than they expect.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Why can't it? It can create new limbs for humans that the body doesn't reject and has 100% functionality or even higher functionality if you want to pay for a higher quality limb.

Agreed. Art as well.

I do not know any corporation that just allows the search of proprietary computer files just because an agent feels like it. Specially not in as openly corrupt society as Charted Space. Your proprietary files would be in your competitors' hands by the end of the business day.

That’s not a fabricator. That’s a bioreaction chamber. Clones, organs, limbs, Sylean Wagyu beef, etc. that changes with the TL17 Advanced fabricator, though.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Agreed, but how would anyone know if the system had been hacked to allow for that or not? How would customs people know? I doubt they have copies of each proprietary fabricator software to compare it to.

MixCorp doesn’t share their OS APIs or files. Period.

 

[rinku]

In terms of a hospital ship that is capable of making illegal goods from its legitimate capabilities (quite likely, since you'd expect it IS set up to manufacture drugs), I expect that if it matters (low law level won't bother), authorities are going to closely monitor everything that comes onto or goes off the ship. Expect a customs vessel (a small craft would do) to be docked while you're in their jurisdiction.

They could also be more interested in the patients than possible contraband.

I'd not be too worried about those hardwired limits. You just need to find a planet where what they can legally print most other places is controlled. There's also those modifiers "most" and "commercially sourced". A quick trip to somewhere where either the local corporations are more than happy to sell you a gun printer, or where you can pick up ones that have been manufactured off grid. Any smuggler worth their salt shouldn't have too much trouble there *cough* Efate *cough*...

Of course, if the fabricator itself has illegal capabilities, that's also something you have to conceal.

 

[ross]

Is smuggling still a thing in Traveller? Just curious, since I recently had to come up with a smuggling plan for a recent adventure. After trying to figure out how a smuggling ring might be set up, it occurred to me that one ship with a deconstruction chamber and an enhanced fabricator could smuggle an almost unlimited amount of things with no way to have them be detected. Has anyone else come up against this issue?

Yes of course but it would be considerably easier, and less illegal, to simply buy a fab and components legally. This is an issue in the Third Imperium IMTU. At sufficient technology there are a lot of intellectual gymnastics to making smuggling either attractive or necessary.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Maybe they need to smuggle in the powdered unobtainium for the fabricators.

 

[rinku]

As others have touched on, not everything is able to be fabricated, although the nanobot versions are approaching that. Information would be high on that list, as well as authentic artifacts. There's also the consideration that fabricated gear may not be as high quality as that made using other production methods, or just "looks fabricated". A low tech example - resin printed miniatures are pretty much indistinguishable from cast ones at arms length after painting... but the human eye CAN easily spot the decamicron print layers on close inspection, especially on smooth curved surfaces. Factory made may become the new handmade.

And if Baroness Swank wants genuine old fashioned injected moulded crystal goblets instead of those cheap fabricated ones ("darling, they just CAN'T catch the light properly...") and there's an embargo or large import duty on them... well, that's a business opportunity for the enterprising ship owner...

(That also brings up a thought - a lot of smuggling happens not because something is illegal, but because of import costs like duty or tariffs. Even low law level worlds might be imposing those; government type is probably the best guide, but every government needs to pay for stuff)

Probably the simplest and most common situation is that offworld manufacture is cheaper than local manufacture regardless of method. That being the case, there's no point in fabricating locally unless for convenience.

Say a widget wholesales for Cr1000 on Industrialooine, ships to Localooine for Cr1000 and attracts an import duty of Cr500. But the overall local cost of manufacture (possibly requiring import materials) is Cr3000. Few people will manufacture it locally - they'll just import it for CR2500. However... if they *smuggled* it in they'd avoid the import duty and profit.

 

[MasterGwydion]

That’s not a fabricator. That’s a bioreaction chamber. Clones, organs, limbs, Sylean Wagyu beef, etc. that changes with the TL17 Advanced fabricator, though.

Robot Handbook page 51

"A TL13 enhanced fabrication chamber can create additional fabrication chambers, even complete robots with Advanced brains, although it is limited to brains and brain options one TL lower than the fabrication chamber itself. An enhanced chamber cannot create Self-aware or Conscious robot brains. An enhanced fabrication chamber includes the technology to act as an advanced bioreaction chamber (see previous page). It can print a full organ, limb or similar replacement part"

Bolding Mine.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Maybe they need to smuggle in the powdered unobtainium for the fabricators.

Yeah, I could always McGuffin it, but that seems too contrived.

 

[MasterGwydion]

As others have touched on, not everything is able to be fabricated, although the nanobot versions are approaching that. Information would be high on that list, as well as authentic artifacts. There's also the consideration that fabricated gear may not be as high quality as that made using other production methods, or just "looks fabricated". A low tech example - resin printed miniatures are pretty much indistinguishable from cast ones at arms length after painting... but the human eye CAN easily spot the decamicron print layers on close inspection, especially on smooth curved surfaces. Factory made may become the new handmade.

We are so early in the 3D printing game, that I don't believe that anyone will be able to tell the difference in 30 years or so, much less several thousand years in the future. The TL-13 Fabricator builds things up from the molecular level.

And if Baroness Swank wants genuine old fashioned injected moulded crystal goblets instead of those cheap fabricated ones ("darling, they just CAN'T catch the light properly...") and there's an embargo or large import duty on them... well, that's a business opportunity for the enterprising ship owner...

(That also brings up a thought - a lot of smuggling happens not because something is illegal, but because of import costs like duty or tariffs. Even low law level worlds might be imposing those; government type is probably the best guide, but every government needs to pay for stuff)

Probably the simplest and most common situation is that offworld manufacture is cheaper than local manufacture regardless of method. That being the case, there's no point in fabricating locally unless for convenience.

Say a widget wholesales for Cr1000 on Industrialooine, ships to Localooine for Cr1000 and attracts an import duty of Cr500. But the overall local cost of manufacture (possibly requiring import materials) is Cr3000. Few people will manufacture it locally - they'll just import it for CR2500. However... if they *smuggled* it in they'd avoid the import duty and profit.

Yeah. It seems that smuggling (as it is traditionally considered) would be mainly art objects, historical artifacts, and other things that derive their value from their provenance. Weapon smuggling, luxury goods, electronics, cybernetics, armor, drugs, and other things of these natures would seem to be better off smuggled as blueprints for fabricators, or printed on the ship's fabricators after clearing customs.