Inspections
Selling guns puts you on the inspectors' rounds, and firearms also need the right permit.
Under the counter
Contraband and Inspections
Contraband pays, and every sale leaves evidence that Security turns into a case against you. Weapons bring inspections, contraband brings raids and makes your shop a likelier target for thieves. This briefing covers the four contraband levels, what an inspector does when they find something, how to keep the case small and how the janitors' Underground Exchange trades without Security ever seeing it.
4contraband levels, Low to Critical
−25most Security standing one failed inspection can cost
14Underground Exchange trades
250–500Credits for Joe Wild's protection services
What brings Security to your door
Each product line carries its own kind of trouble, and contraband carries the most.
Raids
Contraband is the line that brings Security raids rather than routine checks.
Thieves
Holding contraband makes your shop a likelier target for a break-in at night.
Evidence
Each contraband trade adds evidence. Once Security suspects enough crimes it opens an investigation.
The four contraband levels
The level sets the stakes for every item: what an inspector takes off your Security standing, what reporting a carrier earns, and how much standing a purchase earns with the seller's faction.
| Level | Name | Failed inspection, per item | Reporting a carrier | Standing bonus when you buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Low | −1 Security | +1 Security | No bonus |
| 2 | Mid | −2 Security | +2 Security | ×2 |
| 3 | High | −3 Security | +3 Security | ×2.5 |
| 4 | Critical | −4 Security | +4 Security | ×3 |
Stolen goods are scored by their stolen value rather than a level, and both counts share the −25 cap on a single failed inspection.
Selling risky stock without losing the shop
Check who still sells to you
Lower Levels customers stop offering contraband at −40 standing, and Black Market customers do the same at their own −40. At +40 with the Lower Levels, new sellers start bringing rare and contraband goods.
Hide what you hold
Dr. Jackson sells Smuggler's Bay, a disguised compartment whose contents an inspection does not see. A safe and other hidden spots in the shop keep problem items out of view.
Choose who you sell to
The Mentor warns that some customers talk more than others. At +80 with the Lower Levels, contraband sold to them leaves only half its value as evidence.
Read the night log
It tells you when heavy contraband trading has Security running sting operations, and when an investigation is close to complete.
Cool the case before the officer comes
The officer arrives the morning after an investigation completes. Lie low, and pay to shrink the evidence first: a record that drops back into fine territory by then no longer ends in arrest.
Inspection file
When an inspector walks in
Inspectors come lazy, shady, by the book or from corporate security, and what they find decides the visit.
- Contraband in plain sight
- Triggers a full inspection of the shop.
- Contraband or stolen goods found
- The items can simply be seized.
- A serious find
- Arrest for possession, unless Joe Wild's Clemency favor turns it into a warning.
- A willing inspector
- A bribe may buy a blind eye, this time.
- A clean pass
- +3 Security standing for the shop.
- Since patch 48.3.12
- A pass that follows contraband on display earns nothing, which ended the trick of showing stock and hiding it in a Smuggler's Bay.
When the evidence adds up
Every ending →Security weighs the crimes it can prove in Credits, and the size of the case decides which officer comes to the counter.
| Case against you | Visit | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Under 300 Credits | Fine | The officer reads out the evidence. Pay, or be arrested on the spot; the visit costs 10 Security standing either way. |
| 300 to 1,499 Credits | Arrest | You go to jail and the shop is leased to someone else, ending the run as Arrested. |
| 1,500 Credits or more | Execution | A capital sentence, and the run ends as Executed. |
Protection you can buy from Joe Wild
Wild's Network →Four of Wild's services work directly on inspections and evidence. The nightly ones keep charging for as long as they run.
| Service | Credits | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Clemency Favor | 250 | One inspection that would have ended in prison ends in a warning. Rebuy it after it is spent. |
| Inspection Early Warning Service | 300 | For a nightly fee, Wild's contact inside Security tells you before each regular inspection. Surprise inspections still catch you. |
| Wild's Fixers | 350 | For a nightly fee, witnesses go quiet and uncollected evidence disappears, lowering the suspected crime level at a faster rate. |
| Evidence Removal | 500 | All collected evidence is destroyed and the open investigation is tampered with. It cannot be used again for 14 days. |
Standing that changes the risk
Three factions decide how often you are inspected and who brings contraband in the first place.
Makes it safer
VIP
Inspections end entirely.
Trusted
Inspections thin out, cases build more slowly and you hear about operations in advance.
Tight Lips
Half the evidence on contraband sold to Lower Levels buyers.
Rare Goods
Sellers of rare and contraband goods start visiting.
Makes it riskier
No Stone Unturned
Only thorough inspectors, and more often.
Most Wanted
Cases against you build 1.5 times as fast.
Mistrusted
Lower Levels sellers keep their contraband for other shops.
Blacklisted
Black Market sellers go elsewhere, and the Exchange is closed to you.
The Underground Exchange
Sawyer's janitorial crew runs a barter service out of your trash bin. Put the listed goods in the bin, book the janitorial service, and something comes back by morning. Trades here are never tracked by Security.
One use per night
Each recipe can be accepted once a night. Doubling the inputs does not double the reward.
Items, not units
Recipes count separate items. Two ammunition items are not two loose rounds inside one item, and each item must still pass its condition check.
Crates are random
A crate reward is just the crate. What is inside comes from a separate loot roll.
Blacklist bars you
At −40 Black Market standing the crew stops trading with you altogether.
Regular trades
| Put in the bin | Possible return |
|---|---|
| Water Filter ×3 | 1 new Water Filter |
| Modules ×2 | 1 random module |
| Vial of "Dream Dust" ×2 | Dream Dust supplies |
| Disposable Keycard (Command) ×1 | 2 random keycards: Engineering, Medical or Security |
| Poison ×2 | 1 Energy Cell, charged according to the inputs |
| Ammunition ×2 | Food or drink |
| Smuggler's Bay ×1 and Oxymore Injector ×8 | Smuggler's Bay (Modified) |
Promotional trades, reset on Monday
| Put in the bin | Possible return |
|---|---|
| Vial of "Dream Dust" ×1 | Medical goods, including Immunivax that may be expired |
| Disposable Keycard (Security) ×1 | Security Department Supply Crate |
| Disposable Keycard (Medical) ×4 | Medical Bay Supply Crate |
| Disposable Keycard (Engineering) ×4 | Engineering Foundry Supply Crate |
| Seed ×1 | Energy Cell with 100 charge |
| Scavenger's Token ×1 | +25 Black Market standing |
| Oxymore Injector ×1 | 1 genuine Immunivax Injector |
Only the promotions currently advertised are active, and they compete with the regular list for the same items in the bin, so check the active list before leaving anything valuable out.