The contraband / black market screen lists the current price of all the contraband items on the black market. The price of the various items is controlled by market conditions. If a race that likes one sort of contraband has lots of colonists on bases, in ships, and in cargo pods the price of contraband increases. If a large number of colonists that happen to like a certain type of contraband get killed the price of contraband will fall.
In the above display there are active sell orders which call for the selling of 675 units of Lerchin Spices for 8.14 MC each.
The price of Stim-Bright Pills is up 0.42 MC this turn.
You must be careful when you hold large stock piles of contraband, the Privateers have ships that can steal contraband from your bases. If an enemy places 3 or more ships in orbit around your base you will be unable to sell your contraband on the base or launch pods containing contraband or any other type of cargo pods. Three or more enemy ships over one of your bases acts as a blockade.
If you have a large store of contraband and the price of the contraband drops you could be hit with a massive increase in crime.
Some ships have blockade devices or special blockade powers that can stop the sell of contraband at a range of 100 ly or 200 ly from the ship. The Enforcer Lawdog and the Sergeant At Arms both have a 100 ly lock down device. The Evil Empire's Moscow Class has a lock down device with a 200 ly range.
You will find contraband laying loose on some planets, you will need to form a base on the planet to gather up the contraband or use a contraband dust off device to gather up contraband from the planet and place it in a pod a thousand units at a time. If you are using a base full of colonists to gather contraband they will gather at their maximum rate when you have 1000000 or more colonists on the base. They will gather at half the normal gather rate if you have 500000 colonists.
Some races, like the Cyborg, can not buy or sell contraband on their bases.
You can use a Gold Pod to transport contraband between your bases. You can also use Gold Pods to sell contraband to an enemy base. If you can get a Gold Pod to within 120 ly of an enemy base you can order the pod to sell the contraband to the enemy base. This contraband will cause a massive up swing of crime on the target base and over time the happiness of the planet should sink like a rock. When the crime gets above 100 cities will produce less money. If the crime causes a happiness drop tax income will stop, the growth rate of the colonists will slow. This attack can be done from the safety of a cargo bay on a fast ship. You need to use this attack on high population bases with a type of contraband that your victim's colonists like. They will have a very hard time of figuring out that this sneak attack took place. This attack can be carried out by cloaked ships with cargo pods full of contraband. This sneak attack can be done to players you are not at war with. Races that you are suppose to be friends with. . .
Bases with Cantinas can produce some contraband each turn at random.
Last Updated Sept 4th, 2006