On the Republic side, a good place to mine Bronzium and Plastoid is on Taris around the scavenger camps that are far east of the hospital and just west of a speeder station. Also, Alderaan is good for finding Bondite Jetsam and Phobium Barrels. From the Republic starting point there's usually a large cache in the southern part of the first area, near the location with all the farm crops.

The life of shameless opportunism and ruthless profiteering's a tough gig. Every so often a guy gets a little run down and just can't find the right words to express his deep apathy towards all those rubes and whining, witless sad-sacks out there. It's discouraging, but then again, you've got to put things in perspective. Sometimes your feet are sore from walking all over the little guy and you just can't muster the strength to kick a stranger when he's down. In those moments, you've got to remember why you got into this career. At the end of the day, it just makes it all worthwhile if you can still hold you head up high and say, "We're all done here, except for the part where you pay me."

Using Blaster Whip should grant upper hand, but it's awhile before you get a damaging ability that requires it. In the beginning you can only use it for a faster healing ability or Pugnacity, though Pugnacity does go a long way to keeping a Scoundrel's energy up. On the third level of the Scrapper tree, you can take Sucker Punch, which sets up a nice one-two combo of Blaster Whipping then Sucker Punching an enemy. It's pretty nice for taking out groups of weak enemies, because if you can finish one off with a Sucker Punch you get upper hand again and a 10 second window to throw another Sucker Punch. Firing a Quick Shot at an enemy while running in to range to use the next Sucker Punch and then Blaster Whipping again is a helpful way to rebuild upper hand. When you can pick it up, going Sucker Punch -> Flying Fists -> Round 2 is pretty good tougher enemies or bosses. Blaster Whip to grant upper hand, Vital Shot to set the target bleeding, and then when you Sucker Punch there's a 50% chance to regain upper hand on the bleeding target. It's good for whipping up damage since Sucker Punch can be used back-to-back and deals more damage than Quick Shot (and doesn't require you to be behind the target like Back Blast).

Would it solve the problem if, in addition to sets of gear, there were sets of Armoring mods? Something like _______ Armoring ALPHA, BETA, GAMMA, DELTA, EPSILON. If a set of the mods were attached to various items on the same character, it could provide benefits similar to having a set of gear. However, there would be no added bonus if the mods were of the same type. For example, a player has 5 pieces of orange gear that all contain the ALPHA Armoring mod. They're improved pieces, but there's no set bonus. If they had 2 or 4 unique Armoring mods, or the whole set, on the same character, then there would be a bonus.

I forget the exact wording, but: Bounty Hunter: "I've specially polished my armor for this occasion." Smuggler: "Well you're just the shiniest bounty hunter I've ever seen."

I've been leaning towards the dark side with the player dialoge. Although there's the option to give a few credits or help the children here or there, I can't help but feel that my player's brazen escapades of carnage through the countryside would likely leave me with a karmic deficit in the grand scheme of things. It's a little bit of a moral quandry. Then again, I may have to roll a second light side smuggler on another run. Leveraging the character's underworld nature and a bit of obscure rationalizing, we could say that the usual gunslinging escapades are part of a larger racket. It would be a racket to generate destitute families and ravaged countrysides as a means by which to provide opportunities for charity and benevolence. Though I think I've gone and overthought this a bit.

Picking a good name is tricky, but important I think. In all likelihood nobody else is going to care about a character's name, but it's someting we're stuck with for the long haul. Making inside jokes or references to other things is always a good place to start, I think. I'm going to end up playing Captain Shabadoo as a result of a Simpson's episode with Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo. Captain Jyn'antonyx almost made it in after a Douglas Adams joke from one of the Hitchhiker books. Other names on the cutting room floor were Captain Yerbouti or Captain Beefheart. Frankly, though, having the title Captain is a major plus for the smuggler since it makes otherwise ordinary names fantastic (perhaps in the running with the trooper's Sergeant title). Combined with the Dirty Kick maneuver, the world is rife with apt names. Captain Undertoe, Captain Crotchit, Captain Jewel d'Nial Smugglers have it good.