So I've come up with my own mechanic for introducing dynamic inspections.

Here's the rule I came up with: Note, when I say region, I refer to quadrants of the galaxy, so Outer Rim, Middrim, etc etc.

Smuggling ain't easy. Especially if you plan to smuggle something to the Core Worlds or one of the other inner regions. The further you go out, the less likely you'll run into an Imperial patrol or have your cargo checked upon landing.

For each region (or system if making multiple stops within a region) you pass through, you have to do a custom check. Even if your not smuggling, you may be inspected and expected to pay tax duty on any legal goods you might have. Tax duty normally occurs at spaceports rather than imperial inspections.

To prevent the slowdown of the game, the GM can forgo such checks if the party are not trading or smuggling. The players may also decide that they are willing to pay tax duty on any goods they have without the need for a roll. As such, landing at a spaceport with the trade goods could incur an automatic fee of tax, unless the players explicitly state that they wish to avoid such inspections.

Each threat generated represents the level of an inspection. Generating a failure result does not do anything. Only if a threat is present does an inspection take place.

Dice Codex: T = Threat / D = Difficulty, purple die / B = Boost Die

Level of Inspections: (all inspections are done at average D unless GM states otherwise)
1-2 T = Non-intrusive inspection +2 D on search checks
3-4 T = Intrusive inspection +1 D on search checks
5+ T = Heavy Intrusive inspection +1 B on search checks

Custom Check Rolls:
Core Worlds: 6 T
Colonies: 5 T
Inner Rim 4 T
Expansion Region 3 T 1 B
Mid Rim 2 T 1 B
Outer Rim 1 T 1 B

*Players may use destiny chits to add a single boost to a custom check roll, and use as many as they like. Players who use less common routes or try to deliberately avoid inspections through creative thinking/actions can gain 1 additional Boost die to their rolls + any additional bonuses the GM feels is appropiate.*

That's the jist of the mechanic.

Dice Codex: T = Threat / D = Difficulty, purple die / B = Boost Die

Level of Inspections: (all inspections are done at average D unless GM states otherwise)

1-2 T = Non-intrusive inspection +2 D on search checks

3-4 T = Intrusive inspection +1 D on search checks

5+ T = Heavy Intrusive inspection +1 B on search checks

Personally, I would actually do upgrades of Difficulty dice to Challenge dice, because you want to increase the probability of a Despair, so that you can make really cool things happen. So, I would instead make the table look something like this:

1T = +1B ( ◼︎ )

2T = +1B ( ◼︎ ) +1U ( ♦︎ -> ⬣ )

3T = +2B ( ◼︎ ) +1U ( ♦︎ -> ⬣ )

4T = +2B ( ◼︎ ) +2U ( ♦︎ ♦︎ -> ⬣ ⬣ )

5T = +3B ( ◼︎ ) +2U ( ♦︎♦︎ -> ⬣ ⬣ )

6T = +3B ( ◼︎ ) +3U ( ♦︎♦︎♦︎ -> ⬣ ⬣ ⬣ )

The basic rule being that you count the total number of Threat, and every time you hit an odd number you add one setback die, while every time you hit an even number you add one upgrade. This way you get both setbacks as well as upgrades, and make it harder on both the Success/Failure axis as well as the Threat/Advantage axis.

Custom Check Rolls:

Core Worlds: 6 T

Colonies: 5 T

Inner Rim 4 T

Expansion Region 3 T 1 B

Mid Rim 2 T 1 B

Outer Rim 1 T 1 B

Core Worlds: 3D ( ♦︎♦︎♦︎ ) 2C ( ⬣⬣ )

Colonies: 3D ( ♦︎♦︎♦︎ ) 1C ( ⬣ )

Inner Rim: 2D ( ♦︎♦︎ ) 1C ( ⬣ )

Expansion Region: 3D ( ♦︎♦︎♦︎ )

Mid Rim: 2D ( ♦︎♦︎ )

Outer Rim: 1D ( ♦︎ )

Note that Setback Dice are generally only given out for current situations that make the circumstances more difficult, like weather, or maybe an all-points-bulletin has been put out on a ship matching their description, or somesuch.

Aye, cheers for the clarrification. Much prefer those tables

Actually: The Level of Inspections increasing difficulty makes no sense to me since its suppose to represent the difficulty for an NPC to conduct a search. So a heavy intrusive search shouldn't increase the difficulty for the npc doing the search. That's why I was providing boost for it.

One for the custom checks however is grand.

Keep in mind that these checks should be considered as opposed, so the difficulty you’re setting is based on the stats and skills of the group that would presumably be doing the inspecting.

The PCs should be rolling their positive dice (stats + whatever skills) against the negative dice that represent the opposing NPCs.

So, that’s why there should be built-in Challenge dice as you get closer to the core, because the likelihood is higher that you would be running into more talented and skilled inspectors.

I have run some custom transportation of goods and smuggling rules in my group. Though I took a different approach, you can take a look and see if it gives you inspiration for your work.

Keep in mind at its core, transporting legal items is the same as illegal until you get caught or scanned.

https://rhinospeaks.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/shipping-cargo-v1-03.pdf

The idea of this ruleset was to take all of the rules in the multiple books and consolidate them in 1 place. It evolved from that into a few processes that we (My group and I) streamlined and added things that made use of the Players skills / talents and the goals they had for game-play.

https://rhinospeaks.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/customs-inspection-v1-02.pdf

The idea of this was to treat it (the customs inspection) like a traffic stop and to have a bit of danger but nothing unreasonable.

Hopefully posting these here is not hijacking your thread, but giving ideas that potentially help your rules and mine.