Just to clarify a few points (bear in mind that these are still just 'my ideas' - I have no certainty that they will be implemented at all, let alone as I see them at the moment).
If we move any drug production/harvesting zones, it will be with the express intention of enticing people to continue their journeying. Ideally, I'd like choices wherever possible; some drug-farms in 'open territory', much as they are now - and some in rebel-controlled territory. Same with drug-processing - I'd like there to be a drug-processing factory or two in 'open zones' (not state-controlled cities, because that would make less sense - but in open country like now), and have drug-processor or two in 'rebel-controlled' areas. The difference between them would be (if I can code it easily) the drug-farms in open country would be more productive, per 'pick', compared to the rebel zone farms. Same with the drug processors - they'd be more efficient in the middle-class, open country areas (because they are deemed to have escaped the corruption and chaos caused by working and living in a rebel-controlled area in constant flux and instability). You'd get more output drugs for your input materials in the 'posh' processors, than you would in the rebel-controlled ones.
Finally, the dealers - there would of course be several dealers, and each would pay a different price to their suppliers for their product. The dealer in Kavala, say, which is a state-controlled city and thus subject to intense police scrutiny and a difficult place to 'score' in, would pay maybe three times what the dealer in rebel-controlled cities might pay. The rebel-city based dealer guy has no problem getting or selling drugs - he's in a rebel zone, and every rebel and his wife wants to sell him weed or crack - and there are no police clamping down on it all the time. He won't pay high prices... for him, demand is high, but supply is even higher...he can make a nice churn from the drugs that are sloshing around that area like water - why should he pay you top dollar for your weed, like the guy in Kavala does?
Obviously, this would leave the drug-lords with choices to make. They can go for the 'easy life' and make money locally, rarely if ever leaving the rebel zone, but won't make money at the same rate as the druglords prepared to take a risk, leave the comfort of their rebel-controlled foxhole, and come out into the 'world' to ply their trade.
To touch on Sovereign's point about this being a serious roleplay server - you are of course correct, but the reality is, trying to enforce that rule is pretty difficult. That's the whole subject of the OP's original post, after all. It's so subjective, and even when people do RP, there is a whole raft of different opinions about what's good, bad or indifferent roleplay, and what constitutes 'enough' RP to justify a killing or a battle. Speaking as an Admin, it's pretty boring and sickening sometimes to listen to the same playground whines - from old people and new - arguing the toss over who shot who first, who said what to whom and didn't hear it, who was using text while everyone else was VON, who shot too early, who took too long to reply, and so on. It gets pretty tedious, tbh, and it's impossible to be 100% prescriptive about all those things - it simply isn't realistic to make rules that include times, words, examples, and micro-manage all aspects of the RP so that everyone is satisfied.
The best we can hope for is that MOST people will RP seriously, and that we have a set of rules that enable us to VERY EASILY pinpoint the RDMers and VDMers without having to subject it to an Oscar Pistorius-like trial that lasts three months.
In the future, I would like to be able to just make the simple distinction that {a} non-reb-civvy in Kavala (and a couple of other cities), with a gun on show = instant RDM ban. {b} rebel in Kavala (or wherever) with a gun on show = police encounter, possibly resulting in arrest, fine, confiscation of weapon, jail, whatever).
Anything OUTSIDE the cities (but not in rebel-controlled free-fire zones), much less of a stringent requirement for RP, but still the stated intention that that's what we want. In clear cut cases of RDM/VDM, we'll still ban (anyone - civ, cop or rebel). In less obviously clear cases, we'll still do our best, but ultimately, people will KNOW that the hinterlands are not always 100% safe, and RP may not always happen during some robberies or assassinations if things go wrong (but ideally, some warning is preferable). Repeat breachers will soon be detected, and banned.
Finally, the rebel zones. If you're in there, you may die at any moment, without warning, whether you're a cop, rebel or civvy. If you don't want to play those odds, don't go there. As Sov said, it's Wasteland. We HOPE that the rebels will organise - form watches, patrols, cut turf out together, make agreements, have truces (or not) and that some level of 'mutual protection' forms organically - but civs can expect no help from the police (necessarily) in those areas. The police MIGHT come in there, but probably only in strength of numbers, and gunplay is a distinct possibility - perhaps even a likelihood. They might just stay out and let whoever's in trouble find their own way out... after all, it's signposted clearly enough as a 'bad place to be', so it's their own fault if a civ finds it is too hot to handle. They'll know not to return.
But this is the thing - Wasteland IS all about deathmatch. We recognise that some people (even the good RPers) sometimes get into situations where they're not fully RPing, or there is disagreement over whether RP has been established by someone following someone, someone running from someone, someone shooting warning shots at someone, and so on. If this happens in the rebel-zone in the future, then there'll be no argument - it's allowed - plain and simple. Of course, those who WANT to RP in the rebel zone still can (if they're good enough to convince someone to hold fire) - but it's not guaranteed, and Admins don't have to come in and wipe everyone's arses and listen to everyone whining if it all goes pear-shaped. People can LEAVE the 'Wasteland-style' rebel area any time they like. They'll just go out into the hinterland (if they want an easier life, but not one that forces them to abandon all weapons, or they can go all the way to the cities if the want police protection, unlimited peaches and harmony and happiness. This currently never happens on a Wasteland server, but it could here, which is why I think it has legs.
Finally - someone asked about 'state-line' type battles. I'll make it clear in the rules that although the lines are drawn on the map, they'll be broad-brush things, not hard lines in the sand. Border disputes will very likely happen, and yes, anyone standing on one side of the border willy-waving across the divide is still likely to get a sniper round in the face and be laughed at by Admins if they claim "I was inside the line". The moral will be, if you don't want your cock chopped off, don't stick it in the glory-hole. Don't even put it close. If you approach close enough to the borders to be shootable, you're in the de facto red zone, whether you're ACTUALLY in it or not. Think of it like a sleeping dog. Poke it with a stick - even a long stick - and it gets up and bites you, you still brought it on yourself.
