It makes easier our job to eliminate bounty hunters... KWS = KoS
Why you MUST get a KWS (with photo evidence)
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Makes a change from the old Docking Computer excuse...
I always use a KWS when out bounty hunting.
Best part of KWS is that it compounds with the Powerplay bounty bonus. On average, KWS adds around 20...25% to the bounty payout, and even with non-bounty hunting oriented powers you have an extra 20% PP bonus, so in total 44...50% higher payouts. Well worth the utility slot and 2 seconds of scan time IMO
Also, a good way of "passively" repairing the reputation hits for random minor factions in the neighbourhood that you accumulate by doing the planetary scan/data retrieval/scan the hub data link to get a wanted terrorist's location missions.
I'm a one-man mafia, only legal on the surface level
PS. Don't look too closely into my tax records or carrier cargo hold.
Also, a good way of "passively" repairing the reputation hits for random minor factions in the neighbourhood that you accumulate by doing the planetary scan/data retrieval/scan the hub data link to get a wanted terrorist's location missions.
Look at it this way: I'm not bounty hunting; I'm doing 2-in-1 elimination of the competing NPC riff-raff who are not even good at being criminals, and collecting protection money from the locals (See, mayor? I took care of your little "pickpocket problem" in downtown. Now pay up!)
I'm a one-man mafia, only legal on the surface level
PS. Don't look too closely into my tax records or carrier cargo hold.Pirates don't like bounty hunters, with KWS at least there's a RP angle...
Best part of KWS is that it compounds with the Powerplay bounty bonus. On average, KWS adds around 20...25% to the bounty payout, and even with non-bounty hunting oriented powers you have an extra 20% PP bonus, so in total 44...50% higher payouts. Well worth the utility slot and 2 seconds of scan time IMO
Also, a good way of "passively" repairing the reputation hits for random minor factions in the neighbourhood that you accumulate by doing the planetary scan/data retrieval/scan the hub data link to get a wanted terrorist's location missions.
Look at it this way: I'm not bounty hunting; I'm doing 2-in-1 elimination of the competing NPC riff-raff who are not even good at being criminals, and collecting protection money from the locals (See, mayor? I took care of your little "pickpocket problem" in downtown. Now pay up!)
I'm a one-man mafia, only legal on the surface level
I know it's a plus etc, and some in our power community even suggested to use a KWS for better merits, but the Archon said "use at your risk" (so I guess he doesn't like it).
oh... I guess that's to stop squad harvesting each other's bounties?
It's not like there are multiple other ways to get extremely rich, extremely quickly....
Still multiple x the value of NPC bounties though.
I swear I've seen Elite level NPC-s with 2 million credit combined bounties. 1.5 million credit bounties on Dangerous+ level 'Condas and FDL-s are quite common. So, yeah, the 2 million cr cap on claimable player bounties doesn't make sense.
rootsrat
Volunteer Moderator
Yes that was the reason it was introduced, but over the time the earning potential was inflated as we know and this silly cap never removed sadly.
My highest single reward is 2,285,500 credits no PvP of course.
I didn't see that thread, or I would have. Easiest way to reproduce this behavior was to take a 'kill smugglers at X system' mission. You'd need a KWS to even find them at all, I'm not sure when the last time I saw one of those missions was but it might've been before horizons... Been a while in any case, but it has always worked this way. Sometimes, extremely rarely, you can even find wanted cops this way...
Quite a few things that are not quite correct here!
Therefore, this part is wrong:
While hunting in Dhan, the Kill scanner can and will only reveal foreign bounty, which by definition is not the correct faction for the Community Goal. The additional payout is nice, as is the Powerplay bonus if one has the appropriate pledge, it just has no Goal benefit. Speaking of additional payout–
Using a Kill scanner on a miner can be fun to discover an occasional foreign bounty, but it is a poor time investment! Moreover, using a Kill scanner on pirates with local bounties will—on average—reveal one-third more in foreign bounty, a question our own statistics collection at INIV was designed specifically to answer.
It is a far better use of time to hunt targets which will pay credits regardless with an occasional bonus, rather than chasing targets which are mostly clean!
When last I tested the bounty limit it was 1 million for non-Commander pirates, but this was per faction issuing bounty, thus almost never caused the loss of any credits; only occasionally would the local bounty be slightly above and drop down to 1 million in Transactions. On those rare occasions where a pirate has 4–5 foreign bounties, usually it is ~900000 locally and smaller sums reaching up to ~2.5 million¹, with no single faction bounty losing anything to the 1 million limit!
I have not checked recently whether 1 million is still the case; at the time I was testing whether the old Powerplay voucher bonus applied before or after the limit. It turned out to be after, becoming 1.2 million in systems controlled by Grom or Lavigny-Duval (itself paying out 2.4 million with the maximum claim bonus from Lavigny-Duval, Antal or Hudson). There is only a claim bonus now, though!
1. Ever so slightly above 2.6 million is the highest I have seen!
Community Goal value
This part is correct:Therefore, this part is wrong:
While hunting in Dhan, the Kill scanner can and will only reveal foreign bounty, which by definition is not the correct faction for the Community Goal. The additional payout is nice, as is the Powerplay bonus if one has the appropriate pledge, it just has no Goal benefit. Speaking of additional payout–
Bounty voucher value
This part is all over the place:Using a Kill scanner on a miner can be fun to discover an occasional foreign bounty, but it is a poor time investment! Moreover, using a Kill scanner on pirates with local bounties will—on average—reveal one-third more in foreign bounty, a question our own statistics collection at INIV was designed specifically to answer.
It is a far better use of time to hunt targets which will pay credits regardless with an occasional bonus, rather than chasing targets which are mostly clean!
Pirate voucher limit
These leave out a bit of insight into how it works:When last I tested the bounty limit it was 1 million for non-Commander pirates, but this was per faction issuing bounty, thus almost never caused the loss of any credits; only occasionally would the local bounty be slightly above and drop down to 1 million in Transactions. On those rare occasions where a pirate has 4–5 foreign bounties, usually it is ~900000 locally and smaller sums reaching up to ~2.5 million¹, with no single faction bounty losing anything to the 1 million limit!
I have not checked recently whether 1 million is still the case; at the time I was testing whether the old Powerplay voucher bonus applied before or after the limit. It turned out to be after, becoming 1.2 million in systems controlled by Grom or Lavigny-Duval (itself paying out 2.4 million with the maximum claim bonus from Lavigny-Duval, Antal or Hudson). There is only a claim bonus now, though!
1. Ever so slightly above 2.6 million is the highest I have seen!
Correction - it has always worked this way since the C&P rework done by Sandro Samarco (sp?).
During that whole process, several of us engaged with him about needed changes. We pushed against the lumping all bounties into one superpower bounty because individual bounties earn you rep with multiple factions. Further, I specifically asked for the ability for the KWS to legitimize the kill of a "clean" (not wanted in THAT system) target that has bounties elsewhere once scanned. He agreed that was a good idea.
So yes, if you are going to go bounty hunting, you should always use a KWS scanner because:
1. It will reveal more bounties than just the ones in the current system (so you earn more money and reputation)
2. It legitimizes the kill of ship killed in a system that thinks it clean if you reveal it has bounties elsewhere
3. (Also due to our suggestions) You don't lose faction/rep when killing targets that you've revealed are wanted.
The KWS is, in effect, you announcing to that ship and the authorities in that system - this target has a bounty and I'm bringing it to justice!
Sadly, the hand scanners on foot don't provide any of these benefits, so on foot activities are still a pain compared to in space.
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are you sure that is right? if so that is great I have managed to play for 10 years and didn't realise I could kill targets in a system they are not wanted in without any negative repercussions if I had a KWS
Yes, I'm sure. Prior to that change, if you fired first on a target that wasn't wanted in that system, you would get a bounty. And back then, you'd have to deal with the whole wanted "wait for a week for it to cool down and change to a fine" situation. If they fired on you first, well, you were still in the clear.
Edit: I'm 99% sure. I used to do bounty missions all the time and the targets back then were always Wanted in whatever system they were in. But who knows, I may be wrong about that. That said I'm 100% sure they did change it so there was no reputation loss for kill wanted ships with a kill warrant scan. Prior to the change I used to bounty hunt in Haz Res sites a LOT to build up faction rep before doing missions. I would always watch all the non-anarchy ones go up and the anarchy reps go down... sometimes even the non-anarchy ones would take a hit if they had a lot of criminals and weren't offering bounties. After the change, no faction loss and plenty of rep gain (except for anarchies, which don't offer bounties on anyone). Again, this is just pure scan/kill rep changes. If you take a mission to take out a target, the mission will still negatively affect your reputation with the target faction.
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I handed in all my bounties at the contact on the station menu (albeit with the 25% or whatever it was cut for the "foreign" ones). Shouldn't I have done?
Ignoring PP, you should have cashed in all bounties with the station contact and receive all the credits less the cut due to crew etc, the CG would then credit you with the valid part of your share of the credits earned. Any remaining bounties would need to be cashed in with Interstellar Resources where a 25% cut would be taken but would provide nothing to the CG.
Indeed there is no harm in earning the additional credits; the point earlier was only that it has no additional Community Goal effect!
Regarding the 25% reduction at Interstellar Factors—since Odyssey, it seems that all normal Administrative contacts now also process foreign bounty vouchers for the full amount, leaving me a bit confused about the role of Interstellar Factors now (aside from processing foreign fines).
Regarding the 25% reduction at Interstellar Factors—since Odyssey, it seems that all normal Administrative contacts now also process foreign bounty vouchers for the full amount, leaving me a bit confused about the role of Interstellar Factors now (aside from processing foreign fines).
On the rare occasions my CMDR has cause to shoot mining ships, there is nothing that a scan would or would not reveal that would change that...except this:
Docking computer suggests that one handicapped their vessel because they are a lazy pilot.
Cargo and KWS scanners suggests that one handicapped their vessel because they are a nosy jerk willing to invade the privacy of others for credits.
There are certainly other reasons to equip these utilities, but this is the first impression that comes to mind for many.
5,079,702 for my CMDR. Self-defense PvP before they capped it, no KWS, of course.
Yes, that describes me perfectly... I play for pleasure, doesn't everyone?
Yep, that too - amazing how intrusive playing a game might be!
Do you know how many, or is that just a casual observation?
I was thinking more from a CMDR/in-character perspective, but I realize most people don't make the distinction.
We all play for fun and I don't judge what others consider to be fun, even if it's utterly alien to me. My CMDR, however, will readily make assumptions and snap judgements about others to protect his interests.
It's an anecdote. Most of the people (which is very many, over the years) I've played with have been PvPers and most of them were overtly hostile to CMDRs with KWS and full of derision for those flying around with docking computers. I'm personally a bit more laid back about it, but I do admit to having some prejudices against combat vessels with docking computers and my CMDR generally shoots at anyone who scans him, for any reason...he considers it as rude as I'd consider a violation of the US Fourth Amendment, or Article 7 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, to be.
I'd assumed as such, knowing a little about your play over the years.
Plenty of derision in the opposite direction also, so it balances.