You can make money by bounty hunting

[Trafalgar Law]

Yes you can make money by bounty hunting, just not that much.
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Consider your stats, you have an average bounty per kill of approx. 10000cr. Now how many kills are you getting an hour?
Lets say it takes an average of 1 minute per kill, including the time to identify a wanted target, close to range and do the deed. That means assuming there is a continuous steady stream of wanted targets the maximum you could make in an hour is 600000cr. However I've never been in any nav beacon or resource extraction site where there is that high a volume of wanted ships, not even in anarchy systems (where you have to waste more time scanning everybody). So what is a realistic maximum cr/hr? Based on my experience you'd be lucky to kill more than 20-30 ships in an hour and often less than that.
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To put matters into perspective rare trading in an A rated Cobra III can easily net 400-500k per trip, and you should be able to make at least 3 trips in an hour. Even basic trading in a Type-6 will net you far higher credits than are possible through bounty hunting.

 

[Stigbob]

Have you tried a stripped viper ?, keep the mass below 110 tonnes (no armour) it flies really nicely and is cheap to replace when things go wrong.

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Yes you can make money by bounty hunting, just not that much.
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Consider your stats, you have an average bounty per kill of approx. 10000cr. Now how many kills are you getting an hour?
Lets say it takes an average of 1 minute per kill, including the time to identify a wanted target, close to range and do the deed. That means assuming there is a continuous steady stream of wanted targets the maximum you could make in an hour is 600000cr. However I've never been in any nav beacon or resource extraction site where there is that high a volume of wanted ships, not even in anarchy systems (where you have to waste more time scanning everybody). So what is a realistic maximum cr/hr? Based on my experience you'd be lucky to kill more than 20-30 ships in an hour and often less than that.
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To put matters into perspective rare trading in an A rated Cobra III can easily net 400-500k per trip, and you should be able to make at least 3 trips in an hour. Even basic trading in a Type-6 will net you far higher credits than are possible through bounty hunting.

I've never tried to work out credits per hour I just play for fun and it works for me. Why would a bounty hunter need an expensive ship ?.

 

[Rawley]

Ah but you're missing the point here:

Not everyone is here for the credits. Yes, the shinys are a lure. But honestly: I'm happier boosting into a system or interdicting that juicy 25k bounty and then burning them to cinders. Boosting out and repeating - It's.. no really a grind for me, I get 4ish hours a day -sometimes- depending on Significant other Aggro and the ever present danger of my 1year old swandiving off the nearest tall object (My child is part monkey, I $4!t you not.) she can climb. Trading might = more profit... Buuut...

I use this simple formula:

Downtime between sorties (Travel to and from RES) + fun factor of zipping between asteroids playing hunt the Cobra/Eagle/Sidewinder/(Anaconda!?WTFBBQ!?RUN AWAAAAY! >.> I forget to check the contact list sometimes until I'm right on top of them. Ask me about my insurance policy! )

sorry off topic:
Downtime/Travel - Combat + Reward = Fun.

I have more fun shooting things than playing space trukker. And I think some of the other people here are pointing that out, it might be a slower boat, but damn if it doesn't have a spectacular light show and all the booze you can drink.

 

[Stigbob]

Ah but you're missing the point here:

Not everyone is here for the credits. Yes, the shinys are a lure. But honestly: I'm happier boosting into a system or interdicting that juicy 25k bounty and then burning them to cinders. Boosting out and repeating - It's.. no really a grind for me, I get 4ish hours a day -sometimes- depending on Significant other Aggro and the ever present danger of my 1year old swandiving off the nearest tall object (My child is part monkey, I $4!t you not.) she can climb. Trading might = more profit... Buuut...

I use this simple formula:

Downtime between sorties (Travel to and from RES) + fun factor of zipping between asteroids playing hunt the Cobra/Eagle/Sidewinder/(Anaconda!?WTFBBQ!?RUN AWAAAAY! >.> I forget to check the contact list sometimes until I'm right on top of them. Ask me about my insurance policy! )

sorry off topic:
Downtime/Travel - Combat + Reward = Fun.

I have more fun shooting things than playing space trukker. And I think some of the other people here are pointing that out, it might be a slower boat, but damn if it doesn't have a spectacular light show and all the booze you can drink.

Spot on but I don't regard it as a slower boat more of the extra fun you can have whitewater rafting compared to an expensive river cruise.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Have you tried a stripped viper ?, keep the mass below 110 tonnes (no armour) it flies really nicely and is cheap to replace when things go wrong.

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I've never tried to work out credits per hour I just play for fun and it works for me. Why would a bounty hunter need an expensive ship ?.

Why wouldn't they? Perhaps they like the look of the Asp or the Vulture or the Fer-de-Lance. More options is always good, at the moment as a bounty hunter there is a choice of two ships, Viper or Cobra?

 

[Stigbob]

Why wouldn't they? Perhaps they like the look of the Asp or the Vulture or the Fer-de-Lance. More options is always good, at the moment as a bounty hunter there is a choice of two ships, Viper or Cobra?

There are no closed options in the game all options are open to everybody already. You can bounty hunt in a more expensive ship if you like but it's dull (for me) the risk of taking on an anaconda or python in a viper is one of the things I enjoy the most. The vulture and fer-de-lance will be out soon that adds more options for bounty hunters.

Picking a ship by its looks isn't something I understand to be honest what does it play like is my primary concern.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

There are no closed options in the game all options are open to everybody already. You can bounty hunt in a more expensive ship if you like but it's dull (for me) the risk of taking on an anaconda or python in a viper is one of the things I enjoy the most. The vulture and fer-de-lance will be out soon that adds more options for bounty hunters.

Picking a ship by its looks isn't something I understand to be honest what does it play like is my primary concern.

Are there? The only realistic (in terms of time spent) way to get the money for any ship bigger than the Cobra is through trade. The Vulture and Fer-de-Lance are both looking like they're going to be expensive (extremely expensive for the FdL) and even if they are at the bottom end of the guesstimates over on the beta1.2 forum, you're still going to require 10+million to buy and outfit the Vulture to a reasonable level.
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All that is needed is an increase in the bounties, at the moment you could easily double or triple the current amounts and still not be able to match a dedicated trader.

 

[Stigbob]

Are there? The only realistic (in terms of time spent) way to get the money for any ship bigger than the Cobra is through trade. The Vulture and Fer-de-Lance are both looking like they're going to be expensive (extremely expensive for the FdL) and even if they are at the bottom end of the guesstimates over on the beta1.2 forum, you're still going to require 10+million to buy and outfit the Vulture to a reasonable level.
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All that is needed is an increase in the bounties, at the moment you could easily double or triple the current amounts and still not be able to match a dedicated trader.

Well each to his or her own. I bought and outfitted an asp purely with bounties, I'll sell it later for a vulture. I don't need a bounty buff as with 1.2 I'll be claiming more bounties as its a more hostile universe.

I find personally that the games most fun when you can't quite afford to A-rate you make compromises and hard choices and take risks.

 

[huwthomas]

Anarchy systems have more wanted ships than elsewhere KWS scan everything and prioritize the larger ships in your scanning order they have larger bounties.

An anarchy system is the only place I've had system authority vessels coming to the aid of a target I'd KWS'd ... seemed like these Anarchists were actually sticklers for centrally-enforced law and order!

So recently I've concentrated on non-Anarchy systems, maybe I should give Anarchy a go again.

 

[Stigbob]

An anarchy system is the only place I've had system authority vessels coming to the aid of a target I'd KWS'd ... seemed like these Anarchists were actually sticklers for centrally-enforced law and order!

So recently I've concentrated on non-Anarchy systems, maybe I should give Anarchy a go again.

system authority vessel's in an anarchy are effectively mob enforcers.

 

[This Forum Sucks]

So sick of hearing this. Whiney *
Maybe wait until you can pay real money for a shortcut pack.
You could spend 2 hours running rares then combat. Rinse and repeat.
You don't have to be a trader to make money. You can trade on the side...
You can choose what you do.

You have to be a trader to afford not just to buy the bigger ships but to run them. Is it entirely possible to do nothing but run npc bounties in a small ship forever? Yes, I'm only in an eagle myself - but I would like to try out all the ships eventually, without having to crush my soul grinding trade runs.

I like dog-fighting what would I do with an anaconda ?. The whole point of this thread is that I play the game in a way I enjoy and make enough to afford a well equipped vulture later today which is pretty much my personal pinnacle ship.

As a combat pilot you'd do nothing with an anaconda because there's literally nothing to do with one. You can kill anacondas in a viper, so anything beyond that is pointless. I'd like to see that changed, to be honest - this game should have a lot more to it than "get into the best combat ship within a week then kill the same npcs forever".

Are there? The only realistic (in terms of time spent) way to get the money for any ship bigger than the Cobra is through trade. The Vulture and Fer-de-Lance are both looking like they're going to be expensive (extremely expensive for the FdL) and even if they are at the bottom end of the guesstimates over on the beta1.2 forum, you're still going to require 10+million to buy and outfit the Vulture to a reasonable level.

Time will tell but I think the initial "based on military armour" guesses of twenty million just for the ship will be about right. So at least a million to rebuy, probably three by the time it's fully kitted out - I can't see it paying for itself, to be honest, I doubt bounty income is going up that much.

 

[huwthomas]

system authority vessel's in an anarchy are effectively mob enforcers.

Trouble is, there's no profit in fighting them; as a BH I'm interested in bounty targets. I've previously suggested that these mob enforcers should have a chance of Wanted status (mob enforcers would often be criminals in real life).

When BH in an Anarchy, are you checking the factions allegiances of your targets to determine if a nearby enforcer will help them, or do you just go for it?

 

[Alec Turner]

I must be doing something wrong then. I'm currently hunting at a res that, 95% of the time, spawns pirate cobras and I usually get about 10-15K per kill (with the occasional 20K bounty, but thats kinda rare). With the downtime inbetween fights taken into account, as the targets tend to spawn all over the res site) I usually end up somewhere in the 150-250k Cred per hour range.

Try not to worry too much about comparing your figures with some of the larger claims being made (they may be flying biger ships, they may be exagerating slightly or they may well just be better or at least more focused on the pure, money making logistics of the process). I was getting about the same as you this morning. I'm in a pretty well fitted out Cobra using a mixture of beams and multi-canons. I was killing one Cobra every 4 or 5 minutes, getting around 18k bounty per kill and, after about an hour, had made over 280k, pushing my combat status up to Competent. Personally I had a blast, am pretty chuffed with the profit and will be back for more of the same tomorrow.

One good tip I did read here is about keeping your eyes peeled for laser fire amongst the asteroids as that can alert you to the presence of a Wanted target long before that Unkown ship appears in your contacts list.

 

[Zeeman]

Also, don't bother going for the bigger ships unless you're just taking it easy for kills and bounties. The kill reward for an Anaconda is in the region of 80-120k, but it takes a lot longer (-time), uses more ammo (-creds) and if you use shield cells or take any damage thats also bad (-creds for repair/restock).

"Don't Kill Big, Kill Smart"

At a resource site, fly slightly out of the asteroid belt, don't hang around in the middle of it too much and always keep at a low speed (don't sit and wait for stuff to spawn) - the cobras and their ilk usually spawn more often slightly out of the 'roids belt, whereas I'#ve noticed you get much more in the way of Sideys and "Clean" ships inside the belt itself.

Next, I almost religiously look at the Contacts panel every few seconds - you will see unknown Cobras appear on there muuuuuuch sooner than you would spot them in real space.

Also, look around for the tell-tale pew-pew lines of two ships in a battle. One will always be Wanted. They will often be out of range of your scanners, (>7k away), so these won't show up on Contacts.

...Unless you fly a big ship yourself... (eg - Python), in which case, you make cash super fast...

Also, handy hint - let the pirates shoot at authority vessels, they bounty will increase with each new target attacked.

Even more so if a bounty is killed - so if you see a "good guy" on the verge of death - let him die before you kill the pirate vessel...

Z...

 

[huwthomas]

One good tip I did read here is about keeping your eyes peeled for laser fire amongst the asteroids as that can alert you to the presence of a Wanted target long before that Unkown ship appears in your contacts list.

Also bind Next Target and Previous Target so you can scroll through contacts without opening the panel, and keep an eye out for "new contact" the notification panel.

 

[Stigbob]

You have to be a trader to afford not just to buy the bigger ships but to run them. Is it entirely possible to do nothing but run npc bounties in a small ship forever? Yes, I'm only in an eagle myself - but I would like to try out all the ships eventually, without having to crush my soul grinding trade runs.

As a combat pilot you'd do nothing with an anaconda because there's literally nothing to do with one. You can kill anacondas in a viper, so anything beyond that is pointless. I'd like to see that changed, to be honest - this game should have a lot more to it than "get into the best combat ship within a week then kill the same npcs forever".

Time will tell but I think the initial "based on military armour" guesses of twenty million just for the ship will be about right. So at least a million to rebuy, probably three by the time it's fully kitted out - I can't see it paying for itself, to be honest, I doubt bounty income is going up that much.

Read over the bounty hunting tips in the thread and you can probably increase your bounty income, given time you'll try out everything.

You're right I do the combat thing and have no interest in an anaconda, but I could change my mind its my choice. Right now I choose bounty hunting because its fun and I'm happy with the payoff.

On the vulture price estimates there are three main schools of thought

1 20 million based on military armour cost (not convinced)

2 3-4 million based on hull repair costs (reasonably convincing)

3 wait and see its up to the devs (really convincing)

 

[Alec Turner]

Even more so if a bounty is killed - so if you see a "good guy" on the verge of death - let him die before you kill the pirate vessel...

That is COLD man!

 

[SiriusSeven]

Honest question:

How is your main faction rep? I did the BH Tanmark community goal, and it tanked my Imperial rep

 

[Anarky]

Are there? The only realistic (in terms of time spent) way to get the money for any ship bigger than the Cobra is through trade.

How can you say that with a straight face when the OP has photographic evidence you can afford them through Bounty Hunting? How is what he has achieved not realistic? It's not realistic to have fun and earn credits at the same time?

 

[TriumphANT]

What weapon loadout you gone with? I recently bought an Eagle and fitted it with 2 beam lasers and a multicannon (the 6 barreled minigun) - not taking them out in a few seconds but it sure beats trading and the sun makes a good background as well

The most standard Cobra loadout: 2xC1 Beams and 2xC2 MCs. All gimballed. I've played with other weapons. Fixed Rail Guns did my head in. Great against big ships, but useless against small ships, and the ammo is poor too. Going back to reload when you're having fun just isn't, errrr, fun. The MCs just go on forever. And ever.

The Eagle has the advantage of tiny size and speed, not to mention just about zero costs for damage or the dreaded insurance. With A-class Thrusters it's untouchable, and A-class Shields/Power/Power Distributor make it a hard kill for most other ships. To give you an idea of the possible downside of bigger/more expensive ships, a Dropship rammed me in combat earlier today. My hull went to 65%. His went to 1%. His bounty was 22,000Cr. My repair costs were 42,000Cr. I'm almost tempted to switch to a Viper, but I've been in my Cobra for about 6 weeks now, and am so used to being able to star-hop or rares trade at the same time as bounty hunting that I'd be sad to sell her. I don't have enough cash for both. But I'm not in a Make More Money playstyle just now.