A shocking bill for a few bullets

[CmdrDaymian]

1. Buy viper, fit with cheap C and D rated modules, cheap lazers and autocannons (gimballed or fixed, whatever you prefer)
2. Go to Resource Extraction Site
3. Wait for the cops to engage wanted ships (the bigger the better)
4. Join in
5. Make 2 million credits in less than an hour.

 

[flyright]

Sounds about right, when I go out shooting IRL it generally costs between 2 and 6 hundred dollars for the ammo we use. We tend to shoot a lot of bullets very fast for hours at a time.

 

[Oman MkII]

I've made a bit more money now, have about 300k in the bank and I'm thinking of getting a viper since that's the apparent weapon of choice. Where can I find bigger bounties though? Daymian suggested extraction sites, but where I've been looking I'd need to be there hunting parking offenders for a few days to get any decent upgrades. Should I be hunting in different systems, or is it just blind luck?

 

[Troa Barton]

Here is the cheapest yet still effective build I can come up with for getting into a viper as cheap as possible.
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60M,7u55Rr5QH7sh3wo0_g,2-5K5U5U3w4s5U3c,7QE

 

[Oman MkII]

Another thought, what are the Imperial/Federation fighters like? Is it worth kissing some butt to get a hold of one?

Here is the cheapest yet still effective build I can come up with for getting into a viper as cheap as possible.
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60M,7u55Rr5QH7sh3wo0_g,2-5K5U5U3w4s5U3c,7QE

Ouch... sounds like another few laps of the galaxy is required.

 

[Troa Barton]

Another thought, what are the Imperial/Federation fighters like? Is it worth kissing some butt to get a hold of one?


Ouch... sounds like another few laps of the galaxy is required.

You could go even cheaper with this build
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60M,7u55Rr5QH7sh3wo0-8,2-5U5U5U3w5K5U3c,7QE
but even still your shields will be very weak and your weapons won't fire for very long without a better distributor. But it will allow you to take on more targets sooner which means more money.
exploration doesn't make you much without also having a detailed surface scanner.. You're better off hunting other Eagles and sidewinders at a nav beacon until you have enough.
and yes it is worth but you have plenty of time before you can afford the clipper it's very expensive I wouldn't even start doing that until you're in a cobra or even further down the road.
check out my getting started video on my YouTube channel link is in my signature.

 

[Goilveig]

Are these just the stock lasers for 3K? They are relatively effective on the couple of ships I took out, but it sounds like you need a hell of a punch to take out anything larger.

Those basic crummy lasers are enough to go up against the shields of even the nastiest non-capital ships in the game. Here is an older video (from 1.1) of me going up against two Elite Anacondas using a Viper with just those lasers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVVpfgyZdYY

On the other hand, against hull, lasers are pretty ineffective until you can mount two Large lasers or better. Multicannons shred hull, and are good at popping modules.

 

[Crash1099]

I run nothing but multicannons on my Asp, and never have trouble covering the cost of ammo. Even with the Cobra and only 4 weapons, I didn't have trouble killing things fairly quickly.

These days I run all lasers on my Python. Less time spent running back and forth to reload.

Same here and i love it. Best part is when a eagle and sidewinder interdict me. Enjoy the fire works.

 

[Jerakeen]

Basic rule of thumb is that you need at least three times the base cost of any ship to spend on upgrades to make it effective in combat. Even more on the smaller ships. The Viper is cheap to buy but when you've spent another 2 million on upgrades it's a beast.

There are bigger bounties out there. Much bigger, but with respect you're not ready for them yet. Take the 20k Adders and 40k Cobras and save up a couple of million and then go for the Viper.

Don't be afraid to spend money on upgrading your Eagle. You don't lose anything when you sell your equipment. You get back what you paid for it so fully kitting out the Eagle as you accumulate money will just speed your progress to that Viper. The Eagle is a very capable and enjoyable craft when it's upgraded and by the time you've spent a couple of million on it as below you'll be ready to sell the upgrades and jump into the Viper.

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60L,5QH5QH7sh3wo,2-3I504s2M3I3I3c,7Pc02M2Uc

 

[Oman MkII]

Basic rule of thumb is that you need at least three times the base cost of any ship to spend on upgrades to make it effective in combat. Even more on the smaller ships. The Viper is cheap to buy but when you've spent another 2 million on upgrades it's a beast.

There are bigger bounties out there. Much bigger, but with respect you're not ready for them yet. Take the 20k Adders and 40k Cobras and save up a couple of million and then go for the Viper.

Don't be afraid to spend money on upgrading your Eagle. You don't lose anything when you sell your equipment. You get back what you paid for it so fully kitting out the Eagle as you accumulate money will just speed your progress to that Viper. The Eagle is a very capable and enjoyable craft when it's upgraded and by the time you've spent a couple of million on it as below you'll be ready to sell the upgrades and jump into the Viper.

Where can I find these bounties though? Maybe its just where I am, but the best I've found was a 50k target (forgot the model) that I only took by watching it shred the system's navy and then diving to steal the kill. Do I have to go into the more populous sectors perhaps? The most common bounties I find are sidewinders or eagles with 10k at most.

As for the upgrades, I guess I could just camp the nav beacons or extraction sites and hope for some pirates to come by. Will take a while but worth a shot while I'm waiting.

- - - Updated - - -

How much does the kill scanner add to the bounties?

 

[Big Bada Boom]

Assuming you're FED, I play in Andhrimi system. It has a shipyard, couple of RES within 500-600ls and very close to the Empire border so I can claim the Empire bounties too. I've tried other places for bounties but the spawn rate was too small.

Definitely go to a RES and stay within 5KM from the center of it. Look for the kind of ships you get, if you see Anaconda, Python or Imperial Clipper, you've hit the jackpot and you are in a good instance. If not, exit to SC and re-enter.

Do not attack until you scan with the Kill scanner, I've read it may double the bounty. Since I always use I can't confirm or deny.

Don't try to take an Anaconda by yourself in an Eagle. Make sure you have a few authorities around you before you attack, and preferably do not attack first. You can scan with the kill warrant before that and then just wait. The scan persists until the target is destroyed.

For the first few sorties, Sidewinders and Cobras are still fine, you will rack up the bounties to 2-300k in about an hour or two then you can upgrade to better ship/gear. I've used weapons with no ammo exclusively at first to maximize the profit.

Good luck!

 

[TriumphANT]

The Kill Warrant Scanner is your friend. Some WANTED ships will 200Cr bounties in the local system can have 30-60,000Cr bounties elsewhere. ALWAYS KWS when you're bounty hunting. Once you start attacking Anacondas, you can get 170,000Cr mission fees and about the same in bounties. It's sooooo cool the first time you get there!

As the KWS is giving you the info you need, if you see a ship with low bounties, either just Laser it to death and don't waste expensive ammo, or ignore it. Loadouts for combat are always discussed to death, but missiles are in general expensive and hard to use effectively.

 

[Captain w00t]

I used an Eagle for ages and loved it, used 3 lasers or 2 lasers and a rail gun sometimes on the top mount. Upgrade PowerDist and plant as you go and manage power use well and you'll be fine, take a little getting used to but you shouldn't get hit often in the Eagle it's so nimble.

A KWS is essential for pirate hunting - you can easily get an additional 50% on each bounty (sometimes more but a good average) in the system, and sometimes a lot more

 

[LawHunter]

Don't press the re-arm button.

Just sell the missile launcher.

Try pulse lasers instead. Free ammo.

If you want to hunt bigger ships put 1 beam on the top and 2 cannons on the sides.

 

[Guyperson]

I used to run a single beam laser and two multicannons on my old eagle. MC ammo is cheap. I never had trouble with ammo costs, and this was back when bounties were a fraction of what they are now.