Paying off your own bounties doesn't make sense...

[stocko1111]

After accidentally catching another ship in my crossfire, I flashed up as 'wanted'. I immediately headed back to the station to pay off my fine. I got scanned, shot at, but managed to get away and successfully race into the station undetected the second time.
It got me thinking though, if they can scan me, see I've got a bounty on my head, then shoot at me, surely, they would know full well that I've sneaked into the station as a criminal the second I try to pay off my bounty. It's like finding a burglar in your house and then saying they can keep all the loot because they managed to get in without you noticing. It just doesn't make any sense. (But then again, neither does being given the death sentence for having a 700cr bounty on your head!).

 

[Daud]

The crime system is apparently being revised in 1.3. Expect a 'crime special' in the next dev update.

 

[Iskariot]

(But then again, neither does being given the death sentence for having a 700cr bounty on your head!).

I completely agree.
I feel there should be no 'dead or alive' bounties for a measly 700 cr. Low bounties like that should only be fines.
Accidentally hitting an innocent is quite easy in a RES. Getting a death sentence each time for a mistake of a few 100 creds makes no sense.
No normal bounty hunter or police officer would destroy a ship (with possibly multiple crew members) for that ridiculous amount of money.

 

[re7rix]

Yeah it would make more sense with small fines if you got some sort of interest every day for not paying and eventually once it goes over a certain threshold you then become wanted.

Edit:
Another option could be that stations will not allow you to access services like commodities, bulletin board, repairs etc. when you owe money in their jurisdiction.

Or I guess you could do a mixture of the options depending on faction.The Empire could keep the current system and simply blow you up, the Federation charge you heavy tax on unpaid fines, and Alliance block station services until you pay up.

 

[EdzUp]

Small fines should be payable to any security vessel or at any station, large fines well your on your own or payable at a station that isnt affiliated to the fine issuer. Humongous fines >100k ya dead meat, public enemy number 1, 2, 3 and everyone and their auntie wants a piece of your ship.

 

[Iskariot]

Yeah it would make more sense with small fines if you got some sort of interest every day for not paying and eventually once it goes over a certain threshold you then become wanted.

Yes, that is a great idea. I like that. It would give a certain urgency to paying your fines in time. A bit of extra tension.
Perhaps when you pass a certain amount of fines the creditor could sent a debt collector after you instead of immediately sentencing you to death.

 

[Jack Schitt]

No normal bounty hunter or police officer would destroy a ship (with possibly multiple crew members) for that ridiculous amount of money.

It is mad.

I've been mostly exploring and trading for the last couple of weeks but this afternoon I decided to do one of those "kill x pirates" missions to break the monotony. I took a mission to kill 6 pirates.

After killing 8 pirates (stunned to discover that the mission-branch-reset bug is still there!) I dropped into a USS and found two authority ships in combat with three pirate vessels. I dispatched two of the pirates and got broadcast thanks from the authority vessels for my assistance. Then I went after the third pirate but made the mistake of opening up on him a fraction of a second before the initial scan completed. Even though he was actively assaulting the patrol craft I got an instant Cr400 bounty and both police ships immediately switched to targeting me, broadcasting "Die, Freebooter!" and other choice insults on the very same channel over which they'd been thanking me not 30 seconds earlier.

It's good for a laugh but a bit sad that the game is still behaving like this.

Fingers crossed for that Criminality update.

 

[scorpyon]

I
Accidentally hitting an innocent is quite easy in a RES. Getting a death sentence each time for a mistake of a few 100 creds makes no sense.
No normal bounty hunter or police officer would destroy a ship (with possibly multiple crew members) for that ridiculous amount of money.

Trogg disagrees.