One observation to do here:
Don't make everything pay exactly the same, as this will mess up other kinds of game play.
While bounty hunting right now is ridiculous, I had a 30 minute session right now where I either got insanely lucky (or the changes outlined are in place). Just over two million credits. This is in a scenario, where 2.3 milliion credits in bounties (note that I get a small part of my bounties from other factions than the CG faction) currently puts me solidly in the 50% group that will gain a bonus of 12 million credits.
But unless these changes are permanent, this was most definitely a fluke. I have two three ships winds of high bounty target without taking damage thanks to (in part) very responsive system security.
But bounty hunting is very much about skill, knowledge and gear.
Skill in the form of avoiding having your shields damaged so much you have to retreat and recharge, as well as not getting outright blown up or get hull damage.
Knowledge in as knowing where the best hunting grounds are and to some extent how to build your ship.
Gear, as in having the right ship for the job, including engineering.
Skill comes with practice. It does improve your time in the area and increases your average earnings.
Knowledge is shared, that is what the community is four. Anyone can have access.
Gear requires credits, but credits are not that hard to come by, unless you go all Bobba Fet and want to play the whole game as a bounty hunter.
Gear also requires engineering materials, and that is a hurdle and a few hoops to grind through, if you have your eyes set on a single target.
Compare this to the cargo CG:
4000 tonnes of cargo delivered, again solidly in the 50% group. I deal exclusively in building fabricators and I would say about 30 minutes per 1000 tonnes (2 trips) and six milliion credits in pure profit. So I already made 24 million credits, and the bonus is 12 million.
Yes, this is not optimal, my Cutter lacks a guardian FSD booster so I need 2-3 jumps to get between a decent selling station and the CG station.
I also play these CGs less intensively than I did the previous ones, I am not pushing for top 25% or top 10%, just going along in the upper part of top 50% (say top 30%?) so I can feel relatively safe about those decals.
The point?
The point is that there should be other motivations than pure credit per hour to do various activites.
BGS and minore factions - to some extent will affect what goods are available, and it is fun to have a player faction that is present in the game in many systems. BGS is influenced by just about anything anyone does, but it would be prefarable if the actions of those caring about it has the most impact. Of course, the most obvious BGS activities are conflict (military as well as politics), so conflict zones (combat) and missions (where you give up part of your reward for influence). Combat will always pay, but if it pays too much it will be hard for players interested in the politics to influence the outcome, given that a lot of mercenaries will fight for either side.
Powers - almost everyone will do a stint of four weeks for each power to get access to their special gear (prismatic shields, packhound missiles etc). You do a quick stop, buy your way to rank 3 for 7.5 million credits and two trips in a large cargo ship and that is it. However, if you start to make money fast this way, those interested in the politics involved will be overrun (again) by opportunists that will just milk the system for as much credits as possible.
Bounty hunting I think I covered. It needs to pay better, even if it will influence the BGS to a larger extent, having more players actively hunt those pesky NPC pirates and (eventually) improve security in a few systems is not a bad thing in my opinion, even if it solidifies the current controlling faction.
Mining and trade are basically the same, it is just a difference in gear and profitability. Trade uses small differences in prices and high volumes for good profits, while mining is about time in the field and then selling in the right place at the right time for maximum profits. So part of mining has a trade aspect, and both will, again, solidify controlling factions.
Exploration, the art of putting an ASP in front of things, does have its own rewards. You put your name in the game for everyone (well, those that happen to pass through that same distant corned of the universe at least) to see. The money is secondary, unless you are remapping the core for the 5678th time using road ro riches to FSS earth like worlds. And you get awesome screen shots.
Piracy? Let's just say that these crimes don't pay. Should they? Shold you be able to park next to an uninhabited star and wait for a steady stream of NPC trade ships to drop in and lose cargo? Perhaps, there are certainly enough NPC pirates around every time I move a ship with a decent cargo in the holds.
Smuggling? It is fun. It is not profitable, except for the rare time you find "illegal salvage" at a crash site and have to fence it. But most of the time it is not worth the effort, honestly.
So try to remember that we do things in game for other things than the credits per hour, and except for racing and blowing yourself up trying to fit sideways through the mail slot in an Asp, it is impossible to not make at least some money doing whatever you feel like doing.
And occationally profit will be a hindrance to those that want to partake in an activity for non-profit reasons, such as the endless stream of players doing "power play stuff" to gain those 750 merits so they can buy stuff. And yes, I am one of those players this week, going to get my prismatics on Thursday.
Did I not mention PVP? Well, pvp in this game is a bad joke. Gankers and griefers that come in wings of ships that individually outclass the trading ship they attack at least as much as my partly engineered Viper outclasses an E-rated Sidewinder. Except the odd occation when someone decides to have a duel between friends.
