I'm amazed that everytime I play a session of Elite and come back to this thread I have at least 6 amazingly helpful replies to read!
Ok, so the general consensus seems to be to turn report crimes against me off...I assume this is an option in the menu? However, I play Open Play and not Solo, does this change anything? I was only on Solo mode for about a day until I felt confident enough to take on Open Play.
Everyone says ditch the cargo bay, which I think sounds quite promising as I could definitely use the jump distance, but I'm the type who's not above taking stolen cargo and offloading it as a bit of an extra. Oh, I also have two last questions. I did infact purchase a Kill Warrant Scanner, and have made some great use of it, actually finding a person wanted in Alliance Space for about 1k and in Federation for about 4k. Thankfully I was in Fed space when I popped the criminal, and so I claimed a better paycheck. I won't be able to ever reach an alliance system, I think, but if I do, can I also claim the voucher there? And, if I have claimed vouchers, but I'm killed before I can land on a station to redeem them, do I lose them? Basically are vouchers like cargo?
And just a funny end note, I ran into a player controlled Eagle. My normal scanners saw he was wanted, and since I was in very secure Federation space, I glanced at the information expecting it to be a measly 200cr "Oops". No, this guy had 11k on his head, the most I've seen on a player before! I casually followed him as he left the no fire zone of the station, but he knew I scanned him, so he slammed on the brakes, and I over shot him. Now I have an Eagle on my six, and I was thinking, well at least I tried, when he then shoots past me trying to jump. I target his FSD and start to unload into it. He must've cancelled the jump (I seriously doubt my 2 pulse beams stopped his jump) because then he turns to joust with me. I up my shields, but I outturn him and he never fires a shot at me, despite the opening he had! So I continue to fire as much as I can and take down his shields, but he afterburners again, and finally makes it to jumpspace.
I was shocked though, as an Eagle actually ran from me in a Sidewinder...It doesn't make sense!