Can someone explain to me the logic behind dormant bounties?

[bubbabenali]

So, it seems I shot accidently a bystander at a resource site, got a 200cr bounty and an imidiatly sponge treatment from my security comrades.
Yeah, whatever it can happen once in a while, so I'd write off the 200cr + 200.000cr for my ship.

But why exactly am I on a 200cr bounty again within 7 days, if I'm scanned by the authority of that sector? I've allready paid for my (accidently) crimes once - and why can't I pay off my bounty?

By the way, funny thing that the faction that wants me dead repeatedly is still an "Ally" to me...

 

[aspiringexpatriate]

For one, dormant bounties has nothing to do with Power Play.

The logic behind them is that localised bounties have a week of appearing on surface scans, and then you can pay them off as legacy fines. While they are dormant, a galactic warrant scan can re-activate them.

If what you're asking about is a legacy bounty you paid off, and then somehow reactivated upon scan? That shouldn't be happening. File a bug report/support ticket if you can.

The logic, I presume, is a statute of limitations for active signalling of your criminal status.

A surface scan is presumably your ship's computer talking to another ship's computer, and it's the Pilots' Federation who forces those computers to adhere to these 'rules'. So after 7 days, the computers are no longer required to display your local criminal status, but the warrant scan can re-activate an older status.

 

[Andurol]

same here. I've got a 400cr dormant bounty in my home system. Accidentally fired off my weapons in the no fire zone. Got blown up and now have a dormant bounty for 7 days.

So if I go back to home base and they scan me, it's active again, and they kill me? Does that get rid of the bounty altogether or does it go dormant again? Do i just have to wait the 7 days for it to become a fine then I can pay it off without being killed at the station?

Seeing as how all my ships are at that station, I don't want to chance going to get a big ship only to have it turned to space dust as I leave the station and end up losing millions of credits on a re-buy.

Granted, I've done some smuggling so can get most of my ships in and out without being scanned, but not good at it with my anaconda yet. Still learning that sweet spot in the mail slot.

 

[Panticus]

I've been playing since startup and I've never understood dormant bounties.

To me they are a bit like the powerplay mechanic: I just ignore it and hope it goes away; whilst everyone else tries to work out the rules. It keeps people off the streets you know.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Moved to GD as the topic has nothing to do with powerplay.

 

[bubbabenali]

I think I got my problem. It seems to be the Kill Warant Scanner, that changed a ship from "Clean" to "Wanted" to me.
Who would have guessed that unlike it's description implies does not inform the lokal police that that guy is wanted and so they think I am a homicidal crazy guy.

The way Dormant Bounties work is still a bit unlogical for me
- Flee to another System: Wait 3 minutes and get clean after your next local visit.
- Get killed: Be on our guard for the next week because beeing killed once for your bounty is not enough, I guess.

 

[Drelthar]

It's an attempt to make the crime and punishment system have more bite.

 

[Faded Glory]

The way Dormant Bounties work is still a bit unlogical for me
- Flee to another System: Wait 3 minutes and get clean after your next local visit.
- Get killed: Be on our guard for the next week because beeing killed once for your bounty is not enough, I guess.

You've got a couple of things going on here...

All bounties have a timer, and the bounty cannot be paid off until the timer expires. If you get a small bounty (200 - 400 credits), the timer is 7 minutes, so if you go to a neighboring system, once the timer reaches zero you would no longer be wanted in the system where you had the bounty, so you can go back and if you want pay off the legacy fine (which is essentially the bounty once the timer is up). Note that if you don't leave the system, the bounty timer will count down to zero and then say "On H-Jump", meaning you must leave the system to clear the bounty. You will still be wanted even though the timer has expired.

A dormant bounty comes about if you have a live bounty and you are destroyed without the bounty being collected. The dormant bounty should have the same timer as the original live bounty had.

With a dormant bounty, you are not wanted, but if you are scanned then the bounty becomes live again and you will show as wanted again.

In order for a dormant bounty to disappear, you need to activate it, become wanted again, and then get yourself destroyed by a player or NPC who collects the bounty. When you respawn, it will be gone. The most reliable way is to get a player to scan you and collect the bounty, but system authority from the system where the dormant bounty / bounty is issued should do it.

 

[bubbabenali]

A dormant bounty comes about if you have a live bounty and you are destroyed without the bounty being collected. The dormant bounty should have the same timer as the original live bounty had.

With a dormant bounty, you are not wanted, but if you are scanned then the bounty becomes live again and you will show as wanted again.

Here is the thing tho: It is not as long as the normal bounty. The two times this happened to me a ~5 minutes active bounty of 200cr changed to a 7 day dormant bounty after I got shredded by the local police.

There is no logical explainable reason to even get a dormant bounty after you immediately got punished for you mistake - this discepancy of time is the cherry on top.

Btw the easiest way is get scanned to activate the bounty and then directly jump to the next system and wait that lousy 5 minutes.

Yeah, totaly logical, after your death the cops still search 7 days for you, but after they found you they immediatly forget about you after you've been 5 minutes out of their sight...

 

[shadragon]

There is no logical explainable reason to even get a dormant bounty after you immediately got punished for you mistake - this discepancy of time is the cherry on top.

There is actually. Under the old system, people would rack up billions in bounties, go out in a Sidey and have a buddy shoot them up for the reward. The dead CMDR would end up with a wiped record.

The new system is a PIA, but necessary until they sort out the crime and punishment system.

 

[Faded Glory]

Here is the thing tho: It is not as long as the normal bounty. The two times this happened to me a ~5 minutes active bounty of 200cr changed to a 7 day dormant bounty after I got shredded by the local police.

There is no logical explainable reason to even get a dormant bounty after you immediately got punished for you mistake - this discepancy of time is the cherry on top.

Well, it's possible that the ship you 'assaulted' actually ended up being destroyed, but you could easily miss it if you're trying to avoid being destroyed by the authorities.

And I guess that if there was no dormant bounty, then anyone with a bounty would simply buy a Sidewinder and destroy themselves to clean their record whenever they felt like it...

Btw the easiest way is get scanned to activate the bounty and then directly jump to the next system and wait that lousy 5 minutes.

Yeah, totaly logical, after your death the cops still search 7 days for you, but after they found you they immediatly forget about you after you've been 5 minutes out of their sight...

I'm not sure how it is now, but in the past, the cops don't really search for you, but they will scan you as part of a normal routine such as entering or leaving a starport, or if they come to intervene in a fight, so you could theoretically get by in the system where you have the dormant bounty by just being a little bit careful. That may have changed with 2.1, I don't know.