HAZ RES Bounty hunting profit question.

[ToastSky]

After spending some time at a Hazardous Resource Extraction Site, I begin to wonder how much exactly am I making per hour? So, a test ensued where I tried to make as much money as possible in a HAZ RES for an hour, and the results are underwhelming ~3 million credits. This made me wonder, and thus comes the following questions:

Is this just the normal pay of bounty hunting in HAZ RES?
Am I doing something wrong?
If so is that "something wrong" just me not being good enough at combat?
Or am I simply unlucky when doing the test?

Also:
3 Million credit may sound alright but considering my end goal of fully A rated Corvette it seems a rather lacking amount of money to make in a hour if I am to achieve the goal in a reasonable time frame. (IE: Without playing Elite as a second job.) In the end if this is just the regular pay of bounty hunting I might need to do passenger missions instead.

Here's the build I'm using, spoiler since the link is slightly long:

Spoiler

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/fer...hAOEoQwHbwMYHtEBN4gMIewAIAREARgkqA&bn=FDL C E

(Also if you're wondering why I A rated the Sensor and Life Support as well, for Sensors it's just for longer range so I can scan through the sites quicker and Life Support is a long story, suffice to say a canopy breakage incident makes me not want to skim on it.)

 

[Crank Larson]

I find high res to be more profitable than haz res. Even so, sometimes I can make 3 million in twenty minutes, and other times it takes over an hour. Taking cargo into the res always helps, as then pirates will also spawn and attack you.

 

[RhymeRhyme]

After spending some time at a Hazardous Resource Extraction Site, I begin to wonder how much exactly am I making per hour? So, a test ensued where I tried to make as much money as possible in a HAZ RES for an hour, and the results are underwhelming ~3 million credits. This made me wonder, and thus comes the following questions:

It depends on your ship and on the instance. If you have a bigger ship and you get a "good instance", you can make around 7 mio. credits and hours. At least that is what I remember. Didn't play for almost 3/4 of a year. You need to get an instance that popps a lot of valuable ships. Sometimes you get tiny ships with low bounties, sometimes, the Anacondas and FDLs with 250.000+ just drop without any limit. That is when you get the most out of an instance. You need to leave the game and reload or at least leave the HAZ RES and logout or somethime to get a new instance. Maybe they changed that in the meantime. Don't know. The game got too repetitive for me so I stopped ages ago.

 

[Scoob]

Never really found this hugely profitable. A friend and myself team up in various HighRes sites for a bit of BH and make about 1 to 1.5 million cr in an hour or so. Of course I double that when I'm alone as I'm not kill-sharing. Still, happy to do it to give my friend a boost. I was using a Vulture at one point, but my earnings in the Imperial Eagle are almost as high, I simply have to make sure there are some friendlies near by when I engage. Plus it means my friend and I are in identical ships, which is fun. If I'm solo, the Vulture of course enables me to initiate combat more readily, without worrying about backup.

So, for us I guess it's fairly good money for my friend - he's not played as long as me, though we're both original backers - while I make more from more conventional trading and passenger runs in my Type 7.

Scoob.

 

[ToastSky]

I find high res to be more profitable than haz res. Even so, sometimes I can make 3 million in twenty minutes, and other times it takes over an hour. Taking cargo into the res always helps, as then pirates will also spawn and attack you.

The problem with carrying cargo and luring pirates to attack you is that I can't pick my battles and might end up biting more then I can chew, especially now that NPC actually uses Shield Cell Banks (Flash back to hunting a NPC Corvette for a mission and the horrifying experience of seeing the shield go up from ~30% to full again).

You need to leave the game and reload or at least leave the HAZ RES and logout or somethime to get a new instance. Maybe they changed that in the meantime. Don't know. The game got too repetitive for me so I stopped ages ago.

Hmmm, good advice. Also, on an unrelated note, I too has gone on a 10 month excursion from this game but Steam updating it dragged me back and I decided to give it another spin.

 

[d8veh]

Every instance is different. If you're not getting frequent big ships to kill. jump out and back in again to get a different spawn. One hour isn't enough to determine anything. You need to make at least 10 visits.

A KWS gets you 30% more bounty credits. There's absolutely no reason not to use one when RES farming because you can make it automatic.

Farming in a high RES with a Corvette gets you about 5-7 mil per hour with a KWS. Powerplay will also increase your earnings. If you want to make good money, do the level 5 deliveries for ZH to double your payments, otherwise deliver the 100T to get level 2, which only takes a few minutes and guarantees at least 10% increase.

In summary, you can average over 10 mil per hour if you want to make a career as a bounty hunter in a Corvette. I have something like 2000hrs RES farming experience using every type of ship and I've made about 10 billion in bounties, so I'm fairly confident in those figures. I even did zero to Elite combat in a Sidewinder, during which I averaged 2 mil per hour. You should be able to average 2.5 mil per hour using a SW with a KWS if you prioritised payout rather than number of kills.

 

[CMDR ANCALAGON]

During a recent CG I winged up with three other CMDRS and we would leave the local HazRES with $5 - $7 mil CR after an hour.

 

[Gamatech]

See, this thread demonstrates perfectly why I'm put off combat as a career path in Elite. It's fun at times, sure, but it just doesn't have the rewards. I take almost exclusively haulage missions, all paying 1.5 million - 6 million each. With my Python I can stack 2 or 3 at a time, and with my Type-9 I can take sometimes up to 5 to the same destination. Just one jump and boom- I've earned myself 5-10 million consistantly. Why would I want to spend an hour or two bounty hunting when I can make double or even triple the amount I'd make after just one jump and a short cruise?

It's not just a single isolated location either. I have 3 or 4 spots that I often stick around for missions like this, 3 good Federal ports and one very good Imperial one.

 

[Aashenfox]

See, this thread demonstrates perfectly why I'm put off combat as a career path in Elite. It's fun at times, sure, but it just doesn't have the rewards. I take almost exclusively haulage missions, all paying 1.5 million - 6 million each. With my Python I can stack 2 or 3 at a time, and with my Type-9 I can take sometimes up to 5 to the same destination. Just one jump and boom- I've earned myself 5-10 million consistantly. Why would I want to spend an hour or two bounty hunting when I can make double or even triple the amount I'd make after just one jump and a short cruise?

It's not just a single isolated location either. I have 3 or 4 spots that I often stick around for missions like this, 3 good Federal ports and one very good Imperial one.

I guess because if combat was as well paying as anything else, people like me (who prefer combat over anything else) would only do combat. Necessary evil I suppose. Personally, for profits I prefer massacre X ships in CZ missions. You get good bounties (because the enemies are better equipped in CZs), plus a 5 to 10m bonus for hitting the needed numbers, and since the enemy never stops spawning, you don't even have to look for targets, they are highlighted red for you! To be honest, no combat activities are ever gonna pay as well as something that requires you to land on a planet or go to its visitor beacon, cos, Horizons.

 

[Dan Diplo]

3 million roughly corresponds with my average experience.

I find High Rez systems more profitable as you can "poach" kills from the security services. They are effectively your own wing, but they don't take any of your credits!

There is also a degree of luck, as with everything in Elite. Some instances will spawn a lot of large ships, such as Anacondas, Pythons and FDLs that tend to pay the most. If you are just getting small fry, maybe re-log and try again?

Also try and join a bounty-hunting CG as then you can also get paid by the CG for what you are already doing. If you get in the top 50% of a popular CG then this can significantly increase your earnings.

But at the end-of-the-day I'd mix it up. Bounty hunting is fun, but mix it in with a few assassinations and massacre missions (remember, you get a bounty for these too on top of payment). Or swap ships and do something else. I think the way to "ruin" Elite is to doggedly do the same thing for too long in the pursuit of credits. As soon as you stop enjoying it, do something else.

 

[d8veh]

Here's evidence that you can make good money in the high RES if you know what you're doing. It should be enough to shut up the naysayers! Has anybody beaten that? Rather than you giving me a medal, could you give me a chest to put it on. I expect you hate me now, so maybe not. I'll put it on my Xmas list and send it to Santa then:

https://imgur.com/a/yB6zI

 

[Scoob]

Gotta say, I've generally had enough when bounty hunting in a HighRes after an hour or so. For me, it's a fun diversion, but not something I want to grind particularly. It's nice to team up with my buddy and help him out, so I do it far more often when he's online than I would alone. I guess it's about fun at the end of the day, I'm quite enjoying the more relaxed pace - bar the frequent interdiction attempts - of normal Passenger / Cargo / Data runs. Then I team up with my mate and kill stuff for an hour or so. Nice balance.

I'm an original backer, but haven't put that many hours into the game, so I'm still building up funds to buy and equip a Python. This looks like it'll be a great multi-role ship, so I'm looking forward to that - it'll be nice to not have to flee from interdictions and actually have guns so I can take the extra kill missions when NPC's are sent after my Cargo / Passengers.

From what I can see, almost any role in ED can be played to yield maximum profits however, I'm not really driven to play this way and just log into the game to relax for the most part.

Scoob.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

After spending some time at a Hazardous Resource Extraction Site, I begin to wonder how much exactly am I making per hour? So, a test ensued where I tried to make as much money as possible in a HAZ RES for an hour, and the results are underwhelming ~3 million credits. This made me wonder, and thus comes the following questions:

Is this just the normal pay of bounty hunting in HAZ RES?
Am I doing something wrong?
If so is that "something wrong" just me not being good enough at combat?
Or am I simply unlucky when doing the test?

Also:
3 Million credit may sound alright but considering my end goal of fully A rated Corvette it seems a rather lacking amount of money to make in a hour if I am to achieve the goal in a reasonable time frame. (IE: Without playing Elite as a second job.) In the end if this is just the regular pay of bounty hunting I might need to do passenger missions instead.

Here's the build I'm using, spoiler since the link is slightly long:

Spoiler

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/fer...hAOEoQwHbwMYHtEBN4gMIewAIAREARgkqA&bn=FDL C E

(Also if you're wondering why I A rated the Sensor and Life Support as well, for Sensors it's just for longer range so I can scan through the sites quicker and Life Support is a long story, suffice to say a canopy breakage incident makes me not want to skim on it.)

These days you can use synthesis to top off your air supply. I had a recent incident that left me having to travel 8 jumps (33 Ly per) to the nearest inhabited system with a shattered canopy and D-grade life support. Lucky for me I always carry plenty of materials around with me.

As for the Cr/Hr... the instance, the system, the system state all factor in to what you'll find. Higher populations, wealthier systems (boom vs. bust, war vs. retreat) all have an effect on what kind and how many target ships you'll find in any given instance. And of course the instance itself - some turn out better than others.

 

[Crank Larson]

The problem with carrying cargo and luring pirates to attack you is that I can't pick my battles and might end up biting more then I can chew, especially now that NPC actually uses Shield Cell Banks (Flash back to hunting a NPC Corvette for a mission and the horrifying experience of seeing the shield go up from ~30% to full again).

To make the most profit you can from a res, you need to be able to carry cargo and deal with the extra ships that target you specifically. If you aren't currently equipped to do that, it will be limiting your profits a little. However, I don't think you are actually doing badly at all, based on my experiences. I've never been particularly worried about reward, though - I enjoy the fighting. If I need money there are much quicker ways to get it.

Gotta say, I've generally had enough when bounty hunting in a HighRes after an hour or so.

Me too. During CGs, I like to load my Cutter up and then go via a high res on my way to delivering the cargo - that way I can contribute to both CGs and have a little variety at the same time. I generally stick around in the res until I run out of ammo, or inadvertently pick up a bounty (which happens at least 30% of the time).

 

[Scoob]

Me too. During CGs, I like to load my Cutter up and then go via a high res on my way to delivering the cargo - that way I can contribute to both CGs and have a little variety at the same time. I generally stick around in the res until I run out of ammo, or inadvertently pick up a bounty (which happens at least 30% of the time).

Heh, my Type 7 doesn't really present me with the same opportunities - I think things will change once I get the Python. I have about 158 Million Credits now, so I could make the jump soon...it seems like the Python almost makes the Type 7 Obsolete...but I'll check the stats again.

Scoob.

 

[5 Puppis]

See, this thread demonstrates perfectly why I'm put off combat as a career path in Elite. It's fun at times, sure, but it just doesn't have the rewards

...

Why would I want to spend an hour or two bounty hunting when I can make double or even triple the amount I'd make after just one jump and a short cruise?

For fun?

 

[Conch]

i spend allot of time in a HAZRES, and there is a big differance in payouts depending what i fly.
and it comes down to how much ammo ive got. also, i dont do cr/h with bounty hunting, but credits per ammo run.

FAS with APA, 2 fixed cannons and a gimbled beam is 3/4 million before i run out of ammo

Corvette with dual high yield cannon, packhounds and some beams, makes a bit more than the FAS, around 5/6 million. but its short lived fun coming down to ammo again.

other Corvette, this is my Bae, dual pulse slug rapid fire PA, 1x small corrosive mc, and the rest beams. with the main weapons depending on my fuel, i make around 12 million per run.

 

[Wulfram Carbide]

If you can get a massacre mission to go with it, that'll boost earnings. Though this is a hassle, because you get missions for neighbouring systems and don't necessarily know if they've got a convenient zone (Or compromised beacon)

 

[ForeverN00b]

it seems like the Python almost makes the Type 7 Obsolete...but I'll check the stats again.

There's no almost about it, the Python does render the type 7 obsolete.

A couple of posters seem to be confused about wing payouts....payouts are the same now whether you are in a wing or solo, they don't get split up like they did in the older patches. This is to reward flying in a wing. You will definitely make more creds per hour in a wing, as you kill enemies that much faster.

 

[CMDR ANCALAGON]

There's no almost about it, the Python does render the type 7 obsolete.

A couple of posters seem to be confused about wing payouts....payouts are the same now whether you are in a wing or solo, they don't get split up like they did in the older patches. This is to reward flying in a wing. You will definitely make more creds per hour in a wing, as you kill enemies that much faster.

Yup.

I believe that the payout is awarded to every member of the wing that inflicted any damage to the target. Earnings go way up in a wing since there is less risk involved and far greater number of targets can be taken out. Typically we would engage a target and the one or two would split off to engage another and would usually hold off on making the kill until the rest of us could come over and get a shot in.

The big difference that I seem to note (may be subjective) is that I tend to find far more wanted targets in HazRes than HiRes. The average bounty may not be higher, but there are more of them. I also started in HiRes sites in a vulture, following the Feds around and picking from their kills (like a vulture).

As much as I enjoy bounty hunting, it is almost always something I do as part of a larger objecive, such as a CG, PP, or mission. Sometimes its just something that I do as part of a delivery mission, if a RES site is enroute to the destination. If I'm new to a system and think that I may be there for awhile, I usually drop into a local RES to claim some bounties before I dock, so that I can establish some rep with the local faction before taking the first mission.

BH has other impacts and value adds that when factored in to the CR payouts make it quite profitable.