I have tried to earn money as a bounty hunter. With my vulture I have found resource sites (low). But I seem incapable of finding many pirates. When I do find them, there are 3 of them in a wing and I can barely defeat them. I do see alot of police around. And the bounties are in the range of 50.000 cr, which is only a small amount when compared to what I earn with passenger missions: 1 mil cr.
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Newcomer / Intro How do I earn money as a bounty hunter?
- Thread starter Goddess EVERYTHING
- Start date
You should try a high res site and then shoot who the cops are shooting, then with more experience go to a haz res site.
You should probably also consider using a Kill Warrant Scanner if you are trying to make credits bounty hunting / farming.
The KWS gives you bounties that the NPC's have in other jurisdictions, and this can bump your earnings by potentially more than 30% overall.
The KWS gives you bounties that the NPC's have in other jurisdictions, and this can bump your earnings by potentially more than 30% overall.
This link might help you if you re in to bounty hunting
https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteAntal/comments/5s6y54/bounty_hunters_news_feed_frequently_updated/
Nav Beacons are good areas, usually very busy for me.
You could also try skipping bounty hunting and going combat bond hunting.
Nav Beacons = Slow traffic, easier to fly without the asteroids, calm but low (ish) reward.
High Resource Site = Med traffic, difficult to dogfight amongst the rocks, variable rewards.
Hazardous Resource sites = med to high traffic, difficult to fly amongst rocks, med to good rewards.
Low Intensity Combat Zone = Endless High Traffic, easy to fly like a Nav Beacon, Medium rewards.
High Intensity Combat zone = Endless masses of ships, easy to fly, some tough ships to kill but good to great rewards.
So it's a balance. Obviously High Intensity is the most consistent because of the sheer volume, but that can work against you if you get targeted as every opponent is in a theoretical wing. Nav beacons are at the other end where it's simple, but you spend a lot of time waiting for a wanted ship and sometimes there are so many security forces that none will spawn.
Nav Beacons = Slow traffic, easier to fly without the asteroids, calm but low (ish) reward.
High Resource Site = Med traffic, difficult to dogfight amongst the rocks, variable rewards.
Hazardous Resource sites = med to high traffic, difficult to fly amongst rocks, med to good rewards.
Low Intensity Combat Zone = Endless High Traffic, easy to fly like a Nav Beacon, Medium rewards.
High Intensity Combat zone = Endless masses of ships, easy to fly, some tough ships to kill but good to great rewards.
So it's a balance. Obviously High Intensity is the most consistent because of the sheer volume, but that can work against you if you get targeted as every opponent is in a theoretical wing. Nav beacons are at the other end where it's simple, but you spend a lot of time waiting for a wanted ship and sometimes there are so many security forces that none will spawn.
Can you earn alot of credits with bounty hunting? As much as with passenger missions?
Yes and no. When you get good - or perhaps should I say efficient - at killing ships then you can get approximately the same rate of credits as you can when doing passenger missions. Because, unlike Passengers, you wont ever get redirected or asked to pick up 2 tons of tea to make their journey comfortable, or need to almost land on a planet for lava spouts, then the combat "time earning credits" ramps up significantly. Passengers require more work and give a lump sum at the end. Bounty hunting gives about the same amount of credits but in a constant drip feed.
If you really just want to earn some money quickly then I'd recommend ferrying imperial slaves. Mind numbingly dull but nearly more rewarding.
It's all about what you like. Passenger missions show you the galaxy but you can't really stop halfway through because you need to answer the phone or get tired. Bounty hunting is more edge of your seat and a bit repetitive, but you gain combat rank (for engineers), rank with minor factions (because killing), rep with big factions (ditto) and an easy "that's enough for tonight I'll park it" get out clause.
Personally I prefer passenger missions because it's exploring. But I did plenty of ferrying Imperial Slaves to go from my AspX to the Anaconda, so I don't mind that either. Whereas my brother loved missions but hated bulk trading. Swings and roundabouts.
If you really just want to earn some money quickly then I'd recommend ferrying imperial slaves. Mind numbingly dull but nearly more rewarding.
It's all about what you like. Passenger missions show you the galaxy but you can't really stop halfway through because you need to answer the phone or get tired. Bounty hunting is more edge of your seat and a bit repetitive, but you gain combat rank (for engineers), rank with minor factions (because killing), rep with big factions (ditto) and an easy "that's enough for tonight I'll park it" get out clause.
Personally I prefer passenger missions because it's exploring. But I did plenty of ferrying Imperial Slaves to go from my AspX to the Anaconda, so I don't mind that either. Whereas my brother loved missions but hated bulk trading. Swings and roundabouts.
I tried bounty hunting with a fer-de-lance, but it totally failed. First I got a warning that I was blocking the station exit. Never had this before with smaller ships like the orca. Then, I went to a lawless system and found a resource site. When I came there, I had my turrets on fire at will. Well, I barely escaped. I don't know why, but combat seems not for me!!!
Because my skills are less impressive than my ranks would suggest I tend to hunt in High RES and belowand take advantage of the local security forces who will not go to Haz RES, however today I ventured into an apparently extremely prolific Haz RES where I was hoping to find a commander from one of the CG threads who had offered to wing up with people, with his ship and fighter things went very well and we both made about 3 million for the time we were winged up.
So winging up might be an answer to boosting your income.
So winging up might be an answer to boosting your income.
The Orca is technically a larger ship than the FdL but it is probably easier to fly at the start, the FdL is a handful. One issue, which it shares with the Anaconda is that most of the ship is beneath you so instead of skimming the bottom of the slot to leave the station you need to be much closer to the top.
Turrets are wonderful things and all but the huge pad on my FdL is turreted but I found out a while ago that Fire at Will is going to lead to trouble, though it does give you a lot of practise on evading systems, leave turrets on Target Only and have one non turreted gun to kick things off with. But don't let your evade and escape skills get to rusty, someone tried to wing up with me the other day unfortunately one of his turrets tagged me during the process and he ended up wanted and had to leave the area for a while and although I wasn't wanted because I was still winged with him security started to snipe at me which stopped when we dropped the wing link.
No reason that you have to do combat, but if you want to run cheaper ships to learn what works for you, you can re buy a lot of Eagles for the insurance on a descent FdL.
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Do you really need that? Or can I shoot my turrets manually?
I find you need that with Target Only, unless you are happy to switch turret mode during the battle in which case start with the turrets in Fire Forward, where they behave like fixed weapons, lock your target fire then switch to Target Only. Fire at Will let's the turrets attack anything hostile to you which can get messy.
A new thing is that there are now turreted mining lasers, these only work if they are fired manually by a multi crew gunner.
I have one more question. Today was the first time I flew a fer-de-lance. And when I left the station, there was a warning that I was loitering (blocking the exit). What should I do, it was really really scary and I don't want it to happen again!!! Next time they might shoot my ship because it is blocking the exit!!!
The best way to solve this is to not block the exit.
And turrets on the FdL is like training wheels on a Ducati. The highest DPS you'll get is probably from gimbals.
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Okey this time there was no loitering warning.
My ship keeps overheating. What should I do? Equip only cannons instead of lasers?
My ship keeps overheating. What should I do? Equip only cannons instead of lasers?
I get that when I am tentative leaving the station, the thing to do is to accelerate to 90-99. To ensure I have fewer speed and snagging issues I retract landing gear before attempting the slot.
I can overheat my FdL if I hold the trigger continuously but that is with a huge beam laser firing, with two multi cannon turrets and two pulse lasers on their own I don't. If you don't fire continuously it will help tremendously a (multi)cannon fitout will be cooler and A rated modules will reduce heat build up and handle it better.
Firing powerful weapons is always going to cause heat buildup as is being hit by them, another approach would be to fit a heatsink launcher which would cool things quickly.
I have no personal experience with flying a FdL (but it was always nice to see a wanted NPC FdL in a RES
), but if you could post your FdL loadout, e.g. in the form of a coriolis link, people might be able to give you some hints.
You can make about 5 million an hour using the Vulture to bounty hunt. I made a small video series to show how. Don't waste your time at a nav beacon or low RES. You need a high RES, compromised nav beacon or Haz RES. The high RES is safest except that if you make a mistake, like shooting the wrong guy or shooting before you see that he's "wanted", you have to get out of there very quickly to avoid being killed by the cops. In the other places, you have to be careful with wings, and always use your "target modules" panel to check whether Anacondas or Gunships have a fighter before you shoot them.
How to fit out the Vulture for bounty hunting (no engineering):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpsjvszTzec
How to use the Vulture in a haz RES:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch85vZBsDKw
How to use Powerplay to get at least 20% extra bounty money:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px4IhbviWQw
There's also a couple of prequel vids in my chanel about using a Viper in a high RES, which shows what happens, some dos and don'ts, and some hints and tips.
How to fit out the Vulture for bounty hunting (no engineering):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpsjvszTzec
How to use the Vulture in a haz RES:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch85vZBsDKw
How to use Powerplay to get at least 20% extra bounty money:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px4IhbviWQw
There's also a couple of prequel vids in my chanel about using a Viper in a high RES, which shows what happens, some dos and don'ts, and some hints and tips.
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