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Newcomer / Intro Is a kill warrant scanner of any use in solo mode?
- Thread starter kris44dad
- Start date
If you are going to spend time bounty hunting, it is very worth it. I have seen a significant increase in credits hunting in a RES with one. Takes some getting used to and scanning before killing is a PITA, but I mapped the KWS to my primary weapon trigger (with a weapon) so it scanned the NPC while I am starting my attack run.
I have seen the Bounty on an NPC Pirate almost double with a KWS scan, so it is DEFINITELY worth having one fitted.
Yes, KWS is awesome, even in solo.
I was doing the BH CG last week, often in Solo (not my perfred style, but I get enough action in RES sites without having to worry about other commanders) and, as well as the primary system bounties, I was ending up with MASSES of bounties for the NPC's from other systems. Easily doubled my profit.
Also, sometimes an NPC might not be WANTED in the current system but the new KWS can reveal a WARRANT on them. This means they're WANTED in another system associated with the same major faction and gives you permission to kill them in this system even tho' they're not WANTED here.
So yeah - it's definitely of use in Solo.
I was doing the BH CG last week, often in Solo (not my perfred style, but I get enough action in RES sites without having to worry about other commanders) and, as well as the primary system bounties, I was ending up with MASSES of bounties for the NPC's from other systems. Easily doubled my profit.
Also, sometimes an NPC might not be WANTED in the current system but the new KWS can reveal a WARRANT on them. This means they're WANTED in another system associated with the same major faction and gives you permission to kill them in this system even tho' they're not WANTED here.
So yeah - it's definitely of use in Solo.
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Additional info: out of system bounties generally can not be collected in the system you were hunting in. You could go to each of the system issuing them to collect, but there's a better way: go to a low security system, go for Interstellar Factors in the contact menu there. They allow you to cash in bounties, no matter where it was issued, but take 25% for themselves.
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So yes, you get less money, but it saves you a lot of time. Generally you can make more money in that time, than you'd get by flying around and cashing them in one by one.
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My very first venture out bounty-tagging in my stock Sidey was reasonably successful. My second sortie, with a KWS in place, netted additional payments from multiple systems over and above the usual range of bounty payments and seemed to generate an additional 50% (even with the 25% loss for being lazy and just claiming at the nearest available port). This was all in Solo mode.
From personal experience, NPC appear to have other-system bounties and thus a top of the range KWS should be expected to pay for itself over perhaps a couple of hours of that type of gameplay. After that it's pure bonus.
Just watch for power consumption. The 0A is very hungry.
As you move up into bigger ships and use A rated power plants this power issue will go away.
Excellent ... should have realised that myself.
Can't diss the SideWinder though - it handled it
... provided I use only peashooters to tag the bounties.
Prior to 3.0, Wanted ships usually had bounties on them from all non-Anarchy factions in the system wher ethe ship was destroyed. Since 3.0, Wanted ships might have bounties from literally anywhere in inhabited space (I once received a bounty from a faction based in a system 200 LYs away from where I was).
I'm Solo-mode-only, and I've always put a KWS on any ship that I equip guns to. It's always worth it:
- for the extra cash, even if nowadays you do have to travel to obtain the cash, to either a location where the issuing faction is present or to find a Factor.
- for the extra BGS influence points.
If you're literally drowning in credits and don't give a fig about the BGS, then I suppose the KWS is useless to you.
One annoying drawback of KWSing every single non-CZ kill I make is that I'm having a terribly difficult time making enemies. I accumulate all these bounties, and whether I cash them in directly or via a Factor, I still get a reputation boost with the faction. Every single faction within 15 LYs of my current "home system" I am now at least Cordial with, even the ones I'm trying to declare war on.
I'm Solo-mode-only, and I've always put a KWS on any ship that I equip guns to. It's always worth it:
- for the extra cash, even if nowadays you do have to travel to obtain the cash, to either a location where the issuing faction is present or to find a Factor.
- for the extra BGS influence points.
If you're literally drowning in credits and don't give a fig about the BGS, then I suppose the KWS is useless to you.
One annoying drawback of KWSing every single non-CZ kill I make is that I'm having a terribly difficult time making enemies. I accumulate all these bounties, and whether I cash them in directly or via a Factor, I still get a reputation boost with the faction. Every single faction within 15 LYs of my current "home system" I am now at least Cordial with, even the ones I'm trying to declare war on.
That's a weird change. I used to avoid killing pirates in my home system because I was trying to get good missions with all factions, now I don't have to bother. If you want to lose rep the best way is to take massacre missions, when you cash those in you take a big hit with the target faction.
question is.. when a ship is in view it scans but is that for the system your in?
and the KWS spots/registers that the ship is wanted in other systems?
so you get a system scan passive and the kws you need to hold the trigger to get other bounties from other systems..?
and the KWS spots/registers that the ship is wanted in other systems?
so you get a system scan passive and the kws you need to hold the trigger to get other bounties from other systems..?
Correct. Also note that the passive scan you get from your onboard sensors needs to be completed (and register the ship as WANTED) before you even engage the ship while the benefits of using the active KWS will apply as long as you complete the scan before you kill the ship.
that what I was thinking as I crap load of bounties from systems I've never been too, and now I understand about the IF thing no need to go to all those places to collect?
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Yea. Visiting some of those places can take you much longer than it's worth. Just go to an IF and cash in once a while.
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The KWS becomes a lot more convenient if you make it automatic. There are several ways to do that, but the simplest is to bind the secondary fire button to the "-" key at the extreme top right of your keyboard. Put the KWS on the secondary fire button and all weapons on the primary one. Use fire groups if you want different weapons active at a time. When you arrive at the RES, put a weight on the "-" key. Thereafter, the KWS will automatically scan any ship that you target and shoot without you having to wait. There isn't really any point in getting a KWS better than C- grade when you use this method. If you have an X52 or similar, you can bind the secondary fire button to the slider or a rotational , which both stay on. Obviously, when you leave the RES, you have to remove the weight or switch off because you can't undeploy your weapons with it active. Note that if you have a head tracker, every time you look at the comma panel, the minus key will type a row of minuses and when you look back, you'll have to reset your weight to reactivate the KWS.
Seemed I’m the only one who doubts the value of KWS here.
I earned my A-grade Python and Conda doing passenger missions and I started Bounty Hunting for unlocking Broo since last week. My hunting field is system LHS 220. It’s ideal (at least on paper) cause you can find both CNB and Interstellar Factors here, and a full functional station is only 49ls away.
I do have a KWS and I do use that prior to fights as much as I can. But for the last 10 sessions the extra cash from interstellar bounties is mostly less than +10%, and the best record is only +12%. Even you add back that 25% interstellar tax it still makes no significant deal.
I’ve also heard a saying that KWS can “offset” the reputation loss to the minor factions due to killing their ships. Well this is not always true. In my sessions I’ve noticed that more then half wanted ships came from “Fotla Blue Society”, an outlaw faction 157LY away. Not ever ship I blow up was fully scanned, so I decided to fly to Fotla to see how my reputation was effected, after killing quite a bunch of their men.
Turns out, my reputation is still 95% Neutral.
I’m not sure what’s the factor; could be that they don’t have a representation here, or reputation won’t further drop after netural, or they’re just too darn faraway. But I can be sure that KWS has nothing to do with it.
So my conclusion is: KWS did increase your bounty hunting rewards, but it’s nowhere near 50%. Or maybe I have just not yet found a good bounty hunting spot.
I earned my A-grade Python and Conda doing passenger missions and I started Bounty Hunting for unlocking Broo since last week. My hunting field is system LHS 220. It’s ideal (at least on paper) cause you can find both CNB and Interstellar Factors here, and a full functional station is only 49ls away.
I do have a KWS and I do use that prior to fights as much as I can. But for the last 10 sessions the extra cash from interstellar bounties is mostly less than +10%, and the best record is only +12%. Even you add back that 25% interstellar tax it still makes no significant deal.
I’ve also heard a saying that KWS can “offset” the reputation loss to the minor factions due to killing their ships. Well this is not always true. In my sessions I’ve noticed that more then half wanted ships came from “Fotla Blue Society”, an outlaw faction 157LY away. Not ever ship I blow up was fully scanned, so I decided to fly to Fotla to see how my reputation was effected, after killing quite a bunch of their men.
Turns out, my reputation is still 95% Neutral.
I’m not sure what’s the factor; could be that they don’t have a representation here, or reputation won’t further drop after netural, or they’re just too darn faraway. But I can be sure that KWS has nothing to do with it.
So my conclusion is: KWS did increase your bounty hunting rewards, but it’s nowhere near 50%. Or maybe I have just not yet found a good bounty hunting spot.
50% was the old value. Since the C+P rework it's closer to 20%. Since the C+P rework you don't lose influence for killing ships of a faction either.