Hello,
Thought that I could share me experience in Bounty Hunting. Forgive me if there already exists BH guide(s), but at first google I didn't one that is very comprehensive.
Consider me as a editor to this thread, so if you have an contribution to make, let me know and I'll see if its relevant enough to be added on this OP.
I try to make this post as structured as possible (with limited time) in order to make it easy to study. If you are looking for a specific tip or hint, try finding them in below topics.
BH BASICS
First one needs is a decent combat ship that has at least:
Preferred weapon type should be some kind of energy weapons, as they use no munitions, making bounty hunting more profitable. My experience has demonstrated (at least to myself) that even some projectiles have higher damage, the munition costs can reduce your income bountywise for two reasons:
Kill Warrant Scanner (or KWS) is an essential equipment for BH. You can have bounties without, but KWS makes all more profitable, as sometimes the bounties are "hidden" until the wanted ship attacks you.
Finding a good place to bounty hunt:
One can utilize the galaxy map to begin the search for a suitable place. Don't worry, finding a place might take time, but once you have found good place to hunt, it will start to pay back your time in credits. Of course, you could always BH at the Nav Beacon of any system, however, hunting at the Resource Extraction Sites is much more profitable.
What you should be looking is a relatively uncivilized systems. You can determine this by looking into their government types. However, I avoid hunting in Independent systems, as they bounties tend to spread among various factions.In my opinion, dictatorships that has mining activities are rather good.
How to find a system with RESs:
It is simple. Open up the Galaxy Map and start looking for a system that has station orbiting a gas giant that has any other than icy rings. Ringed gas giants with stations usually have RESs around and usually the trip from the RES to station is relatively short, allowing you initiate and end the bounty hunting effort pretty quickly.
To sum it up, look for a following traits or characteristics for a good BH system:
ADVANCED TIPS:
This section will consider more profoundly ships, modules and tactics.
Ships for BH:
Generally speaking all multi-role and fighter ships make good BH ships. If you are for inderdiction game (hunting the criminals while in FSD, then you should consider rather small ship with low maintenance costs. Of course, interdiction can be done in larger ships, but dropping from supercruise in high speeds can be expensive, which in turn limits the possible targets.
Modules of BH:
As already mentioned, one needs KWS. Beyond that, other useful modules are:
Previously listed modules can enhance your BH experience greatly. If you're immersing yourself in the game-play, and want to hunt down your bounties even if they manage to jump before you can end their miserable lives, a FWS is a nice addition. On the other hand, shield boosters and cell banks as well as chaff launcher makes the combat easier as you can withstand fire better.
Tactics
For maximum profit, one can "reload" the spawns at RESites. It can be done either by a) re-logging or exiting and re-entering the same (or another) RES. I prefer to go to another RES as it doesn't feel like cheating and is thus much more immersive.
If you are in open play, you should always consider the possibility of PvP. For this reason I like to hunt in rather powerful ship, as it can fence off possible aggressive commanders (as well as it does allow me to become "aggressive" in case I feel like it.)
Target prioritization:
When in the BH spot, be it either RES or NAV, use your contacts-tab in order to spot the potential targets quickly. You will soon learn what type of targets are generally more profitable compared to others and therefore you can spot them quickly from contacts-tab rather than cycling through all the available targets.
Modules, Classes and Power Management
While BH can be done in lower class setups, it is always useful to have higher class modules. Especially, the Class A Power Distributor is important, as it allows you to assign more power to guns, shields and engines whenever needed. Assign power wisely by distributing it accordingly. When you are approaching far away targets, put all the pips in the engines and re-distribute energy to weapons once you are at firing distance.
In the end, here is what can be done in 30-45 minutes when utilizing proper tactics and equipment:
Good luck.
-v
Thought that I could share me experience in Bounty Hunting. Forgive me if there already exists BH guide(s), but at first google I didn't one that is very comprehensive.
Consider me as a editor to this thread, so if you have an contribution to make, let me know and I'll see if its relevant enough to be added on this OP.
I try to make this post as structured as possible (with limited time) in order to make it easy to study. If you are looking for a specific tip or hint, try finding them in below topics.
BH BASICS
First one needs is a decent combat ship that has at least:
- Weapons (which type? See the text below!)
- KWS (Kill Warrant Scanner)
Preferred weapon type should be some kind of energy weapons, as they use no munitions, making bounty hunting more profitable. My experience has demonstrated (at least to myself) that even some projectiles have higher damage, the munition costs can reduce your income bountywise for two reasons:
- Munition reload costs and
- Because it reduces the time one can spend active bounty hunting. You have to dock in order to reload.
Kill Warrant Scanner (or KWS) is an essential equipment for BH. You can have bounties without, but KWS makes all more profitable, as sometimes the bounties are "hidden" until the wanted ship attacks you.
Finding a good place to bounty hunt:
One can utilize the galaxy map to begin the search for a suitable place. Don't worry, finding a place might take time, but once you have found good place to hunt, it will start to pay back your time in credits. Of course, you could always BH at the Nav Beacon of any system, however, hunting at the Resource Extraction Sites is much more profitable.
What you should be looking is a relatively uncivilized systems. You can determine this by looking into their government types. However, I avoid hunting in Independent systems, as they bounties tend to spread among various factions.In my opinion, dictatorships that has mining activities are rather good.
How to find a system with RESs:
It is simple. Open up the Galaxy Map and start looking for a system that has station orbiting a gas giant that has any other than icy rings. Ringed gas giants with stations usually have RESs around and usually the trip from the RES to station is relatively short, allowing you initiate and end the bounty hunting effort pretty quickly.
To sum it up, look for a following traits or characteristics for a good BH system:
- The system has Resource Extraction Sites (or RESs)
- The system has relatively low level government.
ADVANCED TIPS:
This section will consider more profoundly ships, modules and tactics.
Ships for BH:
Generally speaking all multi-role and fighter ships make good BH ships. If you are for inderdiction game (hunting the criminals while in FSD, then you should consider rather small ship with low maintenance costs. Of course, interdiction can be done in larger ships, but dropping from supercruise in high speeds can be expensive, which in turn limits the possible targets.
Modules of BH:
As already mentioned, one needs KWS. Beyond that, other useful modules are:
- Frameshift Wake Scanner (FWS)
- Shield boosters
- Shield cell banks
- Chaff launcher
Previously listed modules can enhance your BH experience greatly. If you're immersing yourself in the game-play, and want to hunt down your bounties even if they manage to jump before you can end their miserable lives, a FWS is a nice addition. On the other hand, shield boosters and cell banks as well as chaff launcher makes the combat easier as you can withstand fire better.
Tactics
For maximum profit, one can "reload" the spawns at RESites. It can be done either by a) re-logging or exiting and re-entering the same (or another) RES. I prefer to go to another RES as it doesn't feel like cheating and is thus much more immersive.
If you are in open play, you should always consider the possibility of PvP. For this reason I like to hunt in rather powerful ship, as it can fence off possible aggressive commanders (as well as it does allow me to become "aggressive" in case I feel like it.)
Target prioritization:
When in the BH spot, be it either RES or NAV, use your contacts-tab in order to spot the potential targets quickly. You will soon learn what type of targets are generally more profitable compared to others and therefore you can spot them quickly from contacts-tab rather than cycling through all the available targets.
Modules, Classes and Power Management
While BH can be done in lower class setups, it is always useful to have higher class modules. Especially, the Class A Power Distributor is important, as it allows you to assign more power to guns, shields and engines whenever needed. Assign power wisely by distributing it accordingly. When you are approaching far away targets, put all the pips in the engines and re-distribute energy to weapons once you are at firing distance.
In the end, here is what can be done in 30-45 minutes when utilizing proper tactics and equipment:
Good luck.
-v
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