Sad but true, as bounty hunter its quite not playable atm...

[Kepnik]

So Guys,

I am finally fed up with what happened to this game... dont know if it is
cause of a patch or caused by my higher federation rank but its impossible
to get money as a bounty hunter atm.

At the beginning I made between 30-150k per hour in a good system ( with my 44k eagle ).
Quite fair if you compare that a lakon 6 which is cheaper than my actual viper
can make 100k in 20 minutes without any problem.

So since a few days its no fun anymore.
In combat zone I get 3k for an eagle ( ok ) but also 3k for an anconda ( waste of time )
At the nav point I am allied to everyone, just nearly destroyed an 100k anaconda,
but at 10% the security is starting attack run and i have to go. Also most of the tagets
jump away at 15-30 percent which is maybe okay if its an 100k anaconda, but for 5k
beeing dragged around for 10-20 ly is also not worth the time.

With exploring I earn about 10-30k per hour.

So thinking about buying anything better for my viper I need at least 800k. In the last 3 days
I made 500k and was destroyed twice for 100k so it was the profit a lakoon 6 can make in 1 hour.
With a playing time of about 15-20 hours....

So any Ideas ? Should I wait for a new patch ?
Or buy a boring freigher and play freighter captain just for the money ?

So... enough QQ love this game...

 

[bullfrog]

Use left menu to target subcomponent FSD and prevent them from escaping.

 

[StewartScott]

My advise is to bounty hunt for thrill of the hunt. If I have enough for repairs + plus some I'm OK with that.

I simply trade from time to time to fund my fun stuff. If bounty hunting payed millions everyone would be doing it.

I like doing both. For me it's not about the credits.

 

[Kepnik]

that works ? cool so many small details I still dont know... ;-) but it does not help me
regarding missing big targets and system authority attacking me at at least 45% of my hunts.

Anyway thanks for the info
ps: i guess for an anaconda you have to kill both fsds ?

 

[Bigcheese]

If you want credits, you should trade. Yes, it's quite unbalanced currently.

Hopefully things become a little more balanced and fleshed out as content is added. Currently there just isn't much to do combat wise in elite.

 

[Renso]

I must be getting very lucky... my average bounty collection per ship is around 25,000 Cr and I'm not even looking for them, they're attacking me as I'm doing my rares runs.

 

[Ydiss]

Bounty hunting is not fighting in conflict zones. Conflict zones are not good pay versus risk/cost.

Bounty hunting is fine. Once you're confident enough and can afford upgrades, you can go to anarchy systems with a kws and make a lot more money.

Bounty hunting doesn't need attention before conflicts, piracy and exploration. They need rebalancing first.

This is coming from a bounty hunter.

 

[King Hrothgar]

bullfrog has clearly never tried that as the npc's don't need an FSD to FSD away. In any case, the problem seems to be that you are taking too long to kill them. I rarely have a problem with npc's escaping, though periodically a bounty simply vanishes (seems like a widespread bug atm). If you want to make credits as a bounty hunter, a large part of it is scoring quick kills. The viper is actually a poor combat ship at this time as it has only average speed and exceptionally poor agility. I bet you started having problems once you "upgraded" the eagle into a viper. About the only thing it has going for it is the concentrated armament, but that is workable given how dumb the AI is. In any case, the fit I ended up with for the viper before swapping to a cobra was 2x class 2D fixed beams and 2x class 1B unguided rocket launchers. That setup will drop most things, even elite pythons, in a matter of seconds. And that's the key, you really want the fight to be over before it has even started.

 

[Bigcheese]

Conflict zones need more immediate attention for sure. Total waste of time currently.

 

[Kepnik]

@Stewart : the problem is, I personally think trading is the most boring thing you can do... jump from one planet to another
for nothing than a few clicks... I think its great it is there and many people love it but for me I will quit elite if I have to
be a trader to get my viper finished or to have a chance to buy a more expensive vessel...

Sad is that the missions really dont pay of atm, only a few 150k missions and these are always against an elite anaconda
without help, impossible with my viper alone...

 

[OVMorat]

I haven't found targeting the FSD to be any use, NPCs just jump out before you do any significant damage and they ignore your mass whenever they like. OK, I'm only light in a Sidewinder but it's really annoying to be slapping a Cobra silly only to see it jump away from you at 300m range. This was fixed at some point in Gamma but the bug seems to have returned.

Now I just hunt at Resource zones in asteroid belts because everyone is mass locked there. It's not as satisfying to share the fight, but at least you get paid! And sharing Anacondas is good money

 

[mrblackbat]

Are you using a Kill Warrant Scanner too? Essential to make decent cash out of bounty hunting. Then find an independent system near to a Fed/Alliance/Empire system (or near two different ones if you can) and hang out around the nav beacon. Make sure that you don't attack anything that belongs to the current in power faction in that system and you should be able to rack the bounties up pretty quick, with easy access to the major power system to get the additional kill warrant bounties.

I've been doing this in an Eagle with triple gimballed burst lasers and maxed up power distribution/power unit and been able to rack up the bounties pretty quickly.

 

[Kepnik]

Thanks for your reply !

My viper is meanwhile nearly as agile as the eagle, everything a3 but the weapons.
Top Speed 340 without boost. But youre right it takes AGES with the lasers I have to kill
anything better than a cobra. But there are no lasers fixed for under 500k all other
lasers are turreted or gimbaled which is a no go for me.

But I could give the rocket launchers a try maybe...

bullfrog has clearly never tried that as the npc's don't need an FSD to FSD away. In any case, the problem seems to be that you are taking too long to kill them. I rarely have a problem with npc's escaping, though periodically a bounty simply vanishes (seems like a widespread bug atm). If you want to make credits as a bounty hunter, a large part of it is scoring quick kills. The viper is actually a poor combat ship at this time as it has only average speed and exceptionally poor agility. I bet you started having problems once you "upgraded" the eagle into a viper. About the only thing it has going for it is the concentrated armament, but that is workable given how dumb the AI is. In any case, the fit I ended up with for the viper before swapping to a cobra was 2x class 2D fixed beams and 2x class 1B unguided rocket launchers. That setup will drop most things, even elite pythons, in a matter of seconds. And that's the key, you really want the fight to be over before it has even started.

 

[Dai-San]

Forget Interdicting anything less than a COMPETENT VIPER for decent bounties and find yourself an ANARCHY system. EVERYTHING in the system will show CLEAN but just Interdict them, KWS them and then look at the CONTACTS panel to see the bounty amount. Don't worry if you don't get the BLUE BOUNTY MESSAGE when they die, you still get the amount credited.

Easy to make 250+ an hour and no POLICE to get in the way.

 

[Meritz]

If you want to get more serious about bounty hunting, you can either:

A) Cruise around busy systems with strong pirate factions, and interdict juicy targets
B) Hunt down assassination targets.

First choice can net you easy 200k in an hour, possibly more. But the trick is to pick the right system. Small economies are not good, as are systems where the criminal faction is weak. There are systems where there are multiple crime organizations working and those overflow with wanted ships. Provided the system itself is governed by a proper government - which means anything except anarchy.

Choice B is nice because you can land a 150-200k + 50-60k bounty reward per elite Anaconda and once you get good, you can track them down and kill them in about 30-40 minutes tops, sometimes less. Of course, you need to kill them first, but I hear chaff and shield cells work wonders there.

DO NOT sit at nav points. First, that's boring as hell. Second, you always have to watch out for cops and other bounty hunters. Interdiction means it's just you and your target. Provided you turn off "report crimes against me" in the right hand options panel.

DO NOT hunt in anarchy systems. It's terribly inefficient because you have to rely on their rating to see what's good and what's not, plus you miss out on all the local bounties PLUS extra cash you get from the kill warrant scans.

 

[Heathy]

the money doesn't really bother me the faction system is whats broken to me, the minor faction being tied to the main faction, you see security firing on a pirate marked wanted and you join in and the security turn hostile, same with whole factions turning hostile after killing a pirate i mean what? surely once an npc has gather a bounty on itself it needs to be moved into its own 'Pirate' faction.

i saw something funny yesterday with a bounty hunter anaconda, accidentally getting a 200c bounty on itself and then spending the next 2 hrs killing security, i waited untill it got to about 30k and then joined the security killing it. poor npc it started its life as an honest bounty hunter and ended up dying a pirate.

 

[TheOohChild]

I am friendly with the Federation and Empire, and attacking wanted ships never seems to impact my alliance ratings. I scan and attack ships showing up as green on my radar all the time.

 

[Zanten]

@Stewart : the problem is, I personally think trading is the most boring thing you can do... jump from one planet to another
for nothing than a few clicks... I think its great it is there and many people love it but for me I will quit elite if I have to
be a trader to get my viper finished or to have a chance to buy a more expensive vessel...

Sad is that the missions really dont pay of atm, only a few 150k missions and these are always against an elite anaconda
without help, impossible with my viper alone...

As someone who went from bounty hunting to trading, it is sooo boring. @_@ I mean, I enjoyed the exploration aspect, visiting stations, looking for that perfect, profitable path. And my early runs were full loads of gold, which brought the value of my cargo to a solid million credits, (on my first trip, that was literally ALL the money I had, except for ship insurance,) and the adrenaline twitch I got from that was actually higher than I ever got dogfighting. Knowing that pretty much your entire financial future is sitting in your cargo hold, and dear God what if a pirate interdicts me and blows the cargo haaaaaatch???? Dx

...buuuut then I found an awesome, very profitable, very safe route, and am abusing the ens out of it. x3 On the one hand, like I said, boring. On the other hand, SO MUCH MONIES. @_@ I soothe myself with the thought of buying a shiny Python. :3

As for bounty hunting, I did notice my overall income seemed to dip during the last couple of days, though that might have been just the roll of the dice. =P

 

[Renso]

@Stewart : the problem is, I personally think trading is the most boring thing you can do... jump from one planet to another
for nothing than a few clicks... I think its great it is there and many people love it but for me I will quit elite if I have to
be a trader to get my viper finished or to have a chance to buy a more expensive vessel...

Sad is that the missions really dont pay of atm, only a few 150k missions and these are always against an elite anaconda
without help, impossible with my viper alone...

There are 150K cargo missions with very little cargo room required and just one system jump away. The trick is to be patient enough to work for a faction until one gets on their good side.
Elite is by origin and concept a space-trading game.

 

[EtherDragon]

Why are you bounty hunting without an FSD Interdictor?

Go get one, then you can isolate juicy wanted targets from Super Cruise - no other ships in the area to mess with you. Also, targeting the drives is a good way to completely ruin their chances of escape (or the ability to fight back).