Guide / Tutorial Simple Guide to RES [Resource Extraction Site] Bounty Hunting

GieNkoV · Mar 29, 2015

I tought I will share my experience with Bounty Hunting in RES zones, hope you will enjoy. Remember, if you are experienced Bounty Hunter then you problably know all things I try to explain below. Still, maybe you will learn something new .

Simple Guide to RES [Resource Extraction Site] Bounty Hunting

Table of contents:

Why BH on RES zones?
Finding a site
RES BH equipment and loadout
Recognizing pros and cons of a zone
[Power Play] Maximizing payout's
General tips and tactics
Credits

1. Why Bounty Hunting on RES zones?

First of all I found BH in RES far more profitable than flying around in Compromised/ Navigation Beacons or USS/WSS/SSS. If you are lucky and follow this guide then you can make about 20-30 milion credits per hour! I have gathered that amount of credits in just under 3 hours:

View attachment 70650
The views are great on those asteroid fields

View attachment 25196
System Defence Forces fly here all the time so its easier for newbies to come by and earn credits, those ships will often help you destroy wanted ships
Usually there are no many or any players there so it's more safe than Navigation Beacons
You can try your ship in combat here and/or get used to new weapons/tactics, learn to fight
You can practice flying around asteroid field, just don't crash on one

2. Finding a site

Open galaxy map
Start looking around different systems, you are looking for one which has gas giant with rocky or metallic asteroid field around it. Your best bet is to look inside Extraction sectors but gas giants can be anywhere.
You found gas giant with asteroid belt? Very nice! Now select that gas giant and look at information tab, you need to know if it has good reserves of ores there, if it's depleted then avoid this place and look for one that has reserves, you will not find RES there anyway. Best is to find one with common, major or pristine reserves, like this one:

Gas Giant with Major reserves
View attachment 25197
Now look if it has station nearby. The best situation is when that station is orbiting that gas giant, you can very quickly get there and rearm/repair/refuel . If it still nearby that gas giant then its good.

Station located very close to actual asteroid belt (4 light seconds from RES)
View attachment 25198
If you completed all steps above then fly to this system and check how many RESs are there, how close nearby station is to those RESs. Best situation is when you find asteroid field with 3 or more RESs. 4 is very good. Also note of RES Intensity:

RES Intensity mainly dictates no. of ships that will spawn at given RES, but also dictates their combat skill. You will find Harmless/Mostly Harmless/Competent ships inside Low Intensity RES, and you will find Dangerous/Deadly/Elite ships at High Intensity. RES without Intensity prefix is considered Medium Intensity RES. Hazardous RES are special ones - there are no Security Forces here so you will have to defend yourself as no one will come by and help you. You will often see miners fighting pirates - that is the best situation to start a fight as pirates will be focused on that miner.
For solo BH the best site is High Intensity RES.

Congrats! You have just found good Bounty Hunting RES

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3. RES BH equipment and loadout

Ship	I would recommend Viper, Cobra or Vulture with an emphasis on Vulture - that is in my opinion the best cheap ship you can use for BH .
Weapons	Definitely get energy based ones on your ship, preferably best class you can install. Laser because you will not have to fly back and forth to rearm, and it's very important to stay in RES as long as you can, you will read about that later on. Fixed or Gimballed? Well it depends on your skills and your ship agility. I would recommend Gimballed ones for start and when you will feel confident with fighting then switch to fixed ones - trust me, it's better to know how to fight with them. On my Vulture I had 2x fixed D3 Pulse Lasers and it was more than enough to beat every NPC ship that had bounty in RES .
Shields	You will be fighting with big ships so try to get the best ones you can install on your ship.
Sensors	Install best ones cause more range you can scan = faster finding of wanted ships.
Shield Cells Banks	Can be useful in some situations with those Elite Anacondas . Be sure to also grab some Heat Sink's as SCB will increase ship temperature vastly!
Power Plant and Power Distributor	You will be using energy-based weapons so again install best ones you can get.
Kill Warrant Scanner	Install one with 2km range (class E), you will fly close to those wanted ships anyway so no point in wasting available power. Scan every wanted ship you plan to attack!

Anything more is purely optional and up to you

. Now fly to that zone you just discovered and read next point.
Or you can use a Python fitted for Bounty Hunting which can be found below, enjoy!
http://inara.cz/cmdr-fleet/7246/17167

4. Recognizing pros and cons of a zone

When flying into a RES you must know that you are entering an instance that is generated for you, or you enter instance of another player if there is any. Preferably get to a zone that has no players or switch to Solo/Private group mode. I prefer flying alone so it's purely up to you if you will be flying in wing or not. Most of the time flying alone = more credits/h.
So you just entered your RES instance, you are propably around 10-30 km away from current RES point, so start flying close to it, ships should start to show up.
Now this is important, from what I've discovered there are 3 different types of wanted ship spawns that can happen (and 1 unique to Haz-RES), and when they happen then you only get that type of spawn as long as you stay in that RES. Engaging FSD and jumping to supercruise will reset RES instance and flying to same zone again can trigger another type of spawn. List of spawns I discovered are below:

Type of spawn	Ships you will encounter
Big Ship spawn	Clipper, Dropship, Python, Anaconda, Fer-de-lance
Small Ship spawn	Sidewinder, Adder, Viper, Eagle, Cobra, Imperial Eagle, Diamondback's, Asp
Mixed spawn	All above
Hazardous spawn	All above + FAS + FGS + More wings

How to get spawn you want?
You are looking for situation, when first wanted ship you will scan will be from Big Ship spawn list! It can mean that you just got Big Ship spawn! Scan that one and engage him, then look for another wanted ship, it also needs to be from Big Ships spawn list to be completely sure of this. If you stay here for 15 minutes and never see small wanted ship then you've just hit jackpot! Big ships yield most amount of credits.
If it happens that you got small ships or mixed then quit to menu and enter game again or engage FSD and jump to other RES. Exiting to menu is way faster tho

(kinda cheaty but this is how game works anyway).
When you recognize that you got Big Ship spawn then it is best and most profitable situation for you. All wanted ships that will fly to this zone will have bounty ranging from 50.000cr to 400.000cr! Avoid those Small Ship spawns at all costs, it is waste of your time!

5. [Power Play] Maximizing payout's
Some selected Powers have great bonuses for Bounty Hunters, those are (check link's for more info about them):

Power	Bonus at Rating 5
Arissa Lavigny-Duval	120% in Controlled and Exploited systems
Zachary Hudson	100%
Archon Delaine	100%

They all differ from each other a bit, but all of them give bonuses for Bounty Hunting. Let's take a look at ALD bonuses:
View attachment 98621

I couldn't get these fast without Rating 5 in ALD:
View attachment 70652 View attachment 70653 View attachment 70652

Because:

Your payouts are increased by 20% in Controlled/Exploited Systems
Your payouts are increased by 20/30/40/50% depending on current standing (standing 5 by time of editing this) on Rating 2 OR increased by 100% on Rating 5

Example:
So say you destroy an Anaconda worth 350.000cr after KWS scan:
350.000 * 2 * 1.2 = 840.000cr - that's how much you will get if you get Rating 5 with ALD.
350.000 * 1.4 * 1.2 = 588.000cr - that's how much you will get at Rating 2 with ALD standing value of 2. See the difference?
If you want to do Power Play then please visit this thread and go to your Power of choice subreddit where you will find all needed info. That way you will gain merits faster and do things that are only good for your Power.

6. General tips and tactics

Don't enter RES when it's covered in dark, you will propably smash on that asteroid belt, they are very hard to spot in complete darkness, even with ship lights on. You can still raise gamma in graphics options but I would not recommend flying in darkness anyway.
Always scan your target with KWS before you engage him, that way you will get much more bounty for him!
Don't hunt in RES when there are other player already hunting, you will propably waste time as big ships tend to spawn in low numbers. Solo BH gives most credits after all.
When first entering RES, scan every miner ship you will encounter. That way you will know which ships to avoid scanning again later.
Avoid scanning these for bounties: Type-6, Type-7, Type-9, Keelback
Check your Contacts tab every now and then for any new contacts, you are looking for not scanned ships from this list: Clipper, Dropship, Python, Anaconda. When one of it show up, it will be definitely wanted.
Don't fly very close to RES point, instead fly in range of 15-20km from it, most of the time wanted ships spawn away from current RES point.
When searching for target, put 4 pips in engine to fly around faster.
When engaging any big ships, always select Power Generator subsystem to kill your target quicker, you will find yourself destroying Anacondas far quicker that way.
Don't get yourself killed easily! Try not to smash on rocks or other ships, only use turbo boost when there is space in front of you. Also, when you see Deadly or Elite Anaconda then wait for local security to engage it first, remember that you don't have to finish that ship alone, just make most of damage or make finishing shot by yourself!
When you cannot find any wanted ship then look around for shoots like here:

Shots fired from beyond the range of my scanner, better launch turbo boost and check it out
View attachment 25207

They are definitely engaging some kind of big ship so engage turbo and go destroy him before they do! Next wanted ship will propably show up close to that one.
Very often you will find wanted NPC ships drop their cargo as you engage them, do not collect this cargo as you will often be scanned by Security ships and it is better to not be scanned with illegal cargo onboard.
Community Goals related to killing pirates are also great way to gain extra credits from killing pirates. Usually in system where you grab community mission there is RES, but not always. Watch out on Open play for those sites because there will be usually many players flying here. Usually you can go out of that sector and kill pirates in other ones, only bounties for specified power are count - extra credits you gain by scanning ships with KWS are not.
Also, while you are doing that community goal, while scanning and killing ships you will get bounties for other powers (Empire, Alliance, Feds) - after few hundred kills you will propably have about 3-5 milion credits to get from that power, you can use that bounty vouchers in next community goal if it happens that you have to kill pirates in Federal systems for example and have nice kickstart that way!
Have fun! Some may like to trade, some may like to hunt, find what fits you most and gather fun from this game as I do .

7. Credits

This guide is applicable for version 2.0.04 of Elite: Dangerous and was made all by myself. I will try to update that guide if something changes in ongoing updates. All informations written above are just from my personal experience of flying in RES'es, so there may be some errors. I have killed over 13000 ships in RES'es and earned 2.000.000.000 credits from BH so I think I have some experience with them

.
If you have any suggestions or other tips then feel free to PM me and I will include them here!

mb GieNkoV
v2.0.04
27-01-2016

AdrianRoss · Mar 29, 2015

Well done for this Guide, have some Rep!.
I have made over 20 million credits on a Vulture alone in RESs and this guide pretty much summarizes my own experience in this tactic.

Ageudum · Mar 29, 2015

This is a pretty decent, accurate, informative guide on RES bounty hunting - great work!

The one thing I would look into is the quality of belts and how they affect the bounties of pirates inside them. According to what I've read (and what I've experienced, although not in great detail) the higher quality the belt is, the higher the bounties of pirates that run around inside the RES. So, ideally, bounty hunters will want to find an RES located within a pristine belt.

You might also want to consider compiling a list of good systems to bounty hunt in. One such system that I've recently discovered is named Njikan. It has two planets with pristine belts, but the best part of the system is that a station is located ~1.5LS from one of the RES sites - literally less than a minute of time spent in supercruise to get to and fro!

butt3rkeks · Apr 1, 2015

Ageudum said:
This is a pretty decent, accurate, informative guide on RES bounty hunting - great work!

Indeed, have some rep OP

Ageudum said:
The one thing I would look into is the quality of belts and how they affect the bounties of pirates inside them. According to what I've read (and what I've experienced, although not in great detail) the higher quality the belt is, the higher the bounties of pirates that run around inside the RES. So, ideally, bounty hunters will want to find an RES located within a pristine belt.[...]

Not really sure about that. After a couple of tests "major reserve" labeled systems were able to produce the best or highest bounty and most stable spawns. Pristine labeled systems seem to be between major and common. This is just an impression after about 5 major, pristine and common labeled each though

Khaelmin · Apr 1, 2015

This is a great guide OP, you deserve some rep. I've been bounty hunting since the beginning, and there's nothing more I could add, as you've pretty much covered every tip and strategy. Especially the no flying in the dark one. The ship lights are next to useless, their range is so short that they only reveal to you the inevitable. The fact that you're going to smack into an asteroid. An expensive lesson to learn.

My favorite locations for bounty hunting are Sol (you get the permit pretty early on, once you do some missions for the Federation). Columbus station is really close to Jupiter, which has 3 RES. An added plus is that the system itself is decently good for trading, as it's a refinery, so metals of all kinds can be found here. Alternatively, if trading is not your cup of tea and you're bored with mindlessly killing ships in the RES, there are plenty of assassination missions being offered at the 7 or more stations Sol has.

On the Empire side, Almad is a good system, no permit required. It has the large station Heinkel City close to a gas giant with 3 RES. It's also a high tech and refinery system, surrounded by other extraction systems, which again means some good trading and outfitting. Good system for beginner players.

Hope this helps, cheers!

Ommasaur · Apr 1, 2015

This is a great guide, +rep to you. I have actually tricked my python out for combat and hunt RES's more than trading these days. It's more fun and just as lucrative (mostly).

Jayce · Apr 1, 2015

Thank you for this guide.

Just curious; what is the significance of Gas Giants?

GieNkoV · Apr 1, 2015

Any planet with rings and any reserves will propably be good, but Gas Giants tend to have rings more often than rocky planets, and that is why I wrote to find Gas Giants

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jockmcplop · Apr 9, 2015

I'm bumping this thread because its awesome.
Good work

Kemper525 · Apr 9, 2015

Solid guide, can't agree more with the recommendation to never hunt in the dark.

As a newer pilot, you can even bounty hunt like this with an Eagle. It's my fast-track to a Vulture and beyond.

xKilljoyx · Apr 10, 2015

Kemper525 said:
Solid guide, can't agree more with the recommendation to never hunt in the dark.

As a newer pilot, you can even bounty hunt like this with an Eagle. It's my fast-track to a Vulture and beyond.

Great guide and another +1 to avoid hunting in the dark. I bounced off an asteroid unexpectedly trying to fly through the belt in the dark and had to creep my way out of mass lock to get back into supercruise while my shields recharged.

have rep OP!

Djinn144 · Apr 10, 2015

yes good info and the spawns are spot on from my experience also. one additional thing i do is if i have room i make sure i have at least 1 ton of gold in the hold so if im already attacking a bounty and another pirate scans me he wants the cargo and attacks making him red and easy to find once you kill your original target.

JohnLuke · Apr 25, 2015

Outstanding guide, GieNkoV! I had tinkered with some bounty hunting at nav beacons before, and found myself in a system with an RES when I ran across your guide. I've done a few BH sessions at the RES this weekend, and am having a BLAST (pun intended).

fleetstreet · Apr 25, 2015

If you attack a lot of ships (i.e. the small ones) then your kill count grows and you get closer to Elite status.

When you attack ships, your local system reputation goes up and down depending on the factions you are killing. Most systems have an enemy clan who you'll eventually end up HOSTILE status against. I've seen waves of seven of those clan ships roll in, it can be fun to stomp those before they bleed away your shields. At the same time you usually increase your reputation to ALLIED with the system main clan, I like to think that helps, but at least it turns allied ships green on the scanner etc. Eventually your HOSTILE status gets annoying as you get interrupted wasting the big ships by little gnatty eagles etc. You can then cut your losses and jump to another system and start again there. It also helps to do one or two missions in the local bulletin board to up your status to ALLIED etc.

If you accidentally forget to scan first and end up shooting a wanted ship without getting the WANTED status warrant first, you will get a bounty on yourself. You need to clear that in the local station and to do that you need to frame shift in, engine boost like crazy towards it and dock before the local enforcer ships scan you and revoke your docking priviledges. If that happens, boost away, frame shift out, immediately turn around and try docking again. Don't shoot any of the enforcing ships, it'll make your bounty worse.

If you have a wing of ships attacking you, aim for the weakest ones first... eagles, sidewinders, adders, vipers and then cobras. Each ship you kill removes another laser bleeding down your shields. If you kill the strongest ship in a wing, often the others will frame shift away to survive. That's no fun. The little ships increase your kill count faster, the big ones increase your credits... you can choose which benefit you want.

The power plant and power distributor should be A4 rated to give you the maximum capabilities. You can juggle different shield banks, shield generators, hull reinforcements and military composites etc to beef up your ship. I prefer gimballed beam lasers myself as they track faster than you can turn so you can always sap down their targets defences.

Uplifes · Apr 25, 2015

I apologize for my bad English . Could you name a few systems with RES, belonging to the Empire ?
Where convenient hunts
Thank you

fleetstreet · Apr 26, 2015

I've never been to the Empire.

Fly there. Travel to gas giant planets (use a discovery scanner to find them if it's unexplored)

Find RES zones around them.

Find one with a station close to resupply.

Repeat.

requ1em · Apr 27, 2015

Good post. I have been doing this grind for the last couple of months and its good fun and training for someone who like combat!

GieNkoV · Apr 28, 2015

Community Goals related to killing pirates are also great way to gain extra credits from killing pirates. Usually in system where you grab community mission there is RES, but not always. Watch out on Open play for those sites because there will be usually many players flying here. Usually you can go out of that sector and kill pirates in other ones, only bounties for specified power are count - extra credits you gain by scanning ships with KWS are not.
Also, while you are doing that community goal, while scanning and killing ships you will get bounties for other powers (Empire, Alliance, Feds) - after few hundred kills you will propably have about 3-5 milion credits to get from that power, you can use that bounty vouchers in next community goal if it happens that you have to kill pirates in Federal systems for example and have nice kickstart that way!

yyy · Apr 28, 2015

You should ask for this thread to be moved to the Guides and Tutorials sub-forum.

Colombe · Apr 28, 2015

Hello.

With a friend, we play in wing. It's not the best way to earn money in RES, because the primes are divided, but it's not the subject...

At the beginning of our play session, we split into different RES instances, leaving/entering again until one of us finds a "good" spot. He then calls the other, and we start our hunt together.
But I noticed that, as soon as the other one joins the instance, we often start to see "small" ships!
And once, I was the "instance creator", but I had to leave because of a stupid friendly fire... My friend started to see ONLY have small ships as soon as I left!

So, I tend to think that the type of RES is not related to an instance, but to a player... When multiple players are in a RES, each of them has his own "RES type" ruling the incoming ships. We don't have twice the number of incoming ships because we are 2, so somehow the decision of the type of an incoming ship is based on a choice between the 2 player's "RES type".

Anyways, thanks for your guide, it deserved the Rep gain!