The Bounty Hunting & Bounties tips, and general discussion thread

[David frm Operations]

Welcome to real life. Boring, repetative, tedious and somewhat technical tasks pay better than exciting things. Sitting on an oil freighter for a month is boring, but pays well, the company that owns it risks 130 million+ cash, plus the cost of the oil it carries every time it sets to sea. When they deliver, they make good money on each trip around 5+ million profit per trip. Dog, the bounty hunter guy on TV tracks down lowlifes, I doubt he makes 5 million profit a year, likely he barely clears 200K per year if that and the show likely made him more money than the bounty hunting.

So, you can make a lot of cash doing something boring and repetative or make less cash and have more excitement and fun. Or, you can take a balance and say truck for a day or so to build cash then go shooting scum the other 6 nights of the week.

 

[Iskariot]

I do bounty hunting because I like it.
I don't play the game to get the maximum amount of money in the least amount of time. This game is not a race for me. It is an experience.
Initially I wanted to start out with trading, but when I discovered how much fun it was to do some hunting in an upgraded Sidewinder I decided to improve my combat skills first. Now I have a fully upgraded Viper and I am still in the bounty hunting business. It simply is fun. Perhaps I won't be flying an Anaconda soon, but who cares. My primary goal is fun.
I will soon buy a Cobra, while storing my Viper. I plan to do some trading with the Cobra and of course I want to experience how she handles in combat.

 

[carlisle]

I do bounty hunting because I like it.
I don't play the game to get the maximum amount of money in the least amount of time. This game is not a race for me. It is an experience.
Initially I wanted to start out with trading, but when I discovered how much fun it was to do some hunting in an upgraded Sidewinder I decided to improve my combat skills first. Now I have a fully upgraded Viper and I am still in the bounty hunting business. It simply is fun. Perhaps I won't be flying an Anaconda soon, but who cares. My primary goal is fun.
I will soon buy a Cobra, while storing my Viper. I plan to do some trading with the Cobra and of course I want to experience how she handles in combat.

True, I mean it might be preferable if the careers were roughly equal in terms of investment required and earning potential, so that people can switch, and people who have been successful bounty-hunters don't have to go to square one and grind away should they want to trade. However people who want to Bounty-hunt shouldn't feel that the game is forcing them into trading because by being a bounty-hunter they're 'losing'.

 

[hobostick]

I dont think I would call myself a bounty hunter, Im more of an entrepreneur. I do mostly bounty hunting but also some buliten board missions and trading on the side. Im still at an early stage in the game so im not into the millions yet. But so far from early experience I enjoy and make the most CR from bounty hunting compared to trading per hour.

I think the tables turned for me when I upgraded to the Viper and found some profitable hunting grounds. I finally picked up on a few hints here and there on the fourms, to go check out the resource extraction zones for bountys. Now I mine pirates for a decent payout.

I guess I cant really be objective on trading because I havent given it a red hot go. But I cant see myself enjoying it as much.

If your not happy with the cash your making do something that earns you more.

 

[Karthik]

But we don't want linear scaling like you find in "Elder Scrolls," for example. It's very immersion-breaking when EVERY opponent you meet is matched to your level.

Completely agreed. This is why I don't mind at all that some of my bounties are $1000 Eagles.

RNG is needed, but the upper end number just doesn't seem to scale

Bounty hunting needs to be improved. I like "space trucking" as well, but I do like to do a few runs, then jump in my Viper and go hunting. Problem is, there simply isn't enough hot zones where targets can be found imo.

Space trucking does have its fun, I'll admit. I like thinking about optimal routes and weight for my freighter (I've totally forgone guns, but still retain chaffs... Just in case). But it's nowhere near bounty hunting! That's how I feel anyway.

Can someone explain how hot zones work for me? I don't quite understand what they are/how to find them/how to profit.

It's based off the galactic news net articles yes?

I dont think I would call myself a bounty hunter, Im more of an entrepreneur. I do mostly bounty hunting but also some buliten board missions and trading on the side. Im still at an early stage in the game so im not into the millions yet. But so far from early experience I enjoy and make the most CR from bounty hunting compared to trading per hour.

If your not happy with the cash your making do something that earns you more.

This illustrates my point very well. Bounty hunting is really great till you get an A kit viper (or cobra). It scales decently well in that good luck getting down an anaconda with a D kit viper. But after the A kit viper.. Now what?

I guess it comes down the point of do you NEED cash. To the points that others (and I myself) made - you actually don't need that much cash in reserve for bounty hunting. Call me American, but I like having a big bank account (virtually if not in reality).

Since credits play a central role in this (and every) game, I'd love to see bounty hunting be an equally great way to make $.

In essence, I would like to do what I like and still make money. But as others pointed out, maybe this will just never happen and this makes me sad

 

[Dremx]

Bounty hunting doesn't scale because the amount of fine issued doesn't scale. I've been bounty hunting for half a month now and highest bounty I've seen is 40k. Unless they revamp the system nothing will change. To start, fine should be directly proportional to the value of victim's ship/cargo when applicable. For example, let's say someone pirates a trader and robs him of his cargo, then the amount of fine incurred when the crime is reported should be proportional to the value of the cargo stolen. Similarly, say someone destroys a ship. Fine incurred should be proportional to the value of the ship including all modules and cargo. Judging by how slowly things change in game though, I wouldn't hold my breath on it.

My first bounties ever was a wanted anaconda with a 49k reward. It only had multicannon and its effective distance was about 2km so I outranged it with my stock sidewinder from start. Took a hell of a long time but I think I exploited the game technically.

 

[redmantab]

Killing wanted npcs with bounty in OTHER system from KWS -how NOT get wanted MYSELF?

So how do I kill a pilot if he's clean in the system I'm in, but has a bounty in another, and not get a bounty myself. I find a guy, inspect him with my KWS...it shows he is wanted in other systems but he's clean in my system. Every time I kill him I earn the bouny from the system im NOT IN but I get one because he was clean in the system I shot him down in. I obviously still want to take him out right and earn the bounty? Should I? how do I do so without getting one on my own head? Whats the best approach here?

 

[Mr. Bridger]

Seems to me that the best place to use the KWS is in Anarchy systems. If he's not wanted in the current system then the local feds are going to blame you for starting a scrap.

 

[Zylark]

Think of it this way - if a criminal on the loose in the US got a nice hefty bounty on him, that makes it perfectly legal for US bounty hunters to track him down and return him to the nearest police-department. If however that same criminal packs up his gear and goes chasing polar-bears in Canada, and a US bounty hunter tracks him down and captures him for transport back to the US, that bounty hunter would then under Canadian laws be guilty of kidnapping and if caught may very well got to prison himself.

So to in Elite. If you find someone who is wanted by the Federation, but he is hanging out with his buddies in the Evil Empire, then attacking him is very much a crime in the eyes of the Empire and their minions.

 

[cameirus]

I like bounty hunting, though I tend to ignore the missions for it as they are too much hassle, just head to a nav beacon, or resource extraction point and chain kill NPCs, sure it may be less credits than trading, (though I doubt that for starting players as my default sidewinder gets 150K+ for 30mins of random killing), its pretty easy, but so much more fun than just space trucking.

Trucking is fine, but I prefer a bit more action. And it provides an income that easily covers my costs. I may not be the richest pilot in the galaxy, but what do I care? I have enough to play how I want and thats all that matters. the occasional repairs, an insurance fee on the rare occasions when I do something silly (like accidentally shoot a system ship....), and thats all I costs me.

Ok, I'm fairly new, and I just use the default sidewinder (added a fuel scoop in place of discovery scanner as thats so much more convenient to skim a sun for a few secs than it is to fly and doc with a station) (insurance cost 15! lol), and I have 2million in the bank....suppose I should upgrade to something soon, just not decided what

 

[Topsie]

Yeah, find yourself a nice Anarchy System, scan hostiles witht he KWS and go crazy.

It means you may have to travel some to "deliever" some bounties, but its still a very nice way of getting Credits

 

[Karthik]

Ok, I'm fairly new, and I just use the default sidewinder (added a fuel scoop in place of discovery scanner as thats so much more convenient to skim a sun for a few secs than it is to fly and doc with a station) (insurance cost 15! lol), and I have 2million in the bank....suppose I should upgrade to something soon, just not decided what

Viper all the way. I really like it much better than the cobra for bounty hunting. An A kit viper is amazing.

 

[Vess]

Bounty hunting is my fun, have a pimped Viper and lo of fun to fly, thinking on a cobra & wish had one today.
Decided try bounty hunting USS and popped into one to find 10 canister Imperial slaves & other valuables, along with bounties collected would have been a extremely
profitable run if had kitted Cobra

 

[amigo]

new in the game no way of giving up bounty hunting

remember my first play a few days ago, entering a USS and discovering an expert or elite anaconda with my sidewinder lol, luckily there were lots of police which kept the guy busy and i just shot at him with my beam lasers. Then killed the ship when he was at 1% Hull. Got over 100k bounty. Never seen such a high bounty again, got very lucky

 

[Seren77]

Those pirate lord type missions should be 500k not 150-180k, conflict zones at 3k per ship is so low since ships seem a lot stronger than normal in those zones, killing an anaconda for 3k is disheartening.

I think a lot of people will do what I did, even though I prefer bounty hunting, I bounty hunted in eagle till I got viper, then hunted till I got cobra then started doing rare runs to kit out the cobra. Now I'm a bounty hunter who drives a lakon type 6 and delivers milk for a living. I kept my cobra and I think I'm going to buy an eagle and bounty hunt for fun in that.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

-- Deleted --

 

[Rall]

Go into an Anarchy System and head for a resource extraction site (if inhabited) or a Resource Belt Cluster (if uninhabited).

If made 500k in an uninhabited Anarchy Resource Belt Cluster within about 60 Minutes and didn't even engage all targets.
There's a script in place that gives you a ~50% chance of getting 2 Pirates coming for you at all times. They'll properly scan you or even each other for Cargo with all expected results.

Seen quite a number of bigger ships spawning, too, so you should get a pretty decent workout fighting there (max. Bounty I got was 120k for a single kill).
I didn't try to engage i.e. a Python and an Anaconda at once

It's the highest return from bounty hunting I've ever seen anywhere in the game. Plus, being Anarchy - you'll never get your entire System surrounding hostile to you or ever fined for anything. Good hunting grounds.
(System was HIP 69793, requires prior exploration with Discovery Scanner; Resource Belt Clusters all located 2000Ls around the Sun; a Planetary ring should do as well however; SuperCruise instance itself was usually empty)

That's that only System that ever forced me to go "Combat mining", as it was a Pristine Metallic System (even saw a >70% Platinum King there).
Reconfigured my ASP after several ruined mining runs to return some of the favor - with above result

The only caviat - you'll end up with tons of bounty from Federation/Empire/Alliance and will have to travel to cash that in.

Anyway, a dedicated hunter in a (hopefully) very capable ship can make Millions there. And for as long as your Cargo bay remains empty - you can pick your targets; or occasionally grab Popcorn and see 2 NPCs battle it out amongst themselves (cheap Kill-Stealing off them always being an Option ).

Right now hauling stuff around in my Type-7, but I do plan to take a Python back to that exact place for some action afterwards...

This works a treat - I've often cashed in close to 500k of bounties after 40-60 minutes of whomping Pirates. Highest bounty I've taking was a deadly Anaconda at a RES site, 170K after KWS scanning, it was 90k prior to the scan.

It's the steady stream of 15-20k Pirate Cobra's that build up the big totals.

 

[Karthik]

This works a treat - I've often cashed in close to 500k of bounties after 40-60 minutes of whomping Pirates. Highest bounty I've taking was a deadly Anaconda at a RES site, 170K after KWS scanning, it was 90k prior to the scan.

It's the steady stream of 15-20k Pirate Cobra's that build up the big totals.

Everything builds up, some more efficiently than others. Again, I've had these bounties etc, that's how I got 3 mil + for my viper. But after that.. it's a wall. This kind of income isn't enough purchasing later-on stuff like a python.

Well, I guess it is enough.. it'll just take a really long time.

 

[FlyingBlind]

I've tried most professions offered by this game and trading is by far most profitable, once you find a good trade route that is only a couple jumps and yields over half a mil per trip you can make more money than in any of the other professions. I find trading to be most tedious task and treat it only as means to get better ships and abandon is as soon as possible. Once I get bored I go and trade again to buy better ships. I don't think I would be able to afford nearly as much if it wasn't for trading. IMHO this is not the best balance, BH and BB missions should be far more profitable later on to compare, because at first they are at similar levels, but as cargo space grows so does the difference between profits and soon traders earn much more.

 

[Cevap]

A lot would add to the bounty hunting if the missions required you to interdict targets instead of constantly stop at USS :S God I hope those are only placeholders.