Bounty
Bounties are rewards for destroying ships from a particular faction, eliminating the leader of a certain fleet, or destroying a base.
Both types of bounties can be found in the Intel screen, Bounties category.
Completing bounties will reward the player with credits and improved reputation with the issuing faction.
System Bounties
A market may issue a bounty to destroy ships of any hostile factions in the local area, which consists of the entire System space & the local Hyperspace area.
These bounties typically lasts for around 60 days and rewards around 1,000¢ - 2,000¢ per frigate-class hull destroyed, scaling upwards for bigger hull classes (2x for destroyer, 3x for cruisers, 5x for capitals & stations).
It is possible for a system with 2 different factions (usually one of the major Factions and Independent) to both issue a System bounty at the same time, making it possible for the player to receive pay & reputation gain from both factions for the same fleet.
Independents on player colonies with a Commerce industry will also put up a semi-permanent bounty of 500¢ per frigate if there's enough hostile activity around that colony.
Base Bounties
- For information on colony threats in general, see Colony threats.
Pirates & Luddic Path will set-up bases as places of operation in order to strike against inhabited systems, typically the Core Worlds.
These bases are located in uninhabited systems with their locations initially unknown (though it can be revealed in bar encounters), though by the time a bounty is put out against them the location would be known.
Generally speaking, bounties for Pirate Bases is much lower than Luddic Path Bases, though the former is also much more common & less dangerous overall.
Bounties for Pirate Bases is usually around 30,000¢ - 80,000¢ while for Luddic Path Bases, it can range from 100,000¢ - 300,000¢.
Personal Bounties
This section is outdated and needs to be fixed.
A market or contact may also issue a bounty against a specific person, whose flagship must be killed to claim the bounty.
Person bounty fleets spawn in uninhabited space.
The Intel screen will include:
- which ship the target are piloting
- roughly where they can be found, which typically consists of the Constellation, System type & Planet type that they are orbiting
- their fleet size
- and anything else notable about them.
Do note that they can wander quite a distance. Sometimes it is helpful to turn on the Transponder & use Active Sensor Burst, as even if you don't spot them they'll probably spot you and be along shortly, assuming that they're willing to fight.
Description Breakdown
A bounty target's description will tell you a great deal about them, including their rough skill level as well details about what one of their skills are (note: only one skill will be described, in the same order of priority as the skill table below):
| Description | Character skill level |
|---|---|
| "an unremarkable officer" | 5 or lower |
| "a capable officer" | 6 - 10 |
| "highly capable" | 11 - 15 |
| "exceptionally capable" | 15 or more |
| Description | Skill |
|---|---|
| "having a high number of skilled subordinates" | Officer Management |
| "being proficient in electronic warfare" | Electronic Warfare |
| "a noteworthy level of skill in running carrier operations" | Fighter Doctrine |
| "a high effectiveness in coordinating the maneuvers of ships during combat" | Coordinated Maneuvers |
| "an otherwise unremarkable officer" | Any other skill or no skills at all |
Level
Personal bounties have a hidden level element which is abstractly displayed as fleet size. The bounty level is used to determine the bounty fleet size, reward and whether they could be deserters. The base level is 0, maxing out at 10. It is increased by the player completing personal bounties.
| Bounty Level | Fleet Size | Bounties completed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | small | 2 |
| 2 | 4 | |
| 3 | medium | 6 |
| 4 | 9 | |
| 5 | 12 | |
| 6 | large | 15 |
| 7 | 18 | |
| 8 | 22 | |
| 9 | very large | 27 |
| 10 | 33 |
Type
Bounties above level 3 (6 completed person bounties) could potentially be deserters instead of pirates. Deserters have equipment from one of the major factions rather than the low-quality gear pirates use, and thus can be much harder.
Contact may also give some unique bounties too, such as:
Strength
The leader (bounty target) will have a character skill level of 5 + 150% of current bounty level (rounded down).
Their fleet is generated based on a quality factor of bounty level / 10 (so it'll start garbage, but reach 100% quality at max bounty level). It will have 5 + (bounty level * 4) fleet points of combat ships. It may include 1 extra officer (or 2 at max level). Officers levels are the bounty level directly. It won't have any civilian ships.
Reward
Reward is a base of 30,000¢ credits + 10,000¢ per bounty level + up to 9,000¢ as a random extra + 10% per stability point.
Which market issues the bounty is weighted towards the Headquarters and also towards Military markets.
Deserters cause an additional 50% bump in bounty payout.
Contact / Bar Bounties
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- For more information, see Generic missions.
The player can also obtain bounties from Bar encounters or from developed Contacts, these gives a variety of missions that are similar yet different from Intel bounties.
The following missions can be obtained from both bar encounters & contacts:
- A system bounty that targets an uninhabited system with a Pirate Base and last longer than typical system bounties.
- A Military bounty similar to Personal bounty, except the player can choose from 1 out of 3 options.
- An Underworld bounty, which is similar to the Military bounty except it targets a fleet of a major faction, along with all the difficulties associated with it.
The following missions can only be obtained from contacts:
- A Derelict bounty similar to Personal bounty, except it targets a Derelict fleet.
- A Remnant bounty similar to Personal bounty, except it targets a Remnants fleet, usually in a warning beacon system too.
- A Station bounty similar to Base bounty, except it targets a station (often a Star Fortress) belonging to a rival faction.
Commission Bounties
Having a commission to a Faction will reward the player with credits every time the player destroys ships from a faction that their commissioned faction is Hostile with.
It is possible to "double-dip" with this when doing System or Personal bounties.
Do note that the amount rewarded is usually lower than other bounties.
Notes
- Bounty can have payments withheld if the player's relationship with the faction is Inhospitable or worse, and the reputation gain will also be blocked if the relationship is Vengeful.
- Pay attention to any other bounties that are in the same general area. A bounty you decide is within your fleet's capabilities may unexpectedly have backup from another bounty fleet, which can turn a relatively easy fight into losing the majority of your fleet as you flee from a swarm of enemies.
Change History
0.9
- System bounties:
- Some of the faction's patrols pull back to defend the main colony for the duration
- Gives bounty hunters more room to operate
- Person bounty:
- Removed level-based scaling
- Added slight time-based scaling
- Person bounties:
- Stronger "deserter" type appears after completing slightly more bounties
- Increased strength of higher-level bounties
