Getting Started as a Bounty Hunter

[captainbrian]

I've restarted a couple of games and have been having trouble with becoming a bounty hunter. Can anyone give me any tips?

I'm not sure where to go or how to initiate bounty contracts or even how to make money.

Each game I only find meager ($1,000 to $2,000) contracts that don't even pay for repairs/fuel. I do them anyway, end up angering different factions, and then end up with a bounty on MY head and labelled a criminal!

Last game I ran out of fuel and the crew mutinied because I couldn't find a friendly port to buy more fuel.

So far I love this game, actually bought 2 copies of it, one for my phone and one for my kindle fire. My only complaint is that it is extremely "user unfriendly" and hard for newbies like me to get into. I haven't found a single "getting started guide" anywhere to give me a rundown of what my first 15 to 20 min of gameplay should be like, and I've read what few guides do exist, but they are more like descriptions of different gameplay aspects, not really a walkthrough of gameplay...

[shallowthought]

I quite like the bounty hunter as a profession. Here's how I play (on higher difficulties):

To start off, don't bother with any kill/capture missions - it won't go well and as you have noticed, they don't pay well enough to cover the cost of repairs. By "to start off", I mean until you get your second ship. Stick with delivery contracts. Take multiple contracts at a time, use the map I posted here to plan out your route. Try to stay in the top-left corner of the map until your fuel consumption drops enough to be able to fly through red sectors efficiently.

I put xp into pilot first, then stealth until both are at at least 9. Then intimidate, tactics and finally warrior. I generally level up evenly, keeping pilot/stealth a few points ahead of the other skills. Explore/negotiate are useless, don't waste points on them.

There's no point in making enemies early on - pick a few factions to work for and gain +ve rep and buy pardons frequently with the others. Pardon cost is 120 * rep * rep, so the sooner you get them, the cheaper they are. Avoid trade embargoes like the plague and take advantage of trade alliances where possible. Never sell records during a spy war as it leads to a net loss in rep.

For your second ship, I try to get >=30 engines and sails, lowish crew and a decent sized crew. This lets you go for long range contracts which tend to pay a lot better. If you can get five contracts from one side of the map to the other, you can make a few hundred k in a couple of years.

If you can, recruit officers early when you have no money - their fee is based mainly on how much cash you have. My record so far is $6 for a pilot. As a bounty hunter, you probably want a pilot and bounty hunter officer. For the third officer I tend to get a mechanic for the convenience factor, but you might want to go for the military or templar officer if you don't mind flying with a few damaged sails.

Once you've got to about level 10 and bought a decent ship, don't confine yourself to just bounty hunter contracts - just go by price. If some cadar idiot wants to pay you 100k to deliver a message over 40AU, there's no point in turning him down to kill someone closer for half the money.

[captainbrian]

Thanks for the awesome response!


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With leveling up would you say it's like this:


100% of XP into Pilot until Skill is at 9

Then 100% of XP into Stealth until Skill is at 9

Then onward split evenly between Pilot, Stealth, Intimidate, Tactics, and Warrior?
Or spend 100% XP on Intimidate till 9, then Tactics till 9, then Warrior till 9, and THEN split evenly between them all but with a bias towards Pilot and Stealth?

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Any tips on avoiding negative rep when doing contracts? Should I never destroy the ship? Should I run when possible instead of fighting in random encounters? Is it safe to fight faction pirates, or will that impact my rep? Is it safe to destroy the ships of faction pirates?

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Lastly, how do I find planets quickly in-game? I've been having to long-press every planet in the vicinity and I end up getting frustrated and just ignoring rumored planets. A search feature would be appreciated, or a listing of planets like master of orion had, one that shows faction, faction standing, distance, and required fuel would be awesome.


Thanks again for the help!



EDIT: Removed question about officers, found some threads with info on the subject.

[shallowthought]

Put all xp into pilot until about 6 or so, then evenly between pilot/stealth until both at 9. Basically, at the start you won't be winning any fights, so first you want to run away (pilot required), but ideally you don't want to get hit by torps either (stealth). Boarding is kind of risky, so I go for warrior last. Tactics will allow you to use guns in combat so I go for that after pilot/stealth. Intimidate is useful for getting down fuel usage in red sectors but it's up to you when you want to push points into that. Pilot/stealth are definitely the most useful skills to any profession.

With contracts, you pretty much always lose rep unless they're against independents (and a lot of contracts advertised as against independents turn out to be against factions - a political officer will notify you of this). Destroying ships will give a greater loss of rep, as will looting. You can happily kill pirates with no loss of rep unless they are in an alliance, but loot/destroy/enslave will result in losing rep. Early on I try to run all the time until stealth is at about 15 or so unless the enemy is a few levels lower than me. Against higher level enemies you're better off surrendering than taking massive damage (works out cheaper in the long term - not only do you have to pay for repairs, you use way more fuel in the meantime).

For finding planets, have a look at the map - startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=tips&thread=1765&post=24812. I found this gave me a good overview of the quadrant - it's kind of hard to see the big picture on a small phone screen. Once you get familiar with it it's a lot easier to find your way about.

[easyrush]

I like clocking rumours for trade shortages too..I made 600k on a metal shortage one time that was on challenging though. It's just pirates. Damn might as well be aliens when your running round in a picky beggar lol but it's about 550k for a decent ship to outrun them.

[phantombudgie]

Aug 17, 2012 11:44:36 GMT -5 captainbrian said:

Any tips on avoiding negative rep when doing contracts? Should I never destroy the ship? Should I run when possible instead of fighting in random encounters? Is it safe to fight faction pirates, or will that impact my rep? Is it safe to destroy the ships of faction pirates?

Negative rep is almost unavoidable in contracts - I generally pick only contracts against two factions who will become my enemies in time. Contracts against Independents are more often than not given to you by spies, and turn out to be working against another faction which could be your own - I have managed to lose rep with 3 allied factions after one mission! The Political Officer will let you know about this, but only after you finish the mission.

I strongly agree with shallowthought on the starting method: start off by picking up four or five contracts at the same time (very early on in the game it is highly likely they are all within about 8AU) but make sure you only accept delivery of messages, packages and people. Try to avoid kill missions until you are at 12 or so with Pilot Stealth and Tactics.

Getting some military rank with your mission-giving faction generally increases the pay of missions.

[captainbrian]

Thanks for the advise everyone!

Aug 17, 2012 14:54:22 GMT -5 phantombudgie said:

Getting some military rank with your mission-giving faction generally increases the pay of missions.

This brings up another question, which factions are good to ally with as a bounty hunter? As well as which is a good starting faction?

[shallowthought]

They're meant to be evenly balanced, but I find that the syndicates are best as this gives you a contract route from the top left to bottom right of the map with plenty of high-economy planets to pick contracts up from. Steel song are the worst in terms of territory as all their decent planets are in the bottom left, but there are hardly any other planets down there so the odds of you ending up there after completing a contract are pretty low. Also, there is no doctor on Xeen prime (why is that?)

[starfixer]

Do some contracts until you have about 20k, thn go fr shrtage rumors to make enough money to pgrade your ship so you have a fghting chance at bounty contracts and in combat. Also upgrade tactics first, as high tactis allow you to easly complete (with death warrent) blockade and surveillance contracts for very good pay. However, make sure any suveillence/blockade contract is against a faction you don't like, as it causes a big rep loss. My suggestion, ally with all syndacates, and take contracts (except delivery) against clans only. Also, buy pardons if you need to make sure you don't get a neg rep with a syndacate under -10. Once your skills are high enough, you can partificpate with spy battles and solar wars, which gives you alot of rep (an xp if you have death warant/rank with other faction and high skills).

[easyrush]

If you don't want to buy a new ship or are saving for a really good one, *ahem* Templar Liner. *cough* Omega Cruiser *ahem* I quit like stealing a Pirate Skylift the engines to hull ratio upgrade very nicely with the Titan components engine +5 and extended gun decks +7 guns which can both b unlocked on free version..

[easyrush]

Then I like to get Advanced Bridge, Escape Shuttle, and Hyperion Structure on the paid version oh yes..a very good ship for the cost of repairs and upgrades x)

[rabidbite]

The Irony and sadness about criminals is that:


The video screen displays a bullet point of bounty hunter contracts types

"...can see this particular one is usually offered by those who usually just want the nuisance of the offending criminal over and done with. Kill the criminal and transmit the proof. "

The instructor paces from one side of the room to another, his grizzled scared face permanently serious and imposing.

One of the Bounty Hunter license trainees raises her hand, "Professor Garmax who offers these type of contracts the most, faction wise?"

"Though not limited to any faction, the Syndics are more into this type of justice. The clans tend to be a little more law abiding. The clans provide more capture missions then the rest."

A man in fluffy rabbit slippers raises his hand, "So ... we can't blow the ship up around the person we're trying to capture?"

The instructor narrow's his eyes, "Are you trying to be funny?"

The man tilts his head, "I don't get the whole 'capture' thing. Its rather complicated."

"If you accept a capture contract, then you MUST bring the bounty alive to the proper bounty issuing authority."

"So ... we kill the mark AFTER we get the mark to the authority in question?"

"NO. You NEVER kill the mark. You just hand the mark over!"

"What about if we just cut off a limb or two in the process?"

The instructor blinks a few times, "Alive is alive, if the cutting off some limbs happens, and you can keep your mark alive. Then that's alright."

The man scratches his leg with his foot, the bunny slipper ears flop a little.
"So, theoretically, I can decapitate a mark, stick the head into a stasis chamber, hand the chamber in question over, with a live head, and get my full pay?"

The instructor rubs his temples. Everyone can see he's had enough. "Ok wise-ass, get the fuck out."

The man doesn't move. He glances about in confusion then points a finger at himself, "What.... you want -me- to leave?"

"Yes, get the hell out. You can act stupid somewhere else."

"But I haven't gotten my bounty hunter Death Warrant license yet."

"And you'll never get it from me, mister not-so-funny man."

"I can be very funny when I want to," the man replies with a hurt expression.

"I SAID GET OUT!"

Two minutes later Rabid Rabbit walks out to the hallway, his bare feet make no noise on the floor. Down the hallway Bonnie looks up from the latest Templar Armory magazine: How to induce a nova. "What? Done already?"

"I got expelled."

"Say what? Its your first day and the class barely started twenty minutes ago!"

"It seems I have an abrasive sense of humor."

"Was it the bunny slippers? I told you those were going to really get into people's bad side."

"No, but if they did, I left them in the room just to be perverse."

Bonnie shakes his head and changes track, "So was our mark in there?"

"Yep, Garmax is alive and well. He IS the bounty instructor, if you can believe that. Not even hiding his identity. The fucker thinks he's untouchable in Steel Song controlled space. You got to give the man credit, he's got balls as big as my chainsaw."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to wait five minutes."

"For what?"

"For the tetraxenomenta poison vials lined into my floppy bunny slipper ears to eat through the lining and kill everyone inside."

Bonnie's mouth drops, "You evil humorless bastard."

Rabid Rabbit leans against the wall and sniffs in mock disdain, "I for one think I have a great sense of humor."

rabid

[Jacob]

@rabidrabbit

Incredibly awesome, ROFL! Like them, really, Hehe...

[John Robinson]

rabidbite

I've been catching up on some of your earlier adventures. This is real pro quality. Love the way you handled the dialog in this post.

You could make a whole book of short stories on the bounty hunter theme alone. So many jump off points.

Thanks for the good read.

[rabidbite]

Jun 26, 2013 20:28:38 GMT -5 John Robinson said:

rabidbite

I've been catching up on some of your earlier adventures. This is real pro quality. Love the way you handled the dialog in this post.

You could make a whole book of short stories on the bounty hunter theme alone. So many jump off points.

Thanks for the good read.

Oh thx.

There are Easter Eggs, and the Odd Rabid Rabbit adventures. Some of the easter eggs tie back to the "Odd Adventures" and vice versa.