Bounty Hunter Strategies

[bookworm21]

fallen it didn't seem a little too good to be true

On the other hand, if you fail the 'find the target' test you fail the mission and still lose rep.

[grävling]

Back to the strategy. Does a successful bounty hunter make a certain amount of money doing something else, like trading or escorting prisoners to prison planets, or exploring, and then buy gear for his or her team, and then get down to the real business of capturing people in spice halls, wilderness areas and whatnot? If so, how much cash do you need to amass before this is a good idea?

Or can you just start trying to capture people and know that it will get easier the better gear you can afford?

Or?

Currently my BH career is stalled on account of repeated unexpected repairs needed for my ship. Shalun Blast all Rychart Pirates to the Hells!

[Brutus Aurelius]

Feb 13, 2017 14:54:25 GMT -5 grävling said:

Back to the strategy. Does a successful bounty hunter make a certain amount of money doing something else, like trading or escorting prisoners to prison planets, or exploring, and then buy gear for his or her team, and then get down to the real business of capturing people in spice halls, wilderness areas and whatnot? If so, how much cash do you need to amass before this is a good idea?

Or can you just start trying to capture people and know that it will get easier the better gear you can afford?

Or?

Currently my BH career is stalled on account of repeated unexpected repairs needed for my ship. Shalun Blast all Rychart Pirates to the Hells!

I would say doing some trade in higher value goods can help offset the fuel cost of interquadrant travel. I also like to either start with a higher Experience priority, or do message running or prisoner transport to amass some cash. What I like to do it outfit at least the Officer in charge of the away team and my Captain with special gear from Contacts. As the coffers fill and patrolmen get enough experience to regularly survive combat, I outfit the rest of them.

[resistor]

A. Skills (10 Rifles, 8 Command, 5 Stealth)

B. Attributes (14 Strength, 26 Quickness, 22 Fortitude, 20 Resilience, 24 Charisma, 16 Wisdom)

C. Contacts (Ex-BH, Prince, MO, Spice Trader)

D. Ship (Juror-class)

E. Experience (Bounty Hunter)

Officers: Nav/Spy/Explorer, Pistoleer/Medic/MO, Pirate/Doctor/Diplomat

Ship Upgrades: Toss out all ship weapons and Boarding Assault System. Add Weapon Locker, Nav Modules, Pilot Module, Prison Cell, and the thing that gives +20 Void Resist.

---

This is the build I used for a BH that died at level 14 on impossible. The idea was to have a little ship of assassins that runs from all ship combat, but is absolutely devastating in crew combat Death Warrant missions.

Wondering how I died? After executing a mark, I was flying back to deliver the proof to my contact, when I encounter a Xeno Xeno. I did Retreat+Sharp Steering, but before I could retreat, the Xeno Xeno got a very lucky crit and killed my captain. Yeah, that's right, I lost to a Xeno Xeno on combat turn one. Definitely going to modify my template to max out fortitude next time.

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention is that with Experience at E, my captain's job was just "Bounty Hunter", not "BH+Nav". This allowed me to choose BH/Soldier/Commander.

EDIT: My crew combat strategy for this build can be found here: startradersrpg.proboards.com/post/184420/thread

[fallen]

resistor - awesome build and really exciting to see how different you can play the game. Little Ship of Assassins

[grävling]

I think the payoff for attributes A (52 points, 14 mins) and skills B (15) points is better than for skills A (23 points) and attributes B (38 points, 14 mins) in a combat build like BH where I plan on doing a lot of the hunting, but I am curious as to what other people's experiences are.

[resistor]

Mar 19, 2017 16:36:18 GMT -5 grävling said:

I think the payoff for attributes A (52 points, 14 mins) and skills B (15) points is better than for skills A (23 points) and attributes B (38 points, 14 mins) in a combat build like BH where I plan on doing a lot of the hunting, but I am curious as to what other people's experiences are.

The problem with raising Attributes to A over B, is that 26 is still the max anyway. I can already max out Quickness (or Strength), and Fortitude while it is on B, with 14 points left over.

[grävling]

The game makes a zillion saving throws against charisma, so max that one as well.

[resistor]

Mar 19, 2017 16:45:24 GMT -5 grävling said:

The game makes a zillion saving throws against charisma, so max that one as well.

True, but with the right Talents (Sly Move, etc.), you can avoid the risks of most charisma tests. I still like to have some Charisma, just in case, but I don't think it is worth sacrificing the "A" position of skills to max it out.

[grävling]

Yeah, I keep trying things one way and then the other.

[athios]

fallen , I find the pay rate for Death Warrant missions to be too much. I know it's to balance the risk of death, but still, it's very easy/quick to amass a fortune relative to all other Professions I've tried.

Feb 13, 2017 14:54:25 GMT -5 grävling said:

Back to the strategy. Does a successful bounty hunter make a certain amount of money doing something else, like trading or escorting prisoners to prison planets, or exploring, and then buy gear for his or her team, and then get down to the real business of capturing people in spice halls, wilderness areas and whatnot? If so, how much cash do you need to amass before this is a good idea?

Or can you just start trying to capture people and know that it will get easier the better gear you can afford?

Depends what your starting XP is. Certainly, doing some delivery missions and Permit 1-2 trading can help you get funds for ship upgrades and better armor/weapons. You can still do Bounty Warrant missions as long as you have a Prison Cell. I would say once each of your combat crew has 2 combat skills, you should be able to manage Death Warrant missions (much better pay) with reasonable risk.

I usually dump 10 points into Captain's Evasion. They become relatively untouchable. Kind of overpowered, actually.

resistor 's recommended upgrades are excellent. Those are important for escaping ship encounters. If you have a larger ship, get the Peak Velocity Matrix (medium) too. Later in the game when you've bought custom gear for all your combat crew, you can dump the Weapons Locker to free up another slot.

Also keep in mind that if you use some Officer slots for combat crew, you can build up more combat-relevant skills & talents on them, as well as get an implant/upgrade slot for each. In my previous BH game, I had 3 combat Officers + 1 combat crew. When one Officer died, I immediately promote the combat crew member to Officer (immediate Job+Talent gain), recycle all the custom gear, then hire another combat crew. If you have room on board, you can keep another spare combat crew too.

[Brutus Aurelius]

Mar 19, 2017 17:33:35 GMT -5 athios said:

fallen , I find the pay rate for Death Warrant missions to be too much. I know it's to balance the risk of death, but still, it's very easy/quick to amass a fortune relative to all other Professions I've tried.

Feb 13, 2017 14:54:25 GMT -5 grävling said:

Back to the strategy. Does a successful bounty hunter make a certain amount of money doing something else, like trading or escorting prisoners to prison planets, or exploring, and then buy gear for his or her team, and then get down to the real business of capturing people in spice halls, wilderness areas and whatnot? If so, how much cash do you need to amass before this is a good idea?

Or can you just start trying to capture people and know that it will get easier the better gear you can afford?

Depends what your starting XP is. Certainly, doing some delivery missions and Permit 1-2 trading can help you get funds for ship upgrades and better armor/weapons. You can still do Bounty Warrant missions as long as you have a Prison Cell. I would say once each of your combat crew has 2 combat skills, you should be able to manage Death Warrant missions (much better pay) with reasonable risk.

I usually dump 10 points into Captain's Evasion. They become relatively untouchable. Kind of overpowered, actually.

resistor 's recommended upgrades are excellent. Those are important for escaping ship encounters. If you have a larger ship, get the Peak Velocity Matrix (medium) too. Later in the game when you've bought custom gear for all your combat crew, you can dump the Weapons Locker to free up another slot.

Also keep in mind that if you use some Officer slots for combat crew, you can build up more combat-relevant skills & talents on them, as well as get an implant/upgrade slot for each. In my previous BH game, I had 3 combat Officers + 1 combat crew. When one Officer died, I immediately promote the combat crew member to Officer (immediate Job+Talent gain), recycle all the custom gear, then hire another combat crew. If you have room on board, you can keep another spare combat crew too.

How many combat ready Crew do you tend to keep onboard?

[grävling]

I'd been going with 2 spares in crew -- mostly to see if Explorer-Scouts make good fighter, they do, and have one high level something else in case the answer was 'not really'. 10 points of evasion in the captain is something else I have been trying, and it is great.

[athios]

Mar 19, 2017 17:39:36 GMT -5 Brutus Aurelius said:

How many combat ready Crew do you tend to keep onboard?

For me, I keep no spares (to reduce spreading of XP during non-crew-combat situations). If the Captain is a tank, to be honest even the combat Officers are replaceable. Of course, I'm only on Demanding/Hard, so having spares will probably be very good idea on higher difficulties.