A series of questions from a new player

[Norby]

an element of strategy and planning

There is an advanced strategy if you are really short on time but you have enough spare fuel and can survive against Thargoids for a few seconds: force a misjump to the half of the distance, then jump further to the destination. This need 1.5x fuel so you can target to max. 4.6ly (without helper OXPs) and 15 risky seconds in interstellar space while your hyperdrive is charging, but you can save some travel time (up to an hour in each jump in your way) due to you made two half-length jumps instead of a long one.

[Cody]

It allows for ambush tactics too (when the planets align nicely, that is) - track a lone trader from the station, get its destination from its wormhole, go there via the back-doubles, and be waiting at the witchpoint, all tanked-up, when it emerges, itself low on fuel. Not that I've ever done this - it's theory only.

[cim]

There is an advanced strategy if you are really short on time but you have enough spare fuel and can survive against Thargoids for a few seconds: force a misjump to the half of the distance, then jump further to the destination. This need 1.5x fuel so you can target to max. 4.6ly (without helper OXPs) and 15 risky seconds in interstellar space while your hyperdrive is charging, but you can save some travel time (up to an hour in each jump in your way) due to you made two half-length jumps instead of a long one.

Misjumps take more time than a normal jump of the same range. In theory the result should be that misjump+complete takes the same length of time as a normal jump ... plus the 20 seconds or so to power up the drive for the second jump. In practice, the rounding on jump distances means you can sometimes save a little time doing it this way, but not much.

[Norby]

you can sometimes save a little time doing it this way, but not much.

I measured before my previous post: you can save 50 minutes on a 4.4ly jump (Lave-Reorte) and 20 minutes on 2ly (Anle-Alaza). I expected more (4.4^2-2*2.2^2=9.7h and 2^2-2*1=2h) so thanks for the explanation, and yes, still there are some savings.

[Vincentz]

Another quicke

Where is the overall bounty modifier decided?

Reason : I think mining and trading can be profitable, but bounty hunting pays what 10-20 credits per kill. With the extended/prolonged fights, I think bounty x 10 is reasonably, which would make bounty hunting a valid career path (as well as getting a few bucks to repair damages to ship).

[Disembodied]

Another quicke

Where is the overall bounty modifier decided?

Reason : I think mining and trading can be profitable, but bounty hunting pays what 10-20 credits per kill. With the extended/prolonged fights, I think bounty x 10 is reasonably, which would make bounty hunting a valid career path (as well as getting a few bucks to repair damages to ship).

The real profits from bounty hunting come from recovering and selling the cargo of the baddies you splash. It does rule out using a ship like an Asp as a lone bounty hunter - but then, these are the sorts of compromises a lone bounty hunter has to make.

[Vincentz]

Another quicke

Where is the overall bounty modifier decided?

Reason : I think mining and trading can be profitable, but bounty hunting pays what 10-20 credits per kill. With the extended/prolonged fights, I think bounty x 10 is reasonably, which would make bounty hunting a valid career path (as well as getting a few bucks to repair damages to ship).

The real profits from bounty hunting come from recovering and selling the cargo of the baddies you splash. It does rule out using a ship like an Asp as a lone bounty hunter - but then, these are the sorts of compromises a lone bounty hunter has to make.

Shouldn't bounty hunting be about bounty collecting? Besides its very few ships that drops cargo, and with those that do, they usually do after exploding in Fuel Injector speed, which makes cargo also in Injector speed, which makes them very difficult to collect (and using burning fuel at the same time).

[Cody]

... which makes cargo also in Injector speed, which makes them very difficult to collect.

<grins> You gotta learn to scoop on Torus drive.

[Disembodied]

Shouldn't bounty hunting be about bounty collecting? Besides its very few ships that drops cargo, and with those that do, they usually do after exploding in Fuel Injector speed, which makes cargo also in Injector speed, which makes them very difficult to collect (and using burning fuel at the same time).

That's not been my experience, although I don't use many OXP ships, so things may be different with larger ship sets installed. I can usually catch anywhere between 10 and 20 TCs of recovered booty on one "shopping" trip, with quite a fair number of gems and precious metals in the mix (I don't know whether pirates drop more of these high-value canisters than honest traders do, having never picked apart an honest trader - but I suspect they might). Regularly, I end up dumping low-value stuff - usually alloys is a cutoff point - in order to make room for high-value stuff (I hate scooping slaves because they're depressingly cheap and my personal feelings won't let me ditch them once they're on board). Offhand I don't know the average worth of the cargo I collect on a bounty run, but given that I haven't had to pay for any of it, it works out to be a pretty profitable career.

[Vincentz]

... which makes cargo also in Injector speed, which makes them very difficult to collect.

<grins> You gotta learn to scoop on Torus drive.

Yeah, I sure still got some learning to do. Started out with Pitch/Yaw, found that Pitch/Roll is SO much more effective when in combat.

But the thing is, I'm planning a "Total Conversion"'ish mod (which really should be named :slightly changed), where player starts in Sidewinder and works his way up. I kinda like the feeling of progress, and flying around in a new Cobra Mk III (and staying in that ship for a loooong time, unless trading down) seems kinda stale.
In order to actually upgrade something like the Sidewinder, it requires certain game elements to pay more, not just "capping" an unsuspecting python and loot x cargo worth thousands of credits.

@disembodied
I suspect I have installed some addon (though not the ship addons, as this is for all ships, including originals), that reduces cargo dropped from offenders/fugitives. I would say that 1 in 20 ships drops cargo after being torn apart. And I've only seen valuable cargo from pythons, not from sidewinders/kraits/mambas/Fler-de-lances etc.

besides, I think the main income should be the bounty and the bonus is dropped cargo. Right now the bounty barely pays for the fuel, let alone a single cheap missile. And the damages to system and hull isn't even in the calculation.

[Smivs]

... cargo from pythons, not from sidewinders/kraits/mambas/Fler-de-lances etc.

You won't get much if anything from the smaller ships as they have little or no cargo capacity. Sidewinders have none at all for instance and even the (bigger) FerDeLance only has 10TC, and keeping in mind very few canisters will survive the ship's destruction...

[Vincentz]

... cargo from pythons, not from sidewinders/kraits/mambas/Fler-de-lances etc.

You won't get much if anything from the smaller ships as they have little or no cargo capacity. Sidewinders have none at all for instance and even the (bigger) FerDeLance only has 10TC, and keeping in mind very few canisters will survive the ship's destruction...

Which is why I wanted to increase the bounty

[Cody]

... with quite a fair number of gems and precious metals in the mix...

I've had to splash a few bandits recently, and I've found the same - but I've seen no escape pods for a long time, and they add to the value.

[Vincentz]

... which makes cargo also in Injector speed, which makes them very difficult to collect.

<grins> You gotta learn to scoop on Torus drive.

So... whats the secret? Whats the most effective technique?
Just warmed up an unsuspecting python, which ran while dropping its cargo (in injecter speed). Tried to scoop it, but didn't get a single one even though ship must have dropped 10-15.
All of them was smashed against my hull approximately where my cargo scoop should be.

[Cody]

So... whats the secret? Whats the most effective technique?

Exquisite timing, and a huge slice of luck! <chortles> To be honest, it's been a long time since I even attempted it - and memories of past success may be false.