Bounty Hunting

[Ganelon]

That is so well put, I'm going to borrow that and quote you in the manual.

Up above, I've posted the updated version of the manual.

I'm flattered. But there's a lot of good advice being handed out here that you may be able to fit bits of in to your manual. It only may *seem* contradictory because there are many ways to fight in this game, and they can all work. Finding what works well for you, and is *fun* for you, is the trick.

For example, sniping can be a very effective tactic, as you're seeing from people's thoughts on it here. I don't snipe often. My style is more to close in fast and rely on fancy flying to keep my ship in one piece. I'm mostly an aggressive dogfighting sort of player. The exception for me is those rare cases when I've actually run into a good enough asteroid field. I LOVE asteroid field fights! The only time I've gotten to do them much in Oolite is in interstellar space the couple of times I've ended up there and some Imperial ships were fighting Thargoids near an asteroid cluster. Now, for asteroid fighting, you don't want what you usually see in Oolite, which is a few asteroids sitting mostly still with a lot of space between. You want a place where there's hundreds of them and they're slowly moving and shifting, with only a ship's width or few between them. Then you can dive into it, cut to half or quarter throttle and find a good spot to turn and fight.

Usually, NPC ships won't follow into a mess like that, or if they do, they don't last long. I think it's a bit too much for their collision avoidance programming, perhaps. But they'll hang around outside waiting for you to come back out, and if you explore a bit, you can usually find a place where you can get a clear shot at them from inside the cluster. That's when I'll use sniping. LOL If you keep moving around inside the cluster, you can pick off several opponents while most of their shots will hit rocks. The bigger worry than those NPC opponents is making sure you don't get crushed or collide with the asteroids yourself, but that's part of the fun of it if it's something you like.

It's not something to everyone's taste and it takes a bit of practice to get good at, so it'd have no place in a beginner manual as a trick, but my point is that there's lots of ways to fight effectively in this game.

I would have to agree with others that have said that piracy certainly can pay, even in the long run. My pirate "character" in Oolite has barely a tenth of the kills of my law-abiding bounty hunter, but twice the bank account. And usually a clean legal status unless her's an opportunity that will make being listed as criminal for a while pay enough, or I want to get into places where a clean legal rating is less than welcome (some OXP places that are worth doing biz with pretty much require a fugitive status). But it can definitely pay, if you use your wits a bit.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

There are 2 very experienced pilots that I have learned this from: Wyvren and Viejo

Thanks for the kudos.

I'll add to the discuss that if you like to get up close and personal while flying a fast and agile fighter, then the beam laser should be your gun of choice. However - and speaking as a Captain who prefers to make sniping kills - using the military laser's superior range is best served with careful markmanship, and that's better done on a slow turning ship. A nippy ride makes drawing a precision bead on a long-range shot difficult at best. Sniping has advantages: I can usually slay two or three rogues well before they begin to shoot back, and I'm well out of range of pirate vessels packing turrets.
With beam or military lasers, always remember, burst-fire is better than sustained fire, as these lasers have a rapid heatup. Burst-fire techniques keeps them cool longer.

Secondaries - I always carry an energy bomb. On occasion a patrolling hunter can encounter a large number of pirates hanging around a staging area, just waiting for a freight convoy to rob. Sometimes it's fun to slug it out, but if I have damage to repair and supplies don't look good, then I'll press the shiny red button of boom on them - provided there are no friendlies around. The E-bomb is indiscriminate and will kill friend and foe alike. Q-bombs are twice as nasty in that regard, as well as destroying spilled loot, so I never carry them.
On the pylons I always load military missiles, along with a drop tank and a couple of nukes. Some tough guys can shrug off a missile shot, but can be seriously damaged or even annihilated with a well placed nuclear torpedo up the tailpipes. And the drop tank allows for some extra fuel for a quick bugout if things get too hot.

Shields - get boosters, military enhancing and ironhide. The more iron on your ass the better; after all, you're picking fights with murdering bastards. An energy unit isn't a plus, it's a must, as is an ECM and injectors.

Do install a scoop and cargo expansion. The bounties GalCop pays is gravy, and hardly amount to enough to pay the bills. The cash to cover the inevitable expenses of repairs, refuel and rearm comes from collecting escape pods and cargo. In a sense, hunters pirate from pirates - oh, the irony!

[Dragonfire]

Well, I feel validated. TY Wyvern.

Ganelon - I put a lot of the stuff people said in, but you had the most quote-worthy post, thus the direct quote.

I am keeping this guide strictly OXP-free, though bounty hunting is MUCH more fun after OXP addons. I am now flying a Dragon SE, I carry missile racks and droids (is that the right term), I've upgraded my display, and I've added on about a dozen other possible weapons. I love OXPs.

[greenseng]

I carry one ECM hardened missile. I discovered early that missiles IMHO, even hardened missiles, make poor weapons. If they are not destroyed by ECM, the target runs away from them using injectors. The only reason I do have the one missile is to prevent me accidentally deploying more valuable equipment on another pylon, so it is always selected. I launch perhaps one missile per galaxy. The military laser does all the grunt work on my ship. I also do not have either energy bomb or Q-mine.

Should know better then write write just know. Just waken up and it takes some time until things works properly in the part of the body one mostly use for thinking.
But..

One missile seems to be a very good idea. I almost never use missiles. As you said: they always run away. But sometimes, when you are dealing with many, that can turn to an advantage. One buy some time.

Must confess that my polyns are filled mostly with fuelpods. I am - well - maybe not an exact definition of a lazy person - but maybe comfortable. In the classical cargomissions they are handy. But I am rather new to the game and I suspect that things will soon change.

I have never yet used an Energybomb in Oolite. So I simply have no experience of them. Buy in a nasty situation with no innocents around and this is the last option, they could probably come in handy. If I think about that I have one.

Q-mines are something I have neve dared to test.I simply don't know anything about them. How to use them practically. How effective they are and their range. And if they can be a dangor to oneself. And if the target may collide with them or if they somehow can sense a target on distance. And how dangerous they are to an innocent surrounding. And - what are they really - and how do they work? It must be something with them as they are rather expensive.So I suspect that one doesn't use them easily. Can they be scooped and used again if they don't explode? Probably not.

[Smivs]

Q-mines are something I have neve dared to test.I simply don't know anything about them. How to use them practically. How effective they are and their range. And if they can be a dangor to oneself. And if the target may collide with them or if they somehow can sense a target on distance. And how dangerous they are to an innocent surrounding. And - what are they really - and how do they work? It must be something with them as they are rather expensive.So I suspect that one doesn't use them easily. Can they be scooped and used again if they don't explode? Probably not.

All you ever wanted to know about Q-bombs

[Wildeblood]

Q-mines are something I have neve dared to test.I simply don't know anything about them. How to use them practically. How effective they are and their range. And if they can be a dangor to oneself. And if the target may collide with them or if they somehow can sense a target on distance. And how dangerous they are to an innocent surrounding. And - what are they really - and how do they work? It must be something with them as they are rather expensive.So I suspect that one doesn't use them easily. Can they be scooped and used again if they don't explode? Probably not.

You use a Q-bomb by accelerating to top speed and dropping it as soon as every other ship is behind you. If there's a ship ahead of you when you drop the bomb, it will be between the bomb and yourself when the bomb goes off (i.e. too close), and the resultant explosion will overtake you. Press space, Commander.

There are only two rules:
1. EVERY thing on one side of the bomb - don't drop it into the centre of a group.
2. No matter what, don't slow down until the explosions stop.

[Wildeblood]

All you ever wanted to know about Q-bombs

"Be sure to drop it as close to the centre of any action you wish to see an end to."

I very strongly disagree with that advice. I would be interested to read the opinions of more experienced players.

[drew]

Best tip for the Q-Bomb. Launch it at zero speed and then accelerate. Don't launch it when you're moving.

Cheers,

Drew.

[Mauiby de Fug]

I usually have at least one Q-bomb in my pylons in case of emergencies. I drop it in the middle of the pack to cause the most damage, and then make good use of my injectors to hare away as fast as I can!

[Cody]

With beam or military lasers, always remember, burst-fire is better than sustained fire, as these lasers have a rapid heatup. Burst-fire techniques keeps them cool longer.

This is excellent advice... use the mil laser as a single-shot weapon. You'll soon learn the optimum rate of fire.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

Just because I don't fancy Q-bombs doesn't mean I don't know how to use them. So, some Q-bomb tactics:

Arm the device as soon as you've confirmed hostile intent, ie, offenders/fugitives on your STE and/or red blips on your radar. Then light the injectors and charge through the center of the pack. Let off the candles a bit past the pack, release the bomb, then inject away. Watch the fireworks in your rearview.

Hostiles tend to ignore mines (except Thargoids, whom try to shoot it before it explodes) and will chase after you instead. The slow ones end up feeding the cascade. You may have one or two quick fighters that escaped the blue death, but those'll be easier to laser down than a large pack.

For more fun, try a cascade torpedo. It's a Q-bomb with a rocket motor and homing system attached, mobile but slow; best fired at the slowest ship in the pack, like a blackdog Python.

Too bad you won't have any cargo floating around to offset the expense of deploying a Q-bomb. In that sense, the E-bomb is cheaper.

[Eric Walch]

All you ever wanted to know about Q-bombs

"Be sure to drop it as close to the centre of any action you wish to see an end to."

I very strongly disagree with that advice. I would be interested to read the opinions of more experienced players.

My advise would be to watch exactly were you drop it. It is ejected backwards on dropping, and more than once my q-bomb smashed into my target before it could detonate. I now always look in rear view before launch to prevent this.

[Wildeblood]

On the subject of Q-mines, I got a new player (creatively named "Test Pilot") from about ten kills to over 200 kills just by deploying two mines. That's a bug, surely? It's counting each piece of debris as a separate kill? I have the Griff scripted debris and explosions OXP installed.

[Dragonfire]

I still tend to carry ECM-hardened missiles, because I've taken out several dozen pirates that way. However, I'm more favoring other single-use weapons, now, thanks to an OXP. I.E. missile racks (only slightly more expensive, 120 for three interceptor missiles), drones, and non-killing bombs and mines that make my job easier. I just think carefully about my strategy when I fill my pylon mounts. And I always carry an extra fuel tank.

[Smivs]

My traditional stock used to be five hardheads, as I don't waste money on regular missiles. I never use Q-bombs and actually rarely use missiles or mines at all, so more recently, as I've been traveling a lot, I'm more than likely to have a hardhead, a couple of GalDrivePods and a couple of empty pylons. I never use fuel tanks.....never had the need to be honest, as I seldom make jumps of more than 5LY, which means there's always fuel in the tank.