Fleet planning for a Bounty Hunter

[Pander]

I've not had a chance to look over the comments but my BH set up is going to be a cutlass and a dragonfly.

Think about it this way.

The blue will have cells and enough room for at least 3 people maybe more if you need it. you mod the cutlass for speed for taking on smaller or slower ships where you can always have the position or firepower you need. anything too big to take you and a friend of yours jump into the dragon fly and scoot over when they stop as all ships need to stop at some point and get on board or follow them on the planet with your bike and a buddy. you also have someone to fly the cutlass too when you need to make a quick escape.

It should have enough room for weapons and Armour for when you need to hit the ground too.

Bounty hunters who jump in their SuperHornet and expect to take live bounties in their second seat will just just have problems on planet and if they need range or speed well you will just be left behind. the avenger is good but you don't get the versatility you need for space and land targets. the saber stealth is a good kill option but again only certain bounties are going to have a dead or alive.

Plus whats cooler you zooming and booming a ground target for the 10th time or you and your buddy making the cutlass hover still while you open the cutlass side door and sniping them while they walk into a station thinking they are safe. Or zooming right up at them jump out stun and back in before anyone is the wiser.

Bounty Hunting in this game will be about stacking the odds in your favor and flexibility will always win in that regard.

Plus cool stories will always trump a big pay day because you blew another ship up with your hornet.

Bounty Hunting 50% odd stacking 50% style

 

[Richard Bong]

I've not had a chance to look over the comments but my BH set up is going to be a cutlass and a dragonfly.

Think about it this way.

The blue will have cells and enough room for at least 3 people maybe more if you need it. you mod the cutlass for speed for taking on smaller or slower ships where you can always have the position or firepower you need. anything too big to take you and a friend of yours jump into the dragon fly and scoot over when they stop as all ships need to stop at some point and get on board or follow them on the planet with your bike and a buddy. you also have someone to fly the cutlass too when you need to make a quick escape.

It should have enough room for weapons and Armour for when you need to hit the ground too.

Bounty hunters who jump in their SuperHornet and expect to take live bounties in their second seat will just just have problems on planet and if they need range or speed well you will just be left behind. the avenger is good but you don't get the versatility you need for space and land targets. the saber stealth is a good kill option but again only certain bounties are going to have a dead or alive.

Plus whats cooler you zooming and booming a ground target for the 10th time or you and your buddy making the cutlass hover still while you open the cutlass side door and sniping them while they walk into a station thinking they are safe. Or zooming right up at them jump out stun and back in before anyone is the wiser.

Bounty Hunting in this game will be about stacking the odds in your favor and flexibility will always win in that regard.

Plus cool stories will always trump a big pay day because you blew another ship up with your hornet.

Bounty Hunting 50% odd stacking 50% style

In my concept the Freelancer fills the same role as the Cutlass Blue, presuming I can get stasis pods for it. And I actually like the Freelancer. LOL.

I think the same issue with the Super Hornet and the Avenger also applies to the Dragonfly only more so. A person on the back of a motorcycle can cause the balance to shift and the bike to spill, and that is even in cases where the person on back isn't intentionally trying to spill the bike.

Also if you take a friend on a dragonfly, you can't bring the bounty back.

Thanks, though, you got me thinking some more. I agree it is about style. It is also about being able to bring the bounty back from areas away from a starport. Looks like Ship number 4 is going to be a Connie, unless the Tali can carry a buggy or rover in a cargo module with a couple of stasis pods. A Phoenix if there is room for a buggy and stasis pods. Though you now have me thinking, if it can carry stasis pods and a buggy in the bay, that a 600I might not be a bad choice. LOL. (More than I want to spend though.)

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I have been thinking on the whole Bounty Hunter role since the 600i came out. Especially the Explorer package. . .with an Ursa and a pair of X1 Force bikes, a team of 5 could have huge advantages on the surface or in space. We don't know what these ships will be like yet, but it looks to me especially if the 600i can be fit with Void Armor and a full EM warfare suite, it could make an incredible BH ship. This depends upon a lot of stuff we do not know yet, but if it is as fast as one hopes, and can be fit with holding cells, could really rock with NPCs or friends.

 

[Richard Bong]

I have been thinking on the whole Bounty Hunter role since the 600i came out. Especially the Explorer package. . .with an Ursa and a pair of X1 Force bikes, a team of 5 could have huge advantages on the surface or in space. We don't know what these ships will be like yet, but it looks to me especially if the 600i can be fit with Void Armor and a full EM warfare suite, it could make an incredible BH ship. This depends upon a lot of stuff we do not know yet, but if it is as fast as one hopes, and can be fit with holding cells, could really rock with NPCs or friends.

Why Exploration package over touring?

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Why Exploration package over touring?

If you or I were actually living on a ship, we might well want a lounge, but we don't need to be much concerned with the creature comforts of digital characters. Rather, the scan station means enhanced ability to see--which is EVERYTHING in space. I think people routinely misunderstand how vital it is going to be, to see others before they see you. This is BTW, how all modern air to air combat is planned to operate. The new Chinese J-20 doesn't even have a gun. The F-35 is likewise unable to dogfight. Its wing loading makes it slide through turns like a Vanguard, but it doesn't need to turn. It flies into missile range, launches and leaves.

Flying a larger craft like the 600i means you have access to larger scanners, and perhaps more of them. There are three kinds of scan and each in long and short range. You can't have everything, but a larger ship means you can have more than your quarry. That is key. Hunters stalk their prey and if that is your game, you want a largish, fast ship that can track prey to ground and take them while they're distracted with whatever purpose they have. Especially if you plan to track players, which are much more wiley; you want to see them without them seeing you. My guess is the Carrack will not be fast enough for this kind of work, so the 600i Ex might be the best choice.

You will have to turn down bounties if you fly something like an Avenger, since you won't be able to keep up with any long range ships. Miles Echart flies a Vanguard and you'd need to be all manner of stupid to chase a Vanguard with an Avenger.

The Conny is also a fair choice, but its linearity is boring to me and I don't see a need for so much cargo room. I'd rather have the enhanced modularity and customization. I expect the 600i will have lots more technical pipes, etc., so can load EM gear the Conny cannot.

Also just owning my prejudices: I think EM warfare is going to be a total kick. The ability to mask your signature and make someone think you're flying a Lancer when you are bearing down on them with overwhelming firepower is just too rich to ignore. Sure, some will eventually guess the ruse, especially if you fly in faster than a Lancer can go, etc. Doesn't matter. If your charades last just a few seconds that should be all it takes, and the memories last a lifetime. :-)

 

[Jastorin]

You should also consider you will also get the bounty for killing them from my understanding. This should open up other ships for use without stasis pods. Plus if your playing with other people or one other person one ship with stasis pods should be enough. Not sure how well a freelancer outside of the Mis veriety will do against pirates. The cutlass is kind of designed to hunt them.

Unless you plan on taking them in the fire fight when they board your ship after it’s disabled. Your talking about taking a freighter to do a Blues job when the Blue is a dedicated fighter/interdiction. I am not sure it will be that customizable.

 

[EmpireRuled]

I've not had a chance to look over the comments but my BH set up is going to be a cutlass and a dragonfly.

Think about it this way.

The blue will have cells and enough room for at least 3 people maybe more if you need it. you mod the cutlass for speed for taking on smaller or slower ships where you can always have the position or firepower you need. anything too big to take you and a friend of yours jump into the dragon fly and scoot over when they stop as all ships need to stop at some point and get on board or follow them on the planet with your bike and a buddy. you also have someone to fly the cutlass too when you need to make a quick escape.

It should have enough room for weapons and Armour for when you need to hit the ground too.

Bounty hunters who jump in their SuperHornet and expect to take live bounties in their second seat will just just have problems on planet and if they need range or speed well you will just be left behind. the avenger is good but you don't get the versatility you need for space and land targets. the saber stealth is a good kill option but again only certain bounties are going to have a dead or alive.

Plus whats cooler you zooming and booming a ground target for the 10th time or you and your buddy making the cutlass hover still while you open the cutlass side door and sniping them while they walk into a station thinking they are safe. Or zooming right up at them jump out stun and back in before anyone is the wiser.

Bounty Hunting in this game will be about stacking the odds in your favor and flexibility will always win in that regard.

Plus cool stories will always trump a big pay day because you blew another ship up with your hornet.

Bounty Hunting 50% odd stacking 50% style

Big story over big pay any time, if you ask me. Memories are long-term, but credits will evaporate into repair costs without any meaning. A story? That's where it's at.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

You should also consider you will also get the bounty for killing them from my understanding. This should open up other ships for use without stasis pods. Plus if your playing with other people or one other person one ship with stasis pods should be enough. Not sure how well a freelancer outside of the Mis veriety will do against pirates. The cutlass is kind of designed to hunt them.

That is another reason discriminating hunters will choose the 600i. One hopes in Void Armor it will be able to approach many ships with S1 scan to within 5 km, and that would place them at the mercy of 6 S4 Ballistic Cannons doing more than 7,000 DPS. Most small ships would just disintegrate in less than a second since ballistics penetrate shields and go right to the hull.

And lets say a small ship can pick you up on scan at 7 km. So what? If you swing in at 1,000 km/s with your target in your sights from 10 km out, you are lined up and shooting 2 seconds after you appear on their scanners. How many players are going to go evasive the instant any ship appears on scan? They will be just as dead as they would had they never seen you.

The turrets will each fit a pair of Pyros, which I am still hoping can make a ship proof from incoming missiles and torps, and which certainly will massacre anything that gets too close. Note all these weapons are ballistic so don't require a large reactor. You might downsize and go invisible by leaving the two medium chillers in place. For silent running you need to boost and decouple, and drift with no shields, but if you do this right you can sneak up and won't need the shields as it will all be over before your prey knows what hit them. Needs a good pilot to boost to just the right trajectory so you don't need much control thrust.

Also remember, LOTS of S3 missiles. Most small ships can't carry S3 so you can take them from outside their range whether you are invisible or not. If you miss a stealth attack and need to fight, it is nice to have so many capable missiles.

It's not just a hunter. . .it's a predator.

 

[Jastorin]

600i needs a bigger crew I think and would be more expensive at the start for refuel, ammunition and repairs.

 

[Jastorin]

I am pretty sure your escort ships will be great for bounty hunting as well. It pry wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a bounty hunter in an escort fleet and bring some stasis cells or just in an escort ship and take the pirates out.

Just saying would be getting paid to escort with a chance of collecting bounties.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I am pretty sure your escort ships will be great for bounty hunting as well.

So long as it's fast, yeah. The Redeemer should make a great BH ship if it has good range. The Prowler might make a decent BH ship, depending upon range and what pipes go to that upper room.The Avenger and Cutlass both look like they are going to be short range. That could cause serious complications for hunting. The Hoplite might work, if you can lock people into those seats.

 

[Jastorin]

So long as it's fast, yeah. The Redeemer should make a great BH ship if it has good range. The Prowler might make a decent BH ship, depending upon range and what pipes go to that upper room.The Avenger and Cutlass both look like they are going to be short range. That could cause serious complications for hunting. The Hoplite might work, if you can lock people into those seats.

I am saying go along with people that are escorting a freighter and if there is more than one BH one can fly a blue or avenger and scoop up the pirate after they eject to put them in stasis and one flies a a fighter. If you should happen to need to defend the freighter on it’s journey. You wouldn’t be scanning down the pirates sometimes they would be coming to you and even if they don’t you get paid for the escort. Kind of like fishing.

 

[Jastorin]

You might want to also keep in mind that when 3.0 starts there will be no Cutlass Blue ingame yet. That means the only ingame ship you can capture people with at first will be the avenger stalker since there will pry also not be any mods to put in the ships yet. Anyone notice that the avenger stalker and Cutlass Blue no longer have the stasis/holding cells listed as utility/additional items?

 

[Shadow Reaper]

You might want to also keep in mind that when 3.0 starts there will be no Cutlass Blue ingame yet. That means the only ingame ship you can capture people with at first will be the avenger stalker. . .

The Hoplite and Warden should be in game, and the Reliant might fit stasis pods as cargo. Certainly you should be able to fit them in the Conny. Chasing people in a Lancer would be asking for trouble, but there are some sneaky options I think. If you can lock people in the Mustang's bed, that would be a kick. Honestly, if we can get mobile stasis pods that act like cargo, you can haul prisoners on a Beerfarer.

Imagine flying a StarG or some such just to lure pirates into boarding, so you can ambush them and sell them to the authorities. What a riot!

 

[EmpireRuled]

The Hoplite and Warden should be in game, and the Reliant might fit stasis pods as cargo. Certainly you should be able to fit them in the Conny. Chasing people in a Lancer would be asking for trouble, but there are some sneaky options I think. If you can lock people in the Mustang's bed, that would be a kick. Honestly, if we can get mobile stasis pods that act like cargo, you can haul prisoners on a Beerfarer.

Imagine flying a StarG or some such just to lure pirates into boarding, so you can ambush them and sell them to the authorities. What a riot!

I want in for that sort of operation. Same goes for troll-hunting.

 

[Songwing]

I love the jump time, myself. It reminds me that space is REALLY big & there's not a lot going on between planets. Most of us who solo or mini group will likely attach ourselves to a planet for a couple weeks, then move on when we want to see something new. Once we're done with a system we'll move on to another. There will be PLENTY of bounty hunting to do even in and around a planet and it's moon(s).

To expect to go to every planet or system on a whim, just kinda seems unrealistic and a fantasy/magic way of doing things. They've already squashed the size of solar systems down to 1/8. I'd hate for them to squash it further. Or worse, give us magic teleporting machines to get from point A to Z with little effort.

As for the OP, my husband will be big into BH. He's got his VW but is definitely hoping for some type of bounty module as the current shield station on it is pretty redundant. He also has a Constellation & will be using the ground vehicle (can't remember which) to get around quickly on the surface.

Unfortunately the Constellations have a lack of prisoner pods but maybe one day there'll be a module for that as well. Since it's a 3-5 person ship, he'll probably hire a couple NPCs. Don't forget about those NPCs when you're looking at the bigger BH ships. They won't be as good as a crack player on call 24/7, but they'll be better than nothing.

 

[Richard Bong]

That is another reason discriminating hunters will choose the 600i. One hopes in Void Armor it will be able to approach many ships with S1 scan to within 5 km, and that would place them at the mercy of 6 S4 Ballistic Cannons doing more than 7,000 DPS. Most small ships would just disintegrate in less than a second since ballistics penetrate shields and go right to the hull.

And lets say a small ship can pick you up on scan at 7 km. So what? If you swing in at 1,000 km/s with your target in your sights from 10 km out, you are lined up and shooting 2 seconds after you appear on their scanners. How many players are going to go evasive the instant any ship appears on scan? They will be just as dead as they would had they never seen you.

The turrets will each fit a pair of Pyros, which I am still hoping can make a ship proof from incoming missiles and torps, and which certainly will massacre anything that gets too close. Note all these weapons are ballistic so don't require a large reactor. You might downsize and go invisible by leaving the two medium chillers in place. For silent running you need to boost and decouple, and drift with no shields, but if you do this right you can sneak up and won't need the shields as it will all be over before your prey knows what hit them. Needs a good pilot to boost to just the right trajectory so you don't need much control thrust.

Also remember, LOTS of S3 missiles. Most small ships can't carry S3 so you can take them from outside their range whether you are invisible or not. If you miss a stealth attack and need to fight, it is nice to have so many capable missiles.

It's not just a hunter. . .it's a predator.

There are only 3 Size 5 guns on a 600i, the Connie has 4. I did not see anything in the new ship specs that allows you to double up guns if you go down a size. Did I miss something?
The Pyros are energy weapons. I would actually go with badgers on the turrets and point defense blades for the computer. Then you are shooting down missiles and torps. (Think US Navy Phalanx or UK Navy Goalkeeper.)

The difficulty of putting the nose on a target for a ship of this size is why I am thinking the Tali's 5 turrets or the Connie's missile load out, might be better (though missiles are likely to roast your profit margin).

The reason for the Touring model or the Phoenix is style, and to convince other players that meet you to offer a bounty on a target that you are successful. If you only want small bounties you meet in a seedy bar, if you want to chase the big bounties you meet in a penthouse or a Luxury Ship. :slight_smile:

The Connie has one other advantage over the 600i and that is (except for the Taurus) Close Air Support for your ground team. The P-51/P-72 offer much more fire support, maneuverability, survivability and general nastiness than an X-1 or even a Nox.

Remember Maxim number 4: "Close Air Support covereth a multitude of sins." - The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries.

 

[Richard Bong]

I am saying go along with people that are escorting a freighter and if there is more than one BH one can fly a blue or avenger and scoop up the pirate after they eject to put them in stasis and one flies a a fighter. If you should happen to need to defend the freighter on it’s journey. You wouldn’t be scanning down the pirates sometimes they would be coming to you and even if they don’t you get paid for the escort. Kind of like fishing.

I doubt that the Bounty Hunting mechanics will be in game before the Blue.

 

[Richard Bong]

You should also consider you will also get the bounty for killing them from my understanding. This should open up other ships for use without stasis pods. Plus if your playing with other people or one other person one ship with stasis pods should be enough. Not sure how well a freelancer outside of the Mis veriety will do against pirates. The cutlass is kind of designed to hunt them.

Unless you plan on taking them in the fire fight when they board your ship after it’s disabled. Your talking about taking a freighter to do a Blues job when the Blue is a dedicated fighter/interdiction. I am not sure it will be that customizable.

The difference between the Cutlass and the Lancer is the Cutlass has a slightly faster top speed (Makes no sense to me at all in space, but what the heck.) and one size bigger guns on the top Turret, but the Lancer has twice the fuel, the option for a second shield generator, more cargo space, and a second computer. Note that the more cargo space is important as the current Blue doesn't have room for anything but the cells in back. That means no bikes, and no booty. A Lancer should be able to carry 6 stasis pods a pair of bikes and some cargo, or at least one bike and a reasonable amount of cargo.

The Cutlass has more missiles, but missiles will eat your profit margin, and if you are throwing that many missiles, you aren't bringing back much of a body. And if you go with the MIS the Lancer has more missiles and better fire control, while still carrying at least as much cargo as the Blue, but you have the option to not carry as many reloads and carry significantly more cargo.

The Blue doesn't have stasis pods, it has cells. I don't want to feed and guard prisoners. LOL

 

[Jastorin]

The difference between the Cutlass and the Lancer is the Cutlass has a slightly faster top speed (Makes no sense to me at all in space, but what the heck.) and one size bigger guns on the top Turret, but the Lancer has twice the fuel, the option for a second shield generator, more cargo space, and a second computer. Note that the more cargo space is important as the current Blue doesn't have room for anything but the cells in back. That means no bikes, and no booty. A Lancer should be able to carry 6 stasis pods a pair of bikes and some cargo, or at least one bike and a reasonable amount of cargo.

The Cutlass has more missiles, but missiles will eat your profit margin, and if you are throwing that many missiles, you aren't bringing back much of a body. And if you go with the MIS the Lancer has more missiles and better fire control, while still carrying at least as much cargo as the Blue, but you have the option to not carry as many reloads and carry significantly more cargo.

The Blue doesn't have stasis pods, it has cells. I don't want to feed and guard prisoners. LOL

If you look at the updated Blue stats that are up now it holds 25 cargo and in the rework the cutlass is getting bigger guns all around and is being more focused in its role of taking out freighters to loot them. That’s the Black the Blue is suppose to be stronger in combat.