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EVE New Citizens Q&A

 
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Actually tracking down a bounty?
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Xolar Spiegel
Playboy Enterprises
#1 - 2013-01-28 16:58:58 UTC
Hello everyone,

I am a brand new eve player, just completed both sets of military missions and was doing some PvE missions. Myself and my brother are aspiring bounty hunters, we just got destroyers and are looking to get some ISK hunting down bounties. I invested in some plex so we have quite a bit of isk at the moment. That said, how the heck do you find someone who has a large bounty? For instance if I wasted to track someone down on a billboard or on the top ten list?

I know I likely can't take someone on who is on the top 10 most wanted list but I am asking it as a hypothetical question. Thank you in advance for the response, also if you can list the most important things to train for someone who will primarily be hunting down other players I'd be eternally grateful. Thank you guys, loving the game so far.
Elena Thiesant
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#2 - 2013-01-28 17:02:59 UTC
http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Locator_Agents

Bear in mind that just having a bounty does not make a person a legal target in highsec, you need to either fight them in lowsec, buy kill rights or in some other way have them be a legal target, unless you want Concord to blow your ship up when you attack.
ITTigerClawIK
Galactic Rangers
#3 - 2013-01-28 17:05:33 UTC  |  Edited by: ITTigerClawIK
first off just a quick reminder that just because a person has a bounty on them, does not mean you can freely attack them whenever, you are going to have to catch them out in low or null sec and if in low sec then away from the eyes of station and gate guns.

now to answer your actual question of locating your target, probably the best way is to find your nearest locator agent, you can use your agent finder to locate your nearest avalable, it may take a while but it should give you either his location at station or let you know if hes in space in a system, from them on, you will need to track them yourself, bring tackle gear with you and i recomend you bring a friend that has a little more experience untill you gain a bit more yourself

Edit: God dam i take way to long typeing
Xolar Spiegel
Playboy Enterprises
#4 - 2013-01-28 17:06:34 UTC
Glad you mentioned locator agents, I do know about them but I heard they were actually a very unreliable way to locate someone. For instance if someone is offline will it tell me? I do know that in high sec they have to have an open kill order on them or be at -5.0 for comabt in High sec. How does one place an open kill order anyway? For instance would I just right click someone, buy kill rights and bam I can open fire on them no matter where we are?
Octonetwork
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#5 - 2013-01-28 17:11:16 UTC
Xolar Spiegel wrote:
For instance if someone is offline will it tell me?


Just add him as a contact and you ll see if he is offline or not.
Charlepetit LaJoie
Trust Me Ltd
#6 - 2013-01-28 17:13:32 UTC
EVElopedia entry on how to buy and sell kill rights.

http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Kill_rights#What_are_they_and_how_they_work
Xolar Spiegel
Playboy Enterprises
#7 - 2013-01-28 17:34:16 UTC
Thank you everyone for the replies, I read the kill rights page and as I understand it (correct me if I am mistaken) someone has to first get aggressive to you (shoot you for instance) before you get kill rights to someone. Otherwise they're safe in high sec. Which is fine I plan on searching for bounties in low sec space anyway.
Soft Insanity
The Night Watchmen
Goonswarm Federation
#8 - 2013-01-28 18:59:23 UTC
If the person you are hunting is in a ship with little tank, or the bounty is enough to warrant multiple attackers, you can gank the ship in high sec. You WILL get concorded but if you math it right, the money gained will outweigh money lost on ships. Destroyers like catalysts make good ganking ships. High DPS, low cost. I would not engage a combat ship alone if they are not flagged as attackable however.

If your target is dumb enough to wander around in a hauler or miner, you can gank them but remember you will only get paid a portion of the bounty, not the entire amount.

Look up the allocation of bounties on single kills if you have not already.
Merouk Baas
#9 - 2013-01-28 19:03:53 UTC
As it's been said, if you know their name:

- locator agent will tell you where they are exactly
- add them to your contacts list and you'll know whether they're logged in or not

As far as attacking, just the bounty doesn't prevent Concord from killing you if you attack, but often, if they have a high bounty they're also -5 or less in sec status (Outlaw), and you can attack them anywhere. You can find out their sec. status by searching for them in People and Places and looking at their info page.
Eternal Montage
Myriad Sequence
#10 - 2013-01-28 19:51:26 UTC  |  Edited by: Eternal Montage
You will need a wide variety of skills and a very creative and patient mind to be able to do this. I think bounty hunting is one of the most challenging, painstaking professions in the game but it's also very rewarding. The thing is that people with high bounties keep themselves well protected, or at least scarce. Also, the new bounty mechanics basically make it so you get a percentage of the bounty based on the cost of their ship---so you're going to want to catch them in a nice ship. Killing them in a rookie ship won't accomplish much.

Once you've actually found the person you can begin to plan how you kill them. It's not going to be easy. Many people with big bounties on their head got that way because they were extremely crafty or mean or something and they tricked/pissed off a lot of people. Many of the people with the biggest bounties will never put themselves in a vulnerable position. I think most of the big bounties are station traders in Jita that never leave. Though there is a wealth of bountiful pirates out in low, so if you make them your target, than they will eventually slip up.

If you find someone you want to kill in lowsec you'll need to spy on them for days, potentially even weeks or months to get the kill you're after. You need to catch them in their 3 bil missioning/anomming ship to get the big payoff you seek. You'll need to learn their patterns and get them when they least suspect it. Needless to say you will need a cloaky and a LOT of patience.

Here's a rough idea of the gear you'll need:

-a T3 cruiser or a cloaky recon ship (pilgrim, rapier) so you can hang out cloaked in an unfriendly system and be ready to pounce on your bounty, in any case you need to plan your setup around your target (ie: maybe fit eccm if you know he carries ecm drones, or fit an extra point if you know he uses warp core stabilizers)
-a tier 3 battlecruiser (for blapping in highsec--a destroyer will work against certain ships, use your best judgement and do the math)
-locator agents
-A network of loyal friends and friends of friends and acquaintances and information dealers and intel channels and spies. Be prepared to bribe people or buy information or do whatever is at your disposal to get your target.
-ability to probe, in case you want to catch your bounty at a site or probe them down at a safe spot

In any case bounty hunting involves a lot of waiting. It can be worth it though. Imagine tracking a target for a month and finally killing his pimped out Machariel in an anomaly and looting a 300 mil drop or something. It's much easier to be a bad guy though. If you wanted to be a bad guy you could just go around ganking missioners, or suicide ganking haulers or something.

Edit: You can also use their killboard to figure out where they hang out.
Vincent R'lyeh
Screaming Hayabusa
#11 - 2013-01-28 20:58:50 UTC
Come on down to Heild or Adirain, that's where we hang out atm and quite a lot of us have been terribly naughty! Roll

I have deliberately developed an air of cynicism that I originally intended to make me appear somewhat louche and caddish but actually comes across as irritable hostility combined with the unspoken threat of sudden violence.....