Making a living via the Bounty Board/Services

[r3vange]

So, I heard awhile back that Phate broke the $1,000,000,000 mark through piracy. I was highly interested in seeing how profitable the Mercenary/Bounty business was.

However, I seem to be at a loss for things. Most Bounties are limited in a single system and require a variety of things. etc.

I was wondering if any of the hardcore Mercenary archetype players of Discovery were willing to take me under their wing and show me the ropes.

Please contact me via PM or Skype: tiberiuswalker

I've broken the 1,000,000,000 mark through picracy on one run dude...

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[Stoat]

I've made more than sufficient money via bounty collection. I'm certainly no Kaze, or Stygian, or any number of the Reavers (*bows*) when it comes to it, and I'm really hopeless in a VHF, but there's plenty of credits to be made.

Joining the Reavers or Mandalorians or BHG will get you all you need.

Edit: Merc work will almost certainly make you more money than BHG work will

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My Stories

[Syrus]

Yes, come and make the IMG poor via BB!

But really, if you see that people claim kills worth 10-20 million or even more in one post you'll notice that it can make you a lot of money. Though a trader will ALWAYS be making more money, if you focus on that. Even without powertrade-running the best routes on a 5k transport. But if you like KILLING, and enjoy fighting, go for it. Even for a decent pilot it will pay for your repaircosts.

The only downside: You need to be at least a decent fighter / bomber pilot, so you can destroy your targets. Getting killed makes you miss 4h of great fun and money. But I guess you know the risks etc.

Blanket bounties really do the trick. Single targets are always difficult or not really worth. If you stumble upon them, it's a nice bonus though.

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[Walker]

I've broken the 1,000,000,000 mark through picracy on one run dude...

As have I, even with Phate.

I believe we got 1.2B from an Arms Dealer once.

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Tiberius Walker, putting flames out and being awesome since Apr 13 2008 ™
[8/17/2008 5:56:46 PM] Aaron (Boss/Jurgen) says: Can't bring myself to say it... Looks like you get the LABC, I've seen what you can do in one
Walker (Albert Wint): I can has win? --- Epyon the Bored: You can haz win. --- [1:18:00 PM] Chris (Niezck) says: I love you <3
[5:55:53 PM] Raisu says: Walker pwned both Battleships(LNS-Texas LNS-Arizona) - [5:55:57 PM] Raisu says: in a cruiser
Tiberius Walker, spreading mayhem, destruction, and Spamming Flood since Oct 22 2008 ™
[9:08:25 AM] Gurjiv (Frozen) says: I hope someone gives you AIDs.
[7:15:17 PM] Dylan (Ximen) says: Walker... you have no idea how much fail you bring into this world...
[8:05:08 AM] Ross (SevereTrinity) says: Screw you for making me install FL again
[10:51IE AM] Epyon the Bored says: My god if I ever meet you I am going to strangle you.
Tiberius Walker, being better then you since April 30, 2009 ™
We will remember - We do not Forget - We do not Forgive

[Dusty Lens]

If you simply wish to enjoy the merc lifestyle without investing a great deal of energy I would suggest signing on with an existing group.

However, if you want to go it solo it's really not that troublesome. While some factions are wary of signing on new pilots to existing contracts there's something to be said about going into the field without being pressed to follow the lead of the company.

The best way to generate funds, as a rule, is to study the boards for a spell to triangulate which target the most people will pay you to kill. That Hessian which is only worth 1 million from the RM might suddenly be worth 4 when the Corsairs AND the RM are paying you, then is worth 9 when the Corsairs, RM, Kruger and Daumann are all paying you.

While you can go after low yield kills for the thrill of the hunt the only real way to be sustainable as a company, which not many groups have been over time (I'm pleased to say that, while the Reavers are not a closed economy merc group due to such an endeavor being rather tedious to embark on given how far we've come, the Reavers are a group which no one can deny makes much more money than it could plausibly spend on the equipment it makes it with), is to try and make murders on targets which are worth about five million a pop.

However, in truth, unless you're an ace stick or crafty as heck in choosing targets and contracts chances are that you're not going to really see an enormous financial return. Especially when compared to more traditional industrial pursuits or piracy.

Edit: Though if you want money I wouldn't suggest going the BHG route. The BHG somewhat lacks lobbying power at the moment and you wont find that they carry much preference in contract payouts when compared to more active merc groups. I feel very very strongly that could be turned around, such as we've seen from EDGE, but there just isn't a wider interest in pushing the BHG as a viable cash cow. Such is my opinion.

[aerelm]

First and foremost - If you don't enjoy forum paperwork, mercing as a hunter isn't for you. Your one chance to avoid forum paperwork is to fly around, come across already ongoing fights and ask if either side needs assist in return for a couple of credits.

That said, makin a living out of merc business totally depends on how much you spend. I flew only 1 char, which was a merc working mainly for Sairs/Gaians for about half a year and nothing else. So all I spent was ammo money and cost of repairs, which meant by the end of the 6th month when I decided to make a couple of other chars, I had much more money saved than when I decided to go solo-char. It was actually enough to cover a CAU8 Ryuujin to start trading again. But if you're the type who like to make random chars here and there, buy capitals and other costy ships or items, unless you powermerc all day every day you won't get to make the cash you need out of mercing... And even then, if you spend the same time trading, you'll make much more cash.

So yeah, to sum it up - Going powermerc to make cash does work if you don't spend too much, but won't be as profitable as powertrading.

[Agmen of Eladesor]

Edit: Though if you want money I wouldn't suggest going the BHG route. The BHG somewhat lacks lobbying power at the moment and you wont find that they carry much preference in contract payouts when compared to more active merc groups. I feel very very strongly that could be turned around, such as we've seen from EDGE, but there just isn't a wider interest in pushing the BHG as a viable cash cow. Such is my opinion.

I wouldn't say that the BHG is currently undergoing a crisis of conscience as much as we're undergoing a crisis of ... well, tedium, boredom, and general malaise. That's one problem when you're a big faction - you get a lot of people in, bunch of them drop out, others go do stupid stuff, and while our leadership is alive and well, we're just not that active again until 4.86 comes out and then Dash and Monte can go their own ways with the two branches. (I certainly can't be - not with all my RL stuff. Two more craft shows this month, 4 next month, and 2 in December still on the schedule - in addition to my full time job.)

I think if the Reavers ever got to the size of the BHG, or if one of the key founders just went away for a while, you'd run into a similar situation. There for a while we had close to 90 players on our roster, with something like 500 characters between them all. That's just nuts - when as a faction you could literally take half the slots on the server if you wanted.

I know I'm certainly not the greatest at PvP combat, and I've easily earned over 100 million credits in bounty claims. Athenian probably had closer to the half a billion mark, if not more. Things change - but one thing that has never changed is that things are biased towards the unlawfuls here, whether you're pirating, enforcing the laws, or bounty-hunting as a hunter or a merc. I do, though, recall the days when a squadron of S/D hunters could come in, and effectively clean up any system on the map - and god, would there be complaints when we would. (How dare we mess up the pirating!)

And of course, having the server mess up and give you a death message that your target was killed by NPC's or by someone in a system far and away from you is always annoying. I suggest taking pictures of your combats - and also, of course, be prepared to spend at least half an hour on paperwork for your kills, between picture, uploading, and all your claims. Spreadsheets, all the house laws, and a continually updated list of bounties are highly recommended - which is one reason a lot of people don't want to play hunters. You have to do a lot of paperwork.

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Oh god... The end of days... Agmen agreed with me.

[Dashiell]

BHG| is always looking for active hunters.

We do hunt a lot, but we don't get the juiciest contracts. Unlawful ones pay better for some reason.
But feel free to drop an app in and see if you like it.

I do demand all kills be claimed on the forums or gtfo. forumlancing is an integral (if somewhat annoying at times) part of bounty work. We`re bounty hunters. not blue message hunters.

And yes, getting paid ingame is also an option. I think i made over 80 mils alone because BAF hired me ingame so often when the lolsairs invaded or the molly gb swarms were turned loose.

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[Rodriguez]

Join Mandalorians, otherwise, I'll be hunting you all around sirius : )

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[McNeo]

We do hunt a lot, but we don't get the juiciest contracts. Unlawful ones pay better for some reason.

This is because unlawfuls can only hire mercenaries, whereas lawfuls can hire mercenaries and bounty hunters. I'm surprised that the bounty hunters haven't tried to put pressure on house governments to marginalise mercenaries (citing their unstable diplomacy, perhaps) and grab more of the market share.

In fact there seems to be a great absence of political lobbying in general.