Elite: Dangerous PvE - Mobius

Greetings, commanders. After taking an unforeseen break for several months, I've gotten back into the game, and I'm glad to say that the changes in the game are pretty amazingly good... but there's been a fair few changes, and they've left a paper trail of broken methodology and no-longer-true rules and conventions scattered all over the internet. There's a lot of different things that just ain't so anymore, and probably just as many things that either never were true, or were only true for a short while (like cold fusion, and the get-rich-quick exploit in Robigo.)

For the most part I've been content to muddle my way through on old information, half-remembered procedures/tactics,etc... but I've been pretty much stymied on figuring out what exactly is going on with Wanted status, and more particularly, the ways to go about removing that unwanted Wanted glaring up at me from the dashboard!

The most recent information I could find suggests getting a Sidewinder, hopping out of the system, back into the system, and getting shot down, then getting back into a ship and returning to the system to pay off the in-system fine. After that, the bounty is paid off but there is a legacy fine that will become active after a week, which must be paid off... and in the meantime, any authority ship that scans you in the system you got wanted in will reactivate your wanted status.

Well, I started to do all that, but it turns out a lot of it was unnecessary. I became wanted in Ling Deti, so I went to Dvorsi and traded out my Vulture for a Sidey. I returned to Ling Deti expecting to need to actually get blown out of the sky to pay off the fine.

Instead, I merely flew to an outpost, paid my fine, and as far as I can tell, that was it.

So, is there something I'm missing, or has the way bounties (particularly 'friendly fire' bounties) are taken care of changed?

Bounties are not Fines.

Fines you have one week to pay off, you will not be killed for it. If you don't pay the fine it becomes a bounty.

With a bounty, you will be hunted for in THAT system alone. You have to wait 7 days for the bounty to become dormant and then in another week it becomes a legacy fine.
If you are scanned in the time where you have a bounty or a dormant bounty, the timer is reset back to 7 days and if it was dormant, it becomes active again.

Once it is a Legacy fine (or a Dormant Bounty) if you are scanned in THAT system, your bounty is reactivated and you can be killed for it. Otherwise it will never bother you again except in THAT system. If you are killed in that system, or die with a bounty and you respawn in that system (it was the last you docked in) you will have to pay your insurance AND the legacy fine. Anything that is dormant or legacy can be paid off the next time you are in that system.

It sounds like you got a Wanted status for something small like accidentally shooting a clean ship. That is a bounty for a short period of 9 minutes (and you must jump out of the system and back in (or relog) ) to change it to a fine which you can then pay off.

When you have a a Fine or Bounty, look in your Transactions on the left panel. It will show you if it is Fine or Bounty and how long it is for.

Fines for actions such as going to fast in the station No Fly Zone and hitting the station or another ship are usually low. Loitering over a Landing Pad is a small fine. Slow through the letterbox, a small fine. Shooting a clean ship and hitting them slightly, small fine. Get caught with illegal goods, large fine. (Large Fines for Illegal goods are not an instant bounty).

Be careful, small fines add up and can become a bounty.
Say you shot a clean ship accidentally, got a 400 credit fine so you jumped out, waited for the timer to count down and jumped back to pay it off.
As you came into the station, you were speeding and bumped a ship. 200 credit fine.
Then you got hung up in the letterbox for a bit because you are a bad pilot like me, and got another 200 credit fine.
You get clear and in the confusion try to put down on the wrong pad, 200 credit fine.
Then you panic as the timer is running out and leave the station and hit another ship speeding, 200 credits.

You now are at the limit. If you hit the 1200 credit mark, it then becomes a bounty.

If you have a large fine for something like smuggling, and you get another small fine, it will then become a bounty.

Its confusing, but works.

Fines are like parking tickets. Get one or two, no problem. Get a bunch and the court issues a warrant (a bounty).

Ah, it all makes sense now. It's like the difference between a misdemeanor and and a felony, right? One is an infraction and not serious. The other is a criminal act, and is a bigger deal. And like misdemeanors irl, if you don't take care of them they become more serious. Thank you for the clarification

I just ignore wanted levels.

......

Tor.......

"Have I told you lately that I love you"........

The misdemeanor analogy is pretty good, but I will warn that that "misdemeanor" for shooting a clean ship is a real, but small, bounty that will warrent your death to security forces. A bounty like that will only be active for about 10 minutes though, after which it will become a fine you can pay after reloading the system either by relogging or jumping out and back.

More serious fines tend to have active timers measured in days, at which point it is often best to sacrifice a sidewinder to the security forces under the correct conditions. To actually clear the bounty, ensure that your suicidewinder will respawn in the system you want the bounty cleared in by first docking at a station in system. Then it's simply a matter of getting the attention of your nearest friendly security officer so that he may brutally murder you. For JUSTICE. Afterwards, buy back your in-system sidewinder and you should find that your bounty for the system is gone and any other bounties you hold in other systems have become "dormant" meaning they will only be reapplied if you return to their issuing system and either commit another felony or receive a detailed scan from their security forces.

Hopefully, this helps everyone navigate the unusual red tape of the Elite justice sysyem.

Suicidewinder - talk about immersion breaking. I can't bring myself to use one, so I just lay low for a week.

I thought they fixed the bounty for friendly fire, but I had a cop fly through my laser blasts - literally no time to react - and then I had 6 red blips chasing me out of the system. I think it was just one shot, but it may have been a burst of three. Is it different for hitting cops vs. clean ships?

Oh, and speaking of immersion breaking - related to Tor's post - I'm still pretty disgusted that I can't rescue people in escape pods. In the real world I'd be hailed a hero, given medals, and maybe a reward. In Elite I'm a criminal and fined. So stupid!

I am hoping once they enable passengers, these pods will give you a mission to drop them off at a star port for credits or rep, or sell them on the black market for more credits and a decrease in rep, or something.

I much appreciate the advice and information received: so much so that I now keep a pen, paper, and roll of tape near at hand to 'amend' erroneous assertions regarding cargo legality, local popularity, etc. Thanks, Tor!

Actually guys, I think it's Thor or Bob for short