Who are bounty hunters? How is their relation with the local law enforcement (ignoring the infocard)? How is their relation with the unlawfuls (again, ignoring the infocard)? How is there a way to prove that there is a bounty? Can you set a bounty on someone and carry it out yourself? What restrictions are there on BH caps regarding bounties? Am I asking too many questions? Are you going to give me one-word answers for each question, resulting in a flurry of words that'll look odd out of context? Do you want a cookie? If so, what <strike>flavor</strike> kind? Milk?
Thanks,
C-poo
EDIT: Forgot that cookies don't come in flavors. D'oh.
I haven't been here as long as you, but I'll try to answer anyway, since my character D'Nai Lakwera joined the Bounty Hunters Guild yesterday.
Quote:Who are bounty hunters?
Leaving the whole origins story aside, they are people who want to take on dirty jobs for the money, but also want to stay just inside the law. I view them as being individualists who might have even joined law enforcement, but couldn't handle the structure. As for D'Nai, she joined up because they tolerate her religious beliefs and agree with her opposition to Nomads and criminals. She also wants money to maintain and repair her church, and access to their bases. For her part, she stands willing to assist them against Nomads and criminal elements such as the Order. It's a very pragmatic, unsentimental business relationship.
Quote:How is their relation with the local law enforcement (ignoring the infocard)?
Local law enforcement recognizes that bounty hunters have their uses, but also resents their cavalier attitude towards legal niceties and patriotic loyalty. After all, they'll just as soon catch criminals for Bretonia as for Kusari. There's a sense that they are renegades who don't really respect the law, even though it's hard to catch them violating it. As for how bounty hunters see law enforcement, I think they're aware of the general suspicions but also try to cultivate some local contacts for informational/networking purposes. They certainly don't want cops looking over their shoulder, or they would have joined the police.
Quote:How is their relation with the unlawfuls (again, ignoring the infocard)?
My view is that the relationship is absolutely toxic. While a bounty hunter might go as far as to pay an unlawful for information about another unlawful target, there can be no trust between them. Bounty hunters basically think of criminals as scum (even if they sometimes violate the law themselves). Bounty hunters view themselves as good guys (as most people do), so they think their targets have it coming to them.
Quote:How is there a way to prove that there is a bounty?
Screenshot? I can think of no other way. Effectively, it just has to be RPed.
Quote:Can you set a bounty on someone and carry it out yourself?
Like anyone else, bounty hunters have feelings and get angry. However, personal revenge or malice is not bounty-hunting. The "I set my own bounties" idea seems completely ooRP, a mere way to game the rules without acknowledging the personal anomosity that must exist.
Quote:What restrictions are there on BH caps regarding bounties?
I don't know. I've seen a number of people claim that BH caps simply cannot bounty hunt. That seems extreme to me -- I think the BHG would be entirely willing to send a BC against an outlaw in a capship given the right price. In general, capship bounty hunting should be limited to capship targets. The main purpose of the BH capship fleet is to prevent the Guild from being wiped out by the Order or organized crime. A secondary purpose is to defend the outposts necessary for these operations from Nomad incursions.
Truth be told, BHG doesn't match up with D'Nai's purposes very well. But neither does any other faction, and this gives her the freedom to preach to the lawless, convert the lawful, and resist the Nomads -- all elements of her faith. She honors her obligations to the BHG out of convenience rather than ideology.
I go by abbamouse, but my characters are the Cryer researcher Daniel Moss, the very boring and ordinary trader John Smith, the borderline-insane civilian Mr Joker, and a Bundschuh activist who goes by the alias Rosa Luxemburg. I am not them and they are not me.
here is a brief description of how it was supposed to be in freelancer 1.0:
the bounty hunters guild is an organization that was brought to life, cause the policeforces were overwhelmed by the amount of crime. especially the root of the crime aswell as the sheer number called for assistance. - because the policeforces could only cope with crime directly at the lanes and stations, the guild took up the niche to fight crime where the police wouldn t go. - that means jumpgates, which the borderstations tried to keep clean but failed, jumpholes, where you usually find BHGs and not police forces and of course - at the very root of the pirates - their homesystems and homestations.
so you see BHGs doing police substitute work - aswell as skimming around known pirate stations and systems. - they are not doing that for any contract per se, but for the bounty attached to the enemy pilots ( their selling value ) - all in all, the BHG is trustworthy in terms of that they do fight the crime, but questionable about how they do it. - "some" of them are ex-criminals who provided the guild with unique knowledge about smuggling routes, jumpholes and locations of pirate bases, but most of them are rather normally employed pilots who seek their fortune.
further to the direct crimefighting, they hired freeports as their outposts for deep space operations. the guild is both - interested in research for new technology ( codenames for example ) aswell as fighting crime where it starts, namely the great pirate homesystems gamma and alpha, where they appear in their most advanced ships with their best pilots.
their numbers are great and they are highly influencial cause the houes know that they would succumb to the pirates scourge if the BHG did not assist them.
that is how disco changed things:
the BHG is not a fighter faction anymore ( just like allmost every other non house faction ) but deploys warships, too. in addition to their police substitute duty, they have started a campaign against the nomads. this is not a war as such, but they are exploiting their technology by overwhelming the retreating nomads after the nomad war by their sheer numbers and dedication aswell as their highly advanced technology of brute force.
over their intentions with the nomad technology - the order has started to be concerned - mostly probably about the cloaking technology, cause no one wants to imagine what a powerhungry faction like the guild could become when they figured out how to cloak their vessels. - so the order has started to interfere with the guild - and since the guild acts like a bully, they have started a war with the order. - the BHG has attacked the order and the order has defended - however the order is not interested in actually fighting the guild, but holding them back from - what they consider "technology that might be dangerous in the wrong hands" - which means... the guilds hand are most definitely the wrong hands.
the guild has deployed countless battlegroups of destroyers in omicron-delta as the closest system to the nomad homesystem and established a standing force there. - their hammerheads are still pressing hard on the corsairs and the outcasts - and they even ventured deep into alaska ( following the nomads through the omicrons ).
secrecy is nothing the guild is much concerned with - they exploid and raid. their protection is their power. - with the houses still depending on the assistance of the guild, they wouldn t dare to question their ways much. with the advanced technological knowledge they gain from the nomads, they have deployed warships in numbers and technology that is even to the houses fleets.
how is actually is:
the BHG is at the very must accepted to fly in house space, but mostly unwanted. the police / military claim they have everything under control and the present situation looks like they would rather have pirates roam their space than the guild to clean it up.
the guild faces extinction not cause of the lack of purpose - but of the lack of contracts. it has been considered "bad roleplay" if they consider the prices for the pirate pilots to be a "bounty" - and were reduced so the handful of playerbounties - which wich it would be questionable to even justify a wing of hammerheads to operate. the ships that are located where they ought to be - like omicron-delta are harrassed for bringing an overwhelming force into battle - and often enough, they do. ( but you rarely see BHG players complain about pirates cap spamming them - its often the pirates complaining ) - nevertheless, the BHG tends to bring a much larger force than is necessary and often plays to win. ( like most factions actually, especially playerfactions as it was pointed out "they have the power and the numbers to overwhelm others" )
this leads to funny situations in which sometimes a fleet of bounty hunters hunts down a handful of fighters aswell as fleets of pirates swarming hunters. - the balance is hardly there, cause everyone always thinks to be right to act as he does.
meanwhile, the bounties in the houses have allmost vanished - the hunters in fighters cannot go after bounties as they "should" - unless they like to travel all sirius ( they cannot set their own ZoI and wait for contracts ) - and they have to share their targets with zealous freelancers, common mercenaries and other guildmember.
hardly ever is a bounty called for the guild, even if the guild should be the first choice for lawfuls to call, as the guild ensures to be working for lawfuls only. - the reputation of the guild is as low as it can be. every single merc and freelancer appears to enjoy a better reputation - and that attitude is reflected in both, the players minds that deal with the BHG aswell as the BHG that deals with the others.
how i wish it would be:
houses should install right for the guild. either grant them limited policing rights or set regular and permanent bounties ( who cares for millions of credits - make it so that shooting down a pirate player pays 100k - thats as much as cambridge pays for a superiour nomad brain ). set them clear guidelines.
cooperations that are affected by the pirates much should install similar bounties to cleanse the threat "at the roots" to give the players that roleplay the BHG a reason to go to gamma / alpha. ( make it 200k for each playerpirate in his homesystem and the players join their NPC buddies there )
in the omicrons, the BHG is the strongest lawful power. - there is no arguing around it. its not clear if they bring a greater power to those systems than the pirates, but they surely have enough to ensure not to be kicked out. - especially omicron-delta is VERY heavy on capships ( NPCs ) and should be treated like that. - the guild brings their raidgroups, the nomads bring their raidgroups, the corsairs have their raidgroups - and all include warships of some kind. it would be rediculous to point out that the guild comes in too many warships into these parts - as they are supposed to do it ( along with fighter cover - but thats entirely up to the warship captain and no indicator of RP but only an indicator of overconfidence when dealing with enemy bombers )
whats wrong atm from the point of view of roleplay:
warships flying around in house space is NOT a problem. - however warships flying around housespace and doing anything other but just passing is wrong. of course the BHG can move their fleet through house space. - as they are known to be lawful and NO threat to the lawful forces. - they are not to engage minor threats though - but if attacked, they can defend themselves of course.
BHGs should be treated like they are supposed to be treated. - as an additional force that helps the lawfuls against the overwhelming pirate forces. their light and heavy fighters do a good job at patrolling the rather uncommon places where pirates show up - but their doing is often controlled and assisted by the police. ( a police asking a BHG to drop the pilots is not harrassing the BHG... he is assisting! - he makes sure the BHG doesn t need to bring the pilot to a prison station himself and saves him a lot of paperwork - however, the "bounty" is payed only in imagination in that case.... )
BHG and pirates must reflect upon themselves before they attack one another. an attitute of "i have been attacked in the past, so i will now attack myself" gets us nowhere but only worsens the situation. so if we are up to change - we must work on it. at the same time, pirates must abandon their attitude to attack everything with a BHG ID, as it is hardly in the interest of a pirate to risk his life - if not in a direct defense of his home ( so when a fleet of BHGs attacks crete - of COURSE the corsairs will attack immedietly - but if they are in theta - why should they attack? )
the BHG on the other hand should always make their intentions clear ( unless its nomads they fight, as its a situation of warfare - and that one is put down in the rules as a special case, same goes for the order ) so if a BHG shows no intention to attack a pirate - why should the pirate - and if the pirate shows no intention to attack the hunter - why should the hunter attack? - pointless roleplay then which boils down to pvp only.
what rights does the BHG have:
the BHG HAS the right to fly allmost everywhere with everything. there is little reason to deny them this right as it defines their faction. - however they are limited in engaging - and ... unless there is a clear mission / contract, they are rather bound to defend themselves than attack.
that doesn t mean they cannot show up in a brute force of a whole fleet of warships. - if they stick to their roleplay - such a behaviour is just a behaviour you see on animals moving in packs. - they make you consider if its worth to attack and reflect upon yourself what you actually gain from it ( other than pvp ).
Who are we? Well, some of us are....click on my sig. Come join //shameless plug
Bounties.
a. Proof? The employment exchange. And the BHr's word. Stop laughing. Some are reliable.
b. Some people have set bounties on the forum that encourage RP, and have you spending a lot of time following your prey. Many people stipulate details in the contract, like that the target has to be informed of certain things before he dies. By and large these are time consuming but great fun, in my experience.
c. Other bounties are aimed at revenge by people who dont wnat to take the law into their own hands and are for repeat destructions of individuals. These come around a lot more rarely than you think, but are more frequent than b. above. These can be quite tough as they are often aimed at individuals who have shown poor regard for rules and RP.
d. Some lawful factions post regular bounties. The BPA's most wanted list is one very good example. Many factions do the same, Synth Foods for example.
e. There are one or two open contracts set against player factions; the one against the OPG for example. This has been a very good thing in my experience; Ive probably made a small profit considering RPing the rebulding and repairing of ships and I learned how important it is to work with other reputable hunters. Most importantly I got to know the other faction members and respect them; they have been good sports about it, and enjoy the reputation they have earned, like any decent hard criminals.
f. I set two or three bounties against people who did things that deserved it - RP wise, like firing unprovoked on an S/D agent. Not any more, it happens too often. I set bounties against people who perpetrated certain misdeeds to put a more solid RP aspect to some powers that come from the BH i.d. For example, scanning cargo for contraband. I RP'd some lobby group in the Bretonian government getting a resolution passed that would provide finance for an attempt to end the Sirius wide slave trade, based on the abolitionists like William Wilberforce. Other cargo: pilots in hold, drugs, etc. I generally ignore; seems too much like police work and I'd rather do stuff that is a bit more specific. Chasing after your own bounties is kinda pointless and close to revenge killing, but all of these weren't for a killing at all; just trying to get a more coherent shape to how a BH agency would function. I'll keep adding them to give others a taste of hunting. I have no other use for money I make in game cause I m not saving for anything and I have twenty Battlecruisers already. Joke.
The bounties are there, but you need a lot of patience for it to really enjoy it. I got paid yesterday for two kills I did about, five/six weeks ago? I check the boards every day when my girlfriend isnt telling me i am a freak of nature. Im still chasing after a certain individual that escaped from a research station. A lot of the time, Im chasing thin air but Ill stick wit it.
What works? Specific bounties with RP the primary factor. And more of them. Certain lawfuls are real cheap. Come on guys you know who you are.
Who are bounty hunters?
Money grubbing bastards and "reformed" pirates.
How is their relation with the local law enforcement (ignoring the infocard)?
The BHG have their own goals, and the lawful authorities don't always fit in them.
How is their relation with the unlawfuls (again, ignoring the infocard)?
Because of Bounty Hunters' reputation, most unlawfuls regard them as KOS, especially since a lot of current BHG are pirates who switched sides when captured by other BHG (aka, they're traitors).
How is there a way to prove that there is a bounty?
Forums
Can you set a bounty on someone and carry it out yourself?
You could, but its pretty illogical; just kill them. Or, alternately, you can have one of your other characters post the bounty.
What restrictions are there on BH caps regarding bounties?
BHG caps bigger than GBs are solely for fighting in the Borderworlds and for use as mobile bases.
Quote:Money grubbing bastards and "reformed" pirates.
Nice. I would have said "enterprising" but that is a good way of describing them too. Spot on about the police too; most police authorities tolerate us only slightly more than mercs. Although that is being made worse by certain BH pilots driving capital class vessels into New York and murdering all the children.
On the bounties thing and how BH relate to unlawfuls; on the ship cards there is some mention made of using large ships to fulfill Bounty contracts. The reality in game is that a fair bit of automatic KOS ing happens with no Rp at all on both sides, and you find complaints of fleets of BH capships invading places like Gamma. The i.d. changes proposed might solve some of the problems with that, but I think players have to take the lead. Setting down particular conditions in bounties is one way, such as limiting the size of ship that can take someone down. Its kind of hard to justify from a Rp point of view, I guess the bigger the reward and more difficult the target (in scale) the more likely you can justify a large gunboat going after the target.
' Wrote:here is a brief description of how it was supposed to be in freelancer 1.0:
the bounty hunters guild is an organization that was brought to life, cause the policeforces were overwhelmed by the amount of crime. especially the root of the crime aswell as the sheer number called for assistance. - because the policeforces could only cope with crime directly at the lanes and stations, the guild took up the niche to fight crime where the police wouldn t go. - that means jumpgates, which the borderstations tried to keep clean but failed, jumpholes, where you usually find BHGs and not police forces and of course - at the very root of the pirates - their homesystems and homestations.
so you see BHGs doing police substitute work - aswell as skimming around known pirate stations and systems. - they are not doing that for any contract per se, but for the bounty attached to the enemy pilots ( their selling value ) - all in all, the BHG is trustworthy in terms of that they do fight the crime, but questionable about how they do it. - "some" of them are ex-criminals who provided the guild with unique knowledge about smuggling routes, jumpholes and locations of pirate bases, but most of them are rather normally employed pilots who seek their fortune.
further to the direct crimefighting, they hired freeports as their outposts for deep space operations. the guild is both - interested in research for new technology ( codenames for example ) aswell as fighting crime where it starts, namely the great pirate homesystems gamma and alpha, where they appear in their most advanced ships with their best pilots.
their numbers are great and they are highly influencial cause the houes know that they would succumb to the pirates scourge if the BHG did not assist them.
that is how disco changed things:
the BHG is not a fighter faction anymore ( just like allmost every other non house faction ) but deploys warships, too. in addition to their police substitute duty, they have started a campaign against the nomads. this is not a war as such, but they are exploiting their technology by overwhelming the retreating nomads after the nomad war by their sheer numbers and dedication aswell as their highly advanced technology of brute force.
over their intentions with the nomad technology - the order has started to be concerned - mostly probably about the cloaking technology, cause no one wants to imagine what a powerhungry faction like the guild could become when they figured out how to cloak their vessels. - so the order has started to interfere with the guild - and since the guild acts like a bully, they have started a war with the order. - the BHG has attacked the order and the order has defended - however the order is not interested in actually fighting the guild, but holding them back from - what they consider "technology that might be dangerous in the wrong hands" - which means... the guilds hand are most definitely the wrong hands.
the guild has deployed countless battlegroups of destroyers in omicron-delta as the closest system to the nomad homesystem and established a standing force there. - their hammerheads are still pressing hard on the corsairs and the outcasts - and they even ventured deep into alaska ( following the nomads through the omicrons ).
secrecy is nothing the guild is much concerned with - they exploid and raid. their protection is their power. - with the houses still depending on the assistance of the guild, they wouldn t dare to question their ways much. with the advanced technological knowledge they gain from the nomads, they have deployed warships in numbers and technology that is even to the houses fleets.
how is actually is:
the BHG is at the very must accepted to fly in house space, but mostly unwanted. the police / military claim they have everything under control and the present situation looks like they would rather have pirates roam their space than the guild to clean it up.
the guild faces extinction not cause of the lack of purpose - but of the lack of contracts. it has been considered "bad roleplay" if they consider the prices for the pirate pilots to be a "bounty" - and were reduced so the handful of playerbounties - which wich it would be questionable to even justify a wing of hammerheads to operate. the ships that are located where they ought to be - like omicron-delta are harrassed for bringing an overwhelming force into battle - and often enough, they do. ( but you rarely see BHG players complain about pirates cap spamming them - its often the pirates complaining ) - nevertheless, the BHG tends to bring a much larger force than is necessary and often plays to win. ( like most factions actually, especially playerfactions as it was pointed out "they have the power and the numbers to overwhelm others" )
this leads to funny situations in which sometimes a fleet of bounty hunters hunts down a handful of fighters aswell as fleets of pirates swarming hunters. - the balance is hardly there, cause everyone always thinks to be right to act as he does.
meanwhile, the bounties in the houses have allmost vanished - the hunters in fighters cannot go after bounties as they "should" - unless they like to travel all sirius ( they cannot set their own ZoI and wait for contracts ) - and they have to share their targets with zealous freelancers, common mercenaries and other guildmember.
hardly ever is a bounty called for the guild, even if the guild should be the first choice for lawfuls to call, as the guild ensures to be working for lawfuls only. - the reputation of the guild is as low as it can be. every single merc and freelancer appears to enjoy a better reputation - and that attitude is reflected in both, the players minds that deal with the BHG aswell as the BHG that deals with the others.
how i wish it would be:
houses should install right for the guild. either grant them limited policing rights or set regular and permanent bounties ( who cares for millions of credits - make it so that shooting down a pirate player pays 100k - thats as much as cambridge pays for a superiour nomad brain ). set them clear guidelines.
cooperations that are affected by the pirates much should install similar bounties to cleanse the threat "at the roots" to give the players that roleplay the BHG a reason to go to gamma / alpha. ( make it 200k for each playerpirate in his homesystem and the players join their NPC buddies there )
in the omicrons, the BHG is the strongest lawful power. - there is no arguing around it. its not clear if they bring a greater power to those systems than the pirates, but they surely have enough to ensure not to be kicked out. - especially omicron-delta is VERY heavy on capships ( NPCs ) and should be treated like that. - the guild brings their raidgroups, the nomads bring their raidgroups, the corsairs have their raidgroups - and all include warships of some kind. it would be rediculous to point out that the guild comes in too many warships into these parts - as they are supposed to do it ( along with fighter cover - but thats entirely up to the warship captain and no indicator of RP but only an indicator of overconfidence when dealing with enemy bombers )
whats wrong atm from the point of view of roleplay:
warships flying around in house space is NOT a problem. - however warships flying around housespace and doing anything other but just passing is wrong. of course the BHG can move their fleet through house space. - as they are known to be lawful and NO threat to the lawful forces. - they are not to engage minor threats though - but if attacked, they can defend themselves of course.
BHGs should be treated like they are supposed to be treated. - as an additional force that helps the lawfuls against the overwhelming pirate forces. their light and heavy fighters do a good job at patrolling the rather uncommon places where pirates show up - but their doing is often controlled and assisted by the police. ( a police asking a BHG to drop the pilots is not harrassing the BHG... he is assisting! - he makes sure the BHG doesn t need to bring the pilot to a prison station himself and saves him a lot of paperwork - however, the "bounty" is payed only in imagination in that case.... )
BHG and pirates must reflect upon themselves before they attack one another. an attitute of "i have been attacked in the past, so i will now attack myself" gets us nowhere but only worsens the situation. so if we are up to change - we must work on it. at the same time, pirates must abandon their attitude to attack everything with a BHG ID, as it is hardly in the interest of a pirate to risk his life - if not in a direct defense of his home ( so when a fleet of BHGs attacks crete - of COURSE the corsairs will attack immedietly - but if they are in theta - why should they attack? )
the BHG on the other hand should always make their intentions clear ( unless its nomads they fight, as its a situation of warfare - and that one is put down in the rules as a special case, same goes for the order ) so if a BHG shows no intention to attack a pirate - why should the pirate - and if the pirate shows no intention to attack the hunter - why should the hunter attack? - pointless roleplay then which boils down to pvp only.
what rights does the BHG have:
the BHG HAS the right to fly allmost everywhere with everything. there is little reason to deny them this right as it defines their faction. - however they are limited in engaging - and ... unless there is a clear mission / contract, they are rather bound to defend themselves than attack.
that doesn t mean they cannot show up in a brute force of a whole fleet of warships. - if they stick to their roleplay - such a behaviour is just a behaviour you see on animals moving in packs. - they make you consider if its worth to attack and reflect upon yourself what you actually gain from it ( other than pvp ).
bounty hunter NPC's: the most annoying and harassing npc's you'll find in the mod.
bounty hunter players: the worst capwhoring, no-RP jerks you'll find in the mod.
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