Earning merits through bounty hunting?

[Susono]

Turning in bounties with a power gives merits? Or is it just the act of destroying a wanted ship that rewards it?

[Sighman]

Bounties count, it's about 1 merit per 1000 credits I think?

They have to be earned in the system where you turn them in.

[Susono]

Originally posted by Sighman:

Bounties count, it's about 1 merit per 1000 credits I think?

They have to be earned in the system where you turn them in.

Gotcha, does that system also have to be owned by your power?

[Sighman]

Originally posted by Susono:

Originally posted by Sighman:

Bounties count, it's about 1 merit per 1000 credits I think?

They have to be earned in the system where you turn them in.

Gotcha, does that system also have to be owned by your power?

Not sure, as I'm only working an Exploited system owned by my power.

Recently I heard you can mine in stronghold/reinforced systems and sell in exploited systems in range, or so I believe. I don't know if the same applies to bounty hunting.

[Agony_Aunt]

You get merits as you scan ships and also as you kill them. I enjoy going into a Haz Res with an engineered (fast scan) KWS for a bit of credits and merits.

I saw people recommending going into power combat zones to achieve more merits, but firstly power combat zones can be buggy, with no ships spawning, requiring relogging until they do, and the ships tend to be tougher than in even a Haz Res, so less kills/time and less merits/time.

[EverySingleTime]

CZs aren't buggy very often. They do give more challenge, but I wouldn't say they're less lucrative than HazRes. HazRes can be very hit or miss. Sometimes you drop right into juicy Condas and solid bounties, othertimes it's a ghost town.

[McGargoyle]

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

and the ships tend to be tougher than in even a Haz Res, so less kills/time and less merits/time.

Well, I've seen weaker, I've seen slightly tougher than HazRez, but never as tough as in regular CZs.
OK, I admit I've only fought in about a dozen PPCZs, I might not have sufficient data.

[Agony_Aunt]

Originally posted by McGargoyle:

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

and the ships tend to be tougher than in even a Haz Res, so less kills/time and less merits/time.

Well, I've seen weaker, I've seen slightly tougher than HazRez, but never as tough as in regular CZs.
OK, I admit I've only fought in about a dozen PPCZs, I might not have sufficient data.

I've done a few PPCZ, and they feel a bit tougher. Might just be my imagination. You do also have to face many opponents, with many allies, as opposed to picking and choosing targets in a RES.

[Agony_Aunt]

Originally posted by EverySingleTime:

CZs aren't buggy very often. They do give more challenge, but I wouldn't say they're less lucrative than HazRes. HazRes can be very hit or miss. Sometimes you drop right into juicy Condas and solid bounties, othertimes it's a ghost town.

I've had some terrible luck with PPCZs.

Never had a Haz Res be a ghost town, always plenty of targets, just sometimes its all small ships. But you can get the same in CZs sometimes as well. All PPCZs are medium threat, so there should always be a mix of ships, but sometimes the spawn function tends to favour certain ships.

[McGargoyle]

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

You do also have to face many opponents, with many allies, as opposed to picking and choosing targets in a RES.

OK, that's true.

[Konril]

Originally posted by Susono:

Turning in bounties with a power gives merits? Or is it just the act of destroying a wanted ship that rewards it?

Bounty merits are awarded on kill. So there is no risk of losing them if you get destroyed before turning your bounties in. Also, it's just fine to drag your bounty vouchers to an allied stronghold system, You'll get a little bit of extra credits paid by turning them into the power broker here. (Unfortunately, the power broker won't accept combat bonds. So no extra pay for these.)

However, you need to do your bounty hunting in an acquisition or reinforcement system. AKA one your power owns or is unowned and in range of an allied fortification or stronghold system. No merits are earned at all for bounty hunting in a hostile system. Power kills are a different matter, and do count in hostile systems as an undermining activity. But you might get a bad rep with the local controlling faction and have a bounty placed on you if you do that.

I still need to check out the combat zones, so I can't comment more on them, yet.