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[The2nd]

First off let me say that I know that the bounty system in its current iteration is somewhat of a placeholder and is going to be reworked at some point. My suggestion here is not for that rework but for a small and (hopefully) easy to do change to alleviate some issues I've had in 0.8.

Problem:
Bounties increase linear. The more you do, the stronger the bounty fleets become and the more credits you become for completing them. Now In 0.8 you can accumulate a lot of cash through exploration and acquire a fleet faster and cheaper through salvaging than in previous versions. What happened to me repeatedly is that I outpaced the bounties. I did a few but ended up having a rather large fleet through exploration with an equally large need for fuel and supply.
So the bounty fleets ended up being pitifully weak and the credit reward too small to pursue.

Solution:
Increase the variance of bounties posted at any given time. At a time when most bounties are for 80 - 100k at least one should be for significantly more (like 170k) and one for a lot less (50k).
This way bounties become relevant for stronger player fleets even if the player hasn't done many bounties to begin with, or has done a lot of them but then lost a big part of his fleet and is now too weak to defeat the standard bounty fleets.

 

[TaLaR]

You can just stash majority of your fleet while you catch up on bounties.
But increasing variance would help, hunting pitiful bounty fleets is boring.

[Alex]

One thing I just did yesterday is speed up the progression of bounties - now it takes 2 to go to the next "bounty level" instead of 3. Kind of like the idea of adding a bit of variance, though, will take a look.

[Cosmitz]

Bounties actually 'top up' pretty quickly given you can do two or three in a single run. If anything, i'd like a slower progression to bigger and badder fleets, with a few still spawning at intermediate levels. (but really, 50-70k bounties should have some combat ships, not a Buffalo Mk2 and three frigates)

But yeah, there should be some variance, at least one or two 150-300k bounties up just to push the player to have something to strive for. If i didn't know bounties would increse with time, which nothing mentions anywhere, i prolly wouldn't have started on them.

[The2nd]

One thing I just did yesterday is speed up the progression of bounties - now it takes 2 to go to the next "bounty level" instead of 3. Kind of like the idea of adding a bit of variance, though, will take a look.

Great 

Seeing some different numbers has also the side benefit of the bounty system not feeling quite that artificial. 

[borgrel]

because of the exploration thing i have found myself outpacing the bounties.

the problem with this is that they then run away, so u cant catch them (because since a player needs utility ships and most other fleets dont, ur fleet always has the worst sensor profile, so they see u first, have better maneuverability, higher burn rate (most of the time) and dont have to pay for the fuel they need to emergency burn.

So if u do explore too much, u cannot do the bounties.

I like the idea of having bigger and smaller ones available.

[Cosmitz]

You only need to kill the leader, the flagship/starred officer.

[ChaseBears]

If there's going to be explicit 'bounty levels', it makes me thinkit might be good to have a 'bounty hunters guild' or somesuch to explicitly codify it in game.  I was dubious of going all the way out for bounties since i had no idea what 'sizable combat fleet' meant, but i probably coulda taken it a couple months into the game. Instead i ended upgoing out with a Heron and a few destroyers to squash a pirate flying a Kite.

[Thaago]

I really like the idea of high variance - and what ones you complete effects the next set. For example, if the average bounty is 50k and I kill the 100k, it bumps up the average bounty amount by a lot. If the average is 50k and I take out the 50k, it only increases it a little bit.

It used to be that the player would kill most bounties, but now with the larger sectors I just go on an expedition for 1 or 2.

[PCCL]

in addition, can bounties also consist of faction fleets?

Like, not deserter fleets, straight up faction fleets (maybe even protected by patrols or in their own territory) that would ruin your reputation with the faction if you take them on (unless you go incognito)

[FooF]

in addition, can bounties also consist of faction fleets?

Like, not deserter fleets, straight up faction fleets (maybe even protected by patrols or in their own territory) that would ruin your reputation with the faction if you take them on (unless you go incognito)

Especially if there is declared war. The factions are you using you as a proxy (with "plausible deniability" of course!), so it would make sense that they would use a for-hire mercenary to take out actual faction threats. This would also alleviate some of the "bounties are killing me in supply/fuel costs" because these kind of bounties would presumably be in the core worlds. Hell, wouldn't it be sweet revenge to get a mission from Tri-Tach that targets the darn Hegemony patrol that's dinged you 3x for not having your transponder on? 

Maybe these kind of bounties would have huge rep bonuses because its proving your allegiance to your commissioning faction. Since bounties are always optional anyway, if you don't want to risk an opposing faction becoming vengeful toward you, you can always skip it.

[Lopunny Zen]

Bounty system based on level was a bad idea to begin with. Also why does it progress in bounty? Real bounty hunting would vary very much or at lease have a bunch in all categories. Instead i jump from 70k to 150-350k instantly and thats all I get. Did everyone become a super villain over night? where are the smaller fries?