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[Recklessimpulse]

Any one else notice a difficulty spike for bounties? it went deal-able 40k - 60k fleet bounties, challenging 90-100k pirate base bounties, and any 90 +k bounty fleet had destroyers and capital ship out the ying yang a massive jump in difficulty basically.

[Megas]

Same here.  Also, difficulty within the same value can vary.  Some of the 150k bounties are doable while others are too hard to be worth it (if player's fleet is not spec'ed for combat).

[SCC]

Difficulty spike is noticeable and harsh - I had done maybe 4 bounties by the time the only ones left have multiple cruisers, when I have just acquired my first destroyer. While in the end I won't have issues adapting, this can very easily spell doom to a new player who can't adapt well (to other playstyles, mostly), or persevere by sheer luck.

[Megas]

Early bounties disappear too quickly.  If they do not scale by level, but by time, then they need to scale more slowly if player is not killing them left and right.

Early bounties is a small fleet with mostly frigates and maybe a destroyer or two, then when bounties upgrade, suddenly you may need to kill two or three cruisers plus a horde of small ships.  Then, after a while, bounties spike again and you need to deal with capitals.  Even some of the station fights are easier than the spiked-up named bounties.

Currently, I ride free income from commission and do exploration missions with fast frigates until I find that great Terran (or arid, tundra, water, eccentric) planet to colonize, then I build up fleet and money until I can win against endgame stuff, then I colonize that planet and build-up fast to prepare for sector-wide meltdown that occurs when I dare build a market.

[SCC]

Early bounties is a small fleet with mostly frigates and maybe a destroyer or two, then when bounties upgrade, suddenly you may need to kill two or three cruisers plus a horde of small ships.  Then, after a while, bounties spike again and you need to deal with capitals.

After I killed these 4 bounties, I had a choice between a 2 falcons, 3 colossuses, some assorted destroyers and frigates bounty, a couple of gryphons and herons bounty and a XIVth battlegroup Onslaught bounty. And the single biggest ship I had at the time was an enforcer.

[Lucky33]

Never saw 100K bounties. 50K and whoops... 150K and higher.

However you should always be aware that you dont have to kill every ship in the bounty fleet. Only the flagship. After that you can retreat, disengage and collect your money.

Also the best way to farm "bounties" is to go into system which asks to deal with pirate base and wait till pirate forces from that base will arrive with activation of system bounty. You can meet several pirates armadas and attack fleets. After that you can go and destroy the station. 500K-1M credits, cooperative status with the faction which placed the bounty and whole systems turned into huge debris fields. Pretty intense.

[Megas]

Surgical strike against flagship is probably feasible only with Harbinger flagship (or perhaps Hyperion or Afflictor).  Otherwise, they blob together and you need to fight the whole fleet and kill enough of them.

Never saw 100K bounties. 50K and whoops... 150K and higher.

Same here, and there used to be such bounties.  Before, you get 50k bounties, then 80-100k with more of the same, then 150k.  Now, it seems some steps have been skipped.

[StarGibbon]

There seem to be "tiers" of bounties, and the relative difficulty remains consistent in those tiers. Even cruising around in an endgame fleet, 50k bounties still pop, and are still comprised of a few frigates.

As for the disappearance of the more intermediate steps between bounty payouts, I think this is a good thing. 50k bounties will always be around letting players desperate for relations bump with a faction or for exp, but the higher payout bounties require much more commitment in fleet composition and skill set. Various mission types with extreme profit potential *should* require efficient, specialized fleets, not easily made profitable with an inefficient jack of all trades fleet.  It was already way too easy to make money and vast amount of ExP by doing bounties, which made any other mission type strictly inferior. Now to do those bounties you really need to bring a lean, powerful warfleet without a lot of fat, and have the fleet combat skills necessary to make them work.

So going in the right direction in my opinion, but needs to go farther still.

[Edit] Should point out that Pirate station bounties are a step in between the 50k bounties and the super big payday fleet bounties. Once you have some cruisiers and maybe a cap, pirate stations are mostly trivial to take down, and pay out a decent amount. As opposed to LP stations which are tough mofos.

[SCC]

50k bounties are fallback bounties and they're separated from the issue at hand. The issue is that if I - with experience with ships, gameplay, exploits and other things, in scenario where I go for nothing but bounty hunting with a fleet dedicated to combat - find that the progression is too steep, then surely an unexperienced player (or one unwilling to abuse game mechanics) will find these higher level bounties outright impossible. There is a step missing in between <100k and ~150k bounties.

[Megas]

50k bounties mostly disappear after a while, whether you are ready or not.  They still appear occasionally once in a blue moon, but not enough.  The vast majority of bounties before long is 150k, then after another while longer, 250k or so.  Even many battlestation fights are easier than the named bounties, and they pay more compared to their relative difficulty.

No, I do not think skipping tiers is a good thing if player cannot progress as fast as they can.  The spikes make it hard unless I specialize in combat.  If I get exploration skills or even if I ignore bounties at first and start exploring, by the time I am done, bounties are mostly cruisers while I am stuck with frigates and destroyers.

If you play the tutorial for the starter fleet, grind bounties immediately (and not lose ships), and take some combat skills, you may keep up.  If not, it is easy to fall behind.

That said, pirates for system bounties seem more common in 0.9 (they were too rare in 0.8 ), but you need a smaller fleet for them to not run away.  (If you need a big fleet due to poor gear and lots of (D) mods, then you will need to EB much to catch them.)

[StarGibbon]

50k bounties mostly disappear after a while, whether you are ready or not.  They still appear occasionally, but not enough.  The vast majority of bounties before long is 150k, then after another while longer, 250k or so.  Lower bounties appear once in a blue moon.  Even many battlestation fights are easier than the named bounties, and they pay more compared to their relative difficulty.

Yes, I contend that Pirate battlestation bounties *are* the intermediate tier. Anecdotal, but 50k bounties are still relatively common in my game, despite them being too trivial to bother with. I dont know what triggers this supposed disappearance, but it doesnt have anything to do with fleet size/power.

If you play the tutorial for the starter fleet, grind bounties immediately (and not lose ships), and take some combat skills, you may keep up.  If not, it is easy to fall behind.

It's my opinion that players should have to specialize in this way, and not be equally good at doing everything in the game. Tough decisions are good. I have zero problems with needing a specialized character with a specialized fleet to do the absolute toughest big payday bounty missions, just they like would have to do to make trade profitable.

Bounties =/= combat. Theres still plenty of combat to be found doing salvage missions or system bounties, that require far less skill/fleet specialization.

[Megas]

Yes, I contend that Pirate battlestation bounties *are* the intermediate tier. Anecdotal, but 50k bounties are still relatively common in my game, despite them being too trivial to bother with. I dont know what triggers this supposed disappearance, but it doesnt have anything to do with fleet size/power.

In 0.8, it was character level.  I think it is time in 0.9, and if so, happens too quickly.  If is still level scaling, they scale too fast, though not as badly as later 0.8.

Progression in early 0.8 and before used to be good until scaling of some form was added, then it went all out-of-whack since then.

Also, battlestations being the immediate tier is not obvious.  If I had to guess, I would expect them to be endgame threats.  Only after a tried a few that some of them turned out to be paper tigers, though some were much better armed or guarded, and were genuinely dangerous.

Battlestation fights can have high variance in difficulty.  Sometimes, they are stupidly easy.  Other times, they are a meatgrinder if you are unprepared.  The easier ones are significiantly easier than the spiked-up bounties, and much more rewarding in money and rep than a named bounty of similar difficulty.

It's my opinion that players should have to specialize in this way, and not be equally good at doing everything in the game. Tough decisions are good. I have zero problems with needing a specialized character with a specialized fleet to do the absolute toughest big payday bounty missions, just they like would have to do to make trade profitable.

Then easier bounties need to be much more common until player fights many like how things used to be in first 0.8 release and pre-0.8.  Right now, they mostly disappear too quickly, replaced by much harder fight too quickly.

Bounties =/= combat. Theres still plenty of combat to be found doing salvage missions or system bounties, that require far less skill/fleet specialization.

Bounties are combat.  Missions that do not involve combat are not called out as such.  System bounties are viable in 0.9, unlike in 0.8.  Even then, they can still be tricky because if your fleet is too big (say you keep your starter fleet and/or start with Hammerhead), you need to E-Burn against every last fleet (after they E-Burn first) except the huge armadas.  Players who are not too savvy may not figure out how to catch elusive fleets easily enough.  If they downsize their fleet, then they may not be strong enough, depending on ships and/or player skill.

Also, if combat does not have a bounty, then it should be avoided (during the time bounty spike is a problem).

[StarGibbon]

Also, if combat does not have a bounty, then it should be avoided (during the time bounty spike is a problem).

Combat, mission or otherwise, is the only viable way to make EXP in the game. A player specializing more in salvage or trade has to find opportunities for it other than bounty missions, which as you say, they may find difficult.

[Megas]

Combat, mission or otherwise, is the only viable way to make EXP in the game. A player specializing more in salvage or trade has to find opportunities for it other than bounty missions, which as you say, they may find difficult.

If that is the case, then all the more reason for progression to be smoother like 0.6 or 0.7 era Starsector, not messed up scaling later 0.8 and beyond introduced.  So far, it is calibrated for the hardcore players who played Starsector for years, are intimately familiar with all of the game mechanics, are comfortable with the controls, and built toward combat early.

[StarGibbon]

Combat, mission or otherwise, is the only viable way to make EXP in the game. A player specializing more in salvage or trade has to find opportunities for it other than bounty missions, which as you say, they may find difficult.

If that is the case, then all the more reason for progression to be smoother like 0.6 or 0.7 era Starsector, not messed up scaling later 0.8 and beyond introduced.  So far, it is calibrated for the hardcore players who played Starsector for years, are intimately familiar with all of the game mechanics, are comfortable with the controls, and built toward combat early.

Combat spec is not the only path through the game. If speccing for extreme combat efficiency is the only way through the game, then the other options should be removed. You provide a skill tree for the sake of introducing difficult decisions to the player. Extreme combat spec should reward players in ways that another path doesnt, and vice versa. If it's too easy to be good at everything in the game in a single playthrough, then the choices become much less interesting, and the game much less replayable.

Currently, paths other than extreme combat spec are perfectly viable, as long as you expect that you're not supposed to be able to easily do the hardest bounties without an optimal fleet/skill set, and probably a functioning heavy industry colony to mass produce large ships. Combat opportunities that dont require this are still easily available. High tier bounty mission viability is the payoff for extreme combat spec--other paths have other ways to make a lot of income and loot, and other rewards.