CRIME & PUNISHMENT
Stop right there, criminal scum!
Nobody breaks the law on my watch!
Crime and punishment is a system that punish certain CMDR actions that are classified as "criminal behaviors". Typically, those who commit crime will accumulate fines, bounties and notoriety, which invites other players to hunt them down or attracts the attention of system security forces.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FINES AND BOUNTIES
As a CMDR involves in criminal activities, they will be handed either a fine or bounty depending on the scale of the crime. Fines are accrued for minor offenses while bounties are accrued for major offenses. Fines and bounties are faction-specific, which means in either condition, the CMDR will be restricted to station services that is controlled by that faction who gave out the fine or bounty. Fines and bounties are handed by the faction controlling the area of space you are in.
- If the crime was committed in space or in resource extraction sites, the controlling faction that governs the system will hand out the fine or bounty.
- If the crime was committed at an installation base, station, ground settlement or megaship, the controlling faction that owns that installation base, station, ground settlement or megaship will hand out the fine or bounty
- If the crime was committed near a conflict zone, you'll be exempt from carrying any crime as regions near conflict zones are lawless.
FINES
Fines are recorded against the CMDR who committed the crimes, regardless if they are in their ship or on foot at the time. Fines are the lowest level of infringements that a CMDR gets handed with. Fines can be attributed with:
- high speed collisions around starports stations
- firing weapons aimlessly in a no-fire zone
- dumping canisters of cargo inside a station
- loitering around the entrance of a major station
- loitering around an unassigned landing pad
- possessing mission-related cargo after deliberately failing it
BOUNTIES
Bounties are recorded against the CMDR who committed the crimes, regardless if they are in their ship or on foot at the time. Bounties are given out for major offenses like, however are tied with another system called Notoriety.
- killing non-criminal NPC's and CMDRs
- killing System Security forces
- firing weapons on a target in a no-fire zone
- firing weapons on a major installation, such as a base installation, station or megaship
- interdicting non-criminal NPC's and CMDRs
- loitering around an unassigned landing pad
- killing non-criminal ships by ramming
After the CMDR receives a bounty, the ship they were using during the crime will be marked as "Wanted" which will trigger a hostile response from system security after being scanned by them.
POWER BOUNTIES
If you incur more than 10,000 credits in bounties under a faction allegiance with a superpower, you will be wanted in the entire region of space. Power bounties are interstellar meaning you'll be wanted under several systems where that superpower reigns. Say for example, you've accumulated more than 10,000 credits in bounties under a faction that is allegiance with the Federation, you'll be hunted by system security forces, power-play specific security forces and bounty hunters in all of Federal space.
WARRANT SCANNING
You can scan any CMDR's active warrant through using a Profile Analyzer in Odyssey or a Kill-Warrant Scanner in your ships.
While on foot, the Profile Analyzer can only be used to scan any crimes or possession of contraband related to that CMDR.
While in space, scanning any ship within range of your scanner will target the basic information of a ship. It will tell you if the ship is wanted or if the ship is clean. By introducing the Kill-Warrant Scannermodule, scanning a ship can reveal a detailed list of hidden fines and bounties, either involving a ship or while on-foot that are related to the CMDR.
If a CMDR kills another CMDR after being scanned by a kill-warrant scanner with active warrants, the CMDR will reap the bounties. However, the CMDR can only obtain up to 2 Million credits in bounty rewards. If you happen to scan a clean ship that has warrants, you will be exempt from earning a bounty in the local jurisdiction. However, System Security forces are still sent to engage you for killing a clean ship.
HOT SHIPS AND MODULES
When a CMDR obtains a bounty, their ships and its modules gets marked as "Hot". This marker reduces the sale value of the ship and its modules and prevents these modules to be applied on ships with a "clean" title. It can also cause all posts under the jurisdiction of the faction that issued the bounty restrict its station services until the ship and modules are cleaned.
You may sell your ship and modules individually which can remove the "Hot" title, however it will cost the CMDR more to clean modules individually than to clean your ship's "Hot" title by paying in full. If you buy back any modules with the "Hot" title, the modules will not have that title cleared off.
Hot ships in storage can also be cleaned off at Interstellar Factors for a premium of 25% of the entire bounty total. Hot modules in storage can be cleaned in the outfitting menu at any port for a fee equivalent to 5% of each module's rebuy cost.
ODYSSEY
If you do commit crimes on foot, the crimes are recorded against the player. If your ship was not involved in the crime, it will not be charged as such. Criminal activities such as using ships weapons to attack the settlement will cause both you and your ship and your ship's module will all me marked as hot.
NOTORIETY
Notoriety is used to track a CMDR's recent criminal activities ranging from a level of 0 to a maximum level of 10. You can gain notoriety by killing non-wanted ships and security forces.
Any notoriety level above 0 prevents you from being able to voluntarily turning yourself into a station's security contact or being able to clear your wanted title through an interstellar factors.
At notoriety level 3, you'll get Advanced Tactical Response, known as the ATR, intervene to attempt to append you.
ADVANCED TACTICAL RESPONSE
"Attention all vessels!"
"This area is now under lockdown!"
"Make no attempt to deploy hardpoints!"
The ATR is a specialized force capable of stopping high notoriety CMDRs preventing CMDRs from operating above the law and to discourage any further criminal misconducts.
The ATR deploys two special weapons in an attempt to shutdown criminals that continue to operate above the law.
- Stonewell Jammers :
This equipment can block crimes from being reported to a system's local security forces, which places the site under lockdown and prevents any additional security forces from subduing the criminal. - Reverb Lasers :
This powerful laser can easily break down thermal-based defenses like shields and even the heaviest of shield like the Prismatic Shield Generator.
However, like all ships in Elite Dangerous, killing ATR is possible but hard to achieve for an underprepared CMDR. Since shields are pointless in these encounters due to the ATR's reverb lasers, a hull-tank build will last longer than a dedicated shield build.
ATR deploys the Vulture, the Python and the Anaconda in their fleet with 4 different units serving different superpower regions.
| ATR Unit | Region |
|---|---|
| Blue Epaulettes | Independent Systems |
| Omega Company | Imperial Systems |
| SOC | Alliance Systems |
| Void Rangers | Federal Systems |
REDEPLOYMENT
CMDRs with bounties that are critically injured on foot combat, lose their ships in battle against security forces, or voluntarily hand themselves into the local security contacts will be sent to the nearest Detention Center megaship.
Detention Centers in Odyssey
In these Detention Centers, the criminal are forced to pay off their accumulated fines and bounties before the wanted titled is cleared and are allowed to leave the station. If CMDRs lack insufficient funds, they must declare bankruptcy, ask for a loan before salvaging their ships.
If you obtain an infraction from a minor faction that has no controlling stations, the only solution is to pay that fine off at a station with interstellar factors services.
INTERSTELLAR FACTORS
An Interstellar Factor is a station service that allows CMDRs with 0 notoriety to pay off or clear any outstanding fines and bounties attached to their ship regardless anywhere the fine or bounty was obtained. The service also allows CMDRs to redeem any bounty vouchers, and combat bonds. Interstellar Factor services requires an additional fee of 25% of the value of any transactions they perform.
- This will increase the cost of clearing fines and bounties by 25% of their normal value.
- This will subtract 25% of the value of any redeemed vouchers and combat bonds.
LOAN FEES
A loan is available to help CMDRs pay for their redeployment if they have insufficient funds to cover it. The loan cap is tied to the CMDR's highest pilot's federation rank which can go from 100,000 credits at rank 0 to 10,000,000 credits at Elite rank.
Any unpaid loans will count towards the maximum load cap should the CMDR need a loan in the future. If a pilot cannot afford to rebuy their ship with their on-hand funds and the loan they qualify for, they may select a ship they have in storage, otherwise they are declared bankrupt and forced to accept a loaned Sidewinder.
LAWLESS STATES
If the controlling faction of a system or settlement has a lawless government or if the system has no system security and is in a security state of anarchy, CMDRs can commit crime without repercussions.
TURN CRIMES AGAINST ME
In the Ship menu tab, in Pilot's Preferences section, there is something called "Turn Crimes Against Me" where the CMDR can opt in and out of reporting crimes to the local security forces.
If the setting is off, then no crimes will be reported to the local security force, no security forces will engage.