Help with Bounty Removal Thread

[Electric Hero]

Hello everyone!

I was not sure where to place this thread, but since I intended it to be a place where people that wish to have their bounties removed can ask for help it seemed logical to place it in this section. I ask the moderators to check if it's alright, and if not to move this thread to its respective section =)

I've played Elite for a few days now and I have acquired a really tiresome bounty on my head. Now, I've looked for answers everywhere for two days and I've seen that there's still a lot of confusion about the topic of player bounties. So first I will explain what I have learned from my experiences as clear as I can and try to help clear the doubts anyone else has.

While I was on a mission on Ross 720 I ended up killing an NPC which granted me a bounty for around 6k credits. A system you rarely visit and where you have a bounty is not much a problem; however, it so happens that two important ships I had were stationed (and still are by the time of this post's original time) in a station in the Ross 720 system. The bounty was set to last for 6 days if I recall correctly.

You may call me over anxious but it was a waste of money in my mind to buy identical ships to fulfill the duties those had while they were there, just docked and waiting for my bounty to die in a legacy fine. So I decided to try out the Suicidewinder tactic that the forums have provided.
These were my results:

a) Going to the station where I'm Wanted and letting the authorities scan me and kill me only make the bounty go dormant. I have repeated the process and it seems it works this way. I have even been scanned and killed by authorities in the system but not in the station controlled by the faction that has the bounty on me and the same result is brought. This leads to the conclusion that having authorities kill you in-system only gets it dormant, no matter how many times you do it. I repeat, this I say only with my personal experience and may be wrong ultimately.

b) I traveled back to LHS 3447 and managed to find a well-mannered commander in Open Play that complied to my wishes of self-destruction. He/she scanned me with KWS and since I was not wanted in LHS 3447 I needed to shoot first to be wanted. I had the "Report Crimes against me" feature turned off just to be extra careful. Upong shooting at the other commander I received the bounty. He/she fired and killed me and upon restarting at my last station I found out that my bounty in Ross 720 was still dormant (what a pain, by this time I had spent around 2 hours trying to get rid of this bounty). So, apparently, I concluded that even if another PC scans you and kills you the bounty that is removed and claimed only applies to the local system. At least to me it did not remove the bounty in the other system.

So, after trying to kill myself several times and failing to make my bounty disappear, luck had it that the server was shut down to be upgraded and I could not get help for what seems the only way right now to make your bounties disappear:

(Tl;dr)
-> You need another player to scan you (for extra safety?) and destroy you in the system where you want your bounty to be removed and claimed. It does not apply to bounties outside of the system you two are in.

I invite everyone to share in their experiences in this thread if it's okay within the rules. I know some have shared them in various threads but I hope this one can stay relevant and be a reference thread of collective lessons and experiences where trustworthy conclusions can be made and seen easily by others in need.

The other objective of this thread was that, if my conclusion is correct and being killed in the system where the bounty is is the only way, players can come here and request being destroyed in a cheap Sidewinder by nearby commanders that wish to fulfill their death wishes. Of course, this act of mercy should only be made in Open Play or in a Private Group allowing PvP.

Needless to say, I'm still in need of removing my bounty to retrieve my babies in Ross 720

[Zadkiel]

traveled back to LHS 3447 and managed to find a well-mannered commander in Open Play that complied to my wishes of self-destruction. He/she scanned me with KWS and since I was not wanted in LHS 3447 I needed to shoot first to be wanted. I had the "Report Crimes against me" feature turned off just to be extra careful. Upong shooting at the other commander I received the bounty. He/she fired and killed me and upon restarting at my last station I found out that my bounty in Ross 720 was still dormant (what a pain, by this time I had spent around 2 hours trying to get rid of this bounty). So, apparently, I concluded that even if another PC scans you and kills you the bounty that is removed and claimed only applies to the local system. At least to me it did not remove the bounty in the other system.

Be sure you aren't confusing fines and bounties. At the point the other commander killed you, you had a bounty in Ross 720 but a fine in LHS 3447. You assumed that the death only cleared local bounties, but I suspect that it clears fines but not bounties.

[Flip]

To get rid of a bounty quickly you have to be destroyed by a security ship from the faction that gave you that bounty. Otherwise it will be come dormant and will be reactivated the next time you're scanned by a security ship from the faction that gave it to you in the first place.

Go to a station from that faction, buy a Sidewinder, strip it of everything you can to make the re-buy cost as low as possible, target a security ship from the faction that gave you the bounty, exit the station, and fly around that security ship until it destroys you. Then re-buy the old loadout, sell the Sidey, and voila.

[Electric Hero]

Be sure you aren't confusing fines and bounties. At the point the other commander killed you, you had a bounty in Ross 720 but a fine in LHS 3447. You assumed that the death only cleared local bounties, but I suspect that it clears fines but not bounties.

Hmm, you might be right I only got a fine for shooting. I cannot be 100% sure I saw I got a bounty or a fine when I shot first though I'd say I'm around 60% sure.

To get rid of a bounty quickly you have to be destroyed by a security ship from the faction that gave you that bounty. Otherwise it will be come dormant and will be reactivated the next time you're scanned by a security ship from the faction that gave it to you in the first place.

Go to a station from that faction, buy a Sidewinder, strip it of everything you can to make the re-buy cost as low as possible, target a security ship from the faction that gave you the bounty, exit the station, and fly around that security ship until it destroys you. Then re-buy the old loadout, sell the Sidey, and voila.

As I've stated, I bought the sidewinder and have had the authorities from the station kill me but all it makes is getting the bounty dormant, not remove it entirely. However I did not buy it from the same station I'm wanted in or another station owned by it, nor have I sold the suicidewinder yet. I will try selling it first when I log in.

However I've tried silent running while I get the docking request and the ship scan initiated. By the time I was literally entering the blue screens the station knew I was wanted and I was fined for trespassing, adding another few credits to my bounty. I flew outside and got blasted once more but alas, the bounty remains dormant.

[Flip]

Selling the Sidey back makes no difference. I suspect that you haven't been destroyed by a ship from the faction that gave you the bounty. It's the only reason why it would become dormant.

[Electric Hero]

Weird since I let myself be killed right in front of the station many times, this I can confirm 110%. I even had a station ship locked in green (I'm allied rep with them) and they finished scan me, saw me Wanted and saw the same ship and others from the station fire at me and killing me.

I can only wonder if it was the server shutdown from the update that occurred a few mins later.

Right now the client is updating the game but it says servers are offline. Perhaps I can join soon and keep trying or see if it has been removed magically.

[Scarz]

To get rid of a bounty quickly you have to be destroyed by a security ship from the faction that gave you that bounty. Otherwise it will be come dormant and will be reactivated the next time you're scanned by a security ship from the faction that gave it to you in the first place.

Go to a station from that faction, buy a Sidewinder, strip it of everything you can to make the re-buy cost as low as possible, target a security ship from the faction that gave you the bounty, exit the station, and fly around that security ship until it destroys you. Then re-buy the old loadout, sell the Sidey, and voila.

Thanks for this information. It worked like a charm with one exception. Had to go to a RES Site to run into the system's Security Forces. There are only two outposts in that system and the traffic is not heavy enough to tag a Security Force ship in a reasonable time...