Bounty hunting in Elite Dangerous can be really interesting and rewarding if you're thrilled with tracking down the bad guys and making a name for yourself. It's best for beginners to start in high-security systems where you will have some sort of support from local security forces. Go to Resource Extraction Sites or Nav Beacons; these places are often passed by wanted ships. These are great places to learn the ropes without diving into overly dangerous situations. Use your basic ship, scan ships for bounties, and when you find a wanted target, take them out. Since system security often engages these targets too, you'll often be able to chip away at them with backup on hand.
Invest smartly in the Kill Warrant Scanner, or KWS, as you progress. It allows you to scan a ship for any other bounties placed on it by other factions outside of the current system, inflating your payout with each target. Just make sure to scan before engaging, and you will be raking it in in no time. It's these kind of small upgrades that will begin increasing your earnings for bounty hunting.
As you spend more time taking down wanted criminals, your reputation with local factions will rise accordingly, which is significant because better standing unlocks higher-paying missions and additional rewards. You'll soon be trusted to take on assassination contracts or multi-target missions where the real money is. When you feel comfortable, consider heading into low-security or anarchy systems; these have higher bounties and more targets, but they also come with greater risk. You won't have system security backing you up here, so you'll want to make sure of your combat before diving into these areas.
After destroying a target, you will need to collect your bounty at a station in the system where the bounty was issued. Be prepared for a possibly hairy return trip. Working in lawless systems, pirates and other players may try to intercept your ship on the way back in. Always have a route of escape planned and be prepared to jump out if the situation gets too heated.
Check the mission boards at stations for bounty hunting missions when you are confident. These give you specific targets to track down, often for larger rewards, which then fuel further boosts in both income and experience. Without giving in to the urge to jump into combat zones too early-while they offer nonstop action, they can be chaotic and it's so easy to shoot the wrong target, inadvertently likely turning an entire faction against you.
Bounty hunting in Elite Dangerous is a tightrope balance between risk and reward, strategy, and combat. You start small, building reputation, then push into progressively more dangerous territory. Patience, smart selection of targets, and understanding of the environment are as important here as firepower is.
