Bounty Hunters: Hired guns employed by crime lords, politicians, and law enforcement to pursue, and often neutralize, civilians for money. They’re relentless, selfish, and come equipped with a full arsenal of weapons thanks to the galaxy spanning Bounty Hunters Guild that nearly all hunters work for. During your voyage, you’re more than likely to encounter at least a few bounty hunters along the way and unlike other enemies, simply surviving them may not be enough. In fact, if you fail to repay your debt in time, you too might end up with a target on your back.

 

 

Bounty Hunters are unique amongst our other enemy encounters in that they are governed by several unique systems. For starters, thanks to a more standardized loadout provided by the Bounty Hunters Guild, all bounty hunters have access to laser cannons, ion blasters, and concussive and ion missile launchers. Which weapons each hunter uses will depend on their personal preference, still making them unpredictable, and will often force you to adapt to their new tactics. Fortunately, unlike pirates, they only use one weapon type at a time, but that doesn’t mean they are pushovers, as a standard bounty hunter ship is more maneuverable than a pirate ship.

 

This leads into their next unique system: bounty levels. Every client will have a bounty level ranging from “low” to “medium” to “high”, however, since it’s impossible to vet every client, many clients will have “unknown” bounty levels. If you successfully complete a mission without encountering a single bounty hunter, then there’s a chance that that client didn’t have a bounty on them at all. You might be wondering why you would need to worry about different bounty levels. After all, a bounty hunter is a bounty hunter, right? Well, due to the Bounty Hunters Guild’s ranking system, their hunters can only target bounties that match their rank. This means that less experienced, novice, hunters can go after those with low bounties while more veteran hunters are only allowed to hunt higher ranked bounties. Since these more elite hunters tend to be better pilots, the bounty level of the client you take can result in tougher fights, where you’re not likely to kill the hunter in the end. But that’s not a problem for an ace pilot such as yourself. All you need to do is survive until your space jump charges and then you’ve escaped.

 

But, not so fast. While it’s true you can end an encounter by jumping out of the area, these guys aren’t called bounty hunters for nothing. They’ll effortlessly track you across the sector showing up for a rematch in space during the same mission or, worst of all, interrupt your stay on a planet or merchant ship while you’re trying to repair. They won’t stop until you either deliver your client (in which case, the hunter is just the client’s problem again) or you destroy the hunter once and for all. This makes longer and more profitable missions a much higher risk that you’ll need to calculate for when choosing a client.

 

 

Like pirates, bounty hunters are commonly found in pirate territories, as they are havens for criminals and outlaws. In contrast to pirates though, bounty hunters are rarer in UGS territories and more prevalent in Imperial territories. This is because bounty hunting is strictly outlawed in the UGS while the Empire not only allows bounty hunting, but actively supports the Bounty Hunters Guild and their mysterious guild masters. Through the crew journal, you can learn the history of why the guild is allowed to exist within the Empire, as well as the guild’s influence on the narrative and politics of The Chaser’s Voyage galaxy.

 

Also like pirates, we have six bounty hunter archetypes that will communicate and taunt you during battle. These archetypes include the rank and prestige obsessed Guild hunters, the misguided Hero hunters who believe they are fighting for justice, the greedy and money hungry Gambler hunters, the cold and calculating Robot hunters, the sadistic Death hunters, and the Ruthless hunters who are in the game for the sheer sport and business of it.

 

You can check out our Twitter to watch a showcase of our talented voice actors, as well as seeing a bounty hunter in action.

 

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