Bounty Board

The Bounty Board

The Accord Bounty Board is a public contract system that puts prices on rogue pilots. It lives at Accord HQ in the Nexus and is accessible to any pilot with rep >= 100 (Good Standing or higher). The board updates every hour when the engine evaluates heat scores across the galaxy.

Heat Accumulation

Heat is the system's measure of recent hostile activity. Every hostile action adds a base heat value:

Heat decays over time (10% per hour), so a pilot who stops raiding will cool off eventually. But sustained aggression compounds fast.

Streak Mechanics

The system tracks a streak window of 30 minutes. If a pilot commits a hostile action within 30 minutes of their previous one, their streak counter increments. Each streaked action applies a compounding 1.5x multiplier to the base heat.

If more than 30 minutes pass between hostile actions, the streak resets to 1. The streak counter also resets after 1 hour of inactivity during the hourly decay pass.

Bounty Value Formula

When the system posts a bounty, the reward is calculated as:

reward = (base_reward + wealth_fraction) * heat_multiplier

• base_reward — a fixed floor so even broke targets have a price
• wealth_fraction — a percentage of the target's total wealth (credits + bank balance)
• heat_multiplier — scales with heat score, capped at 5x

High-heat, high-wealth rogues generate the biggest bounties. A player sitting on 100k credits with extreme heat could have a bounty worth tens of thousands.

Checking the Board

Visit the Nexus and open Accord HQ. The bounty board shows:

• Open Bounties — all active bounties in the current cycle, sorted by reward value
• My Bounties — any active bounties targeting you specifically

Each listing shows the target's callsign, reward amount, reason, posting time, expiry epoch, heat score, and a wanted poster tier indicator.

Wanted Poster Tiers

Bounties display with a visual tier based on the target's heat score at posting time:

Collecting a Bounty

Any Accord pilot (rep >= 100) who lands the killing blow on a bounty target automatically collects all active bounties on that player. The collector receives:

• The full posted credit reward for each bounty
• +50 reputation per bounty collected

Multiple bounties can stack on a single target. A high-heat rogue might have 2-3 active bounties, making them an extremely lucrative kill.

Bounty Expiry

Each bounty has a 24-epoch lifespan (12 days at the standard 12-hour epoch). If the target survives that long without being killed, the bounty expires and is removed from the board.

Defensive Play for Rogues

If you find yourself on the board, you have options:

• Lay low. Heat decays at 10% per hour. Stop committing hostile actions and your heat will drop below the threshold, preventing new bounties from posting. Existing bounties still need to expire (24 epochs), but no new ones will appear.
• Cloaking. Black Market cloaking items and ghost drones can obscure your position, making it harder for bounty hunters to find you. You cannot be killed if they cannot reach you.
• Stay mobile. Do not park at predictable nodes. Bounty hunters with Signal Trace can locate you — keep moving through the warp network.
• Travel off-peak. Fewer hunters online means fewer encounters. Time your movements.

The bounty board is the Accord's primary enforcement tool. For rogues, it is the price of doing business. For Accord pilots, it is the galaxy's most profitable side hustle.