Mastering Star Citizen Bounty Hunting in 2025: Best Licenses, Ships & Profits

Bounty Hunting has been one of the oldest professions in Star Citizen’s vast and ever-evolving universe. Hunting down targets like hostile NPCs or players fleeing from crimes, bounty hunting offers a great chance for newer players to earn Star Citizen aUEC and even level up and gain experience for the many more challenging missions and environments in Star Citizen. But, with the many new changes to the meta since the recent updates, you need to be careful with how you go about pursuing targets through the galaxy. Follow this guide to know how to get started with your bounty-hunting career and make it rain!

What is Bounty Hunting?

Bounty hunting is a type of profession in Star Citizen, where players track down and neutralize aggressive/criminal NPCs or other players for a reward. Bounty hunting is a group activity among players due to it being an easy way to get aUEC, the in-game currency, to spend on things like buying/upgrading equipment, buying new ships, and much more.

Getting Started: How to get your first contract

To get a bounty hunting mission, or contracts as they’re called in Star Citizen, the players need to open MobiGlass, their personal computer within the game (by pressing the F1 key). From there, you need to navigate to the Contracts button and find bounty hunting contracts.

The contracts offered in Star Citizen depend on your location in the Star Citizen universe. Star systems, and even some planets, have their own unique set of contracts. If you happen to find yourself in a new area and can not spot any contracts, try flying out to a major planet’s orbit and holding for some time. You should see new contracts appear in your MobiGlass shortly.

Certification Mission:

To get started with bounty hunting contracts, you must first get certified. Here is a step-by-step guide to get this very important certification:

1. To get started with this mission, you need to look for the “Tracker Training Permit Certification” in the Contracts list.
2. This is a simple track-and-neutralize mission, which you need to pay 500 aUEC to access; however, don’t worry, as you get rewarded for completing this mission instantly. This mission is essentially a test mission to see if you’re skilled enough to join the Bounty Hunting Guild.
3. Once you accept this mission, you shall be assigned a bounty hunting contract and be given information about your target.

Additional Bonus: A Call to Arms Contract

A Call to Arms contract is a mission where you work with the Civilian Defense Force to eliminate NPCs or criminals who have previously committed crimes, and be rewarded with aUEC, to spend on stuff you need, to buy Star Citizen Ships, or anything else you’d need.

Completing a Bounty Hunting Contract

Now that you have finally gained the necessary certification and have accepted your very first bounty hunting contract, there are two main steps to completing your contract: Tracking your target and neutralizing your target. Here’s how to go about them:

Navigation and Tracking:

• Your accepted bounty hunting mission is automatically tracked. You can also set a direct route to the target. In case you can’t set a direct route to your target, open the star map and go to a planet near your target, and then try to route directly again.
• Once you arrive at your target’s planet, you can point your ship at the mission marker and quantum jump directly to the target’s location.
• In case your quantum drive doesn’t spool up, try pointing your ship slightly away from your target’s maker for a moment, and then jump to a nearby location to get around the planet’s line-of-sight obstruction.

2. Neutralizing the target:

• Once you are 30 km from your target, you will be dropped out of quantum jump, and as you get closer, you need to switch your ship from navigation to combat mode, to activate your ship’s shields and weapons systems.
• Wait for your target’s marker to turn red from white, so that you do not get a crime stat!
• Press “T” to lock onto your target. If you’re within a 2km range, you can use your standard guns. But if you have resources to spare or are further away, you can switch to missiles by just pressing “G” before firing. Do remember to switch to your guns if you get too close to avoid splash damage!

Licenses for Bounty Hunting

There are many licenses for bounty hunters in Star Citizen. Here are some of the major ones:

• Bounty Hunters Guild Licenses: These licenses give you access to PvE contracts, which are the most basic ones and the ones that you progress through initially. You start with a Tracker Training Permit to get you started with bounty hunting, working your way up to the Master Tracker License, pitting you against the tougher sub-capital ships. These are a good starting point for novice players.
• Jurisdiction Licenses: These are licenses that open up special contracts in specific star systems, with exclusive rewards!
• PvP Licenses: These licenses allow you to hunt down players with a CrimeStat. These PvP contracts often offer bigger payouts and better chances for post-neutralization loot. These are suitable for skilled players.

Choosing Ships

Ship combat is a major part of bounty contracts, so choosing the right ship is essential to getting any bounty done right!

For smaller contracts with less dangerous targets, you can use smaller, starter ships to save on fuel and make use of less expensive ammo. Ships like the Aurora MR and the Arrow are ideal.

For bigger contracts which might get you into intense firefights and might require you to carry ground equipment, medium-sized ships like the Cutlass Black and the Crusader Spirit are ideal.

Profits and Rewards from Bounty Hunting

There are many rewards from bounty hunting, some directly from the payout and indirectly too, from the loot and wreckage of the target.

• Payouts: As you gain higher Bounty Hunters Guild licenses, the payout for each mission increases, as you get to pursue riskier targets. The payouts begin from a few thousand aUEC for VLRTs (Very Low Risk Targets), all the way up to 100,000+ aUEC for ERTs (Extreme Risk Targets).
• Loot: In addition to the payout, the biggest reward is the loot from the wreckage of the neutralized targets. Higher-tier bounty ships often carry valuable cargo, with high-value items like Weevil Eggs and illicit drugs, which can be sold for thousands of aUEC.

Conclusion

Star Citizen Bounty missions are a great way for new players to get themselves acquainted with the game, and some extra aUEC in the process. Even for experienced players, bounty contracts are a fun way to face off with the toughest NPCs and players, and earn lots of aUEC and get incredible loot! However, do make sure not to abandon bounty contracts too much, as this may cause a reputation loss.