Author Topic: Let's talk bounty's  (Read 7148 times)

General308

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Let's talk bounty's
« on: 13 May 2019, 16:39:23 »
So if you wanted to take out a mercenary Battalion colander what price would you set the bounty at?

Tai Dai Cultist

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #1 on: 13 May 2019, 16:43:34 »
Start low and the longer you go without anyone collecting, keep adding to it.

So what's low?  Depends on how mad you are. But using specific numbers, I'd imagine something on the order of 10,000 C-Bills for the head of a mercenary commander of a unit as big as a battalion? It'd probably begin to attract attention.

AlphaMirage

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #2 on: 13 May 2019, 17:29:54 »
I think that is incredibly low.  10k is pocket change for a battalion commander.  At least 3 million to take on a target that big with a 40k add-on per Merc and another 1 million bonus per company commander.

Tai Dai Cultist

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #3 on: 13 May 2019, 17:39:41 »
I think that is incredibly low.  10k is pocket change for a battalion commander.  At least 3 million to take on a target that big with a 40k add-on per Merc and another 1 million bonus per company commander.

Bounty Hunters generally don't take on the whole Battalion.  They take on the commander in his bunk-room.  Preferably while he's still asleep.

massey

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #4 on: 13 May 2019, 17:57:02 »
Still way too low.  Where is this guy?  Are you going to have to take a jumpship to get to him?  You'd have to pay for passage there, passage back for one and a guest, how much will security cost during transport, etc.

In real life, bounty hunters go after people who skipped bail.  In Battletech they seem to be a little different, but let's look at real life for a second.  Let's say that Larry gets arrested for armed robbery.  The judge sets bail at (say) 2,000 C-Bills (~$10,000).  Larry hires a bondsman at 10% (so Larry pays 200 and the bondsman puts up the rest).  If Larry makes all his court appearances, the bondsman gets his money back when the case is concluded.  If Larry runs, the bondsman is out 2,000 C-Bills unless he can get him back.

So let's say that Larry runs, the bondsman hires Bob the Bounty Hunter to go get him.  Bob will get a portion of that 2,000 to get him back (let's say he gets 25%, so 500 C-Bills).

Who would you rather chase after?  A bounty hunter would make his money by retrieving common criminals.  You can catch Larry when he's walking out to his mailbox.  I think it's easier to catch 20 Larrys than to go after one military commander who has an entire battalion at his disposal.  You want to fight your way past armed security with machine guns?  Or would you rather grab a few repeat drunk drivers as they stagger out of the bar?

I think you're talking a few hundred thousand C-Bills for any kind of mechwarrior.

epic

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #5 on: 13 May 2019, 18:31:28 »
This is effectively a special op/assasination/kidnapping.  I would have to agree that 10k would be too low of a price.  Sure, you could catch them with their pants down at the local tavern and be on the cheap.  However, the higher value (and therefore, probably riskier) a target is, the more expensive it needs to be.

A Major - who may even be a minor noble - is worth a lot more than 10000 cbills.  That's a couple months pay for the guy probably (not including any salvage).  Campaign Ops has the pay of a rank 7 officer that is Elite at almost 16k.  If they were only a regular it would be only 5kish, but still... 2 months pay?  The net worth of said Major especially if they own property (and/or their own mech) could be in the millions.  Especially if they are the commander of said merc unit (it's not established if the battalion commander is the CO of the entire merc unit, or if said battalion is part of something bigger). 

Risk and payoff also means that the Bounty Hunter MAY bushwhack said Battalion Commander outside of their mech.  That doesn't mean that said Bounty Hunter isn't risking the wrath of an ENTIRE MECH BATTALION hunting them if anything goes wrong.

Consider that a lance of mechs unopposed can level a city.  Effectively, said Bounty Hunter is risking the firepower of something that can level multiple cities...
for 10k?  No thanks.

I would say somewhere in the neighbourhood of millions.  Let's say it's a battalion of light mechs, averaging 2 million apiece.  Call it ... 5% of that unit.

Plus expenses.  So... 4 or 5 million?  That's a fair bet. 
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The_Caveman

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #6 on: 13 May 2019, 18:53:30 »
I think the real question is, do you have to bring 'em in dead? or alive?

Dead is easy enough. Alive is going to be a lot harder when you're talking about a MechWarrior.
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Tai Dai Cultist

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #7 on: 13 May 2019, 19:16:21 »
Well, under the older merc sourcebooks you could full on hire a merc company for a few million C-Bills, so imo that kind of price is ridiculous for a bounty.

And if anyone wants to play the "how about a book from THIS millennium card", there's the ATOW rpg materials.  There's a negative quality (iirc its called 'bloodmark') that represents having a price on your head, and that can give you a benchmark to begin from.
« Last Edit: 13 May 2019, 19:17:53 by Tai Dai Cultist »

Alsadius

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #8 on: 13 May 2019, 20:44:44 »
Well, under the older merc sourcebooks you could full on hire a merc company for a few million C-Bills, so imo that kind of price is ridiculous for a bounty.

A battalion is three companies, so enough to hire 1/3 of the relevant force for a single job doesn't seem overpriced to me at all. If the expectation is that you're taking the battalion on in combat, I'd expect tens of millions(though a lot of that would be salvage, I'm sure) - any force big and scary enough to take on a few dozen mechs and expect to win is going to demand that kind of price, and tbh they'll probably take at least that much in losses from the fighting. Even if they only lose a company(3:1 K/D ratio), and that company is entirely light 3025 mechs, that's still a stonking big pile of C-bills - a dozen Locusts is north of 18 mil.

Tai Dai Cultist

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #9 on: 13 May 2019, 20:49:02 »
Well again bounty hunters aren't launching interstellar raids to collect on a bounty.

You're attracting potential traitors/defectors in the same unit to give them a reason to switch sides bearing the head of your target. 

You're incentivizing your extant house or merc troops to gun for the target when they happen to be on a battlefield with him for non-bounty related reasons.

You're attracting assassins who don't even drive mechs and kill in the dark.

You don't need to pay millions of C-Bills under any of those circumstances.


But if you're hiring a whole company of mechwarriors to go kill one mechwarrior, that's a stupid way to go about it but sure that'd require millions of C-Bills.

epic

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #10 on: 13 May 2019, 21:20:17 »
It's still a risk vs reward scenario. 

If you fail on a bounty hunt like this, you are far more likely to be dead (probably as a smear on the bottom of a mech foot actuator) than bounty hunting and picking up people who skipped on bail.

So the reward has to be suitably compensatory.  I acknowledge that the difference between dead and/or alive for the bounty is important.  Dead?  Sure, take the CO out like Minoru Kurita on Kentares.  A good sniper could do the deed for 10-20k.  Admittedly, figuring out a plan to GTFO so that the angry buddies don't kill ya is tricky, but could be done. 

Alive?  that's a heist that is quite serious.  I would still stand by my few million. 
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epic

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #11 on: 13 May 2019, 21:24:21 »
I would also point out this; any unit that may have a bounty on it, or their COs may take a hard-line on such ... adventurism. 

For instance, making sure that a reverse bounty is offered on anyone that perpetrates such a bounty attempt. 

I actually ran a game where the group did exactly that.  Whatever the bounty was offered - if it was successful, the group said they would double the bounty for the head of the perpetrator. 

Just the head though.

After all, if there is a bounty offered, the CO and/or merc unit probably deserves it.  War crimes and all.  So a nice little fund was left in escrow for just that eventuality. 


It forced the bounty to be gratuitously high, on the notion again - risk vs reward. 
« Last Edit: 13 May 2019, 21:28:09 by epic »
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Colt Ward

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #12 on: 13 May 2019, 21:39:32 »
FM Mercs Sup has MRBC backed bounties on rogue mercs . . . and usually its not just the CO, there is a price on other officers or even regular troopers depending on how infamous the unit is . . .
Colt Ward
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Two Guns Blazing

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #13 on: 13 May 2019, 23:02:28 »
I guess it depends on who the employer is, and their financial means and their access to other resources, but I can't help but think that a confidential assassination contract would be much more preferable and effective than a simple bounty.

General308

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #14 on: 15 May 2019, 12:09:53 »
I guess it depends on who the employer is, and their financial means and their access to other resources, but I can't help but think that a confidential assassination contract would be much more preferable and effective than a simple bounty.

Maybe they would be more effective.  But BattleTech has a long history of using Bounty hunters for this type of work

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #15 on: 15 May 2019, 12:14:57 »
Or at least offering bounties on offending merc units.  Basically 'modern' head money from when soldiers & sailors earned money from ransoms or as payoffs from their state for capturing the enemy.
Colt Ward
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Kit deSummersville

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #16 on: 15 May 2019, 12:15:16 »
Seems like a lot of work to get rid of a pasta strainer.
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Col Toda

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #17 on: 15 May 2019, 12:35:43 »
Depends on who you want to do it and your timetable . For Bounty Hunter to do it say 4 million per 30 lightyear jump to get to the target and another 8-20 million fee on top of that . Even if the unit could pay 2X. That in retribition bounty on Bounty Hunter the mantle of Bounty Hunter is just passed on to the next in line .

More often a local skip tracer or other proffessional who happens to be where the target is takes the contract . Dead the head is sent in a dry Ice Box . Alive is a little trickier . Generally some version of buy correct size body from a morge arrange a fiery vehicle crash and send the target in medically induced coma with fake id paperwork saying he is joe. Q rich guy seeking medical care in another system . If the mercenaries are really sharp they will twig on the switch inside maybe 8 hours after they get the body . By then the target maybe out of the system . Say 800 C bills for a John Doe body. 3000-6000 per month for 3 medical professionals for transit 15-30 tousand for forged paperwork and bribes to local law enforcement to delay turning over the body plus transit passage fees . If the unit's internal security is really lax and sloppy they hold a funeral promote everyone and find out the CO is on trial in a press release .

A regular house unit may very well turn in a mercenary for a bounty vs ransom to the MRBC . So dead minimum 20,000 for as long as it takes in this case .

Princes , Warlords and Captains of indusry have the kind of deep pockets to hire Bounty Hunter to parade target for some gain .  Typical Attorney General.will do the 20000 as long as it takes .  The proffessional local making good typically 1 - 6 million.

idea weenie

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #18 on: 16 May 2019, 19:26:49 »
Seems like a lot of work to get rid of a pasta strainer.

It may take a few days, but you can do it if you clear your colander first

Two Guns Blazing

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #19 on: 17 May 2019, 01:59:49 »
I've been thinking a bit more about this...

I see a "Bounty" as a reward (doesn't have to be financial) given in payment for achieving some goal, like providing information on a criminal, the capture of a wanted person, the return of an item etc, etc, but in each case, it is a widely advertised goal, so everyone knows about it, even the people who are the subject of the bounty.

Then I think, if you really want someone dead, like say a Merc leader, or even an entire Merc unit, why would you advertise it, so that they had an opportunity to prepare, take pre-emptive action against you, run away and avoid etc, etc. It is counter productive to achieving your goal...it would be much easier and provide a higher level of success if you confidentially contracted someone to do the job, or if you were a governmental body, allocate the job to a special forces or intelligence team.

In saying that though, if you didn't have the resources to organise an assassination for whatever reason, then a bounty would still be better than nothing.

Another good reason for a bounty being offered, is if you think there is a good chance that some associates of your target, would have a price tag where they would betray their associate.

Colt Ward

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #20 on: 17 May 2019, 09:20:57 »
Still no body seems to have looked at FM Mercs Update . . . yeah, the MRBC put out bounties on a variety of rogue mercs and those known to be steady/constant employ of the Blakists.  They offered IIRC money for units involved in the attacks on Outreach and other early Blakist actions, as well as soliciting more information about other Blakist actors.

IIRC there is also a section in contract negotiations to include bounties . . . I did it with a contract in the Chaos March where the SB hints at a world's ruler having his own dedicated raider unit stealing from neighboring planets to improve his own planet.  So when the contract called for the mercs to make their counterstrike, that clause included a bounty on all confirmed members of that raider battalion but not on the run of the mill militia that might end up defending objectives on the world.  The bounties, set on the FM Mercs U model, were a couple of ten thousand and scaling up for officers so they also offer a incentive to engage the raider battalion rather than avoid or let them retreat.
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massey

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #21 on: 17 May 2019, 09:56:23 »
I guess it really depends on the target, the time frame, and how much you care about the likelihood of success.  There are people in real life who hire "hitmen" on Craigslist to go murder people.  Often it turns out to be an FBI agent in disguise, but sometimes it's actually a person willing to go shoot somebody.  I've seen news reports where the prices on this can be dirt cheap, like a hundred bucks.  I don't think that money would get you somebody competent, but what do you expect for that much?

So let's say that you are Count Vlad von Schemer.  Major Victory and the Hero Battalion have been a thorn in your side for too long.  You want to put a bounty on his head, but you don't want to spend a lot of money.  What kind of results can you expect from each price tier?  (This isn't necessarily how much you're offering, but how much you're spending)

100 C-bills or less:  A guy who lives in a trailer park near the merc base will agree to go to Major Victory's house, kick in the door, and shoot him.  He'll probably be high when he does it, and he may or may not remember to wear a mask.  Likelihood of success: less than 1%.  He'll almost assuredly be caught, probably before he even gets on the base.  But the good news is, you aren't out a lot of money.  You could hire guys like this all day.

1,000 C-bills:  You could put a whole team of trailer park guys together.  Get them a cheap van, and the next time Major Victory is out in public, they'll drive up next to him, yank him into the van, and drive off.  Or they can shoot him if you like that better.  Likelihood of success:  1%.  In all probability, Major Victory is armed, and these guys are just gonna get shot.  Total amateur hour here.

5,000 C-bills:  Now you're talking a nice chunk of change for a normal person.  You might actually get a mob or cartel enforcer or two with this kind of money.  They have experience with this sort of job, but generally not on such a well defended target.  If Major Victory has a coke habit or something, or maybe he likes the hookers, you might be able to catch him off guard.  Wait until he goes up to the hotel room with the sultry redhead you sent down, and then Vinny and Tony club him in the back of the head.  Likelihood of success:  completely depends on target.  Could be pretty good if everything goes right.  If you've previously had a failed attempt, odds are very low because he'll be on his guard.  If he has no easy to abuse character flaws, odds are even lower.  This is the first level where it might actually work though.  If he has the right character traits, maybe 30%?

25,000 C-bills:  At this point you could probably hire a small team of professionals.  We aren't talking crack military experts, we're talking basic regular infantry.  You might get a squad of foot infantry from a nearby merc unit who are willing to take a side job.  This is well above normal rates to hire infantry, particularly since it's one night's work, but they're also subject to far more risk since they're guaranteed to engage the enemy and they have no backup.  I'm presuming a nighttime raid on Major Victory's base, sneaking in, grabbing him, and sneaking out.  Likelihood of success: 10%.  For this price, you aren't really getting the guys with the right skills.  They're probably gonna trip an alarm and get into a firefight.  If they were really good enough to do this, they'd charge a lot more, so you're really getting guys who think they're better than they really are (and so they're bad at calculating the odds).

100,000 C-bills and up:  Now you start being able to pay off multiple people so that your odds of success go up.  The astech working for the Hero Battalion who has a lot of gambling debts, maybe he has to shut off the security system for a few minutes to rewire something.  A security guard who feels like he missed his shot at the big time, maybe a few grand in his pocket will convince him to deliver a package, or wave in a delivery truck at the checkpoint.  I'd say this is the first level where you can have some reasonable chance of success.

Million C-bills and up (way, way up):  This is when you can start getting battlefield units to intentionally target Major Victory.  Maybe a lance of Jenners comes in during a battle and tries to cut his mech out from under him.  But he's probably going to be in a really tough mech, and they'll get all his attention.  A single lost mech is very expensive, and you're sending them into a meat grinder, guaranteed.  They're going to charge a lot for this.


Note that all this is still super dangerous.  If the Hero Battalion finds out what you're doing, you've got an entire battalion coming down on you.  They've got a lot of resources, and they can hire assassins too.
« Last Edit: 17 May 2019, 10:02:10 by massey »

massey

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #22 on: 17 May 2019, 09:58:51 »
Still no body seems to have looked at FM Mercs Update . . . yeah, the MRBC put out bounties on a variety of rogue mercs and those known to be steady/constant employ of the Blakists.  They offered IIRC money for units involved in the attacks on Outreach and other early Blakist actions, as well as soliciting more information about other Blakist actors.

IIRC there is also a section in contract negotiations to include bounties . . . I did it with a contract in the Chaos March where the SB hints at a world's ruler having his own dedicated raider unit stealing from neighboring planets to improve his own planet.  So when the contract called for the mercs to make their counterstrike, that clause included a bounty on all confirmed members of that raider battalion but not on the run of the mill militia that might end up defending objectives on the world.  The bounties, set on the FM Mercs U model, were a couple of ten thousand and scaling up for officers so they also offer a incentive to engage the raider battalion rather than avoid or let them retreat.

I think that's too low.   Now, maybe they were hoping to just get some guys for cheap, but I think the price should be way higher because you know going in that you're going to engage the target.

Kovax

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #23 on: 17 May 2019, 10:26:29 »
I'd assess it a bit differently.

At the pocket change level, you're doing little more than making a public statement that you're mad at the individual, and anything that comes of it is purely accidental, like that guy from the trailer park who thinks he can make enough cash for a whole week's worth of beer.  If it succeeds, that's ridiculously cheap and easy for you.  When it almost inevitably fails, you just shrug and ignore it.

In the "few thousand" realm, you're still not going to get any serious professionals to take the job, but you might tempt a MechWarrior or vehicle gunner to change their target priorities a little bit for a couple of shots, the next time that the target's unit is in combat.  If some insider has enough of a grudge, you may tip them over the edge and wind up with the target dead instead of them, but it's unlikely.

Once you hit the "hundreds of thousands" realm, the professionals on the planet with the target may start taking a serious look at the possibilities, and if they can find a way to do it without too much risk, your target is going to either need to maintain some kind of personal security or have an accident when he/she least expects it.  Opposing Mechwarriors may take that into consideration in a battle if the opportunity arises, to earn a enough side money to retire a couple of years early, but they're not going to put the whole mission at risk or take unnecessary chances for a relatively small sum in comparison to the potential damage in return.

In the "millions" range, now it starts drawing serious interest from a lot of people, and the target has to watch his/her back 24/7 and hire bodyguards he or she can trust implicitly.  A mercenary unit might adjust plans to accommodate an attack on the command lance because it's got valid military reasons AND a nice bonus, even if it's not enough of a reason by itself.  At this level of bounty, the target is LIKELY to end up dead, it's just a matter of "when" until the opportunity happens and someone capitalizes on it.

Colt Ward

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #24 on: 17 May 2019, 11:06:21 »
Okay, I think some terms are also being conflated . . .

A bounty is open to anyone.  Its not like a contracted assassination.  Its posting to MercNet- 50k c-bills for Captain Dan Pantsless, alive & functional- reasonable expenses in return transport will be covered.  You do not have to mention you want him alive for the shotgun wedding b/c he knocked up your noble daughter.  Probably not going to get much traction if its at very much distance.  I do not recall how much the Bounty Hunter got paid to drag someone back, but I remember that he was getting paid a couple of different ways- but IIRC that bounty was a specific commission so not quite the same.

The bounties listed in FMU were not assault/kill contracts . . . nothing was covered and nothing else was paid out.  You turned over the members of units like Vinson's Vigilantes, Broadsword Legion, and others to the MRBC to get paid which unless it conflicted with your primary contract was legal and a side line.  Say you are on a contract pirate hunting sweep by the Outworlds Alliance and they do not care about prisoners . . . when you stumble across a company of Vinson's Vigilantes in one of the target systems you wipe them out.  So you get paid for the sweep, and you get paid for survivors (more for the officer than the basic trooper) of the Vigilantes company.

Now if Trillian placed a 500 mil c-bill bounty on Vedet Brewer (note, preferably dead) . . . well, its going to be like Smokin' Aces (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475394/) or the last two John Wick movies where hitmen and wannabes start coming out of the woodwork.

And unlike a regular mercenary contract, NOTHING is paid out without either the target being handed over alive, a body, or some damn good proof the target is a couple ounces of carbon ash.  Heck, the money might not even be put in escrow!  But I think it would with a officially released MRBC bounty.  Its also not typically going to cover things like 'expenses.'
Colt Ward
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epic

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #25 on: 17 May 2019, 13:52:03 »
Come to think of it... we have other examples of bounties.  In canon, no less.

I'm talking about BoK Volume 3.  Where Kai fake turns in the body of a mechwarrior, and while he gets stiffed, it's for a couple hundred cbills.  That's for bounties of a low rank mechwarrior, dead. 

I like the idea of the bounty being extra icing on the cake for a merc unit.  First defeat it, get your salvage and regular pay, and then find out if there are any outstanding bounties on members that could pay additionally. 

In my last campaign, captured prisoners could be ransomed back and often would be for the equivalent of several months pay, rank dependent (thus, higher ranked individuals got the unit better pay).  That was assuming there was no need for a prisoner exchange.  It's not a huge sum as far as merc units go, but every little bit helps.  However, faced with possible bounties, the enterprising merc could exchange some prisoners while sending some prisoners instead to the MRBC. 
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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #26 on: 17 May 2019, 14:32:46 »
Come to think of it... we have other examples of bounties.  In canon, no less.

I'm talking about BoK Volume 3.  Where Kai fake turns in the body of a mechwarrior, and while he gets stiffed, it's for a couple hundred cbills.  That's for bounties of a low rank mechwarrior, dead. 

On the other hand, that was a bounty for bringing in stragglers roaming the countryside on their own, armed at best with a handgun - not for members of an intact combat unit is reasonably powerful ´Mechs.

IMHO the bounty for a wanted combat unit would *start* at 100% battle loss compensation, because you´re risking serious damage to your own equipment if you engage them. And next to the value of the potential salvage, any cash reward would have to be enormeous to make a difference.
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General308

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #27 on: 17 May 2019, 20:04:25 »
On the other hand, that was a bounty for bringing in stragglers roaming the countryside on their own, armed at best with a handgun - not for members of an intact combat unit is reasonably powerful ´Mechs.

IMHO the bounty for a wanted combat unit would *start* at 100% battle loss compensation, because you´re risking serious damage to your own equipment if you engage them. And next to the value of the potential salvage, any cash reward would have to be enormeous to make a difference.

This is why picking the number for this is hard.  Because what I have read is clear.  Bounty hunters get the Bounty no other expenses paid. Which is why I am having trouble with this.  I want a bounty big enough were someone would go after a mech commander in his mech.   It would be a dead or alive contract.  More for Alive of course.

massey

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #28 on: 17 May 2019, 23:21:03 »
This is why picking the number for this is hard.  Because what I have read is clear.  Bounty hunters get the Bounty no other expenses paid. Which is why I am having trouble with this.  I want a bounty big enough were someone would go after a mech commander in his mech.   It would be a dead or alive contract.  More for Alive of course.

Here's the deal.  If you are the GM of a game, and an NPC is setting a bounty so that NPC bounty hunters attack the PCs, then don't worry about the number.  The bad guys just laugh when they attack the PCs and say "you wouldn't believe how much they're paying us!" and leave it at that.

If you're trying to tempt the PCs into attacking an NPC merc commander, then put them in a tight money situation and have the bounty be enough to get them out of it.  Simple enough.

epic

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Re: Let's talk bounty's
« Reply #29 on: 18 May 2019, 10:51:13 »
This is why picking the number for this is hard.  Because what I have read is clear.  Bounty hunters get the Bounty no other expenses paid. Which is why I am having trouble with this.  I want a bounty big enough were someone would go after a mech commander in his mech.   It would be a dead or alive contract.  More for Alive of course.

If this is the case, really, you're just looking at a standard merc contract (extraction).  And give the employer a small penalty at the contract table as negotiating wise, they have made it personal. 

The extraction part is the bounty target.  There's a bonus/penalty clause if the target is dead though. 
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