FPS Bunkers Starter Guide

Leading up to and post this year’s Invictus event, Star Citizen viewership on Twitch has grown, as has the player base. Watching new backers play can be an awkward experience during alpha where there’s nothing to hold the player’s hand or provide an introductory experience, such as a tutorial.

PVE ship combat bounties are a very popular activity because they don’t require specialized ships. You can successfully jump into the game with a starter ship and complete flight combat bounties. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for bunkers, which are equally popular. For the bunker missions, you need basic gear that is purchasable in-game. You also need a basic understanding of how FPS PVE bunkers/bounties work. Sure, you can simply enter the designated area and kill the requested targets to complete the missions. However, doing that leaves a majority of the intended loop unutilized. I intend this as a quick guide to preparing yourself for the FPS Bounty Hunting gaming loop.

SHIP

Depending on the mission, some areas you’re sent to will have defensive turrets. You have two options for handling these scenarios.

1. Bring a ship capable of withstanding the turret damage while you strategically destroy them. Using line-of-sight, you can often take on one to two turrets at a time until they’re all destroyed.
2. Land your ship at a distance where the turret damage can’t reach you. It’s worth flying around to see if you can use line-of-sight to get closer while not being shot.
3. Bring a ship that has storage space, ideally has a cargo bay. Aside from being paid for killing the targets, you can loot the bodies and crates inside. This is how to accumulate rare items, as well as free consumables and gear. Sell what you don’t want to the appropriate vendor. For example, sell guns at a weapon shop.
4. Popular starter ships for starting FPS bounties are:
   1. Avenger Titan for cargo bay but unlikely to take out turrets using the stock load out.
   2. Cutlass Black for its multi-crew/turret and cargo bay.
   3. Cutlass Red for the medical bay you can use to heal yourself if you get injured during the encounter

GEAR

There are a handful of items you should take along to make it easier to complete the missions successfully. Occasionally, seasoned players forgo some of these, but it’s rare and usually not by choice.

1. Armor – Wear it for additional protection. The various armor types have weight penalties that affect your movement speed. You can go in light armor if you think you’re good enough, but most everyone will wear a heavy-rated chest item.
2. Weapons – Bring at least one gun and its required ammunition. You will find both that you can loot during the encounter, but coming with one helps get started. More experienced players can arrive without a weapon and take down their first target using hand-to-hand, but I wouldn’t risk that as a new player.
3. Backpack – You need more space than your suit allows to carry away looted items. They tied backpack size to its weight class, which must match the weight class of your chest armor, which is why most are wearing at least a heavy chest so that they can carry the heavy backpack.
4. MedPens – Use these to heal yourself or a buddy quickly. Bring several and be sure that you’ve equipped them in advance. You can purchase MedPens at armor and weapons shops, as well as the pharmacy in the medical centers.
5. Medical Gun – This is used to heal wounds and resuscitate a downed player. While you can use it on yourself if you’re incapacitated, someone can take it off of you to heal you if they don’t have one handy. You can purchase Medical Guns from the pharmacy in the medical centers.
6. Multitool with Tractor Beam – If you’re a loot-hound, no backpack will ever have enough space for all the items you find doing FPS bounties. You can use the multi-tool to transport the NPC corpses to your ship and loot them inside by transferring the items to the ship’s local inventory. This is the reason that using ships with a cargo bay is ideal. It provides you with a secure place to do the looting and enough space to cart it away. You can purchase the Multi-tool and tractor beam attachment at space stations that have a refinery.

ENEMIES VS. SECURITY

Most locations will have innocent NPCs intermingled with the bad guys. If they’re security, their gear will be a distinct color combination. If they’re civilians, they’ll be wearing clothing instead of armor.  You will instantly fail the mission and earn a crime stat if you shoot an innocent bystander while completing a mission.

REPUTATION

If you’re doing bounties for the money, it’s important to gain a reputation with the various vendors. Concentrating on a particular area of Stanton gives missions from the vendors working in that area. The more you do for that vendor, the more missions you receive and the higher the payout. Also, be sure to check for that vendor’s page in the Delphi app in your Mobi (F1) so that you’re aware of their rivals. Doing work for their rivals lowers your reputation with them.

Always take the Call to Arms mission. This is on the Personal tab. It pays for killing individual criminals, which means you get extra money per kill while completing missions.

SELLING AND STORING LOOT

The inventory and loot system are in their infancy, most especially the user interfaces. The location of your loot is very distinct. Pressing (I) displays inventory.

1.  If you’re on a ship, it shows your avatar’s inventory and the ship’s. You can move things between them by dragging. No, there’s no select all or move all features yet.
2. If you’re not on a ship, inventory shows the space allocated to you at that location and what’s on your avatar. You can get away with not having a backpack while looting by moving items into the Local Inventory, which represents the magic space allocated to you at that physical location. When you get back to your ship, transfer items from local to your ship’s inventory. When you arrive at a station, transfer from the ship to that local inventory for permanent storage.

There you have it, the basics of doing FPS bounties. They pay very well as you move through the reputation system and are a popular source of income in Star Citizen.