Bounty hunting is the most beginner-friendly combat career in Star Citizen Alpha 4.9.0 "Frontier Tensions" — a repeatable loop that turns dogfighting skill directly into aUEC. But the payouts are gated behind a reputation grind that trips up most new players, and every number you earn sits on top of an economy that can be wiped without warning. This guide breaks down how the system actually works in the live 4.9 build, the six risk tiers, realistic reward ranges, the best ships for each stage, and how to rank up to the lucrative ERT contracts without wasting hours.
Quick answer: In Alpha 4.9, you start bounty hunting by earning the Tracker Training Permit certification through the Contracts Manager app in your mobiGlas, which unlocks Very Low-Risk Target (VLRT) contracts. You climb through six risk tiers — VLRT, LRT, MRT, HRT, VHRT and ERT — by completing contracts for Crusader Security, Hurston Security or Northrock Service Group, all overseen by the Bounty Hunters Guild. Higher tiers pay dramatically more aUEC but require both certification missions and combat skill. A capable starter ship (Avenger Titan, Reliant Tana or Gladius) handles the low tiers; a Hornet, Vanguard or Corsair is wanted for VHRT/ERT. All aUEC earnings are wipeable — a full wipe landed with Alpha 4.8 in May 2026.
How bounty hunting works in Alpha 4.9
Bounty hunting is a reputation-based profession. Star Citizen's reputation system — introduced back in Alpha 3.12.0 and tracked in the Delphi/Contracts apps on your mobiGlas — records your standing with each contract-giving organization. Complete contracts and your reputation rises; fail them and it falls (Source: starcitizen.tools/Reputation).
Right now, bounties are simple: hunt down and destroy a target. As the Star Citizen Wiki puts it, "bounties are limited to simply killing your target, however there are plans to introduce taking live bounties later on in development" (Source: starcitizen.tools/Bounty_hunting). So in 4.9 you are paid to destroy criminal NPCs — often pirates such as the Nine Tails, who received an armor refresh in this patch — and, occasionally, other players who carry a bounty.
Three organizations hand out bounties and let you rank up:
- Crusader Security (Crusader jurisdiction)
- Hurston Security (Hurston jurisdiction)
- Northrock Service Group (independent security contractor)
All three sit under the Bounty Hunters Guild, whose overall certification level sets the highest risk tier you can attempt anywhere. You accept every contract from the Contracts Manager app in your mobiGlas, filter by risk level, and track your rank, current pay bonus and next-rank requirement in the same journal.
How do you start bounty hunting in Star Citizen?
You cannot just accept a high-paying contract on day one — the game locks the good tiers behind certification missions.
- Earn the Tracker Training Permit. This entry certification unlocks the ability to apprehend VLRT (very low-risk) targets. Community reports for recent patches put the sign-up fee for the first bounty contract at roughly 500 aUEC — a token cost you recoup on your first kill.
- Complete a jurisdiction evaluation. Fly to Hurston or Crusader and complete the Bounty Hunter Contractor Evaluation (Hurston) or the Verified Freelancer Bounty Assessment (Crusader) to unlock that region's bounty board (Source: starcitizen.tools/Bounty_hunting).
- Grind up. Each time you build enough Bounty Hunters Guild reputation, a new certification mission appears. Clear it and the next risk tier opens.
One thing new hunters learn the hard way: failing too many contracts gets you fired. Per the wiki, a mission giver who fires you will not offer contracts again for 24 hours — so bailing on a fight you can't win has a real cost.
The six bounty risk tiers explained
Every bounty target carries a risk rating. In ascending order of difficulty and pay:
| Tier | Full name | What you face |
|---|---|---|
| VLRT | Very Low-Risk Target | Usually a single light fighter |
| LRT | Low-Risk Target | A small ship plus one or two escorts |
| MRT | Medium-Risk Target | Multiple fighters; a real dogfight |
| HRT | High-Risk Target | A tougher lead ship with a fighter screen |
| VHRT | Very High-Risk Target | Heavy/multi-ship groups; sustained combat |
| ERT | Extreme-Risk Target | The hardest content — often multiple heavy ships or a capital target |
To reach ERT, you need maximum Bounty Hunters Guild certification, unlocked one tier at a time (VLRT → LRT → MRT → HRT → VHRT → ERT), with a certification mission gating each step. There is no shortcut — the tiers are sequential.
How much aUEC can you make bounty hunting?
This is the question everyone asks, and it's the one you should treat most skeptically. CIG rebalances mission payouts almost every patch, and most "exact" reward numbers circulating online are pulled from older builds or from boosting blogs. The table below is a directional, community-reported ballpark for Alpha 4.9 — verify the actual figure at the Contracts Manager before you commit, because it moves.
| Tier | Community-reported payout (Alpha 4.9, approximate) |
|---|---|
| VLRT | A few thousand aUEC |
| LRT | ~5,000–8,000 aUEC |
| MRT | ~15,000–25,000 aUEC |
| HRT | ~30,000–45,000 aUEC |
| VHRT | ~50,000–65,000 aUEC |
| ERT | ~90,000–120,000+ aUEC (often multi-target) |
Three realities decide your actual aUEC-per-hour more than the base payout:
- Reputation gating is the real bottleneck. You physically cannot accept high-tier contracts until you've ground the certifications. That grind — not the payout — is why new players feel "stuck" at low income.
- Travel and downtime eat the clock. Quantum-travelling to a target, clearing it, and returning to claim or repair is dead time between payouts.
- Higher tiers pay more per reputation point too. As one veteran hunter summarized the grind on r/starcitizen: "VHRT awards more rep than HRT > MRT > LRT > VLRT." Doing the highest tier you can survive is almost always faster than farming low tiers.
Realistic expectation for Alpha 4.9: a competent solo pilot working HRT/VHRT contracts can clear a few hundred thousand aUEC in a focused session — respectable, but not the tens-of-millions figures that boosting sites advertise for exotic hauling exploits.
Best ships for bounty hunting in Alpha 4.9
There is no single "best" bounty ship — the right choice depends on your tier, and CIG shifts ship balance, cargo grids and component slots patch to patch. Frame every pick as "best for bounty hunting in 4.9," and verify a ship's current flight-ready status and loadout before you buy or rent it. Here is where community consensus sits:
Starter / low tiers (VLRT–LRT):
- Avenger Titan — flexible, forgiving, and stays useful long after you upgrade. The default recommendation for new hunters.
- Reliant Tana — solid in combat, capable solo, with beds and a gun rack for longer sessions.
- Gladius / Arrow — the Gladius is a balanced, beginner-friendly light fighter; the Arrow is faster and deadlier but rewards precise piloting.
Mid tiers (MRT–HRT):
- Anvil Hornet family (F7A/F7C, Super Hornet) — durable, heavily armed, and, as players put it bluntly, "Hornet is always good." A genuine workhorse.
- Aegis Vanguard (Warden) — tanky, long legs, and enough internal room to grab loot off wrecks.
High tiers (VHRT–ERT):
- Aegis Vanguard / Drake Corsair — the Corsair's firepower is well suited to higher-tier bounties; the Vanguard's mobility lets it "punch down" on lighter escorts.
- Anvil Hornet / Ares Ion — the Ares Ion's single large cannon shreds bigger ships but struggles against nimble fighters, so it's best paired with a wingman.
- Multicrew heavies (e.g. Constellation-class) work well with a friend on turrets for ERT groups.
Remember the two-wallet rule: you can buy or rent most of these in-game for aUEC at ship shops and rental terminals, or pledge for them with real money on the RSI store — two completely separate systems. In-game-purchased ships can be lost in a full wipe; pledged ships are account-bound and are not.
How to rank up fast without wasting time
- Solo over group where you can. A group bounty awards the same reputation as a solo one but takes longer, so solo contracts are more rep-efficient.
- Always run the highest tier you can reliably clear. The rep-per-contract scales up faster than the difficulty for a skilled pilot.
- Don't fail contracts. A demotion or a 24-hour firing wipes out an evening of progress. If a fight looks unwinnable, it's often better to not accept it than to abandon it mid-mission.
- Keep your loadout current. Ship weapon and component balance shifts every patch; a loadout that melted targets in 4.7 may underperform in 4.9.
Star Citizen Alpha 4.9 also added new ship-combat hit markers, which make it easier to confirm your shots are landing — a small but genuine quality-of-life win for hunters lining up on fast targets.
The risks that quietly cost you aUEC
Bounty hunting looks like pure profit until something goes wrong. Budget for these:
- CrimeStat. Kill the wrong target, damage lawful ships or commit crimes in monitored space and you'll earn a CrimeStat, turning security forces against you and blocking access to lawful areas until you clear it.
- Ship destruction and claim timers. Die to your target and you lose your ship until an insurance claim resolves — plus any cargo or loot aboard.
- A "30k" can void your run. A server disconnect (the infamous 30k / Error Code 30000) can despawn your target or drop your session mid-contract. If you're fighting connection drops, see our Star Citizen 30k error fix guide.
- The wipe. This is the big one. Star Citizen is in alpha, and CIG's own documentation is blunt: "aUEC, and anything purchased with it, can be wiped at any point so that a clean slate can be instituted to begin a new cycle of testing" — and players cannot be reimbursed for aUEC lost to a crash or a wipe (Source: starcitizen.tools/AUEC). A full wipe landed with Alpha 4.8 on 14 May 2026, zeroing aUEC balances and in-game-acquired ships. Treat your aUEC as testing currency, not savings.
That wipe risk is exactly why so many players look for the fastest possible way to rebuild aUEC after each patch — the grind, not the ceiling, is the real bottleneck in Star Citizen's economy. If you want the full breakdown of the quickest earning loops in this patch, read our Star Citizen how to make aUEC fast guide for Alpha 4.9, and if mining is more your speed, see the best mining ship in Alpha 4.9 comparison.
More Star Citizen Alpha 4.9 guides:
FAQ
How do I start bounty hunting in Star Citizen? Open the Contracts Manager app in your mobiGlas and take the entry bounty contract to earn your Tracker Training Permit certification (community reports put the sign-up fee around 500 aUEC). That unlocks VLRT targets. Then complete a jurisdiction evaluation at Hurston or Crusader to open that region's bounty board, and grind Bounty Hunters Guild reputation to unlock higher tiers.
What do VLRT, LRT, MRT, HRT, VHRT and ERT mean? They are the six bounty risk tiers, from easiest to hardest: Very Low-Risk Target, Low-Risk Target, Medium-Risk Target, High-Risk Target, Very High-Risk Target and Extreme-Risk Target. Higher tiers pay more aUEC and more reputation but throw tougher, more numerous ships at you.
How much aUEC do bounties pay in Alpha 4.9? It scales with tier — from a few thousand aUEC for VLRT up to roughly 90,000–120,000+ for ERT contracts, based on community reports for this patch. Treat all figures as approximate: CIG rebalances mission payouts frequently, so confirm the live number at the Contracts Manager before you commit.
What is the best ship for bounty hunting? For beginners, the Avenger Titan or Reliant Tana handle low-tier bounties comfortably. As you climb to HRT and beyond, the Anvil Hornet and Aegis Vanguard are proven workhorses, with the Drake Corsair favored for high-tier fights. There is no absolute "best" — ship balance changes every patch, so verify current loadouts.
Can I lose my bounty hunting progress or aUEC? Yes. Star Citizen is in alpha, and aUEC and in-game-acquired ships can be wiped at any patch with no reimbursement — a full wipe happened with Alpha 4.8 in May 2026. Pledged (real-money) ships are account-bound and are not wiped.
Do I need to buy aUEC or a boosting service to reach ERT? No — and you shouldn't. Every tier is unlockable in-game by completing certification missions and building reputation. Buying aUEC or selling/buying accounts violates RSI's Terms of Service and puts your account at risk of termination with no compensation. The intended path is entirely in-game.
Facts in this guide were verified on 19 August 2026 against the Star Citizen Wiki (starcitizen.tools) and RSI's official channels. The live build is Alpha 4.9.0 "Frontier Tensions" (published 15 July 2026); Alpha 4.10 was still PTU-only at the time of writing. Star Citizen is an in-development alpha — patch balance, payouts and mechanics change frequently, and aUEC can be wiped without notice.
