Progression is certification-gated and per jurisdiction — the ladder runs VLRT, LRT, MRT, HRT, VHRT, ERT.
Size-3 weapons cluster around 450–550 sustained DPS regardless of class; range and projectile speed are the real choice.
Repair, rearm and fuel are part of the contract economics, and Pyro has far fewer places to buy them than Stanton.
Where you are going
Contract Manager
Take certifications and bounties, and read the risk grade before accepting.
Everus Harbor / Baijini Point / Port Tressler / Seraphim Station
Refuel, repair, rearm, ASOP and a Tier 2 clinic in one stop.
Grim HEX
The only Stanton station that serves a pilot carrying a CrimeStat.
Pyro serviced stations
The only refuel and repair in the system.
What you need and why
Repeaters reach 1,924 m, cannons 2,404 m, the Sledge III 3,601 m — a mixed rack leaves half your guns idle.
No substitute listedDecoys (H) against missiles and noise (J) against radar lock are the only defensive options that do not cost speed.
No substitute listedShields are the component that degrades fastest across a tier climb.
Alternative: Budget the credits and buy at the next station.A fight that drifts off the marker can put the nearest service stop out of range.
Alternative: Pick contracts inside one quantum leg of a serviced station.VHRT and ERT contracts commonly field escorts that a solo ship cannot separate.
Alternative: Stay at the grade the hull can control alone.What to look for
The next grade only appears once the assessment registers in the tracker — refresh Contract Manager before assuming it failed.
Other hunters and security in the area are the usual source of an accidental CrimeStat.
Weapons are unavailable in NAV; you must be in SCM to fire.
A manually biased facing on the numpad is worth more than a weapon upgrade in a one-on-one.
When it goes wrong
Certifications are per jurisdiction — finish the assessment for that specific security force, then refresh Contract Manager.
Check the weapon range band. Repeaters stop at 1,924 m; if you habitually open at 2.5 km you need cannons.
The Sledge III fires at 1,139.6 m/s and 24 rpm — the round takes about a second to cross a kilometre. Close the range or change weapon class.
Stop firing and withdraw to Grim HEX, which is the only Stanton station that will still service you.
Only 13 of the 23 Pyro stations have fuel; the PYAM-FARSTAT and PYAM-SUPVISR sites have none. Head for a named service station, not the nearest marker.
Rewards and progression
↳ Access up the VLRT→ERT ladder, with per-jurisdiction reputation that unlocks higher-paying contracts
↳ Salvageable components and weapons from downed targets when you bring the hull to recover them
Departure checklist
□Repair, rearm and refuel before accepting.
□Confirm the certification registered.
□Match the weapon rack to one range band.
□Load decoys and noise.
□Cycle friendlies with 6 before weapons release.
□Drop to SCM with B before closing.
□Bias power and shield facing during the fight.
□Name the service stop before departing, especially in Pyro.
- 01
Work the certification ladder in order
Bounty work runs on six risk grades — Very Low Risk Target (VLRT), Low (LRT), Medium (MRT), High (HRT), Very High (VHRT) and Extreme (ERT). Each grade is unlocked by completing the certification assessment for the grade below it, per jurisdiction, so reputation earned under Crusader Security does not automatically hand you Hurston or microTech contracts at the same grade. Open Contract Manager (F1 → Contracts), take the current assessment, and confirm the tracker actually ticks over before you accept a paid contract at the new grade — an assessment that completed but did not register leaves you accepting fights the ship is not rated for.
- 02
Match the weapon class to your engagement range
The single most useful fact about size-3 pilot weapons is that sustained damage barely varies between classes — what changes is how you have to fly. Laser repeaters give the fastest projectiles and the shortest reach: the CF-337 Panther Repeater fires 43.7 alpha at 750 rpm out to 1,924 m at 1,480 m/s, and the Attrition-3 Repeater trades to 86 alpha at 350 rpm over the same 1,924 m. Laser cannons buy 480 m of extra reach for slower shots: the Omnisky IX Cannon is 218.7 alpha at 150 rpm and the M5A Cannon 410.2 alpha at 100 rpm, both to 2,404 m at 1,184 m/s. Ballistics split the difference — the Mantis GT-220 Gatling is 19 alpha at 1,600 rpm to 2,398 m at 1,332 m/s. Multiply alpha by rounds per second and almost all of them land between roughly 450 and 550 damage per second.
- 03
Understand what the outliers cost you
Two size-3 mounts break the pattern in opposite directions. The Sledge III Mass Driver Cannon has by far the longest reach at 3,601 m and a huge 1,125 alpha, but it fires 24 rounds a minute at 1,139.6 m/s — at a kilometre the shot takes most of a second to arrive, so against a manoeuvring target you are leading almost entirely on prediction and its ~450 sustained DPS is the lowest of the group. The Predator Scattergun is the mirror image: 840 alpha at 60 rpm gives the highest sustained figure of the set, but only out to 1,501 m at 888 m/s, the slowest projectile here. Neither is a general-purpose bounty gun; both reward a pilot who can dictate range.
⚠ Do not read a big alpha number as a better weapon. A 1,125-alpha round that misses does nothing, and at ERT ranges the mass driver misses often. - 04
Identify the target before weapons release
Target the contact under your reticle with T, cycle known hostiles with 4 and — the step most people skip — cycle friendlies with 6 to see who else is in the area before you commit. Read the target name against the contract brief, not the colour of the bracket. Remember that weapons are unavailable in NAV mode: press B to drop to SCM before you are in range, because switching master modes with a target already inside 2 km hands them the opening. The main way a routine bounty turns into a CrimeStat is a hunter firing on security, another contracted hunter, or a neutral that quantum-dropped onto the same marker.
- 05
Fly the power triangle, not just the stick
Bias power with F5 (weapons), F6 (engines) and F7 (shields), and use F8 to snap back to balanced when you lose track of what you set. Manual shield facing is the underused half: Numpad 8 and 2 push strength to front and back, 4 and 6 to left and right, 7 and 1 to top and bottom, and Numpad 5 resets to balanced. Against a single target, holding front-facing shields while you keep the nose on them is worth more than any weapon swap. Launch decoys with H against missile warnings and noise with J to break radar lock, and clear a bad missile lock with Left Alt + G rather than firing it into empty space.
- 06
Service deliberately between tiers
Every Stanton orbital station on the standard bounty circuit — Everus Harbor, Baijini Point, Port Tressler and Seraphim Station — carries refuel, repair, rearm, an ASOP terminal and a Tier 2 clinic, so a full reset costs one landing. Grim HEX in the Ring of Yela offers the same services and is the one place in Stanton that will still serve you while carrying a CrimeStat. Pyro is thinner than it looks: of the 23 stations recorded there, only 13 have refuel and repair at all, and the ten PYAM-FARSTAT and PYAM-SUPVISR sites have no fuel, no repair, no clinic and no habitation. Decide your service stop before you accept a Pyro contract, not after the fight.
Field notes
↳ Sustained DPS is close to identical across size-3 repeaters, cannons and gatlings — choose on range and projectile speed instead.
↳ Laser repeaters top out at 1,924 m; if you keep opening at 2.5 km you are flying a cannon fight with repeater guns.
↳ Cycle friendlies with 6 before firing; the expensive mistake is a contracted hunter, not the bounty.
↳ Weapons do not fire in NAV — drop to SCM with B before you close, not during.
↳ Manual shield facing on the numpad is free effective HP and costs nothing but a keypress.
↳ Grim HEX is the fallback service stop once you have a CrimeStat; the Stanton orbitals will not take you.
↳ Certification grades are per jurisdiction — Crusader reputation does not unlock Hurston contracts.
Watch the route
Video mechanics can age between patches. Use the written route above as the current checklist.
Research sources
Route text is independently summarized and cross-checked against these references.
Wiki — Contracts ↗Wiki — Bounty hunting ↗Star Citizen Wiki API — pilot weapon stats ↗UEX Corp — station services ↗RSI — Patch notes ↗
