Having trouble paying a bounty Elite Dangerous

Question

I did a mission on a planet to destroy some skimmers and as a result ended up with a bounty to the tune of 16k. I thought it would be a simple matter to pay the fine but the particular minor faction is only located on the planet I was on and they don't have docking requests so I can't land there. I tried going to the stations in the system but no fines are showing. The minor faction is Tollan Constitutional Party and I can't seem to find them anywhere else except for this little base/settlement which I can't land on. I've since been destroyed, thinking this would clear my bounties but all that did was make them all go dormant. Why is it in the year 2016 we can pay things off online and have places direct deposit money to our bank accounts but in the year 3302 this facility is unavailable? Surely the banking sector is not just limited to each star system in the future?

Answer 1

You can't pay off bounties or dormant bounties. You used to be able to, but they changed how all of that works quite a while ago.

A dormant bounty will only matter in jurisdictions controlled by that faction; if a system authority ship scans you the dormant bounty goes activate and you are wanted. Outside of their jurisdiction there's no downside. Active bounties can get bounty hunters attacking you anywhere.

If you still really want to clear that dormant bounty, switch to a sidewinder, get another player to kill warrant scan you and then kill you. You might need to do that in a system the faction is present in. Or just wait a week; after a week the dormant bounty turns to a "legacy fine" (or something like that) and you should be able to pay it off at any station in a system that faction is present in, or a factor contact in a low security system.

Answer 2

1. How do I pay off a fine when there are no ports I can land at belonging to that minor faction?

As long as you can land at a station that minor faction is present at, you can pay the fine from the contacts page of starport services. If a minor faction is present in a system. It is present at all of the ports in that system, even if it is not the controlling faction of the port.

2. How do I pay a fine when the minor faction involved is not present at any ports that can be docked to?

This is precisely what the interstellar contact if for. They are only located at some stations. There will be a 25% charge for using their services. Think of them as a information broker that receives constant data deliveries on all the bounties, bonds, and fines in the galaxy.

3. Why is it in the year 2016 we can pay things off online and have places direct deposit money to our bank accounts

In 2016 all Humans that we know of live on the earth or very close to it, and the speed of light is such that we can communicate between any two points on Earth in less than one second.

4. but in the year 3302 this facility is unavailable? Surely the banking sector is not just limited to each star system in the future?

No it is not limited to each star system. But seeing as how even the closest of systems are multiple light years away. An internet like system is not nearly as useful as news could only spread at the speed of light. This would take 100s of years for information to travel. Instead, I like to believe that the Data Delivery missions, hold information of all sorts (e.g. recent market data for as many systems as possible, exploration data, active and closed bounty updates, faction changes, GalNet news. etc...). That is the way information is spread through the galaxy - onboard ships with Frame Shift Drives, capable of delivering the data faster than light ever could!

Answer 3

The wiki is out of date.

For the common, slightly-criminal, pilot: Ensure you have 0 Notoriety, dock in a low-security system, pay the interstellar factor whatever they want.

This is the best reference I could find for working out how to get rid of your bounty in patch 3.0: