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You can take two very distinct paths in Starfield. You can be an upstanding citizen, or you can commit to a life of crime. If you commit to a life of crime though, you’re going to want to make sure you keep plenty of credits on hand as those bounties can prove to be very costly.
I already have a feeling that we’re going to see some very interesting space crimes committed in the next couple of weeks as players test the limits of Starfield’s crime system. Depending on the severity of your crime, you may be taken straight to space jail. There you’ll have the option to pay off a bounty to secure your release. For petty crimes, a bounty will simply be placed on your head. In either instance though, you’re going to need to know how to pay those bounties off.
Take a look at Starfield in action below.
If you don’t pay bounties off, your criminal record will be tied to your name - and you don’t really want the red lights to go off when you pass a city’s security services. It’s very easy to clear a bounty though - and we’ve got a step-by-step guide to make the process even more seamless.
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What happens when I’m arrested in Starfield?
If you’re taken to jail/security services for committing a crime, you’ll be faced with the option of paying off a bounty to secure your release. You’ll need to make sure your pockets are lined with credits in order to do so.
To provide a couple of examples, in one instance, I was charged 550 credits for planting false information during a side quest. Another time, a 70,000 credit bounty was placed on my head for accidentally throwing a grenade in a city hub instead of launching my scanner - so the bounties can prove to be detrimentally costly.
If you can’t afford the bounty, you’ll spend a period of time in the slammer.
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How do I pay off a bounty in Starfield?
If you haven’t been arrested for your crime but there’s still a bounty on your head (perhaps you’ve swiped a bottle of beer from a bar), you’ll need to visit a Bounty Self-Service Terminal. These electronic terminals are located in all major cities and hubs, particularly I noticed in places like clubs and bars.
Once you’ve located the terminal, it’ll show you any outstanding bounties, offering you the option to pay them off. If you do, your criminal record is wiped.
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There is one catch. You cannot clear a bounty in the star system you committed the crime in. If you committed a crime in Freestar Collective space, you will need to find a terminal in a United Colonies territory for example, and vice versa.