How to pay off a bounty if you commit a crime in Starfield

Sticky fingers can lead to a wealth of riches. Starfield. If you’re caught stealing while not hidden or smuggling illegal goods, you can get tossed into the slammer, and there are a few ways to avoid this. We tested them all so you don’t have to.

The first time you’re arrested by the United Colonies, you’ll actually start a mission called “Deep Cover,” in which they blackmail you to go undercover for them. After starting the quest, you will get normal results if you are arrested again.

How does Starfield’s bounty work?

Bounties are available in Starfield The work is very similar. Skyrim bounties. Bounties. If you’re caught pickpocketing, stealing, or even attempting to steal something from someone else in that area you get an additional bounty. If you get caught stealing one thing on Neon, you’ll get a 500 credit bounty for Neon. If you get caught stealing again, you’ll get another 500 credits added and so forth.

Like Aurora, smuggling in contraband will add to the bounty on your head.

Security from the planet you’re on will track you down if there is a bounty. You can either pay a penalty, go to prison, or use force to get out. While guards chase you, it is not possible to fast-travel.

[Ed. note: We encountered an issue when we were mass pickpocketing people on planets and loads of security guards would appear. They’d follow us around but never actually start the “you’re under arrest!” prompt unless we interacted with them. Use this knowledge how you’d like, but we don’t think this is working as intended.]

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

What are the ways to redeem bounty?

It depends on which region you’re in to be able to do this. Based on our testing, you can only clear your bounty if you’re not currently in the area associated with the faction that has a bounty out for you.

For example, if you have a bounty with the Freestar Collective and you’re using the kiosk in Freestar Collective space, you can’t pay off your bounty. You’ll have to find one outside of Freestar Collective space.

There’s also a slight markup. We paid 550 credits to remove a bounty worth 500 credits.

Locations of Bounty Kiosks

These kiosks are typically located in bars, but you can find them in random outposts and smaller settlements, too — like HopeTown. Bounty kiosks can be found in these hubs, but keep the faction rule in mind before you chart your grav jump.

• Akila CityHitching Post Bar
• Neon (Freestar Collective): Astral Lounge
• New Atlantis (United Colonies)Viewport Bar
• Cydonia (United Colonies): Broken Spear Bar

What happens if you’re caught by Starfield guards?

This is the easiest solution to this problem. You will have to pay a bounty (which costs you a fine)Return your stolen property.

Neon is a specific color. The guards are bribedThe cost to you will depend on the bounty. To pay off the guards, you will need 3,000 credits. You can keep the stolen items if you pay off the guards, but guards in many other worlds cannot be bribed. (There may be more planets that allow for bribery, but we haven’t found any other ones at the time of publish.)

Even if you pay these amounts, you will still get teleported to jail, though you’ll be free to go once you get there.

Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

You may also choose to accept serve jail timeThis is a service that will return all of your stolen items. Deducting some XP. We had to spend five days in prison and lose 500 XP with the 500-credit base bounty. At a 1,000 credit bounty, we had to serve seven days in jail and we lost 900 XP, so it’s safe to say that the higher your bounty, the more jail time you have to serve (and the more XP you lose). The XP you have cannot be lower than zero, and levels will not disappear.

You can also choose to fight the guards, which you probably do not want to do in places like Neon or New Atlantis, as there’s tons of security to brawl against, and this is probably not worth it.