Is it like Astib describe, or something completely different?

Does it protect only players, or also NPCs (guards, voys)?

What is required to place a bounty on someone?

I have a vague idea how it works, but I'd like to be sure about it...

From http://vo-wiki.com/wiki/Bounty_Hunting
Bounty Hunting
Bounties can currently only be placed by Nations. Nations may place bounties on people who act against their interests.

Bounties may be taken by anyone with a Bounty Hunter License, which may be acquired from the local Marshal NPC in the various Capital sectors. A Bounty Hunter License requires Combat, Heavy and Light weapons license levels of 4 or greater, as well as a one-time fee of 50,000c. Once the Hunter license is acquired, any person with a Bounty on their head may be attacked. Dispatching them successfully will result in the reward being instantly transferred to the Hunter's account.

IMPORTANT FACT: Having a bounty placed on your head, and being killed by a character with the Hunter license, will result in a 1 percent loss of skill in all areas (Combat, Light Weapons, Heavy Weapons, Mining, and so on). Again, being the "victim" of a successful bounty will lose you 1% across all skill types.

Lecter your trolling's been going downhill for awhile.

I hold you to higher standards than this.

Relax Spidey. We have RR to take up the slack. His Power of skewering the helpless is maturing quite nicely. Besides, we all knew the good Dr. would crest the hill and begin his decent eventually. Lets cut him some slack and pretend he's still relevant.

Eh, I'm bored and not all that active on the forums anymore. May others take up the mantle of suffering fools poorly.

Besides, every Alloh post has so much fail in it that skewering him is just too much effort.

Besides, every Alloh post has so much fail in it that skewering him is just too much effort.
I can believe that.

So, no one knows for sure, and Devs are too busy to reply...

Secret rules are NOT a good thing!

To clear a small misunderstanding: I didn't describe how it actually works, but how it probably can/should work.

No worries, astib, only Alloh would be dumb enough to not realize that.

The nations place a bounty on you when you tick them off by:
1: killing NPCs such as station guards, strike force, CtC, and military NPCs
2: killing players well-liked by the nation(s) in monitored space

Bounties typically start at 200k and increase slightly every time the offender offends again. The current max per nation is 1mil. You can get 3mil total if you piss off every nation enough.

Every time a bounty is claimed by a bounty hunter the offender loses 1% of all of his current license points. Somehow I lost a license one time, so maybe there's a minimum decrease. I'm not entirely sure.

Example:

Player x attacks and destroys Serco CtC bots a, b, c, and d. Then, Player x proceeds to Serco space and hunts down a Serco newbie in Helios B-7. A bounty is placed by the Serco nation upon Player x's head of 200,000c. Player x attacks and destroys a Serco convoy in Initros after penetrating the border turrets. Behemoths j, k, and l are destroyed. Player x's bounty is increased by 20,000c each kill, so his current bounty is 260,000c. Player x returns to greyspace and is attacked by bounty hunters e, f, and g. Bounty hunter f causes Player x to explode with a series of flares and energy fire, dealing the killing blow. Bounty hunter f receives all 260,000c, even though bounty hunter e caused the most damage to Player x. Player x loses exactly 1% of his current license points [he had 200/500 combat license. It is now 198/500 combat license.].

Thanks, Tarenty/NL!

I guess many newbies will say the same in future, good reference... backport it to vo-wiki?