Synduality: Echo of Adais an extraction shooter, though with something of a twist. In some regards, it is more casual, letting you explore its two zones at your own pace and leave when you want. However, everything is a threat, including your fellow player. Some, be they player or NPC, can rack up quite a high bounty.

These bounty targets are worth an eye-watering amount of water, enough to make you risk it all. And if you think you have it in you, a bounty target can be worth a whole lot more than any amount of AO crystals ever would be. Finding them can be difficult though, and beating them is a whole other challenge.

SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada magus sitting on a chair as the menu is displayed with a wanted symbol in the corner.

What Are Bounty Targets?

When you initially start Synduality, it’s likely going to be a while before you encounter any Bounty Targets.The Northern Zone tends to be a bit more beginner-friendly, offering up only the standard Bandits and Enders, and a small smattering of players. After you’ve made enough progress though, they’re likely to start appearing.

Bounty Targets can be bought players and NPCs, though they function differently. When a Bounty Target appears in the map,a warning is put out to every Association Memberin that instance. However, the Bounty Target is not displayed on the map until they have been analysed, at which point they are shown for every single Association Member.

SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada view of the northern zone map with an NPC bounty target marked.

This is to promote player cooperation. NPC Bounty Targets are hostile to everyone, and player Bounty Targets are highlighted alongside their bounty value and there areno penalties for destroying them. It’s the punishment for choosing to attack your fellow player.

One can also become a Bounty Target bypaying to leave the Association, which gives you a bounty of 10,000.

SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada notification about becoming a more wanted bounty target.

If multiple players engage in taking down a Bounty Target by dealing damage,the money is split among every player evenly, regardless of how much damage you dealt. Players do not need to be in a co-op alliance for this to occur. This applies for both NPC and player Bounty Targets.

Finding And Fighting Bounty Targets

When it comes to actually tracking down these Bounty Targets, the methods differ for whether they are NPCs or real-life players. Because these are such combat-centric encounters,it’s best to use a Magus with the Anti-Cradle systemfor seeing their HP, and theCradle Support systemfor the Restorative Shell ability they have. Here’s how each type of Bounty Target works.

NPC Bounty Targets

When an NPC Bounty Target appears,your Magus will announce as such, and their name will appear in the text in the top-left corner of the screen. From here, you can tell if the Bounty Target is an NPC or a real player. If it looks like a name, it’s a player. If it’s something like ‘Magus Hunter Elite’, then it’s an NPC. Foolproof method.

Locating them is a harder affair. They are not shown until they have been analysed by a player (which is the process oflooking at a cradle until the circle fills), at which point their bounty and location is revealed on the map. However, they don’t roam around the map. Rather,they stay around the location they spawn in.This is usually within one of the major zones.

For example, they tend to appear in theAgriculture Plant or Quarryin the Northern Zone.

When you reach the area they’re located in,they will have a squad of hostile Bandits with them, with the Bounty Target leader having a purple skull when analysed, and a red Cradlecoffin. Battling them is no different than usual, though try to keep your distance and battle with a sniper rifle so you don’t get ganged up on by their whole squad.

Once you’ve defeated them, you are eligible to receive the reward once you return from your Sortie.verify to loot their cargo before you leavethough, as they tend to horde Lost Magus', and each of them are worth anadditional 20,000on top of the bounty reward.

Real Player Bounty Targets

For real players, the process is much more unpredictable. Naturally,they will be by themselves, though can go anywhere they want. They will be announced in the same way by your Magus, and will be highlighted for all Association members once they have been fully analysed.

Real players tend to have less HP than NPC bandits, thoughthe weapons they use and tactics they employed are just as varied as your own.Magus skills also give them a massive advantage. It is best to try avoid player Bounty Targets unless you’re in a co-op alliance, or you can ambush them before they see you.

The benefit of defeating real players is thatthey will drop their own gear, mech parts and weapons included. This makes it a very effective way of getting better gear without having to become a bandit yourself.

Becoming A Bounty Target Yourself

By merit of there being player Bounty Targets, that leads to the natural conclusion that you can become a Bounty Target yourself. Not only is that true, it’s easy to happen by mistake. If you destroy another player, you will become aCautionary Association Member. Another player destroyed, and you will be expelled from the Association entirely and marked with a Bounty. Sotry not to shoot players when on a co-op missiontogether.

You are alsolocked to the Southern Zoneuntil you complete enough requests to halt you hunting down beginner players.

At this point, no matter how low your bounty is,you will be marked in the same way NPC bandits are, telling other players you’re a threat. Your own bounty is shown alongside this so they can tell if you’re worth the risk and quite how prolific and killer you are.

Of course, there are rewards for racking up an incredibly high bounty, too. If you have a high enough bounty at the end of a season,you will get rewards to celebrate you surviving so long. Crime does indeed pay.