I still think I need a few more iterations of experimentation to be sure. Currently played the game about a half dozen times. The one real weakness I find is in the bounty hunter strategy. Has anyone figured out one that works efficiently? Seems like a poor strategy in the early game which means you are going to have to do some pickup and delivery in between bounties. I would like to figure out if there is a winning bounty only strategy.

Thoughts?

I think in order to win, you have to be able to capitalize on whatever your current situation will bear. You can deck out to collect bounties, and prioritize that, but not at the expense of other fame opportunities. Delivering cargo, getting new ships and upgrading them, and even the odd job can help keep you moving while you get strong enough and reveal enough contacts.

I’ve seen taking members as crew and then aggressively searching for their bounties work effectively as well. You get a benefit out of them until you can convert them to fame. And when you do get their bounty card you can start attempting to collect immediately. Just start with the easy color first, so you can actually succeed at capturing them.

Keep a sharp eye on the board as to what contacts are where.... Also be on the lookout for contacts/crew that allow you to see contacts remotely... Guidan as an example.

My daughters both enjoy playing hunters. What I have observed as a decent strategy is to get to your max number of bounties early and don’t be afraid to disintegrate them or drop one bounty for another.

You will also need to be willing to move some cargo along the way. That can help smooth out the $ lost by disintegrating your bounties.

I still think the game needs some rework in how players acquire fame points based on their role: for example whether I chose a bounty hunter character instead of a smuggler one, I should be primarily focusing and rewarded on collecting bounties instead of moving illegal cargo

Bounty hunting works although I would only recommend it to players who have played as traders once or twice. Understanding how you track down targets quickly is the key, as is picking 2 targets of the same level (eg they are both Green targets).

Most games I've played there have been 2 maybe 3 players that were on the verge of winning.

IMHO bounty hunter tend to win over smugglers. They take a while to rack up any fame, but once they get some weapons and ground armor they can really start to gain.