Winning combats earns you lots of money, and is one of the primary ways to get rich in Skyrates. The amount of bounty earned for a fight is dependent on the planes you kill, and gets bonuses from your Salvage Operations skill and Trader crewmember (if you have one).
Combat Level[]
Each combat you encounter has a Combat Level which is determined by several factors:
- The area you're flying in (Click on "Show Danger" on the map to see, darker areas have higher combat level)
- Your Combat Infamy Skill level
- Any Missions you may have taken (+2, +4, +6 for low, medium and high-risk missions, respectively, for up to +18)
The combat level of each fight determines what you'll be facing. Every enemy plane has a Threat Rating from 0 to 27, and the server picks a set of planes for you so that their threat ratings add up to the combat level. So a Level 8 combat may put you up against a single plane with an 8 threat rating, or two 4s, or any other combination of planes that adds up to 8. Threat Ratings of planes are listed in the table below, under "Plane Data".
Combat Bounty[]
Manual Combat[]
The bounty for a manual combat is as follows:
Total Bounty = (sum of individual plane bounties) + (Salvage Operations + Trader crewmember bonus) + Win Bonus
- Individual plane bounties are as listed below under "Plane Data". As you shoot down pirate planes, their corresponding bounties are added and used in this equation.
- Salvage Operations bonus = 3% of the sum of plane bounties, per level of Salvage Operations, for a total of 15% at Level 5. Salvage Operations bonus applies in the event of either a "Win" or a "Flee".
- Win Bonus = (20% of sum of plane bounties) - 1
- You must have a "Win" result for the combat to obtain this bonus. Fleeing from the combat forfeits this bonus, even if you successfully shoot down a bogey in a multi-bogey combat!
- Trader crewmember bonus applies in both "Win" and "Flee" situations, and is dependent on the level of the trader and on overall morale level:
Salvage Bonus from 1 Trader by Level and Morale Trader Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 
King Slime Happy1.25% 2.25%
to
2.50%3.50%
to
3.75%4.50%
to
5.00%5.75%
to
6.25%6.75%
to
7.50%7.50%
to
8.75%9.50%
to
10.00%
to
11.25%
to
12.50%
Very Happy1.00% 2.00%
to
2.25%3.00%
to
3.25%4.00%
to
4.25%5.00%
to
5.50%6.00%
to
6.50%7.25%
to
7.50%8.50%
to
9.00%? ? 
Happy1.00% 1.50%
to
1.75%2.25%
to
2.75%3.00%
to
3.75%3.75%
to
5.00%4.50%
to
5.75%5.25%
to
7.00%6.00%
to
8.00%? ? 
Blah0.75% 1.25%
to
1.50%2.00% 2.50%
to
2.75%3.25%
to
3.75%4.00%
to
4.50%4.50%
to
5.25%5.00%
to
6.00%? ?
Unhappy0.50% 0.75%
to
1.00%1.25%
to
1.75%1.50%
to
2.25%2.00%
to
3.00%2.50%
to
3.75%2.75%
to
4.25%3.00%
to
5.00%? ?
Very Unhappy0.25% 0.25%
to
0.50%0.50%
to
1.00%0.50%
to
1.25%0.75%
to
1.75%1.00%
to
2.25%1.00%
to
2.50%1.00%
to
2.50%? ?
Angry0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
to
0.25%0.00%
to
0.25%0.00%
to
0.50%0.00%
to
0.75%0.00%
to
0.75%0.00%
to
0.75%0.00%
to0.00%
to
- If you have two traders, their contributions to the salvage bonus are additive. For example, a level 5 trader and a level 7 trader can give you up to 15% (6.25% + 8.75%) salvage bonus.
- For example, successfully defeating a pirate CR-4P of combat level 1 (and no other planes in that combat), with Salvage Operations level 2 and a Happy level 1 Trader would net you: 250G base + 6% (15G for Salvage Operations bonus) + 1.00% (2.5G for Trader bonus) + 20%-1 (49G for Win Bonus) = 316G (game rounds down)
- Losing a manual combat results in automatic forfeiture of any and all bounty you would've otherwise gotten, had you fled or won instead!
Auto-Resolved Combat[]
The bounty from an auto-resolved win with 0-1 Traders appears to be:
Total Bounty = (combat level + 1) x 100 + Salvage Operations bonus + Trader bonus
- Salvage Operations bonus = 3% per level of Salvage Operations skill, similar to what occurs for manual combats
- Trader bonus = (combat level + 1) x 2.5 x Trader Level
- The value 2.5 applies only to King Slime Happy morale level. At lower morale levels, this number decreases correspondingly.
- Trader bonus calculated here often doesn't match with the amount displayed in the Crew Log, but the Total Bounty sum will be correct (within +/- 2G)
- Bounty earned is independent of the number of bogeys downed during that combat.
- Example: an auto-resolved level 15 win with 1 Level 4 Trader at King Slime Happiness and Salvage Operations level 2 would be expected to give:
- Base value = (combat level + 1) x 100 = 1600
- Salvage Operations bonus = 0.06 x 1600 = 96
- Trader bonus = (combat level + 1) x 2.5 x 4 = 16 x 10 = 160
- Total = 1600 + 96 + 160 = 1856G
- Compare to a manual win against a Level 15 Havoc under the same circumstances: 2400 + 144 Salvage bonus + 120 Trader bonus + 479 Win bonus = 3143G
Plane Data[]
Each plane has a corresponding Threat Rating range, and each plane in combat will have a difficulty corresponding to a number in that range. Generally, combat planes (e.g. Mastiff, Seahawk) have the highest Threat Rating and Bounty Value of all planes within their tier -- no surprise considering that they are designed to be great for combat! It is currently unknown how exactly the difficulty is adjusted to reflect higher or lower ratings (e.g. whether a level 6 Cyclops has less armor or has less damaging weaponry than a level 7 Cyclops). Regardless of the actual rating, planes of the same type always appear to have the same base Bounty Value.
| Tier | Plane | Threat Rating | Bounty Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| other | Scouting Balloon | 1 | 150 |
| Unknown (X-36) | 8 | 1200 | |
| Tier 0 | CR-4P | 1 | 150 |
| Tier 1 | Mastiff | 3 | 420 |
| Nomad | 2 | 300 | |
| Thor | 2 | 300 | |
| Tier 2 | Valkyrie | 4 | 600 |
| KittyHawk | 3 | 480 | |
| Marauder | 3 | 480 | |
| Tier 3 | Mkii | 5 | 840 |
| Halifax | 4 | 720 | |
| Requin | 4 | 720 | |
| Chapparal | 4 | 720 | |
| Tier 4 | Phantom | 8 | 1020 |
| Cyclops | 2-7 | 900 | |
| Loki | 5-7 | 900 | |
| Excelsior | 3 | 900 | |
| Tier 5 | Seahawk | 11 | 1200 |
| Barracuda | 9 | 1080 | |
| Mantis | 9 | 1080 | |
| Dauntless | 9 | 1080 | |
| Tier 6 | Hades | 13 | 1380 |
| Bullfrog | 10 | 1260 | |
| Cetacea | 9 | 1260 | |
| Bolo | 2100 | ||
| Tier 7 | Vengeance | 16 | 1560 |
| Leviathan | 13 | 1440 | |
| Havoc | 15 | 1440 | |
| Seafire | 13 | 1440 | |
| Tier 8 | Avenger | 17-18 | 2240 |
| Lancaster | 16-17 | 1620 | |
| Bismarck | 20-22 | 1620 | |
| Nova | 17 | 1620 | |
| Tier 9 | Spectre | 28 | 1800 |
| Kingfisher | 27 | 1800 | |
| Ingersoll | 1800 | ||
| Thunderbolt | 27 | 1920 | |
| Barashiki | 27 | 1860 | |
| Tier | Plane | Threat Rating | Bounty Value |
Combat Levels for Patrols and Hunts[]
The sloths at the hangars of every skyland and fuel station give skyrates the option to assist in a patrol, protecting that skyland or fuel station from incoming hostile pirates. Unlike combats during flight legs, patrol combat levels are fixed, depending on the skyland or fuel station. Patrol combats are not affected by any missions you are carrying, but are affected by Combat Infamy. In general, areas for new skyrates requiring a lower Flight License have easier patrols than, say, an area requiring FL8 to reach. The values listed in the following table reflect patrol combat level values with Combat Infamy of 0.
Similar to patrol levels in that Combat Infamy can increase them, hunt combat levels are characteristic of each skyland and fuel station, very roughly dependent on how black the map is around that area. Hunt levels are often higher than the patrol level for a given skyland. The values listed in the following table reflect hunt combat level values with Combat Infamy of 0.
| Skyland | Flight License | Patrol Level | Hunt Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aleut | |||
| Alpha 1 | |||
| Alpha 2 | 1 | ||
| Alpha 3 | |||
| Alpha 4 | |||
| Alpha 5 | |||
| Arcadia | 2 | ||
| Cidade | 0 | 1 | |
| Earthbreach | |||
| Echo | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Eltsina | 2 | ||
| Fuseli | 2 | ||
| Getty | |||
| Goldenrod | |||
| Gonk | |||
| Grottopolis | 9 | ||
| Isla di Pisa | 0 | 1 | |
| Islo | 2 | ||
| Jordan | 1 | ||
| Juliet | 17 | ||
| Kadath | |||
| Leng | |||
| Lhasa | 2 | ||
| Luz | |||
| Midgard | |||
| New Hovlund | 0 | 1 | |
| Olio | |||
| Phillipia | |||
| Romeo | 17 | ||
| Sharif | |||
| Shriebeck | 1 | ||
| Steppe | 0 | 1 | |
| Tehras | |||
| Tinkspoit | |||
| Tortuga | 8 | ||
| Uurwerk | 9 | ||
| Valvia | 1 | 5 | |
| Volstoy |