Law & Disorder will stop crimes from going straight onto a permanent record. A pilot will first receive an unconfirmed bounty, or UCB. Escape before an authority scan confirms it and that record disappears. The free update arrives in December, but Frontier has not set an exact date.

How to escape before confirmation

A UCB lets other pilots attack the offender legally, and destroying that ship pays the bounty. Security still dispatches a response to the crime scene, with its speed and strength tied to the system's security level. The bounty becomes permanent only after an authority scan or another form of confirmation.

Regular scans will reveal a pilot's name, legal status, and unconfirmed crimes. The separate Kill Warrant Scanner is being removed. Frontier wants to stop bounty hunters from becoming criminals themselves because they fired at an obvious target without completing the right scan.

Crime will have five escalating tiers. Minor infractions can be paid on the spot, while unpaid fines will no longer become bounties merely because time passed. The top two tiers require a Record Cleaner in a criminally controlled port.

The current Commander notoriety system is going away. Ships will become notorious instead: authorities scan them more often, but NPC targets are more likely to surrender during piracy. A Record Cleaner can wipe the ship's history.

Pirates can demand cargo

Pirates will gain a cargo demand command for NPC vessels. A target decides whether to comply or resist based on relative ship strength, the pirate ship's notoriety, and the attacker's reputation. Black markets will buy the loot, while criminal systems will also permit open sales.

Smuggling will become its own income route, built around silent running, avoiding scans, and finding a profitable port. Populated Anarchy systems will be renamed Criminal, while the Anarchy label will remain for uninhabited systems with no authority response.

Frontier will reveal the exact Law & Disorder date and its new modules later. The launch will appear on the game page once a day is confirmed.