[Proposal] Rescue mechanics change

[vvvvvvvv]

A variation of this was probably propose before.

Right now destroyed ship leaves spacesuits behind, which float in space an wait for oxygen to run out. Picking them up is cumbersome, because none of those guys even use boosters. An NPC tryin to dock with an Asgard or Erlking takes an eternity.

Proposal:
* Crew bails using same mechanic as NPCs, meaning Escape Pods.
* Escape Pods head towards nearest non-hostile station. If there's no station in this sector, they target one in the next one.
* On station they become a separate staff category, "rescued crew" and have to be picked up.
* They have to be picked up a ship docking to the station and you can't just crew transfer them remotely if no ship has docked.
* If they aren't picked up within certain timeframe, they despawn.

[adeine]

Agreed, it makes no sense that they just stay in place waiting to die.

Regardless of whether they use pods or not, they should definitely attempt to reach the nearest friendly station or ship (this automatic dock command would then be interrupted if you manually rescue them or tell a ship to do so). I don't see why they would have to despawn or why things have to be needlessly convoluted.

If they manage to dock at an NPC station, they could just taxi to the nearest player station or HQ as 'unassigned'.

[vvvvvvvv]

I don't see why they would have to despawn or why things have to be needlessly convoluted.

Well, the logic here is that this gives incentive to pick them up, but you can just let them go if you don't want to be bothered. Let's say there's contract clause, and failure to pick the NPC up means his/her services are no longer needed. If they taxi to your stations, you may end up with a large number of unassigned NPCs. I personally would prefer "despawn after a time" variant.