wrecks, derelict ships and reusing them.

[Bgreman]

There are a couple of ways to handle something like this. One is to have some form of ancient wrecks that are recoverable as damaged ships. The other is to have damage that results in a damaged but non-wrecked ship that was abandoned for some reason. The latter is more realistic but more complicated. I think the best way to handle it would be to track life support during the game, not just during ship design. If life support is taken out and you fail to repair it, the crew starts to die. If all the crew dies a ship becomes abandoned rather than wrecked and can be recovered (Salvage Team?).

In addition, if I am going to track crew numbers and life support, I should also track the effects of the crew being reduced below the minimal level required to run the ship. The easiest way would be a negative crew grade modifier and perhaps an increasing inability to control key systems.

Steve

Could crew also abandon (via lifepods) a ship that no longer had any offensive weapon capacity (fire controls destroyed or all weapons destroyed or reactor destroyed) or abandon when the negative crew grade is reached (and the ship is effectively out of control).

Double cool if when they abandon the ship keeps heading on its last course and heading (falling out of formation etc).

[Erik L]

Could crew also abandon (via lifepods) a ship that no longer had any offensive weapon capacity (fire controls destroyed or all weapons destroyed or reactor destroyed) or abandon when the negative crew grade is reached (and the ship is effectively out of control).

Double cool if when they abandon the ship keeps heading on its last course and heading (falling out of formation etc).

I would think that an abandoned ship would be scuttled rather than left to drift. Just in case the bad guys win, you'd be depriving them of a captured hull, whereas a drifter could be caught and utilized.

[MehMuffin]

I've always thought that it would be nice to have Star Wars-esque escape pods, where you design a ship component that has life pods, which can be designed to have different ranges or speeds, or even large ones with defensive weapons.

[Beersatron]

I've always thought that it would be nice to have Star Wars-esque escape pods, where you design a ship component that has life pods, which can be designed to have different ranges or speeds, or even large ones with defensive weapons.

A new component 'Extended Life Pods' which have enough propulsive and life-support power to make it to a rocky body and then act as infrastructure for a finite time?

It would obviously take up space (instead of the current life pods just spawning) and the 'propulsion' would be defaulted to the latest engine tech. So it is something you would put on a command cruiser and it could have the added effect of increasing the chance of your officers surviving.

The survival time could be factor of your current power tech along with the colony cost of the body you land on. Not sure about how much range you would have though - maybe have it be 1 MSP of drone engine tech?

The biggest reason to have it would be for the officer(s) and not the crew which is hard to track in game, I think that when you pickup crew from existing lifepods they just get added to the ship.

[ardem]

I would be happy to see less complex option so it make it in game sooner.

When eventually the ship becomes a wreck then it is randomly decided how much a wreck it is.
If not this way they look at the damage taken, magazine and power explosions and then decide from there.

We still have too many crew for the components as it is, which I have discussed in a previous post. However I would like to see more casualties when the ship fall apart or if overkilled there is no survivors. There should be more HMS HOOD scenarios when a ship is rocked apart by a size 20 nuclear explosion internally.

Another possibly for those ancient wrecks you mentioned would be the possibility of robots or hibernated aliens still aboard needing you with clear it with marines first. Or lose a good portions of a crew if you board it. OUCH! when that happens the first time.

[UnLimiTeD]

Damn, I so want this feature in NA. Realistic life support, reserve staff, automated protocols....
Though I suppose in 90% of cases the ships blown to fine dust there anyways.

But if you go a ahead with the content in the "Thinking out Loud" thread, Steve, then Crew quarters will be a spacce investment, and maybe have a heat signature. I suppose there'd be no harm to have "reserve staff", that prevents further grade loss once the ship is below 100%. Or acts as extra crew but decreases grade gain, if something like "crew rotation" exists.^^

[ollobrains]

im liking the idea from steve of an abandoned ship crew dead hweover a salvage team with backup computer and droid assistance can get it going and back to some form of base