Escape pod durability

[Sedlex]

These should be unbreakable as standard.

No, really.

[Valgor]

Escape pods are a waste of light slots, in my opinion. If the player jettisons in the middle of a heated battle, they're as good as dead anyway.

[Roswitha]

Not necessarily. I manage to escape and survive about 80% of the time. I find them useful.

[Sedlex]

Originally Posted by Valgor

Escape pods are a waste of light slots, in my opinion. If the player jettisons in the middle of a heated battle, they're as good as dead anyway.

Consider this an attempt to make them slightly less of a waste of slots than they already are

Oh, and: hardcore. Not essential, but saved my bacon on a few occasions at lower levels.

[Valgor]

Yes, in hardcore mode it's a different story. Having the chance (however slight it may be) to make a narrow escape from death can prove invaluable.

[jerebaldo1]

Depending of how difficult it is to code, how about upon the destruction of a ship with the escape pod, a massive EM nova is released from your ship, stunning for a full 3 seconds and moderately damaging nearby enemies...or maybe all within a one screen radius...gives cover, and some revenge...

[Valgor]

You could install a Self Destruct and trigger it right before you get toasted.

[Sedlex]

Originally Posted by Valgor

You could install a Self Destruct and trigger it right before you get toasted.

I made a ship like that, keeping a pod and a self-destruct in my inventory at all times to switch in for emergencies. Lots of fun if you've got the skills to ensure modules load fast enough.

[Zillion]

On HC, if I don't have an escape pod slotted, it's in my inventory. Maybe even a dedicated slot gained after you reach a certain mark in your Command skill...in any event, they're a must-have for me on HC.

[Sedlex]

Further idea to have these suck marginally less in general play: allow them to apply their secondary bonuses, i.e. everything except the defense and structure boost, even before destruction. This would make it viable to equip legend/artifact level escape pods even in general play.