Death in Elite Dangerous, what's the backstory for this?

[eswat42]

So, when your ship explodes in deep space, you come back in a new ship, but your crew is DEAD DEAD. What's the rational for this? Wouldn't it be more consistent if the crew came back just like you do? Sure, maybe they have to be hospitalized for a while, but why are they dealt perma-death and you seemingly resurrect with impunity?

Also, when you have a figher and pilot on your crew, you can magically switch from the ship to the fighter and visa versa with the pilot mentioning something about telepresence.

What's the backsotry for Death and Crew Switching?

 

[Alex Brentnall]

I think the lore goes something like only the pilot has an escape pod so when your mothership dies and they are in it then yeah they are toast.. Its shaky but consequences and such, if they aren't active then they don't die which is currently the only reason to have spare crew.

 

[yodajedifishmaster]

i think for npc crewers there should be a random chance of pickup also. but with another rng roll as to if they can recover enough to be employed at all again, or suffered life changing injuries which prevent them doing so. when rescue one turns up, the ship owner operator pilot commander will always be top priority. and i have watched 7 rescue vessels search a wreck uss before now and only pickup half the pods between them so this lore wise works - rescue crew making life and death situations based on who is more important and additionally... who has the most money. i dont think the crew has more than the commander flying the ship in their bank accounts or he would be working for them.

 

[Jenner]

Elite is already consequence-heavy in the death department, so I'm not really behind the idea that crew death is a good thing because it amps that up even more. If anything I'd like to see something like a random chance for pickup for crew, but also decrease the penalty for death itself (which is often too high imho).

 

[aRottenKomquat]

Ultimately this is just a game and there are some things we shouldn't think about too hard.

 

[dm0815]

Doubt there is a backstory, but a mere oversight. Frontier probably underestimated how attached most commanders are to their crew members they've trained from harmless to elite. Not a problem for me though as I hire and fire them on a regular basis.

 

[shadragon]

NPC crew should be ejected in life pods that you can choose to recover. If you want the NPC crew back, then this is an immersive way to do it.

 

[W.T.Sherman]

Ultimately this is just a game and there are some things we shouldn't think about too hard.

This, and I sure wish I could give you two Reps.....one for the post and one for your nick.

 

[Han_Zen]

Pilot's Federation memberes are blessed with a quantum entanglement teleporter that recreates ship and pilot at the last place you docked.

This also works in reverse for multi crew. Giving us physical tele presence.

NPCs don't have access to PF's entanglement data base or the sub space network, so the suckers just die. ;P

 

[Siobhan]

Handwavium underwear.

 

[Conch]

im being sponsort by Hyperion, if i die, i just Eeeeeeeespawn!

 

[Cervantes01]

NPC crew should be ejected in life pods that you can choose to recover. If you want the NPC crew back, then this is an immersive way to do it.

I fully agree with this, the site of your previous demise could be a signal source that you could fly to to recover your old crew.

 

[CMDR-AD]

NPC crew should be ejected in life pods that you can choose to recover. If you want the NPC crew back, then this is an immersive way to do it.

I agree.

 

[Drelthar]

Ultimately this is just a game and there are some things we shouldn't think about too hard.

True, yes, but also, sci-fi, when not internally consistent, can get very odd.

The best sci-fi is totally internally consistent, so as to keep you "In the world" even when there are things that are clearly impossible, or implausible, or magical.

While it's not a huge problem in this particular instance, I'd prefer the devs took a lot more caution regarding internal consistency myself.

 

[Villainous Ruffian]

What's the backsotry for Death and Crew Switching?

Remlocks are only available to Pilots Federation members, because they're monopolistic power hungry jerks who have major influence over the superpowers and won't share their toys. They're described in the old books as the suit plus a little drone that comes from a station and scoops up the CMDR, taking them to safety. We go back to our last dock for game balance reasons. Those books have been retconned as kinda cannon but not really, and I haven't read the new ones yet, so maybe it has changed. But it still makes no sense how they can pick people up from way out in the wilderness.

Telepresence, as far as I'm aware, is actually a handwave reason we don't die when our fighters and SRV's explode. It's our version of EvE's clones. I like the EvE one better, even if it doesn't fit with the lore. Telepresence seems silly and inconsistent when the Holo-Me changes the appearance of your actual flesh and blood in the main ship.

 

[LeoBartlet]

I think the lore goes something like only the pilot has an escape pod so when your mothership dies and they are in it then yeah they are toast.. Its shaky but consequences and such, if they aren't active then they don't die which is currently the only reason to have spare crew.

Pilot has an escape pod, passengers if aboard have escape pods.

Co-pilot is forever the 3rd wheel.

 

[Vin58]

NPC crew should be ejected in life pods that you can choose to recover. If you want the NPC crew back, then this is an immersive way to do it.

I understand the gameplay reason for instant return to last station after death. But the reason your crew dies on destruction eludes me. My current ship (conda) has numerous hatches which are named escape pods on the hull. So what if your crew were a option on your rebuy screen, for a price they are recovered at the same time as you are.
I would have used this option as the last crew member I lost coincidentally had the same surname as me. Coupled with the fact I had promoted this pilot from the lowest rank to deadly..

 

[rrobes]

I don't hire crews, don't want any responsibility for their demise. Hate transmitting those "Dear Family" messages about their dead relative.[ugh]

 

[Crank Larson]

Elite is already consequence-heavy in the death department, so I'm not really behind the idea that crew death is a good thing because it amps that up even more. If anything I'd like to see something like a random chance for pickup for crew, but also decrease the penalty for death itself (which is often too high imho).

This isn't really the case anymore. When first released, death would wipe all bonds, missions, etc. Now, it is only explorers who take a significant hit when dying. While you do lose bounties when you die, it doesn't affect many missions (the few that are affected tell you so). I don't really mind either way, but dying used to be far more painful.

 

[yodajedifishmaster]

just for record on my posts : currently have no ships capable of fighters and thus never had noc crew. i dont plan to either. my comments therefore are not based on experience but my gut instinct.