This has been generating a good enough deal of positive feedback over in Discussion land I felt it warranted becoming a full-blown suggestion. So without further adieu, I present the following for serious consideration:
It would actually be fairly easy to do and fake the persistence.
NPC Crew Rescue
Here's how:
On Rebuy, trigger a Pop-up mission: "Retrieve Escape Pod", target system: Where you blew up. Time: Whatever is appropriate - but let's say 1 Hour.
Payout: You get your crew person back.
What happens: When you start the mission, you return to said system, and search out a Signal Source. That signal source contains a cloud of ship wreckage, appropriate to the type of ship you were blown up in (nice touch), and an Occupied Escape Pod.
Collect said Escape pod and return it to an appropriate location to complete the mission.
Now, to keep people from becoming overly careless... your retrieved crew-person looses enough experience to drop to 50% of the next lower rank - so:
Elite drops to Deadly (50%)
Deadly drops to Dangerous (50%)
[skip a few]
Mostly Harmless drops to Harmless (50%).
Harmless... a rescued Harmless pilot resigns, perhaps with a nice letter stating how grateful they are to have been rescued from their fate, but have rethought their life choices, and have opted for a less hazardous career as a Leathery Egg turner at Ridley Scott Station.. or something of that effect.
It's a simple, eloquent solution largely using things that have long been a part of the game. And while not, by any means, a "required" task, it's one I'm sure more than a few of us would undertake.
It would actually be fairly easy to do and fake the persistence.
NPC Crew Rescue
Here's how:
On Rebuy, trigger a Pop-up mission: "Retrieve Escape Pod", target system: Where you blew up. Time: Whatever is appropriate - but let's say 1 Hour.
Payout: You get your crew person back.
What happens: When you start the mission, you return to said system, and search out a Signal Source. That signal source contains a cloud of ship wreckage, appropriate to the type of ship you were blown up in (nice touch), and an Occupied Escape Pod.
Collect said Escape pod and return it to an appropriate location to complete the mission.
Now, to keep people from becoming overly careless... your retrieved crew-person looses enough experience to drop to 50% of the next lower rank - so:
Elite drops to Deadly (50%)
Deadly drops to Dangerous (50%)
[skip a few]
Mostly Harmless drops to Harmless (50%).
Harmless... a rescued Harmless pilot resigns, perhaps with a nice letter stating how grateful they are to have been rescued from their fate, but have rethought their life choices, and have opted for a less hazardous career as a Leathery Egg turner at Ridley Scott Station.. or something of that effect.
It's a simple, eloquent solution largely using things that have long been a part of the game. And while not, by any means, a "required" task, it's one I'm sure more than a few of us would undertake.
