The only way to offload these right now is to sell them at the commodities market, which feels...wrong.
I rather see another way to handle this by having two options.
1. Go to the "local security office" under contacts and have a "hand in goods" option. This would give a minor reward, but lots of rep with the controlling faction.
Or...
2. Got to the black market and sell them there (as slaves, medical test subjects or "biowaste" ). This would give much more credits, but no and maybe even a slight drop in rep towards the major faction of that system. Your rep with any local pirate faction could increase though.
In anarchy systems I guess you could still sell the goods on the open market.
Something similar could also be applied to other salvaged and illegal goods in that jurisdiction.
I'm really hoping that at some time there'll be a mission system overhaul that will allow for the good-guy option of freeing people in escape pods (and slaves) with mission-related consequences down the line.
I think there was originally the notion of having 'humanitarian' reputation systems as well. So freeing people in the pods would improve your humanitarian rep, but selling them on the black market as slaves would decrease it.
I'm also hanging out for passenger cabins. With passengers that talk to you and spawn missions for you. And if they're snippy jerks you can sell them into slavery.
...
Anyway, the point I'm making is I think they need to improve the missions system first before they get around to giving us something more interesting or meaningful to do with occupied escape pods.
I'm seeing these come up as Illegal Salvage which makes no sense. I'm pretty sure someone in an Escape Pod floating in space wants to be picked up regardless of the circumstances.
As is it, these don't feel any different to any other cargo. I agree with the suggestion that you hand them in for high REP. It also makes sense to allow them to be sold at the black market, although given the per tonne price of slaves this doesn't seem to be an attractive option. Perhaps a mission to collect pods for slave traders for high credits is more feasible.
I agree with the Op- up to a certain point.
At the moment, they are only worth a few thousand creds(about 4k) and there is "far more valuable cargo out there"... meaning players will cherry pick stuff(makes good business sense).
However, I would like to see something like the following happen.
You see a USS/ WSS etc and have a look, find a pod or 2 (possible more if its a large dead ship), you now have the decision to leave or collect (also shoot them, but that is BAD!)...
Options.
1. you collect the "illegal cargo" and you get a mission (kind of like the trade missions in beta) and you accept it, pay out is fairly large, with more added for longer distances. The cargo become "legal" as you have the mission. You fly off, complete, get paid and a LARGE amount of rep with that faction "Oh thank you sir/ madam, you just saved my husband/wife etc".. this could lead on to more missions for them (you are big and brave now).
2. You pick it up and decline the mission, cargo is still illegal. Now you can choose to vent it back to the void or flog it on the black market, where it`s worth 4k (its hard to get rid of).
3. you decide NOT to pick them up and fly away- no worries, you heartless beast!
4. You decide NOT to pick them up, and use them as target practice / pinata for you ship... you cruel heartless monster! You pew pew them or ram them until they go POP (/lol at them) and fly off... you are now wanted for MURDER and the bounty hunters are sent for your head...in addition to a HUGE negative rep penalty..
Haven played the beta and seen the "rescue mission" or "Distress call", this could factor in to the element also.
1. Rescue - you have x amount of time to get to "here" and pick up the pod- pay, rep etc.
2. Rescue 2, ship is in critical condition, need fuel(like the distress call) get to it before it pops and get well paid, fail and you get the rescue mission 1.
3. Distress call 1, like the current one, fend off the pirates, and fuel the ship- well paid, and loads of rep.
4. Distress call 2, ship is already under attack, fight them off/ make them run and save the ship- LARGE payout, and loads of rep. Fail and the ship blows up, poor pay(ships is worth a LOT) now you have the pick up the pod mission. Accept and get paid, + rep or reject and get a rep penalty "hey we sent you there to stop this, you failed, now you abandon us- you BEAST!"
The role playing elements of this could be really expanded for explorers..
You find a pod deep in space, ..really deep, off the beacon...just dumb luck you found it...
1. Upon closer inspection it is a human, its automates computer, gives the last planet / moon it scanned location- go look to see if there are more "survivors" or something else happened...(I am not saying the T word)
2. The pod contains "something else", you computer can not tell what it is, other than it is "Alien"... dum dum dum....vent or accept mission...to bring back a "live specimen"...we have all seen the movies and it ends bad either way... or the mission says to go to LV 426.... http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Acheron_(LV-426)
You land and discover a wrecked "ALIEN" Ship, with some "occupied escape pods"... OHHH WHAT TO DO???? Do you:
1. Pick it up in the SRV... and put it into the ship
Or
2. Pick it up and examine it... closely...
and
Thus the occupied escape pod can be used for more than just 4k of creds and illegal goods....
Keep up the great work guys and galls of FD, i am loving this game (highly addicted to it)
Actually, without inventing much:
1. they should give us missions - just like some recovered cargo already does - to deliver them where they want (and it will be our choice to do that or "sell" them)
2. they should named, just like NPC ships in the game. This minor change only will decrease ridiculousness of the "rescue pilot" mission by orders of magnitude.
There are planet mission to find the missing pilot, looks for the POI (small ones), and make sure your set sensors to max (you will prob need to bind this for sensor range up / down)
These would be a lot cooler if Frontier made them less generic, like picking up any other canister of tea or meat.
It'd be cool if the ship did a bio-scan of the occupant, and the result determines the value. If you hear:
"Thump thump...Thump thump...." - the occupant is healthy and selling grants you reward (or slave prices, depending on how you sell)
"Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep" - the occupant has flat-lined, and the only value is the scrap metal of the pod.
"Thumpthumpthumpdithumpthumpthumpdithump..." - then what the hell is inside your cargo bay!?! Dump it quick!
They could also do ID scan on the occupant.
If it's an Imperial citizen, you may be able to sell as an Imperial Slave.
If it's a Fed citizen, you can only sell as a 'normal' Slave
If it's a criminal, you can get a bounty for brining them in.
If it's a rich person, you can sell for a ransom, but you get a bounty on your head.
What is an escape pod worth? And can the occupants be dead inside? I'm on the distant worlds expedition and have 6 escape pods that apparently are worth 0 credits, no disrespect to the occupants inside but if they are one with the "Void" then there is no point carrying the dead weight.
