Rescuing Escape Pods really SHOULD be a viable powerplay activity. That said, I totally get why they were disabled; it makes zero sense to steal escape pods from your OWN megaships to turn in for merits. I think there is a way to make this work, though.
1. Escape pods marked 'stolen' cannot be turned in for merits. This does prohibit stealing escape pods from enemy megaships too, but honestly, why was that even a thing in the first place? It makes no sense.
2. Normal escape pods cannot be used for undermining, only acquisition and reinforcement. This prevents serious stockpiling of pods for sniping.
3. Damaged escape pods CAN be used for undermining, and should be very powerful at this - but damaged pods should be changed to have a built-in timer on them. Wait too long, and they turn into unoccupied escape pods. This timer should be something like 12 hours, long enough to get a decent load but not so long as to allow stockpiling them all week and unloading at the last moment.
Hopefully, this should allow Search and Rescue to once again be a viable option for powerplay.
1. Escape pods marked 'stolen' cannot be turned in for merits. This does prohibit stealing escape pods from enemy megaships too, but honestly, why was that even a thing in the first place? It makes no sense.
2. Normal escape pods cannot be used for undermining, only acquisition and reinforcement. This prevents serious stockpiling of pods for sniping.
3. Damaged escape pods CAN be used for undermining, and should be very powerful at this - but damaged pods should be changed to have a built-in timer on them. Wait too long, and they turn into unoccupied escape pods. This timer should be something like 12 hours, long enough to get a decent load but not so long as to allow stockpiling them all week and unloading at the last moment.
Hopefully, this should allow Search and Rescue to once again be a viable option for powerplay.