[Suggestion] Drop beacons to make signal sources persistent

[who?]

Someone previously suggested tracking limpet might be on the way (maybe fire a limpet at a criminal as he runs, then you can view his/her location via the Galaxy Map).

Taking this a step further: why not the ability to simply drop a tracking beacon in a signal source (Distress Call / Combat Aftermath / Weapons Fire Detected etc.), then you can leave and find it again later, marked by your beacon.

I dropped into a Distress Call, but it was an NPC out of fuel. I'd love to have helped, but didn't have fuel limpets. If I left to get them, the NPC was gone. Instead it'd be great if I could drop a beacon, leave for the nearest station, and when I fly back I can see the beacon marked on my HUD, and drop in; the NPC will still be there.

You could limit the number of active beacons a Cmdr has, or just have them expire when he/she jumps out of the system; if too many is a problem.

It'd be really nice if you could drop them and choose to make them private (only visible to you) or public (visible to friends / all Cmdrs in the same system & game-mode).

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

+1 for beacons.

I'd personally have them as either a function option, which you activate (somehow), or a synthesis option, which creates some sort of 'beacon cargo item' you can drop which keeps an instance alive for a limited time. Probably 1 limited to 1 per CMDR, per instance.

If it were a module, it'll just be a bit pointless, due to not needing the beacon module for anything most of the time.

That also reminds me of an idea for the out of fuel Distress signal source,
Being able to convert 1t fuel in to a cargo pod, and drop it for someone else.
Like a limpet-less version of fuel transfer. For those Distress signal sources, the ship that's out of fuel can either launch a limpet to get the fuel, or "have just enough power left to collect it". Both are a bit handwavium solutions. But would allow you to actually rescue the NPC.
(Then missions can follow! But I'm getting way ahead of myself now).

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead