Under certain circumstances, dying in a system with a medical colony should trigger penalty-free resurrection (like insurance).
These are just some ideas:
- In cases where an autodoc would save the player's life (such as Resurrector weapons), a medical colony should also (though perhaps with lower chance).
- The player is charged for emergency treatment. If they don't have enough money, they have some amount of time to pay. If they still can't pay, ship is impounded and sold at the next Commonwealth station dock (game over).
- Radiation death should also be treatable.
- NOTE: Medical colonies should have unique missions. Perhaps the player gets this benefit only if they've completed at least one mission.
- If player is an outlaw, then they are rescued and then put through the normal Commonwealth justice system.
- Perhaps some out-of-fuel or out-of-life-support situations can also be countered.
- This should not apply to cases where the ship itself is destroyed.
- At higher levels (where medical colonies are non-existent) we could have similar stations (e.g., mobile hospital units) with the same ability. Hospital CSC could also have the same ability (particularly if the player donated).
I like the focus on increasing depth. I'm interested to see how this would be implemented.
It would make sense for tinker stations to also have a chance to rescue and revive in out-of-fuel cases, although they would probably be more motivated by the opportunity to strip your ship than to save your life. Fuel stations might be able to divert a tanker to the player's location at extortionate cost.
Since Tinkers and fuel stations both occur primarily in low-level space, this could serve as a soft introduction to the out-of-fuel mechanics for new players (i.e., demonstrate that running out of fuel has consequences without immediately imposing death.)
I am thinking of Star Control 2 and Strange Adventures in Infinite Space, in which the player's first (and sometimes subsequent) out-of-fuel situation could result in 'helpful' alien vessels warping to the player's location and supplying a token amount of fuel in exchange for ship components.
In Escape Velocity it was possible to hail nearby vessels and beg for a single jump's worth of fuel, and the amount you paid would sometimes be affected by your reputation- I think if you were on really good terms with a sovereign entity (like a government or group) their ships might even give you fuel for free.
A mechanic in an Escape Velocity clone, NAEV, was tankers that flew around and offered fuel to fleets after a battle. Fuel tankers as support vessels might be interesting in Transcendence, particularly to factions that can't afford carriers.
Some great ideas here.
If you die near a tinker they could seize and strip your ship and dump you at the nearest shipyard. If you have enough credits you can buy a ship and start again (once the shipyard code is activated).
If you die near a medical station they send out a ship and bring you back to life but take all your currency in exchange leaving you broke with a badly damaged ship (or they might want the ship as well).
Same with running out of fuel. Fuel stations could send out a tanker or a refuelling auton and charge you heaps for the fuel or just take your ship in exchange for saving your life . Or have dedicated tanker ships flying around randomly that can save you by refuelling you for a price (I really like this idea).
Salvager nomads could demand weapons or devices or armor segments off of your ship in exchange for saving your life. This would leave you either weaponless or with no armor on one or two segments until you could get to a dock services station.
Anything that gives a 'lucky dip' chance of staying alive would add to the game IMO.