I'm not sure if this should be an NPC or a random event, but, with all the enemy bases we destroy, and NPC elites that are constantly getting blown up, surely some of them would want to try and live right?
I think this could be cool, you can be given options as to what you want to do with them, and the options that appear are randomised, such as...
1: Enlist. self explanatory really, you saved them, they work for you now
2: Sell to slavers. heehee
3: (i need a good name for this)... they give you the location of an elite NPC or planet
4: ??? add on to my ideas guys

+1
Thats a good idea, i like the fact that it adds something new to the game.
Details clearly need some work, but i like it.

first, something added to yours:
1: Enlist. (maybe you choose what you want to enlist them as. I.E. Engineers, Tac. Officers, Helmsmen etc.)

2: sell to slavers? what would that get you? rank points, like rescued prisoners? trade them for minerals? do you simply get credits for them?

Also they could come in varying degrees of commonness.

other ideas might be:

5: Spies. (common)
Works like a combined weapons/defense probe, letting you see both attack and defense of an enemy ship.
Perhaps only usable on ships of the same race as the ones you got them from? they sort of blend in with their own kind.
6: Prisoner of War. (Extremely rare)
Grants rank points when used. (some varied number, not a set one. like 1% of rank or something)
^might be OP?^
7: Captured Scientists. (uncommon)
Grants research points when used. (equal to for example 3 x rank)
8: Specialists. (Legendary/mythical)
Adds 1 or 2 to Engineers, Tac Officers, Helmsmen and Scientists. sort of a jack of all trades.

These are some of my ideas, anything useful?

3: Torture/Truth Serum - Forces them to reveal the location of a Rare or higher NPC of their own group, or a random unoccupied rare planet?

just a thought

I like that one, good idea.

Interrogation could be another name.

The best ways to have them "drop" would be in two ways:
1) planet event - they've come to you for protection = Assimilate into crew
2) 1% chance per person (who gets a drop) per elite/boss kill - they're prisoners - interrogation/slaves.

true~ Interrogation covers everything, including torture and using truth serums.

I'm pleased this got a good response. So far the ideas are...
1: Enlist - Survivors join your crew (increase to one of your ship stats). Giving rank points wouldn't be any good as anyone low/mid level will just get decks, which makes no sense.
2: Sell to slavers - Gain a mineral shipment or set amount of credits
3: Interrogation - "Persuade" the survivors to give up valuable information (I say... probably 90% chance for faction rare/elite 9% chance for a planet large/abundant, 1% for very large/rich or better)
4: Prisoners of war - grants rank points similar to rescued prisoners, just more. (possibly variable based on your rank)
5: Captured scientists - (i think this one could be a permanent increase to your research production, or a research shipment(8 hours worth?))
6: Specialists - permanent increase to you energy/attack/defense/scientists.

Any other ideas?
And what do you think, could this be a rare NPC (weak obviously since it is just an escape pod, but you need to disable its automated defenses to rescue the people inside), a planet event (should the escape pod crash into one of your planets) or a random ship event (new type of event, you just pick it up on your scans and add it to your cargo (takes more than 1 cargo space))?

edit - i forgot to mentions Spyders idea, 1% chance to gain one for each person that gets a reward on elites/bosses

1. I think it should depend on the skill of the captured person, a well rounded one can be assigned to any crew while the less skilled have a pre-defined position. This could depend on the type of the boss/elite killed.
3. should have a chance to "back fire". A number of outcome can be:
really don't know, so interrogated until he dies
have a transponder on him/her/it, and the delay caused a rescue, possibly causing additional harm(such as disabling you, possibly stealing some resource or even in extremely rare case, cause death of crew members)
lead you to a trap, if you colonize the revealed planet or engage the NPC, you will suffer great damage. In case of the planet, your ship will be instantly disabled and a bunch of NPC defence(structure and guard) will spawn. But the planet will NOT be removed from the list of your planets, and should you be able to clear the defence, you can still get the planet(but it will be damn hard~)
4/5/6. I don't see how this is really different than #1... scientist is a crew member too~
spies are fine thou~

New ideas:
Anaylsis (just how that is done.. well, consider there is a "interrogate" option, ain't gonna be pretty) normal chance of gaining a small tempoary buff against the specific NPC type, really really tiny chance to score a small non-stackable % permanet bonus against the specific NPC type or stackable finite amount bonus against the NPC type.

Enslavement: enslave the prisoner and force them to perform certain tasks. The more slave you assign to each type of task, the better the effect. But all task have risk of death so your slave force will diminish over time. For example:
Assign to repair hull: slowly repair hull depend on number of slaves, each slave have a chance to die whenever your ship takes damage(from any and all sources)
Assign to Smuggling: Allows you to perform trade while in cooldown, each trip takes the slave a certain amount of time(basically multiple cooldown for trade, one per slave), for each trade there is a chance for the slave to die and an extremely rare chance for the good to be lost.

May require a separate artifact (like the truth serum.) If not possessed, only other options are available.

But for all ideas here (especially on the OP,) +1!

Lots of good ideas coming in here, hope Dan is watching.

I think a chance to get any of them seperately, so not really individual ideas, but they could each have their own chance to be on the escape pod



Analysis could be interesting, learn more about your opponents, thus be able to do more damage.
Slaves im not so sure about, although they could bring up the possibility of a Revolt.

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys, came up with this idea from chatting with legion about how many people must die every time we disable a big boss.

4. Kill them (Provides no benift, but makes you feel good, after all you're killing traitors, enemys...
5. (Need name)... Send them off to sabotage a NPC of their race (Arty, deals 50% damage to a NPC of their race upon use)
6. Race spesifc event:

Drannik NPCs escape pod: Contains code from advanced drannik computers - adds 10 attack, 10 defence, 10 scan. and 10 cloak to your ship (passive) - added as arty, action button = 'Interrogate code'

Dark Smuggler NPCs Escape Pod: Force the smugglers to give you their cargo. Chance for Planet Flux, Kirunite Torpedo, 100 CTP, ship bots, Dark ring thruster....

Crimson NPCs escape pods: Contains High ranking Crimson Officers, Chance for: Loaction of elite/boss Crimson NPC, Asslimation into crew: +10 Tac. Officer, +5 Helmsmen, Or Crimson Loyalist: Suicide bombs your ship, dealing +5,000 Hull damage - Hehehe.


Shal'din NPC escape pod: Contains Shal'din crew, Chance for: +10 passive scan, +10 passive cloak, or for nothing.

dont let my idea die in the pages of obscurity!