Escape pod

[deon_de_ruijter]

I have played the game for a couple of months now.
A few weeks ago, I found that you could buy a escape pod.
After finding the right space station, I bought one.
I didn't know what its purpose was and how it worked.
I found in my settings that when I pressed f7, you will eject and the ship will self-destruct.
The ship did self-destruct, but I didn't eject.
Nothing happened with the escape pod.
So I lost my escape pod, a lot of money and some equipment.
Has the escape pod some functionality, or is this a bug?

[Vice]

Where were you able to buy an escape pod? There is no internal mechanism in the game I am aware of that would provide one for sale on a market, nor would it function as an escape pod while being carried in the cargo bay. The only time they are a factor is on contract when performing a rescue operation for a capital ship having been destroyed and the objective is to recover one of them at a waypoint.

[Marvin]

Weird. The best "escape pod" for the player is the ability to save your game prior to doing anything experimental and/or dangerous (like jumping through a black hole).

[deon_de_ruijter]

Actually, I bought it while in sandbox mode.
This was a kind of cheating.
But still, in normal mode it is listed under equipment.
So it should be possible to buy it in normal mode.
Perhaps it was added only in the latest version of the game?
So why doesn't this work?

[Vice]

It's not a usable small ship component, it is a recovery item for a contract. You can certainly acquire one through sandbox mode to complete a contract without having to actually retrieve it, but that doesn't mean you can buy one or use one.

[deon_de_ruijter]

I used the equipment cheat.
Not the contract cheat.
And in normal mode, you can find the escape pod in the equipment list.

[deon_de_ruijter]

Maybe I should send you a screen shot.

[deon_de_ruijter]

And in the keys menu, f7 means EJECT and self-destruct.

[Vice]

Again, it is a recovery item for a contract, it is not a usable piece of equipment for your ship. You can indeed acquire one in sandbox mode without actually recovering one on contract (as a shortcut in sandbox mode). You can store it in the cargo bay or in an equipment slot. But it's not a usable piece of equipment for your ship. When you eject and self-destruct (your ship), you only go back to your last save point. The game doesn't continue when you don't have a ship at all. Escape pods are for the related contract objective only.

[deon_de_ruijter]

Thank you very much for your help and time.
It was a bit unlogical for me, but I understand it now, so my apologies.
I will continue playing the game.
Again, thank you.

[Marvin]

Ah, now I understand. I think. When you accept a contract to retrieve an escape pod, it will show up in your cargo bay after you snatch it with a tractor beam. But, after you dock (to complete the contract), the pod should disappear. If it doesn't, I'm pretty sure that would be a bug. It certainly would be confusing.

[Vice]

On contract, it does disappear after being taken by the station where it is delivered. But in sandbox mode, you can spawn an escape pod in your cargo bay or equipment slot. There's just no reason to unless you are trying to shortcut the contract.

[Marvin]

Can that be changed? It seems kind of confusing to be able to spawn an item which can't be used. Sounds like the sandbox mode is a lot like the creative mode in some other games (mostly the build-it-yourself option of games like NMS and Space Engineers).

[Vice]

No need to, it is available so the contract can be short-cutted in that way... but only in the sandbox mode. Other items can be spawned to complete other contracts in a similar way as well.

[Marvin]

I'm guessing that would include birds and butterflies. Definitely minerals like gold and silver. Which makes me wonder if the sandbox mode might somehow bork some of the quests.