Death & Risk
What drops where, the loot sack, enhancement loss and revives.
Where you die matters
In sectors 1 and 2 you keep everything. In sectors 3 and 4 half the ore in your hold drops. From sector 5 and in MEV space, everything unprotected drops.
What drops is packed into a single sack floating where you died, lootable by anyone for 10 minutes. Friends can guard it. Enemies can empty it.
- Gold shop items and equipped pilot gear never drop.
- Docking at base moves backpack loot to safety. Do it often.
Enhanced items and death
An enhanced item that drops on death has a real chance to lose one enhancement level on the way down. Deep space taxes the careless twice: once in loot, once in progress.
Other ways to die
Radiation at the map edge kills the idle. Mines and player ambushes kill the distracted. The rules above apply the same way no matter what killed you.
Respawning
There is no reviving on the spot. Ever. When you die you choose where to wake up: your nearest faction base (2% of your hull's price in credits) or, only inside your own faction's sectors, the nearest portal (7%).
In enemy space, MEV-4 and MEV-5 the only option is base. Your sack sits where you fell for 10 minutes, and the run back is part of the price. Value Pack owners skip the credit cost, not the distance.
- Broke? The base respawn is free if you truly cannot pay. Nobody stays dead over credits.