Killed
Getting killed can alternatively refer to having your ship put into stasis or having your escape pod destroyed, depending on who you ask.
Getting yourself killed is not usually the best thing to do. The simplest way of getting killed is by being shot at, and as someone shoots at you and hits, your shield will go down. Once your shield reaches zero, you will be ejected from your ship in an escape pod. If, however, you don't have an escape pod equipped, you'll be ejected from your ship in spirit form. Your spirit is the indestructible part of your character and can not be killed, harmed, or tractored. However, your spirit can be difficult to move, and a rather unpleasant side effect of getting killed without an escape pod is that you lose valuable credits.
Once you are killed, you'll find yourself in space and your ship will have a blue glow around it. This means that your ship is in stasis. However, you can still enter it once the blue glow turns yellow. Depending on your shield, the time for the ship to turn yellow varies. If your shield can regenerate back to maximum health rapidly, then your ship will turn yellow more quickly. If not, it will take longer; however, your ship will also emerge out of stasis by the end of five minutes, whichever comes first.
Avoiding Death
There are several ways to avoid getting killed. The most simple way is to have a decent shield. The higher the shield bank, the longer you will last while under fire. Also, certain augmenters and secondary skills can increase your shield bank or its regeneration. Other ways of surviving include using neuro tweaks to either boost your shield or make you faster so you can flee.
It is best to improve your flying skills in your first 20 levels. A decent engine with agile turning will help you accomplish this. Learn how to maneuver your ship well, avoid shots, objects, and enemy AI. Use autopilot only when absolutely necessary. With enough practice and training, you can avoid enemy fire at close and long range even in a slow ship, and thus increase your vitality in battles.
Item Loss
Once you reach level 15, when your ship is killed, some items on your ship (with the exception of the shield, engine, energy source, and equipped augmenters) can potentially drop and float off into space. If your ship takes a long time to leave stasis, and no one is around to rescue your items, they will soon be lost forever!
To prevent this, it is worth purchasing gear glue at any AI station. Equipped gear glue protects any items of equal or lower tech level from dropping off your ship when you die. Gear glue, however, is very expensive and is consumed when your ship is killed. Nevertheless, it is a definite must when exploring dangerous areas, preparing for potential combat, or for a new ship.
Slave Death
Upon death, slaves will be permanently destroyed unless they have an equipped slave statis generator appropriate for their ship tech level. These are sold in Copper. Slaves with these generators cannot lose their shield, engine, energy, and equipped augmenters. They cannot lose their statis generator, either. Gear glues will prevent everything else from falling out of the ship, except tech 0 items, like commodities. Gear glues should be matched to the highest tech droppable items on the ship (not the shield etc.) to save credits.
