Black Box

The Black Box is a very useful item. Few players, especially new players, realize their value.

What Do They Do?

Black boxes record events (or more accurately, the death of the holder) in black box reports, which are then dropped near the scene of the crime. They refuse the scoop of everyone except the owner or a team member. Best used on bases and bots, black boxes can easily record base or bot destruction when the owner is away. Since they require no workers to use on a player station, they are truly ideal for those who wish to avenge a destroyed outpost.

These reports, however, do not last forever; eventually, they will fade away, much like normal items. The length of time before the black box report decays can be extended with the Historical Records skill.

Scoop Icons

Black boxes that are scooped up by an AI ship are automatically equipped (along with other objects that are simultaneously scoop-equipped). This means after they have been killed, the perpetrator can read the subsequent report. Black boxes dropped from AI are shown as regular items. Black boxes from actual players have a different icon in place.

Website

You can view overly large Black Box reports from the website under the Assets section when you hover over your account name when signed in. From there you can go to the Assets.XML to view and copy the black box report.

Name	TL	Size	Weight	Source	Description	Comments
Black Box	0	1	1,000	AI Base 5,000 Credits	get the post-mortem on your property.
Station Black Box	0	0	10,000	Inbuilt on Station Kit	A logging device, so you know when all their base belongs to you.	Cannot be destroyed, Can't unequip, Base
Improved Black Box	10	10	10,000	AI Base 1,000,000 Credits	Always get the post-mortem on your property.	Can't unequip, Base