There are a few things that you can do to avoid a hull breach. First and foremost, try to avoid loitering in very low law level areas unless you are properly equipped to defend yourself, or you have a combat ready buddy with you to watch your back.
If you do get dragged into combat, keep a close eye on your shields. If the enemies attacking you are eating through your shields quite quickly, the FIRST thing you need to do is hit the retreat button. There is a timer on retreat, so as soon as you think you are in danger, click it.
If an enemy depletes your shield, nothing to worry about there, as the shields will regen over time. If they manage to get into your armour, nothing to worry too much about, as you can visit a repair facility on one of the promenades, or if you have one, you can equip an armour repair system onto your ship, which, like shields, will regen over time.
Taking damage to your hull is where things start to get hairy. Every time your hull takes damage, everything fitted onto your ship, and everything stored in your ship store starts taking damage. Everything can be repaired, but the bills add up very quickly if you are not paying attention.
You can fit a hull repair system to your ship, which will repair hull damage over time, but these systems will not repair any fittings, or items in your hold that may be damaged.
Finally, We have the Hull Breach. If your hull value gets to zero, your ship will breach. You will be ejected into an Escape Pod, while your ship, and everything in it vaporises. (this includes cargo, missions, Trade Commodities… Everything!)
If you have taken out an insurance policy, you will receive an email from the insurance bureau with a chunk of cash to go toward replacing your lost items. If you are not insured, the insurance bureau will send you an email, with a replacement Marauder attached.
So… if you are in combat, by choice, or you are dragged, watch the damage you are getting, and retreat if you need to. Better to retreat to fight another day, than fly back to the station in an Escape Pod.
If you do experience a breach, it is very likely that you will only ever experience one of them, as it is a hard lesson, but one that is quickly learned and remembered….
Fly Safe !
