I was deliberately provocative in the hopes of harnessing that penetrating intellect of yours; I agree with and like your solutions. Cheers!

Likes Docs idea. Approved.

Quote by Lecter: "Who says it's a cap? You get to combat 16, you pay 650k per death."

Then I misunderstood; I thought you meant it in a way that only the passing of the threshold (lvl 4) cost money, not the passing of levels in icnrements of 4. I'd still be fine with that, though.

Tosh: I worded it such that starting when any skill reaches level 4 there is a 50k per death penalty. Each for any skill with a level over 4, each additional level would be an additional 50k.

This is necessary because most of us with high levels also have enough accumulated wealth that 50k is unnoticeable. Half a million credits, while hardly back breaking, is noticeable.

If exploding is used to save time, then the natural consequence against it should be a timer. Tack on x amount of seconds for each system away the home is. During this time, the pilot could still do anything at the home station, except launch. Incidentally, this keeps military forces from mobilizing after dying.

Or if that's too harsh, a positive bonus for not dying might work. If ever a fast travel system is implemented, then the act of surviving might serve as a requirement. This not only gives an incentive to not using the /explode trick, but offers a healthy alternative, and keeps military forces from mobilizing after dying.

If military forces were kept from mobilizing after combat, the advantage of territory in respect to survival has increased value. In other words, fighting for territory and winning becomes important.