Escape pods and revives
Take one hit too many in Void Runners and you eject in an escape pod; your crew flies over to bring you back. Friends can drop in mid-fight, and a solo pilot flies with a wingman drone that keeps the beam swinging and guards the first pod of each fight.
Going down in Void Runners is a detour, not a defeat. Take one hit too many and you eject in an escape pod; your crew flies over you to bring you back.
Ejecting
When your ship takes one hit too many you are out of it and into an escape pod. From there you are a passenger until someone reaches you, which turns survival into a crew responsibility rather than a personal one.
The rescue flight
Your crew flies over you to bring you back. Because the beams run between ships, a rescue is also a repositioning: whoever breaks off to collect you is taking their beam out of the fight for as long as it takes.
Drop-in mid-fight
A friend can drop in mid-fight with a pad. That makes a session easy to join after it has already started, and a fourth seat easy to fill.
Solo play has its own safety net
A solo pilot flies with a wingman drone that keeps the beam swinging and guards your first pod of each fight. Two things follow from that: the drone gives a lone pilot the beam partner they would otherwise lack, and the first pod of each fight is protected, so the first mistake is survivable.
When a connection drops
If a friend's connection drops, the autopilot flies their ship until they rejoin, which keeps a mixed couch-and-online crew from stalling. More on crew setup is on the co-op and multiplayer page.
