Pod kill

Most First Person Shooters with a respawn feature deal with dying as a very small issue. You just have to wait a few seconds and then respawn at base.

Such is not the case in Allegiance.

In Allegiance, a killed player is forced into an eject pod, a slow, low armoured ship with no weapons and only 5 minutes supply of oxygen. The pilot cannot do anything until they are rescued or manage to fly all the way home. An enemy pilot in an eject pod is effectively out of action, and your team has a temporary advantage in numbers.

• A pod can be rescued by any friendly player.
• or by a friendly carrier.
• or by docking at a friendly base.
• some factions have bases that can rescue pods, even though you can't normally dock at them.
• some factions have special ships that can also rescue pods.

But if you shoot the pod then that player is instantly transported home and can jump in another ship and be right back in your face. Instead of the long pod ride home they are straight back in action - by pod killing (PK) them you've done them a favour.

That's the downside. The upside is that whenever a pilot is pk'd their Kill Bonus is reset to zero. The question becomes, when should you PK the player and when should you let them float?

When to PK

• The pod has a high KB. The general rule of thumb is to pod kill anything which is 30 or higher.
• NEVER kill a pod when your team is on a bomber run, heavy troop transport run or other major offensive action. The reason should be obvious: any player that is PK'd can instantly launch to defend again.
• Always kill Bios pods. Why? Because they can rip home and don't have the long pod ride. Removing even a 10 KB is worthwhile.
  • Exception - If you know the enemy Bios team has no home teleport.
• With time you find there are certain players who should always be PK'd. Why? Because they regularly end up with a very high KB.
• Your opponent is Tactical and you know someone on that team who is an awesome miner killer and/or stealth bomber pilot. You want them to have a low bonus because otherwise they will perform devastating stealth attacks.

See also

• What is a Kill Bonus?
• The Cadet I lesson on pods and Kill Bonuses.