In the Cargo AMA Gozer-CIG said the following: Well, so we hinted about this in the ISC and it wasn't very clear. With 3.18 we are introducing the concept of Soft Death. There is a 70% chance a vehicle will die with its interior and cargo intact from combat deaths. Explosive deaths or deaths by game rules ( near a barrier or touching water, for example ) won't trigger a soft death. What this means, 70% of the time you and your crew are still alive, and the cargo is still attached to the ship when a combat death occurs (ship reaches 0 health in combat). The 30 % of the time that this doesn't happen your ship explodes and cargo is pushed out and then 0-90 % of that cargo remains, with the average of that being 45 % of cargo surviving. Source: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/3/thread/all-about-cargo-ama/5483568 This is HUGE and coming in 3.18 apparently! For the first time we will no longer all go BOOM and instantly die when our ship's HP reaches 0. Yes, its an interim step until we have the full physicalized damage system but WOW is it a BIG step. This means when pirates "soft kill" your ship 70% of the time they will now have to board and kill the you/the players on the target ship (who now have a chance to repel the boarders) This also sets up emergency beacons and counter play for BH and lawful responders. It also allows players (if they win the boarding action) to call friends to come help them transfer valuable loot onto a new ship and continue on their journey. This is AMAZING!