Inspired by https://trello.com/c/lbsJn3XQ/102-escape-pods, the Pods from 2001: A Space Odyssey and progress done on the full version of Cosmoteer as shown by the developer live streams.
So I was wondering about how to make escape pods a useful thing (I've been thinking about this for a while), and a thought crossed my mind: what if they did more than just escape dying ships?
For those that don't know, in the full version, crew will be able to exit their home ship through airlocks, to go to other ships, collect resources and a bunch of other things. Obviously, as powerful as crew are, they are rather limited, only being able to carry a single resource at a time. The only option to increase efficiency would be to add more crew to your ship.
An EVA Pod would allow multiple crew to exit their home ship in a go, be faster to get to the target location, store more resources and carry equipment that allows it to do more advanced things. There are many ways I could see this implemented.
SCENARIO 1: Transport.
The EVA Pod acts as a transport and a transport only, it transports crew to a location and can transport resources (1 or 2 tiles of resources maybe?). It can also transport equipment to allow EVA crew to do more advanced things.
SCENARIO 2: It does things.
The EVA Pod can transport crew and resources as well as carrying out tasks by the crew piloting the pod.
(Not a fully fleshed out idea, just wanted to post it to throw the idea out there.)