Topic: Insurance without exploits or market crashing
This is my idea on how to replace the insurance system without giving people NIC or a replacement bot, which could potentially crash the market in either case.
As giving a replacement bot seems to be the most thought of idea, it has merit, but giving you a free bot would inevitably crash the market as bots would no longer need to be built or sold, for the most part.
Instead of providing a replacement bot, I recommend an untradable 'Marker'. For instance, if you lose a Kain, you get a 'Kain Marker', if you lose a Termis, you get a 'Termis Marker', etc.
The 'Marker' would then give a price reduction % on your next PURCHASE of that bot.
Take the following as an example:
Cheapest Kain currently on market = 3mil
'Kain Marker' = 90% discount
Buyer pays 'Kain Marker' + remaining 10% + taxes for the market Kain
Nian Syndicate (insurance company) pays the 90% to the seller
In turn, the seller still gets what they asked for on the market, and the buyer gets their replacement Kain at a discount. There's nothing tangible given to the pilot that could be exploited, and the market is still able to flourish.
This could be used in many ways, such as a way to puchase the mats to produce another bot at the same discount as the 'Marker'. Like a lump purchase of the mats. You, the buyer, go the market, and 'insert' the marker, you are then given 2 options, the bot or the mats. If you select the bot, the above example happens. If you select mats, you get all the mats needed to make the bot, provided there are enough mats currently on the market to fill the order.
Keep in mind that the markers % could easily be changed to suit the devs idea of fair replacement value.