An issue with little combat boats is their tendency to die and take their crew with them because of their vulnerability to criticals. This isn't as much of an issue if you give them adequate armor but, with a size code of zero, even the most heavily armored boat faces a risk of a "ship vaporised" result.
Pilots are a valued resource and easier to attract if they believe there's at least a chance of surviving an engagement. To that end, I suggest the combat escape capsule, basically a variation on the Emergency Atmospheric Reentry Capsule introduced in MT Errata. They were half a dTon so the same volume as a crash couch, so they'd basically replace the crash couch. On an ejection, they'd enclose the occupant and provide a sealed volume with more protection from radiation and other hazards than a suit can provide, with a beacon to attract aid and with emergency supplies including emergency O2 candles and self-powered CO2 scrubbers. With only one occupant to shelter, their resources and energy reserves would last much longer.
There's not enough maneuver to something this small to do more than avoid a collision course with a planet should they eject with exactly the wrong vector, and that only if they're far enough away, but it should keep someone alive until the battle is over and rescue can be launched.
(Frankly, for the size and cost, it'd be easy to rule that small craft couches functioned as emergency capsules. Even if they weren't designed to eject, something that closed around a passenger in the event of a depressurization event would be a useful thing.)
US did something like this for their B58 and B70 bombers: seat was a clamshell capsule that would close around the occupant during an ejection. They were somewhat less than 100% successful, with two deaths and one serious injury among the three ejection attempts, but one Hope's a high tech civilization with thousands of years of experience in space would do a better job.
Pilots are a valued resource and easier to attract if they believe there's at least a chance of surviving an engagement. To that end, I suggest the combat escape capsule, basically a variation on the Emergency Atmospheric Reentry Capsule introduced in MT Errata. They were half a dTon so the same volume as a crash couch, so they'd basically replace the crash couch. On an ejection, they'd enclose the occupant and provide a sealed volume with more protection from radiation and other hazards than a suit can provide, with a beacon to attract aid and with emergency supplies including emergency O2 candles and self-powered CO2 scrubbers. With only one occupant to shelter, their resources and energy reserves would last much longer.
There's not enough maneuver to something this small to do more than avoid a collision course with a planet should they eject with exactly the wrong vector, and that only if they're far enough away, but it should keep someone alive until the battle is over and rescue can be launched.
(Frankly, for the size and cost, it'd be easy to rule that small craft couches functioned as emergency capsules. Even if they weren't designed to eject, something that closed around a passenger in the event of a depressurization event would be a useful thing.)
US did something like this for their B58 and B70 bombers: seat was a clamshell capsule that would close around the occupant during an ejection. They were somewhat less than 100% successful, with two deaths and one serious injury among the three ejection attempts, but one Hope's a high tech civilization with thousands of years of experience in space would do a better job.
