It has just occurred to me that it doesn't have to be used strictly for medical applications... A medical craft can be used to prolong life but that means it may make a better taxi for an aged millionaire just in case he needs the services on route to Terra or wherever he is going...
But further than that, the motives for prolonging life? A torture chambers kept people in constant pain but they also had to keep them alive long enough to get the info they wanted... Yes, I'm thinking mobile Torture Chamber. It just strikes me some of the shadier parts of the UEE command structure could have a fleet of these to interrogate those who would wish to do the Empire a perceived wrong. We've just left the Messer Era, I would not have put it past that maniac to get Aegis to put together something for The Advocacy to use to... loosen the tongues... of those they want information from.
And if not mobile torture chamber (how do you torture a players Avatar apart from perhaps lowering hard-worked-for stats?) the how about this: Live in some parts of the UEE will be cheap. Tyrol, Cathcart, these are places the dregs wash up... and they are the most ripe for harvest. Organ thieves - who'd notice someone go missing on Spider? Oh, yes there will be artificial options for organ and limb replacement in the future I don't doubt, but for those who can't afford? Like some deranged Robin Hood you'll steal from the poor and sell... to the poor. Not to forget there is nothing that compares to personal taste. I'm sure there will be plenty of Citizens who wish to remain 100% natural, a section of the population won't want to have artificial parts just like today you do have people rejecting smart-phones. Even if it is just 1%, one person in every 100, those are the ones you can sell a kidney to for some decent bank...
Thats not to mention harvesting the artificial parts from citizens who have already got them... we're always told how good it is to recycle. Why waste resources building a new medical-grade body-part when you can just... reallocate... someones already existing artificial pieces...
Oh, there'll be a market.
Not that I condone the above criminal activities, they are deplorable... but just thinking outside of the "patch 'em up and send them on their way" there looks to be plenty of game-play opportunities... Another non-criminal use for a med-ship would be as a Meat Wagon. Go pick up all the bodies littered about that outpost from the recent battle there. Keep space clean! Oh, and if there is anything you can salvage from them while you are there... Equipment... organs... well, it'd be a waste not to, wouldn't it...?
I always thought it would be better for game play if they just introduced some of the elements from Altered Carbon like sleeving and cybernetic enhancements. Would also explain the ability to Agent Smith.
