Evacuating Damaged Stations

By Winter Ihernglass (May 2026)

Introduction

Evacuating burning stations in Elite: Dangerous is an awesome experience (especially in VR). Here’s a guide with builds.

Lynx Highliner (2026 April)

The Lynx Highliner is now the best bulk passenger ship by far, even better than all large ships.

The 4.3.3.0 update has reintroduced burning stations and added a community goal to celebrate. Stations that have been attacked have icons that look like this:

Missions can be found on passenger lounges in-system to evacuate people to nearby systems.  These missions can offer regular mission rewards such as engineering materials, local minor faction reputation, and navy rank, but as of 4.3.3.0, you can only take 1 or 2 missions at a time, so it’s not a very good way to grind.

Builds

As of 4.3.3.0, the available missions come with a minimum of 99 passengers, significantly restricting the ships that work for this task. The maximum is 215.

The size 1 slot can be changed to anything, as there are no size 1 passenger cabins.

Evacuating Alert or Damaged Stations

1. Shipyards in damaged stations are not active, so you will need to fly your rescue ship all the way there, or ship it to a nearby undamaged station.
2. Fly your rescue ship to the damaged station and request docking.
3. If needed, pop a heatsink while you dock. You will get a warning at 80 heat, but you don’t take any module damage til 100, and you don’t take hull damage until 150.
4. Go to the passenger lounge – the display may flicker, this is normal – and take group evacuation missions. If you are prioritizing navy rank, then take missions that give the most rep+++ from the relevant minor faction(s).  Fill up your cabins until you can’t take any more.
5. Target or plot to the destination.
6. Launch and leave the station, popping a heatsink as needed. Ignore any additional requests from your passengers.
7. Dock at the rescue ship and turn in the missions at the passenger lounge. Restock, repair, and refuel as needed.
8. Launch and repeat.

FAQ

Can I use a docking computer?

Docking computers don’t always work with burning stations (Thargoid war and older).  They do with 2026-style attacks, but they may be slow and you may overheat, so manual docking is recommended.

Do I really need heatsinks?

They are useful, but not required, as long as you can dock and undock quickly. You will likely take only a LITTLE module damage.

My Federation/Empire rank shows 100%, am I losing rank?

No, but you can’t see it until you complete a rank-up mission. You can safely continue evacuating and find a rank-up mission later.

When do stations stop burning?

(To be updated for 4.3) Whenever Frontier decides to stop them, which may or may not be related to Galnet stories or community goals. Usually they burn for one week, but there have been longer; and they almost always change on Thursdays with the weekly reset. With the Update 14 scenarios, stations seem to change based on player actions in 1-3 week timeframes.

What happens after a damaged station stops burning?

After a station stops burning, Operation Ida is a player group that coordinates the repair process.

Clean Drives?

The heat reduction from Clean drives only applies when accelerating in normal space. At all other times (e.g. fuel scooping), the additional power usage actually makes them hotter than Dirty drives. So, they would be slightly useful on a dedicated rescue ship, but that’s one of the very few times.

What happens to my ships and modules in a station when it is attacked?

All ships and modules are transferred to the nearby rescue megaship. When the megaship disappears, any ships and modules on it are transferred to the station.

What’s the best ship for evacuating stations?

The Lynx is the best ship.