I am curious as to what happens to people when they lose combat in space.

Thus far my crew has managed to avoid picking space fights bigger than we can handle, but what I want to know is, when's the best time to try an escape pod?

GMs, when your ship goes to 0 hull, do you give people one last round to escape or do you kill them?

Should I as a character decide that when we're down to 5 hull I need to get the heck out of there?

What about fighter craft? It would seem that getting hit in one is a rapid way to die from the hull points, but is there a shot at ejecting?

Well, much like ground combat, hitting zero hull does not mean boom. Sure it means the ship is in bad shape, but it takes a critical to actually kill the ship.Take a peek a page 243 for all the "So your ship has exceeded your hull trauma" information.

The ship is still intact at 0 Hull (actually damage equal to or exceeding Hull Threshold; damage is positive in this game). The only time the ship breaks apart is when it takes the crit that says it does.

I think it's up to the GM - when my heroes' ship reached 0 Hull I had them adrift in space, a lifeless husk of a gundark bleeding atmosphere and electricity. I haven't made any hard & fast rules for it, I just present them with a situation and let them figure out how to get out of it.

Now, if an NPC ship hits zero it's done for if the story dictates it's done for. I know, I know, everyone's sick of hearing "let the story decide."

If I understand the rules correctly, I don't believe PC ships get completely destroyed when they reach 0 Hull. I think they are just disabled at that point. I think the only way is the get a the critical on the critical table. So, you're certainly safe for a time before you need to resort the escape pods. You may even be able to repair your ship enough to limp back to a planet while you're drifting in space.

If I remember the RAW, the ship loses power and maneuverability, but does not explode or anything else - it just means that it can't move, and will likely be hit with enough subsequent attacks to bring the Critical Hits up to deadly levels.

What does the plot demand?

The rules say they can limp home. Just need some duct tape.

The bad guys may have different plans. To kill or not to kill, that is the question. Ask yourself... If you were that bad guy, would you want to annihilate them, or would you not care. In many cases the bad guys may not care.

Previous posters have covered the "Damage Exceeding HT" question, but as for ejection systems and escape pods, I would point you to pg. 227 in the EotE Core.

Most ships have some escape method, and while I wouldn't necessarily have it work all the time for NPCs, my players can rest assured that their ejection seats will trigger in the nick of time. Unless the escape system gets critted.

Of course, it should be noted that in many such situations, you are either very thankful to be wearing a spacesuit, or very regretful that you are not.