Perhaps there is an interstellar practice of warring races picking up their adversaries lifepods and taking prisoners of war... rather than just leaving everyone in the cold dead of night.
Yes, I would guess that's the occupant's only hope. But even we in wartime don't always do that (if a mission's objectives don't allow for hanging around and picking up survivors).
As far as having enough lifepods for everyone, One point to make is (if you are willing to put the money into it) the surface area of a large structure is very large, indeed. Our own large passengerliners have more than enough escape boats, don't they, for every passenger and crewmemeber? Of course, we are assuming a more mundane reason for evacuation (not an explosion, but a leak or something like that).
And as far as getting far enough away to do any good, that is a valid point. Even though the visible explosion would be mostly contained by the ship (I would think), the blast wave, radiation, etc, must be phenomenal to say the least. How well protected would the lifepods be?
Oh, and there is radiation in space that our atmosphere naturally filters out, isn't there? I seem to recall watching a science show once that mentioned an often-overlooked complication to long-term space travel or occupancy: we are robbed of this natural protection from all of the space radiation and such that our atmosphere gives us.
Perhaps the real question would be, for the forseeable future at least, would there be any point in having lifepods? Which is, of course, the question that started this thread.
