[ ]The Rose didn't take major damage to its hull or any of its important subsystems
-The Rose is capable of continuing unaided and providing assistance in further engagements. The Rose's crew's expertise and numbers may be able to bring some of the Lily's systems to a higher level of capability, but there probably aren't enough crew members to crew both ships fully, so that will remain largely unchanged. However, there will be significantly more space, and the life support systems on the Lily should be in much better shape than the Rose.
The enemy receives all the information they could get from this encounter about the Lily, its stealth capabilities, J6's mecha, and the Rose. They mobilize as quickly as any option here will allow them to and can pursue us either with the intent of destroying the experimental equipment or capturing it. The mecha that survived here may return to hamper us going forward if they can. Our ability to field mecha is gutted, and we'll face a disadvantage in all areas that's useful, including scouting and defending against opposing mecha. Random anime protag mecha pilots may pop up from the refugees, but they'll be hampered.
Going forward, we'll likely be forced to run. Evade the enemy that harries us while we get to the next station for refueling, repairs, and/or safety. The Lily has a stealth drive, and I'd guess that it has powerful engines since that's the sort of thing that happens with experimental prototype ships in anime, and the Rose is just plain fast. We have the potential advantage of ambush tactics against pursuers (and random pirates we may come across), however, by drawing them in with the Rose and nailing them from an unexpected angle with overwhelming force from the Lily.
[ ]None of the friendly mechas took disabling or life threatening levels of damage
-All three mechas are combat capable; none of the three pilots are dead or critically wounded. Our ability to scout and defend against enemy mecha is intact. Perbeck, Ito, and J6 are all definitely alive, and can work to help train any random anime protag mecha pilots that may pop up from the refugees.
Again, the enemy receives all the information they could get from this encounter about the Lily, its stealth capabilities, J6's mecha, and the Rose. They mobilize as quickly as any option here will allow them to and can pursue us either with the intent of destroying the experimental equipment or capturing it. The mecha that survived here may return to hamper us going forward if they can. The Rose is severely damaged and may need to be abandoned, leading everyone on-board to join the Lily. The Lily then has a complete crew, but maybe not all the equipment can be used without the tools to install it? Maybe there's some friction between the two merged crews. Regardless, the Lily's ability to project ship-to-ship power is less than the combined efforts of the Lily and the Rose. All refugees must likewise board the Lily, but I suspect that between the size difference in the ships and the low crew numbers on the Lily, space won't be a concern. However, other necessities might be.
The name of the game is still running, but it's a different sort. Without the force projection and tactical options afforded by two ships, the Lily is less capable of utilizing its main guns, instead playing a supporting role. It moves as quickly and stealthily as it can toward safety or refueling, using mecha heavily for scouting and defense.
[ ]The Singh didn't survive and escape
-There is likely no usable information showing the Lily's stealth capabilities. Any enemy investigation/pursuit will be delayed. We may be able to use that surprise more effectively when we next run into an enemy, and we may be able to better avoid enemies altogether.
There's still enough information to piece together that there was another ship here that escaped, so we'll have pursuers eventually. Information about our remaining mecha, potentially including J6, is still all out there. The mecha that survived here may return to hamper us going forward if they can. Our ability to field mecha is gutted, and we'll face a disadvantage in all areas that's useful, including scouting and defending against opposing mecha. Random anime protag mecha pilots may pop up from the refugees, but they'll be hampered. The Rose is severely damaged and may need to be abandoned, leading everyone on-board to join the Lily. The Lily then has a complete crew, but maybe not all the equipment can be used without the tools to install it? Maybe there's some friction between the two merged crews. Regardless, the Lily's ability to project ship-to-ship power is less than the combined efforts of the Lily and the Rose. All refugees must likewise board the Lily, but I suspect that between the size difference in the ships and the low crew numbers on the Lily, space won't be a concern. However, other necessities might be.
This route probably gives us the largest head start and the best ability to avoid combat, but it also gives us little (relative) ability to survive it. So, going forward, this option will probably revolve around making it to allies and only engaging enemies in the most dire of circumstances.
[ ]The enemy mecha didn't disengage without further losses
-? They don't get information about J6's shenanigans, I guess? Or, wait, no, it just says "without further losses," implying that some will probably survive even with this option. So, less information about J6's shenanigans? Maybe their mecha had some other useful information that I'm not thinking about? Fewer of these specific mecha, at least, will come back. Maybe veekie's right, and if this option isn't picked, there'll be a pissed off mecha hero coming after us.
All the other bad parts of all the other choices will still be in effect, though.
Look, I'll be honest, I don't care about this choice at all. If it's a choice between not having to worry about an enemy mecha hero and their coterie, but we can't use one or both of our mecha heroes, and we have to worry about an enemy mecha hero and co, but we still have both of ours, I'm picking the second option. It's just the cooler option.
That's everything I can come up with for what we get for each option, what problems and trials we'll face, and how that'll affect our experiences going forward. Thinking through it all, I still prefer saving our mecha and pilots. I don't expect the Lily's capabilities to remain completely hidden from enemy forces past, for instance, when we reconnect with the rest of our fleet, so, for us, that secret will be most important in how it shapes us getting there. Militarily, the important thing will just be that we get there without the ship being captured or destroyed so that we can get the information into our Empire's hands and keep it out of our enemy's.
Thinking about it like that, where what we're really choosing is the experience we want to have getting back to our main fleet, I just really like the idea of having the one experimental, stealthy ship that has to make it back, evading some pursuers and being forced to engage others. I like the variety of challenges it will offer: dealing with two crews stepping on each others' toes, enabling systems as best as we can between crises, attempting to scout actively (through both scanners and mecha) while avoiding notice, different potential combat scenarios. I like the emphasis it puts on the quintessential group of mecha pilots, with Perbeck, Ito, J6, and, potentially, a genius refugee pilot.
So, yeah, I think I'll stick with this:
[X]None of the friendly mechas took disabling or life threatening levels of damage
