So more often than not a mid game join can be utterly fatal because with your crew of iunno 2 AI and a gunner suddenly becomes 1 gunner and 2 players loading in while the ship is under attack.
Thats a definite fatal blow.
Your gunner is the only one fixing or more likely no one has noticed the AI have vanished until much too late and then you die.
If AI existed while the players were still loading in things would be fine. Or if you wanna get fancy remove AI the moment player input is detected.
That is flawed however a player can load in and move around but can't interact because tools and components haven't rendered yet.
Hence a nice solid 20 seconds or so should be enough to soften the blow.