And in the situation you outlined, that guy AND all of his buddies would still have to be alive at the end of the battle. I just dont see that happening very often in a battle server.
That's not true, man. That specific situation was outlined as occurring on the siege server. They could do it at the beginning of the round, and since upkeep doesn't kick in until the end of the round, they'd all just respawn and the naked guy would be responsible for their upkeep for the rest of the siege round.
And so far as your 1 life in battles go, if someone is intentionally TKing you, that is against the rules. Ask for an admin, and the offender will be warned/kicked/banned. If it's an accident, then relax, and move on with your day. Accidents happen. If you get all uptight about it, you're just going to ruin your own experience. It's like people that get upset about being TKed at the end of the round...why? Who really gives a shit? The round is over. It makes no difference except for you having ONE more death in the death column, and the offender having ONE less kill in the kill column. It's all superficial.
Chill out. Relax. It's all in good fun. If it's an accident, don't hold a grudge. For those who rage at people that accidentally TK them, practice the following, and it will make you feel better:
Whenever someone accidentally TKs you and appologizes, type out "No problem, it happens.
"
If you do this, and legitimately be light-hearted about the entire situation, I think you'll find that being TKed is much less of an issue than you currently think it to be. Unless you're playing a super-low strength build where you get TKed by glancing friendly strikes all the time, which IS frustrating, but comes with the territory of playing a low strength character.
Even if we introduced TK penalties, it would not lower the number of "accidental" TKs unless the penalty was so prohibitive that it made people not want to help their allies for fear of the penalty.
And I'd venture to say it wouldn't lower the number of intentional TKs at all. So that being the case, I think the best solution is to let it bother you less, and let the current system of punishing intentional TKers do it's job.
P.S. You do know dying does NOT have anything to do with your upkeep costs, right? It doesn't increase your chances of something breaking if you die. The only thing that matters is whether or not your team wins.