Greetings, eXode pilots! With the imminent release of version E, we all must be strategizing which cards we're going to play for a successful EVAC but mainly to thrive in Colonization. As you've probably guessed, I'll using the Ark Scientist origin.
As for the ship, I will be using the Orwell 1. This wasn't the obvious choice though. I almost went and purchased the Orwell 2 from the Starbase Market because it was able to hold 1 more crew member, for a total of 8! However, it has less cargo space (I can't remember by how much or if the passenger count was also different). It was listed for $10 USD so I was a little iffy on buying it, even though I had already converted 10000 DEC into HIVE just in case. Luckily for my indecisiveness, someone else snatched it up.
The Ark Scientist allows for 3 officers. I will be taking these officers because I think they will benefit the most from the origin's synergies, Science and Planetary. The Exploration and Preservation officers also have some good traits that will come in handy during EVAC: Investigation and Speed. Investigation will help with reuniting crew that have their comms offline. Speed reduces the time for returning from "On Leave", loading cargo, and escorting passengers.
I'm particularly excited about the Preservation Officer's Capture (Wildlife & Plants) ability and I'm packing a little something extra for that, which you'll see later.
The crew seem pretty run of the mill, if you ask me. Most of them are what came with the Ark Scientist starter pack. I think the Life Searcher and Animal Handler will work hand in hand with the Preservation Officer. Together they will be able to find, capture, and then look after the alien wildlife that they find! Maybe some of the wildlife will be vicious. That's why I decided to bring the Space Surgeon, in case something goes south.
You're probably saying, "Wait, proto26, you still have one more crew slot available!"
I've saved the last slot for this lovely creature. Since she has the Scientific trait, I can bring her along with the rest of my science crew and she'll also get a +1 Science synergy! Perhaps the research she does in bio-engineering will be tested by the Lab Scientist! Who knows what they'll cook up together! Hopefully her being a Flesh Cultist won't cause any problems or get in the way.
I almost forgot! As a plant enthusiast in real life, I'm going to be loading these Rare Plants. As you can see, they need Life Support, so I'll also load up this prefab:
This Water-Hydrogen Converter produces 5 Life Support per day along with 2 Energy! Very useful, however, I don't think I'll be able to simply hook up the rare plant collection to the WHC.
That's probably what this bad boy is for! It uses up 2 Life Support and will probably house the flora and fauna that my officer and crew will find. I can't wait to fill it with all sorts of alien life forms. I have 2 of this card so I'm thinking of upgrading it with either extra plant space or wildlife space.
What will my colonists eat, you ask? Maybe all that research into the native plant life will yield something useful for agriculture. Something like alien soybeans or mutant maize. It uses up 1 energy, so there goes half my allowance so far.
The extra power provided by the X-Gen TR20 should be enough to cover the rest of the energy that my Radar Array needs.
The Planetscan VX adds some great boons to the ground radar the array provides. Hopefully the software doesn't take up cargo space. But if it does, I'm prepared. And with all these scientists around, the Chips and Data are bound to benefit somebody.
While all the scientists will be busy working in the laboratory space that this TOM Custom provides, the autonomous Little Buddy will be out exploring the points of interest that the radar array discovers. I don't have the Tom Settler contract but there are some really good deals on the Starbase Market!
These cards wrap up what I'm bringing as cargo. The radar array, coupled with the planetscan, will surely find a nice mineral deposit where my drill can be put to use. The scientists will love their lab and computer rooms. Hopefully the energy cells will provide enough power to these last 3 prefabs. Otherwise, I'd have to wait on using the computer room, which uses a whopping 3 energy. According to the deck expert, if I upgrade the energy cells I get Nb Rewards +50. I don't know what that means but it sounds good so I guess I'm gonna burn my extra copy!
Finally, the passengers! I wanted to bring the Mysterious Robot but it turns out he counts as a crew member. I'm banking on the Unstable Genius to have exceptional stat values instead of being a useless idiot. The tech expert will be useful, after I upgrade him twice that is. With his Mechanics skill, maybe he'll even be able to do some manual labor! I wonder what the science student will do... At the very least she'll fit right in with the rest of the scientists!
This concludes my game plan for the coming EVAC. Let me know what you think! If you didn't know what eXode was, you probably have an idea now! Also, I have been advised to share my referral code for those of you who wish to become pilots!
https://exodegame.com?ref=de7ed45
If you use this link to buy a starter pack, we each receive 2 booster packs! Hurry though because pretty soon all the remaining packs will be burned!
Hope to see you in the eXode universe!