As I promised in my earlier article, How to Exode: Rebel Agent Special Starter Review, I ran several evacuations with a Rebel themed deck. It certainly has potential, though I expect it will be much more interesting planet side during colonization. I'll share my thoughts and suggestions after my usual intro blurb. As always, feel free to skip it if you are already familiar with Exode.
For those who aren’t familiar with Exode, here is a quick summary of the game:
Exode is a blockchain based space colonization game currently being developed. Considering it's a one man team, progress is going fairly fast. There is a playable alpha of the first phase, Evacuation, a short scanning scene where you can learn about your eventual planet, and colonization gameplay on the horizon. All you need to play is a single starter deck, though having more cards obviously gives more options. This is also a game first, currently the only way to earn is through reselling cards. You will be able to play to earn in the future, but the gameplay will ALWAYS come first and the design is fairly resistant to abuse. Along those lines, anything gained from a referral bonus is account bound. There is no financial benefit to spam referrals, but plenty of game benefits as you get account bound boosters and an elite officer for free. If you decide to try out the game based on this article, make sure to use my referral code - 984a3c4
Now that referral spamming is out of the way, on to my thoughts!
Despite not playing for a year, I was able to successfully complete three Evacs using an all Rebel deck. Two of these attempts were using an unedited Rebel Agent starter, and the final attempt was using a more fleshed out version of the Rebel Agent starter.
For those of you who don’t have time to read a full post, I’ll summarize here:
- Provided you play it safe, the Rebel deck is fully capable of successfully evacuating the station.
- Buying a bunch of Rekatron Weapons from the market will make survival easier, but is not required.
- Unless you are determined to play a pure rebel build, you have numerous options for your fourth crew member which may be better than the Cornered Rebel Agent.
Unedited Starter Evac
While it is fully possible to evac with the Rebel Agent Starter alone, I don’t recommend it. This was a limited release starter for existing players. Unless it is rereleased, owners of this deck should have plenty of other cards to fill in the gaps. Still, it is important to share how it performed so you can learn its gaps and weaknesses.
The Bad
- Both times I played, I had one crew member on leave. One time I had to send someone to fetch them, the other I was able to call them back. This is pretty much expected for any deck without a heavy focus on discipline.
- Both times I played, I had one crew member die while hunting for cargo. They got shot twice and died seconds before completing their task.
- As with most starters, the crew is unarmed. This is a huge weakness if you are trying to get cargo or passengers.
- This might have simply been bad luck, but I was very surprised by my crew's lack of Speed and Awareness. This is bad for station survivability.
The Neutral
- The Comms officer has potential to be a critical part of your crew. Depending how you roll, this character will likely be the one repairing your hyperdrive as well as buying you more time by working the shields.
- The Rebel Operations Planner is a logical choice to Promote as your XO, but it doesn't really impact your evacuation attempt.
- Daring Spy Trainee could be a huge asset with the right skills, but it depends on how you roll.
The Good
- Once you get off the station and to a planet, you have solid Planetary skills.
- Stealth and Scanning sounds like an excellent combination for colonization.
Evac Strategy
When playing with just the starter, I suggest taking some calculated risks during evac. With no cargo, no passengers, and not even a full crew, all but the most habitable planet will be rough.
- If any crew is missing, immediately recall / search for them.
- Start repairing your hyperdrive, unless you rolled really well, it will take a long time.
- Send one or two of your fastest / toughest / most station savvy crew members to load cargo before the looters appear. If the cargo hold is too dangerous, consider rescuing civilians instead.
- Send everyone else to load fuel.
You will need to keep a sharp eye on your cargo loaders, and make sure to regularly issue new load fuel commands to the rest. There is a high chance your cargo loaders will get killed off if you aren’t lucky or careful. If repairing the hyperdrive or loading fuel takes too long, and the attack begins, you can always send someone to work the shield.
Deck Improvements
The improvements for this deck are pretty obvious, add weapons, one crew member, and load up your cargo and passengers. You have plenty of options, and your colony goals should be used to determine what you pick.
Crew
At the time of this article, there are 13 options for crew. I won’t discuss them all, but there are a few standouts worth mentioning.
- Cornered Rebel Agent: If you want to go pure rebel, this is the only option. It's a combat focused rebel that doesn’t really stand out from the rest.
- Oksana: Pilot Extraordinaire! She is one of the strongest crew members currently available and her piloting should help you properly utilize your stealth and scanning. Tyron is another piloting option, but he doesn’t really fit the Rebel flavor. There’s also the generic pilot to fall back on if you can’t get either of those.
- Maintenance Staff (Crew): This common card will guarantee you have someone to work on the hyperdrive and other repairs. He’s certainly not skilled, but he is reliable.
If you are looking for a more specific role, you do have options. Space Surgeon could act as a doctor, Life Searcher could help on the planet, robots don’t need food, and there are other characters who fill similar roles to what comes with the deck.
I tried a run with the Cornered Rebel Agent, and even fully armed and armored she died. My top pick would probably be Oksana.
Passengers
The smart choice is to fully load up your passengers before evacing. With a small ship, quality is more important than quantity.
- Rebel General: This is a no brainer. It's a Rebel deck and he has a huge number of benefits.
- Tech Expert: Always a useful role. Not only that, when fully upgraded he has +40 Tech Trait.
- None of the other options really stand out as a MUST HAVE, so go with whoever makes you happy.
Cargo and Weapons
I’m not going to go into detail here, this section depends entirely on your collection and play style. Here’s my bullet pointed version:
- Give EVERYONE a gun and ammo. [Look for cards from the Rekatron contract]
- Give EVERYONE armor. If you don’t have enough armor, focus on your combat and exploration characters first and keep the others safe.
- Food / Shelter / Air / Energy - There are lots of options, just ask Good Old Tom. [Look for cards from the TOM Settler Contract]
- Decide what your colony goal will be, and choose appropriate cargo.
That should be enough to get you started.
Play smart, play safe, play to survive.