Exode Warmup - Strategy going into the first away team challenge

All,

It has been a few months since my last article about Exode, but the new "Away team challenge" inspired me to showcase my current deck. It is written during the warming up phase, so could be adjustments down the road when more game details are revealed. I also want to document for myself the in-going setup and strategy, and compare with the actual outcome after we finish the challenge.

Introduction to the team

So why did I pick such a specialized team for the challenge? Well I was in the middle of testing whether it is possible to do the EVAC and land on a planet in reasonable shape without selecting a specialized pilot. As it turns out, it was possible, but I did not have time to land again before the deadline for locking in the planet. As my focus was different, I am not even sure if I loaded any cargo and equipment in pre-loading or during EVAC!

As things stand, it is a strong science team, with all but 2 cards being elite. Of the total 11 crew, 6 can be considered as science / research specialists, 1 combat trained, 2 support specialists (maintenance and doctor) and 2 strong allrounders (Norah as leader and Exploration Officer). Overall this will provide a challenge in Exploration as will be seen below.

Team skill matrix

I have summarized the skill levels for all team members in the matrix picture attached below. Green, Yellow and Orange marks the best, second and third team member for each task. In this data I have already done 2 trainings, one for Alpha 1 as guard, and one for Fuel Loader as team guide. I will discuss more on training in the strategy section below.

Purple color indicates where I am considering more training, while light blue color on shows that I have fixed a role.

Some general observations at first:

• Both Norah and the Exploration officer are coming out quite strong across the board with being top 3 for each role in 11 or 12 out of possible 15 roles. The problem will be to choose where to put them, as selecting 2 roles to the same character will give a 30% penalty, quite severe drawback! In addition it shows the strength of having the planetary trait at 120+!
• Three cards (research officer, lab scientist and maintenance staff) are not top 3 on any single role. Elite Maintenance staff is below 40 on all roles, which is quite interesting given how important this card is for repairing hyper drive and refueling during EVAC. The other two cards are ok for gathering research materials, so could see use there when I go out with a large team collecting research materials.
• Highest values for any roles is 89 for Norah team leader, 81 for comms (Norah), 78 Navigator (Scanner) and 77 medic for surgeon.
• Lowest top values in roles are 55 in food gathering and gunner, 57 hunter and 62 for guard.

Rules for Exploration and current starting parameters

• Each team member will use 1 food for each expedition
• 30% penalty if selecting 2 roles to same crew
• Current food stockpile = 23 (claimed 2 extra times after 12 start)
• Two extra mission tickets
• Two dangers discovered

Conclusions

So given these starting parameters, here are my current thoughts on how to play this round

1. I will try to avoid combat encounters entirely, with only 1 combat trained guard, that did not roll that high on the combat stats. For this to work, I will rely on having a very good team leader, guide and scout. These 3 roles provide safety, stealth and detection. Norah is almost given as team leader with 89, and seeing the full list of bonuses, I will not dilute her efficiency by setting a second role. The Exploration officer Speedy will be a good scout (65) with the scientist fuel loader will do as the guide (73), due to his excellent 111 Awareness (I boosted this natural talent with extra point to allow for a good fuel loader during EVAC)
2. One major weakness is food collection, with both hunting and food gathering being among the lowest values across the entire team. I will partly mitigate this by getting some extra food before launch through the daily tickets, and training some food gathering. My thought here is to train the lab scientist in food gathering, as he currently do not have a strong profile in any of the exploration work
3. Vehicle present or not will be a major difference in strategy. As can be seen in the skill matrix, there are quite a few good pilots and navigators. Until I know if there is an Explorator in the cargo hold, I will assume the worst and plan for exploration by foot!
4. Comms operative and Observer seems to be important for learning about dangers on the planet. I will have Pilot 1 (53) and Scanner (52) here with average skills. The medic (77) will be quite strong in discovering health dangers, so i am not that worried about that
5. The team size is important, since each member use 1 food. I need to test and see what skill value is needed for each food gatherer to collect more than 1 food on average, and this will dictate how many are sent out for each mission. 7 food is already required for core mission roles before adding the gatherers, which leaves 1-4 gatherers. Once I know more about the planet, it may be possible to relax some other roles (comms, observer) to set dual roles with gathering as well.

Strategic Goals

1. My first goal will be to build food stockpile and learn as much about dangers as possible. I will probably manage to keep a low profile here, but the challenge will be the low efficiency in collecting the food. Once I have learned about the dangers, it will be possible to set more team members collecting food in the safer sectors. Working against this goal is the presence of decomposing bacteria, so it may not even be possible to keep a large stockpile. Once we know who is good in cooking it will be easier to assess this danger. Two crew member have somewhat elevated Nature skill (Fuel Loader 63, Scanner 66), but these values are not elite. Alternatively to keep a food stockpile will be to collect when needed, but this may be risky as well, and work against my second goal
2. Once food situation is secure, and dangers understood, I will try to switch the team to more specialized science collection mission. Many crew members are good at this, so if I can organize a few missions with many collecting for science, then I should be able to build a big stockpile here. This should also setup for a good start when the science game play is released
3. Energy and Construction materials collections will have to be balanced. Once we know more about this, I will see what is minimum required to get the colony functional. Not a focus.
4. The region of Amorothe will be situational depending on whether I equipped those eissen suits or not. The blizzards here looks very dangerous and can be hard to deal with if no suits available. My oceanic planet Akumrene has 3 regions, Vepeum Wastes with 9 sectors, Burning Vathes with 18 sectors and Amorothe with 28 sectors. Loosing access to 28 sectors out of a total 55 would be a large setback, more than 50%!

Final Notes

I hope you got inspired to play Exode reading about my deck for the first away team challenge. As always, let me know what you think about the article: the good, the bad the ugly! I would especially appreciate any feedback on the strategy itself, if you see any areas to improve.

And until next time, fly safe!