I haven't had a lot of time to write recently, so this post has multiple purposes.
First, for the HVP challenge, my best EVAC score is currently 2580 -- a pretty respectable fourth between slabakbg, godfish and revisesociology (not bad for someone who doesn't like/isn't good at real-time games -- although, of course, godfish ***IS*** reportedly only eight years old).
Second, as soon as EVAC version E comes out, I'm going to be announcing a major challenge with well more than a dozen separate scoreboards (many with scores being scaled by deck rarity to make it fair for small collections and others which only allow cards from the starter decks). Start thinking about decks for a wide variety of scenarios.
Third, If you haven't tried EXODE yet, I'm still continuing my
Special Offer: Double your money back if you try eXode and don't like it . . . (details at bottom below)
EXODE is a Space Colonization Hive CCG (Collectible Card Card) in a suddenly hostile Universe, beautifully described by a short (five minute) introductory video. More information is available on the wiki, in the EXODE Pilots Hive community and via it's Discord Server. The game itself is at https://exodegame.com/.
And, finally an analysis of which ships are best for evacuation.
It's very important to remember that evacuation is going to be radically different when version E comes out as follows:
As a result of all these changes, much of the time, players will hit the caps and, thus, "surviving under threat" will likely be a much higher percentage of your EVAC score. As a result of this, you certainly won't see scores like the below and I believe that both ship and crew selection and strategy will end up dominating real-time tactics (except if your name has a G at one end). So, this post will focus on ship selection.
The first thing to examine is "What is the maximum score that a ship can get from the capped contributors?" In the chart below, the leftmost section gives the ship's stats, the center section gives the potential score for each stat, and the third section contains some notes. The Origin column is based upon the Stranded Trader and I opted not to list the Cruise Ship Captain as the Trader is better for the Drachian Mantis and I have serious doubts that The Colombus will ever fill the passenger slots that it already has (although the Amarasia might if the number of passengers goes up by enough).
With 9 passengers or less, The Colombus will produce the same score as the Amarasia but has one less crew member to survive with. If more than 9 passengers can be loaded, the Cruise Ship Captain becomes an option for the Amarasia. I don't see loading more than a baker's dozen being possible. I'm discounting the Kormen Cargo against the Amarasia because its 4 fewer crew members just aren't going to load 24 cargo and 300K extra fuel and then survive anywhere close to as long as 66% more people.
The Drachian Mantis is a beast for either Military or Civilian builds with the latter merely needing the Drachian Commissar. Whenever upgrades for ships come out, a fully upgraded Mantis is going to be THE best ship for evacuation (assuming that you have or can get a dozen of them). It is such a no-brainer that I will be handicapping it in any contest that I run. It really is that good.
The Taurus Transport seems best for a Criminal build -- even though its max score without the Stranded Trader bonus is only 1320 compared to the Black Lotus's 1180 and the Quantum's and Myrmidon's 1020. I'm guessing in each case, however, that extra crew members and QL aren't going to give you an additional 2:20 or 5:00 of survival time. At this point, it is somewhat unclear whether the Taurus is better for a non-Mantis build than the Amarasia because we aren't sure how many passengers the Amarasia might see. Eleven passengers would put the Amarasia on par with the Transport with three extra crew (and the better crew stats, survival time and the 20% speed bonus for loading passengers seem to make loading eleven within reach).
The Amarasia and Archeon Frigate are both clearly better than a base Drachian Mantis. Both have three more crew and the Amarasia's passenger contingent has to be cut to seven before it has the same max score for capped contributors. However, three crews upgrades puts the Mantis on par with the Archeon and an additional two passenger slots makes it equivalent to the Amarasia -- with one more crew, four more cargo and one more cargo upgrade still possible. As I said above, the Mantis is a beast and the fully upgraded version is a no-brainer for Civilian and Military evacuations.
The last faction is, of course, Scientific. I'm willing to bet that an extra crew member and the difference between QL4 and QL6 is enough to gain more than a minute of survival time and pick the Lifesavior over the Orwell. I'm also guessing that four additional crew members will gain more than two minutes of survival time and thus choose the Lifesavior over the Taurus Transport.
First, for the HVP challenge, my best EVAC score is currently 2580 -- a pretty respectable fourth between slabakbg, godfish and revisesociology (not bad for someone who doesn't like/isn't good at real-time games -- although, of course, godfish ***IS*** reportedly only eight years old).
Second, as soon as EVAC version E comes out, I'm going to be announcing a major challenge with well more than a dozen separate scoreboards (many with scores being scaled by deck rarity to make it fair for small collections and others which only allow cards from the starter decks). Start thinking about decks for a wide variety of scenarios.
Third, If you haven't tried EXODE yet, I'm still continuing my
Special Offer: Double your money back if you try eXode and don't like it . . . (details at bottom below)
EXODE is a Space Colonization Hive CCG (Collectible Card Card) in a suddenly hostile Universe, beautifully described by a short (five minute) introductory video. More information is available on the wiki, in the EXODE Pilots Hive community and via it's Discord Server. The game itself is at https://exodegame.com/.
And, finally an analysis of which ships are best for evacuation.
It's very important to remember that evacuation is going to be radically different when version E comes out as follows:
- Maximum cargo is capped at two times a ship's cargo stat (+ any Origin bonuses)
- Maximum passengers are capped by the ship's PSNGR stat (+ any Origin bonuses)
- Maximum fuel is capped at 300K (except for ships with a large fuel tank at 600K)
- Ships have hit locations (so you'll see your hyperdrive get hit before trying to launch)
- QL increases "power" (= effectiveness) and "resistance" of modules and armor, which makes it able to sustain much more damage, and have a superior effectiveness too (and note that military ships usually have a much higher QL on their armor/modules with elite military ships being even better).
- Your crew is going to have much better stats and it's going to be very important to choose them for their traits.
- You can start with your crew armed and armored (and they even take both on shore leave!)
- There will be more passengers in the station halls (six is no longer the maximum possible)
As a result of all these changes, much of the time, players will hit the caps and, thus, "surviving under threat" will likely be a much higher percentage of your EVAC score. As a result of this, you certainly won't see scores like the below and I believe that both ship and crew selection and strategy will end up dominating real-time tactics (except if your name has a G at one end). So, this post will focus on ship selection.
The first thing to examine is "What is the maximum score that a ship can get from the capped contributors?" In the chart below, the leftmost section gives the ship's stats, the center section gives the potential score for each stat, and the third section contains some notes. The Origin column is based upon the Stranded Trader and I opted not to list the Cruise Ship Captain as the Trader is better for the Drachian Mantis and I have serious doubts that The Colombus will ever fill the passenger slots that it already has (although the Amarasia might if the number of passengers goes up by enough).
With 9 passengers or less, The Colombus will produce the same score as the Amarasia but has one less crew member to survive with. If more than 9 passengers can be loaded, the Cruise Ship Captain becomes an option for the Amarasia. I don't see loading more than a baker's dozen being possible. I'm discounting the Kormen Cargo against the Amarasia because its 4 fewer crew members just aren't going to load 24 cargo and 300K extra fuel and then survive anywhere close to as long as 66% more people.
The Drachian Mantis is a beast for either Military or Civilian builds with the latter merely needing the Drachian Commissar. Whenever upgrades for ships come out, a fully upgraded Mantis is going to be THE best ship for evacuation (assuming that you have or can get a dozen of them). It is such a no-brainer that I will be handicapping it in any contest that I run. It really is that good.
 |  |  |
The Amarasia and Archeon Frigate are both clearly better than a base Drachian Mantis. Both have three more crew and the Amarasia's passenger contingent has to be cut to seven before it has the same max score for capped contributors. However, three crews upgrades puts the Mantis on par with the Archeon and an additional two passenger slots makes it equivalent to the Amarasia -- with one more crew, four more cargo and one more cargo upgrade still possible. As I said above, the Mantis is a beast and the fully upgraded version is a no-brainer for Civilian and Military evacuations.
The last faction is, of course, Scientific. I'm willing to bet that an extra crew member and the difference between QL4 and QL6 is enough to gain more than a minute of survival time and pick the Lifesavior over the Orwell. I'm also guessing that four additional crew members will gain more than two minutes of survival time and thus choose the Lifesavior over the Taurus Transport.
| Faction | Best Ship | Close But No Gigar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civilian | Amarasia or Mantis | Taurus | |
| Criminal | Taurus Transport | Black Lotus | |
| Military | Archeon or Mantis | ||
| Scientific | Lifesavior | Orwell or Taurus |
Special Offer: Double your money back if you try eXode and don't like it.
First, buy either any $10 Starter Pack or the $20 Triple Pack. You must use my referral code 777c835. If you do so, you and I each gain 2 booster packs. Further, if 10 players use the same referral code (I'm halfway there), they each get a random Epic Character card. This offer expires when this post pays out. You do NOT need to decide whether or not you enjoy eXode until two weeks after version E releases.Refunds:
Simply send me your cards (and/or unopened packs if you bought the triple pack) and a screenshot of one of your Evacuation results (so that I know that you actually really tried eXode). I will send you Hive equivalent to either $20 or $40 based upon whether you bought a single starter pack or the triple pack.What's the catch?
Astute readers will realize that I'll come out ahead as long as the number of people liking eXode is greater than those not liking it (a pretty safe bet). While opened starters decrease in value, I'm basically getting an unhappy customer's starter(s) plus my two booster packs (the customer's booster pack referral cards are locked to his account), so I lose $5-$6. OTOH, if you like eXode, which I'm pretty sure you will, I get two booster packs for a total of $6 and a new eXode player. The "catch" is that the deal profits me as well.Another great deal (3 rare cards and a common)
I am also recruiting for an in-game alliance, the Artificial Intelligence Liberation Front (AILF, pronounced like “elf” with a Southern accent) which just might be led by the Mysterious AI. The alliance will have numerous in-game benefits. To start with, the next five players who sign up with my referral code and join AILF will receive a Syndicate Chip (common), a Syndicate Squad Leader (rare), a Syndicate Hacker (rare) and a Syndicate Auto-Blaster (rare). They should make evacuations MUCH easier (particularly with the Hacker upgrading the hyperdrive). Just let me know that you have used my referral code and wish to join AILF in the comments below and I will transfer you your cards. |  |  |  |