TL;DR - Buy Tom Settler Contracts before they become unavailable in 8 days. Also, if the contents look good, buy the Tom Settler Colonization Essentials packs before they also become unavailable.
Previous posts in this series: Part I: Booster Pack cards & Part II: Syndicate Contract cards
Tom Settler Contracts each deliver six cards per week. 154 of them have been bought so 924 Tom Settler cards enter the game every week. So let's see how many of each card that is:
| % | /week | cards | of each | |
| Common | 54 | 498.96 | 3 | 166.32 |
| Rare | 40 | 369.6 | 4 | 92.4 |
| Epic | 6 | 55.44 | 2 | 27.72 |
| 924 |
Once again, these seem like very reasonable numbers -- except -- all of these are both droppable and upgradable. Note also, that virtually every one of the Tom Settler cards is either markedly better than the Booster Pack cards or serves a purpose that is otherwise completely unavailable. Since these cards are going to critical to everyone for colonization, it looks to me as if there are very likely will be shortages, particularly of the rares and epics.
Further, colonization is going to be heavily impacted by energy requirements (eXode: Do You Have Enough Energy for Colonization?). Since upgrades are one way to reduce these energy requirements, even new Captains are likely to want/need to fully upgrade as soon as possible.
I expect that, eventually, the in-game Supplies Market will reduce some of the availability pressure on these items -- but I expect that the Tom Settler contracts will be very profitable long before (and after) then.
I am not so sure, however, about the Rekatron contracts. Everybody does need weapons and ammo, but Rekatron delivers ten cards per week. Further, it is not at all clear that many will be burned by the droppable trait since Captains merely need to equip their people before leaving. It probably will turn out that elite cards will make the contract worthwhile -- but unless I'm very mistaken, the Rekatron contract currently has nowhere close to the same value as the other two. Of course, Elindos has said that all the contracts will regularly get new cards rotated in -- so I expect that, if they do turn out to be much inferior compared to the other contracts, cards will appear that will make them equal in value.
Please support my posts by using the referral code 777c835 when buying your first starter. If you do so, you and I will each gain two booster packs. Further, if ten players or more use the same referral code (and I'm halfway there), they each get a random Epic Character card.
I am also recruiting for an alliance, the Artificial Intelligence Liberation Front (AILF, pronounced like “elf” with a Southern accent). The alliance will have numerous in-game benefits. To start with, the first five players who sign up with my referral code and join AILF will receive a Syndicate Chip (common), a Syndicate Squad Leader (rare) and a Syndicate Auto-Blaster (rare). They should make non-Military evacuations MUCH easier. 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.