It's sooner than even. We are now talking days, not weeks.
And it's COLONIZATION!
This is an amazing time, an amazing time for all our pilots!
Indeed, colonization is our next deployment.
Along with scanning, planet exploration, some research orders and all kind of great stuff.
Some features will be there and some others will be put "in preview".
One of the unknown variables here is the level of polish and tutorial (or "level of brokenship"? :D ) that should be put into the build.
So far we are aiming for end of this week for a release, just like we are then aiming for a weekly update every Friday on this build, updating progressively our colonization build with more orders, more options, better citizen feedback and management.
For now, we have tested all API OK, so in the last days from April 28 we will mostly work on the front!
You'll know at least 48 hours in advance before the build is pushed live!
Okay, these were big caps. :)
Sorry about it.
Now, I did not want to use this post for a full blown announcement; instead I wanted to share with you more accurate information about your crew, your crew orders, and what decisions should be important to you.
You have all this below; and I think you will find all that information useful!
I could not make a long pause to write this post - wanting to code so much more! - so please forgive the information given in all hotness and no proper wording.
This will be with your own Crew!
Unless something explodes in our build just before release day, the next build will be playable with your own crew.
You will be allowed to pick any of your recently evacuated games and use it as your own colonization demo.
Scanned planets will be saved.
Save is continuous on server. Yup, no action done unless done on server.
This means planets you scan and land to, during tests, will be saved.
First achievements will be scored.
Some pre-season achievements will be available.
They will be personal, and should prepare you for the next colonization challenge.
Some rewards will be earned.
Testing should give you at least one alpha booster if you complete all personal objectives in the next few testing days.
First bugs will be purged.
Well. We know they are not quite the first bugs!
We had some of them already :D
But as you understand, achievements above are also a way to make sure things are explored from tail to toe, helm to stern, top to bottom!
Scanning: important information to remember!
We will reveal a lot more information about crew roles and orders below.
We begin with Scanning, as it's the first step before reaching your planet.
Most of the following actions will be valid actions to test (maybe not all at once, but quite possibly).
- You must assign a Pilot. Your Pilot will help make your ship unharmed, undetected and fast in the new galaxy. In a perfect world, that is!
In a more practical aspect, his Piloting, Awareness and Stealth will be tested to avoid damage, to avoid detection... and to avoid taking too much time. It will also help in making landing sites reachable and landing at least a half-success.
- You can assign an Engineer. Your Engineer will generate a damage report, and after that, will automatically fix modules on your ship. Cybernetics is used to do a faster damage report (the first part), and Mechanics will be used for repairs themselves.
- You can name a Welfare officer. This crew member will check how your passengers are and count who and how many are alive. You will then be able to check the passenger list again and this crew member should also increase their happiness a bit (or at least reduce their stress). Important skill is Conversation and Empathy.
You can skip this step of course, if you like.
You will still have time to see who is still alive... after landing!
- You can assign a Shield officer. This person will be wired to your shield systems. This can be deadly in case of combat, so choose carefully. And glory to the heroes that will be!
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- You can assign a Veilscan officer. Veilscans are what is used to detect other ships in the warp. Aliens, namely, are using this technology, although their patterns are extremely hard to notice. A (good) veilscan officer will identify more clearly how close the alien threat is. This will give a more accurate timer, increase your ship Evasion chances, and should make your decisions easier. A bad veilscan officer would not know. This role should use Signals and Radar (SRT) a lot for performance, but also Cybernetics and Programming to enhance intellectual speed with software. Your ship tactical equipment will heavily contribute to the results, so military ships (or that Black Lotus for instance) will be better in this area.
Some lore: In the EXODE novel (yes there is one), a crew member used for detecting veilscan patterns is actually a female hacker and former Achean gang member, nicknamed 'Siren'.
- You can assign a Scan Officer. This crew member will actually perform the scan you picked (Primscan for landing, CFR for research potential, CFP for mineral and profit, CFH for habitable zones and comfort).
Scanning uses a different "main skill" depending on your choice.
The main skill counts for 50 percent of your performance.
A collection of other skills are used for the remaining half.
In addition to this performance, which determines the end result, there is also a speed factor (how fast it is before the crew member comes with a result).
For the speed factor this is simple: you must be competent with radar and have spaceships experience. Radar was counting for two thirds and spaceships for the last third, but we are adjusting that to 50/50.
| Scan type | Main speed factor (50 %) | Secondary speed factor (50 %) |
|---|---|---|
| All | Signals & Radar (SRT) | Spaceships |
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For scanning performance - which is, determining what is detected and what is not on this planet - , here are the skills involved for now:
| Scan type | Objective | Main skill | Secondary skills |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRIMSCAN | Detecting landing sites | Signals & Radar (SRT) | Piloting, Planetary Expertise, Awareness |
| CFR | Research & Lifeforms | Science | Open Mindness, Planetary Expertise, SRT |
| CFH | Life support & Deadly Risks | Planetary Expertise | Open Mindness, Science, SRT |
| CFP | Minerals & Production | Administration | Open Mindness, Planetary Expertise, SRT |
| ARKSCAN | Better than CFR | Same as CFR | Same as CFR |
You will notice many of these skills are on card, but others may be found when investigating your crew.
Please note I may update this at any time for balance. Awareness, for instance, was for some time put in the formula, and may still be brought back as a secondary skill.
Tacscan will not be tested yet on a planet, but will still auto-activate itself in case you are attacked and be more accurate and helpful.
- Oh, damage report said my scanner is damaged. What can I do?
If your scanner is damaged, I feel for you here. But to help you not be completely blind, there will be one scan order available.
The available order if your scanner is damaged should be "Emergency Scan" ; something done with whatever is left on ship which can observe a planet. Including eyes and manual scopes, math calculations and estimates! Ah, the life in 2325...
Emergency scan should use Awareness as main skill, and SRT, Science and Planetary Expertise as secondary skills.
Now, that was about scanning.
What about colonization?
Colonization Tasks!
I left you in all mystery regarding colonization.
You will be able to assign orders to your citizens.
Here is a short list of local orders.
For each of them, many cards can be very effective.
| Colony order | Target | Objective |
|---|---|---|
| Guard | Specific location on colony | Protect colony and citizens. And protect YOU . |
| Build | Specific building on colony | Construct or continue constructing a building. |
| Production | Specific resource | Producing usually involves consuming other resources to transform them into something else. |
| Research | Specific project | Research new information, technology or design. |
| Report | Specific citizen, or building, or food, etc | Deliver information on this subject according to this citizen knowledge and abilities. |
| Assign Quarters | Specific building | Assign this building as "living quarters" for this citizen. |
... in addition, you can "assign roles" to your buildings, such as designating one as "your Captain quarters" (which is mandatory, but you can possibly use your ship meanwhile). You should think of guarding that place. And assigning one as good for "leisure time", or "eating place", or "storage", or "weapon storage".
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And here is a short list of away team orders:
| Away team order | Target | Objective |
|---|---|---|
| Travel | Specific sector | Travel to a previously explored sector. |
| Explore | Specific sector | Explore this sector. |
| Collect | Specific resource in sector | Collect a resource detected before. |
The way you will proceed is:
- you select a citizen
- you assign an order; this will make a new team with this order
Once you have at least a first team:
- you can select a citizen, and order him to "join a team"
Citizens will eat and sleep and do leisure time on their own: you won't have to micromanage that. They will pause and resume their task on their own!
That's all pilots! That covers most of it!
I have much left to do, as you guess we'll have some debugging and things to fix. As a reminder, the next release should cover some features and put others "in preview". Other updates will unlock more orders. But your patience will be hugely rewarded!
Thank you again for all your amazing support!
More information about EXODE can also be found on our website, our Discord, or multiple posts such as this one about our epic characters, or this trailer made by a fan, or this review or this one . A summary of latest posts and events is also here.
Also running a witness node:
You can check the post about it here and if you like what this means you can:
See you soon in eXode!
