Those of you who have been avidly following Exode are undoubtedly excited by the away team challenge which is on the horizon. The promised features will soon arrive allowing us to see who can kill off our crews as fast as possible. ;)

If you haven't been following Exode, I recommend reading my How to Exode: Evacuation hive post as a start and then using my referral code to sign up. If you buy a starter deck with it you get two free (account bound) Alpha boosters. These packs are now only available on the open market (though there will also be a WAX sale in the future).

In the spirit of venting some of my excitement, and doing work so you don't have to, I have compiled all the current information on the roles available to an Away Team.

That being said, keep in mind these are highly likely to change in the future. I wouldn't be surprised if they changed before the week is out!

What are roles?

As part of sending an Away Team to explore your planet, you can assign each character a specific job. You can actually (and probably will have to in the future) assign them several roles, but each role beyond the first reduces their proficiency by 30%

How is a character's proficiency determined?

• All roles have Primary and Secondary skills.
• The average value of a character's primary skills account for 65% of the character's proficiency.
• The average value of a character's secondary skills account for 35% of the character's proficiency.
• The character's health, morale and other environmental issues can impact their skill.
• There is a 30% overall penalty to the character for each role beyond the first
• As you can see above, characters CAN have proficiency's above 100% , but they need pretty epic stats.
• For Away Teams, having the "planetary" skill is pretty much mandatory, it helps with almost everything.

Team Leader

I could be remembering wrong, but I believe a team leader is the one mandatory role. Someone has to be in charge of the expedition and they will increase the efficiency of the entire team. How big of an effect they have, we don't know yet, but I'm guessing I won't want to use Shen.

• You want someone who has good Leadership and Tactical Orders.
• Plantary skill and being Group-Minded is also a plus.

Comms Operative

Comms is an interesting role. I would certainly use them if I were sending an exploration party out and not sure what to expect. While they are still useful for day to day operations, if I'm just sending a small team to harvest I'd trust my luck without them. They are a very straight forward character, only caring about Comms Evaluation skill and Planetary skill.

Observer

In my opinion having an Observer during the initial exploration of a region is absolutely critical. This character will determine what you as a player learn from your expedition. Its an excellent role for your more charismatic characters, replying on administration, discipline, and empathy. All my new region exploration parties will have an Observer. For my farming teams I'll likely have the leader double up in the role just so I get some info.

Scout

Scouts will help keep you alive. They are very important during initial exploration as they will hopefully spot any dangers before they reach you. They primarily rely on Awareness and Stealth.

Team Guide

Once a Scout spots the dangers a guide will help you avoid them. They will also speed up your trip and maximize safety. This is a useful role but one I expect to skip quite often. The only time I expect to use them is if I have a time sensitive or high value mission such as sending emergency aid.

• Guides rely on Awareness and Nature as primary skills.
• Planetary and Group-minded skill helps as well.

Guard

Unless I manage to sterilize my planet, there is a very good chance I will ALWAYS have a guard. This is a combat focused character who will deal with any hostiles you encounter. While a scout will help you avoid trouble, a guard will approach the situation guns blazing.

• Awareness and Tactical Cover are the primary skills.
• Discipline, Tactical Shooting, and Planetary are all relevant secondary skills.

Hunter

Hunters are the first of the "farming" characters. They hunt and kill wildlife which can than be used for food, resources and research. After I identify good hunting regions, I plan to send smaller hunter parties out to collect resources from them. I expect the Triskan Fighters will be particularly good at it.

• Awareness and Tactical Shooting are the primary skills.
• Stealth and Planetary are the secondary skills.

Medic

Sooner or later someone is going to get hurt. Either they are going to have an accident, or get attacked, or suffer from some random environmental issue. This is where Medics come in. Any group I expect to get into trouble will likely have a Medic, but at the same time when tight on manpower its a logical place to skip. They rely on medical and planetary skill.

Food Gatherer

The second farming role is a Food Gatherer. Personally I'd name it a "forager", but that's just my opinion. This person forages for food and hopefully keeps you fed. I probably wouldn't assign this role while exploring a new region unless I was sending a very large team. Keeping everyone fed is too important to leave to chance so I want to make sure they only work where they will get food. That being said, if they are required to locate the food initially its another story...

• Dexterity is the primary foraging skill.
• Planetary and Nature are secondary.
  (Amusingly enough, my killbot is my best Food Collector)

Materials Gatherer

If you are looking to build up your base, you want to enlist a Material Gatherer. You only send them to already explored regions as they can quickly load up and cause missions to end early. You will notice their skills are almost identical to the Food Gatherer so you will likely want to choose to include one or the other during a mission.

Energy Collector

The last farming role is the Energy Collector. They keep everything running and again share similar skills to the Food and Material Gatherers.

Researcher

A good Researcher is critical during the initial exploration of a region. They will identify what you can use so that you know how to properly farm the region. Interestingly their primary skills are Dexterity and Planetary, which is what all the farmers rely on. They also get a bonus from science.

Pilot [Vehicles Only]

The Pilot is an interesting role. It sounds like the Away Team Challenge may not actually have vehicles immediately. In that case it is just fluff for later. If you are allowed vehicles though it becomes a hard choice. If you are expecting trouble you certainly want a pilot, but we also have numerous self-driving vehicles (which hopefully put Tesla to shame) and more routine trips. For me including a Pilot will be determined on a case by case basis.

Gunner [Vehicles Only}

Complementing the Pilot is the Gunner. Gunners take the role of Guard while you are moving. If you have a long trip through dangerous territory you may actually want them more than Guards. If they are suitably skilled, and your enemies aren't too formidable, they are excellent candidates for multi tasking as Guard/Gunners.

• Hardpoints is their primary skill.
• Planetary and Warfare are their secondary skills.

Navigator [Vehicles Only]

The final role is Navigator, which is the vehicle version of Guide. They help a convoy of vehicles get from point A to B quickly and safely. Honestly I expect I will rarely use them. They rely on Signals and Radar, which is likely better used keeping an eye out for the Aliens or other intelligent life. They also utilize Planetary and Nature.

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Those are all the roles currently available in the Away Team Challenge. They will undoubtedly see changes and perhaps roles will be created or removed, but for now they should help you plan your tactics for the future.

Let me know your thoughts on the roles in the comments below! I'll happily talk strategy or expand on the topic when we have more information in the future.

And if you somehow read through all this without signing up yet, don't forget to use my referral code! Two more referrals and I unlock additional bonuses for everyone who uses my code!

Thanks for reading!