Spoiler season is in full motion for eXode and Booster Opening is right around the corner now. Currently, we see a lot of new cards revealed each day. Today I want to take a look at some of those recently revealed cards and discuss their implications for the game to come. One of the cards is brand new and has not been shown before. Not going to lie, I'm really excited for that card as it is a complete game changer!
If you haven't heard about eXode yet, you'll find a lot of articles about all aspects of the game in my blog. Espacially The Comprehensive Guide to all EXODE Alpha Edition Origins is a good place to start if you are new to the game. In short words, eXode is a decision making game powered by the Hive blockchain. It's made up of a fast paced Evacuation and more laid back Colonization stage. The game is strongly focused on tradable cards that can enhance your playthrough in many ways. Lets have a look at some of these cards!
The Ahken Cannon is a really interesting ship design. It features some balanced stats with six crew, two equipment sets and four cargo and passenger slots each. It basically is a huge flying cannon that deals extreme damage. It doesn't feature much weaponry other than that though so I'd imagine it's extremely good against capital ships but will have a harder time dealing with fighters or other smaller ships. It hints towards ship battles that are made up for more than just one ship as bringing the Akhen alone probably won't be such a great idea in most cases. Bringing additional ships could either be done by a single player or - which is way more exciting - by several players teaming up. We already know that players will be able to share coordinates with others so meeting up to engage an enemy together seems to at least be a possibility. Also, this all but confirms the existence of space battles in the games Colonization stage.
Another really interesting aspect the card features is the Suntek Generator. There are several points to that trait. First of all, The Akhen Cannon needs Suntek energy in order to be fired, so it only makes sense to have a generator on board. Once Colonization starts though the ship can be used as a generator continuously producing Suntek energy for your new world. Suntek energy basically is a special form of energy required to power other Suntek cards. What's really making it special is the fact that Suntek energy can be traded with other players. So if a player happens to find a Suntek artifact he wants to use he can buy the energy required from another player. This is just one example of how eXode is trying to create a player run economy where colonies are actively encouraged to trade with each other.
Personally, I also really enjoy the decision making that's coming along with cards like that. If you are only looking for power and the best possible stats, there are better options available for your Evacuation. But if you sacrifice some of that raw power and go with a Ship like the Akhen instead, you bring another asset for your colony with you that will help your growth right from the start. Besides the obvious loss in power there's more to consider though. Firstly, using the ship as a generator means you won't use it as a ship anymore so you can't use it to explore your part of the galaxy and you can't use it for what it was built for initially - blowing up big ships. The other issue to consider is how bringing the Akhen changes your priorities in Evacuation. If it gets heavily damaged during your escape, the generator is probably going to be rendered useless. Because of that, you'll really want to get out before the aliens actually start shooting at you. All these little pieces help to make eXode such an interesting game. You'll be constantly making decisions like this, sometimes without even realizing it.
The Myrmidon Assault Transport in another cool concept with some new traits we haven't seen before. Where the Akhen made it very likely that we would have space combat in the colonization stage, the Myrmidon finally confirms it without doubt. It comes with a boarding module that will allow you to board enemy ships or stations and get into close combat with the enemy crew. This doesn't make any sense for Evacuation play where you are scrambling to escape the station before the aliens overwhelm you. So this module is obviously meant to be used in the later stages of Colonization play. This shows that there will be a lot more to do than simply build up a colony. You'll take to the stars again, explore the universe and get into conflict with other spacefarers.
Looking at the ships stats, the Myrmidon is more than prepared for some encounters in space. It allows for nine crew and three equipment sets. It's resistant and brings extra armor. So it's pretty clear what your plan is going to be if you use the Assault Transport. Approach the enemy ship, survive long enough thanks to your formidable armor, get in boarding range and unleash your troops (or Kilbots...).
When looking at the different Origins and the cards they bring, I was a little worried that certain Origins would end up with a lot of officers and crew members that wouldn't do much for them after Evacuation is over. With cards like the Myrmidon, military and criminal Origins become a lot more interesting again. Establishing a colony is probably going to be the main focus of Colonization play (who would have guessed given its name...) but there will be a lot more options than "just" expanding a colony. Different Origins are most likely going to focus on wildly different aspects within the game. I had expected these different aspects to be like mining or research but it seems there's a lot more to eXode than what I imagined initially.
And finally, we have the Claymore. I'd like to ask you to look at the card very closely and think about what you see there. It has a trait called No Officer. It has a crew of two and it has zero passenger slots. How the hyperdrive are you meant to build a colony with that? The somewhat surprising answer is: You are not! Let that sink in for a second. If you use the Claymore Hyperfighter for Colonization you are not meant to build an actual colony! This card is a complete game changer and indeed turns everything upside down that I initially expected eXode to be. What I did expect was a Colony Management game with some stuff added on top. I had hoped for some exploration and maybe space combat, but nothing out of the ordinary. This card though? It shows us that there's going to be a complete game beyond settling on a new planet!
If you manage to survive Evacuation with this card, you will warp to the other end of the galaxy and start exploring right away, never touching ground first. This has a lot of implications. Firstly and most obviously, this showcases that there will be other stuff to do than managing a colony. Exploration will not just be a little gimmick added on top of what we have - it's going to be a whole gaming experience itself. But there's more - even a Lone Wolf will have to do some repairs, refuel and maybe even heal some wounds. So sooner or later, the Claymore will have to land somewhere. Since you don't have an active colony yourself, this somewhere will have to be another players colony. Players might be able to build landing pads with the sole purpose of allowing other players ships to land in their colony. Players will trade fuel, material needed for repairs and so on.
The Claymore also comes with the Upgradable Modules trait so it will be possible to install new and better modules like weaponry or engines. These items will have to come from somewhere. Sure, you might find some experimental missiles in a derelict freighter or on a long forgotten tomb world. But most of the time? I guess those modules will come from other players. Turns out eXode might end up being much more than each player just tending to his own colony. Players could focus on producing upgrades for other players ships. Offer them a save haven to rest in between their adventures. In return those players will be willing to protect the colony that houses them. But where are the materials for these upgrades coming from? Maybe another player has a mining venture in a neighboring star system and has just the right resources? These resources still need to be delivered first though. What happens if the freighter transporting them becomes ambushed? Will a Claymore pilot make it there in time to save the valuable cargo?
Just think about the possibilities here - we very well could end up with a huge living universe where different players offer different services to each other. Some building their colonies, some protecting them, some going their own way completely. To me, the scope of the game changed completely because of the fact that cards like the Claymore exist. It will take months if not years to build all this but I really can't wait to be part of that journey!
When I did my very first article on eXode back in April, I was reading through their game manifesto. I had a vague idea what it all might look like but I didn't know any specifics. Still I commented that the sky is the limit and even then, there will be more stuff to implement, more features to add. With every update I've seen to the game this became more and more true to me. With what I know today, I'm positive that there actually is no limit at all to what we might see in the eXode universe some day...
That's all I've got for you today but obviously I can't let you go without my Referral incentive program: All you need to get in order to play the game is an Origin pack which is currently sold at 8$ each. If you join using my referral link you'll get 2 boosters for free from eXode and I'll send an additional booster your way. Each booster contains 5 random cards chosen from more than 200 unique cards in the Alpha collection. They are currently sold at 2$ each.
As always, thank you all for reading and please let me know what you think about the new cards in the comments. See you all next time.
