Hello, Pilots!

First off, thank you @proto26 for helping me come up with the title and creating the thumbnail.

In 🍉 [MELN] Weekly EXODE Wrap-Up #23, commenters @ijat and @darmst5339 both requested more information about Alpha Contracts, so this post will hopefully answer any/all questions they (and anyone else) have. We will be going through each Alpha Contract individually and listing their features and cards.

Alpha contracts are no longer directly for sale from EXODE, and can only be bought or traded for on the secondary market in extremely limited quantities. As it currently stands, there are 0 'Syndicate Sponsorships' for sale, 1 'Tom Settlers We Are Premium Buddies' for sale at $400, and 0 'Rekatron Weapon Drops' for sale.

Syndicate Sponsorship

When contracts first released, the Syndicate Sponsorship was the most expensive, retailing at $150. Ironically, they became the contract with the most copies, at 177 total in existence today. They mint 3 cards each per week, meaning that 531 new Syndicate cards are added to the EXODE universe each week. May seem like a lot now, but when the game grows that will be almost nothing. There are 16 different possible cards you can get, which we will go through now.

Syndicate Chip
This card is a common that is essential if you want to use any of the other Syndicate cards. It is one of the most expensive common cards currently in the game because of this fact. If you equip a character with this card, you now have the ability to bring Syndicate crew/equipment/ships/etc. which you cannot otherwise. Absolutely required if you decide you want to play Syndicate. The Elite version also grants a Shooting skill bonus, so I put them in all of my crew just for that.

Narco-Warfare
This card is similar to the Syndicate Chip, in that it has the ability to grant your crew extra skills. Anyone equipped with this will gain extra points in the Cover and Shooting skills. Unfortunately, it also comes with a downside, turning your equipped crewmember into a "Narcophile", which is EXODE's classier way of saying "Drug Addict". We have yet to see how this will affect your crew, but I doubt it's good.

Holidays
This card seems like it will be able to raise your crew's happiness for a day, whilst simultaneously making them "Slow" during that time. I suppose this could be effective after a mission that goes badly and someone dies, therefore dropping morale. But morale would be dropped even more if everyone died since they were all drugged up and no one was guarding the entrance. This also "Triggers Narcophile" on end, so we will have to wait and see what that will do in the future.

N-Prime
Personally I think that this card will be much better than Holidays. It grants you a bunch of points in the Speed, Cover, Shooting, and Violence skills, which could be invaluable in a fight for your life. I can already see how this would be super useful. It also Triggers Narcophile at the end, so hopefully the fight is over before that happens.

Narcotics Genefactory
This card is an equipment set (which means you bring it into your ship's equipment slot, NOT the cargo hold), that will allow you to create drugs. Specifically, N-Prime however I'm sure you will be able to create other drugs as well, or create new ones. I bet you could also repurpose the "Chemical Kit" to do actual research. We will have to see.

Syndicate Auto-Blaster
This card is the Syndicate's only non-bound weapon. I haven't tested the weapons extensively enough to know which is the best yet, however this one seems pretty good. The Rekatron SD is my personal favorite at the moment, although if you don't have the money to buy a bunch of weapons or a contract, I think the best weapon for you is whatever you can afford to equip your entire crew with. We will talk more about weapons in the Rekatron section.

The Kumicho
This card is the leader of the Syndicate Faction, and has many powerful abilities because of it. She has the 'Veteran' keyword which means that only one copy of her can be in the deck. The term "Synergies" mean that any cards with that specific keyword (in this case 'Syndicate' and 'Narcophile') gains +1 quality. Since most Syndicate cards come with Narcophile or can have that added through Narco-Warfare, you can essentially give your entire crew +2 quality, which results in an overall increase in every stat. Quality is denoted by the number in the blue hexagon in the upper left of cards, as you can see the Kumicho has a quality of 10. She also has great skill in Warfare, Administration, Leadership, and Awareness. She has the downsides of being Slow and having a Secret Agenda, which we will have to wait and see for what that entails. She is the first card we've come across that has "Bound Items" which mean that she comes with something, in this case "Kumicho Implants", unfortunately since we don't get to see bound items in the equipment screen yet, I do not know what Kumicho Implants will do. Once Colonization is released and the mechanics are flushed out, I will likely create a 2nd version of this post.

Ayumi
This card was voted as the community's favorite purely because of how good the art is, at least according to 🍉 [MELN] Weekly EXODE Giveaway #1. But she is more than just her looks, she is one of the best fighters in the game. She has the 'Veteran' keyword which means that only one copy of her can be in the deck just like The Kumicho, however Ayumi is an Officer. She is skilled in Warfare, Cover, Speed, Courage, Heroism, and Awareness. Basically every trait that is used in a fight. She is also a Narcophile, but who in the Syndicate isn't? Where Ayumi really shines is in her Bound Items, with a Syndicate Blade. You may be thinking to yourself "What's so cool about that?" Well, swords don't run out of ammo. She doesn't need a gun, and even if you do equip her with one, if she runs out of ammo she can use her sword. As long as she doesn't die, you've got a killing machine. Especially if you pair her with an Arena Powersuit. She also comes with a set of N-Prime pills.

Syndicate Squad Leader
This card is nothing special. She is just good at combat, without any of the cool additions like Ayumi has. She has a sword in her art but doesn't actually have one bound, which kind of sucks. I wouldn't recommend using this card unless you're on a tight budget.

Battle-Trained Socialite
This card is one of the most versatile in the entire game. While not as good of a fighter as Ayumi, she has some key differences that make her better in different roles. First off she is listed as "Civilian, Military, Noble, Specialist" which means you can bring her in any of those decks without requiring a Syndicate chip. She also has Warfare, Cover, Orders, Leadership, Charisma, and Speed. Essentially turning her into a leader who can fight. Where she really shines is her bound items. She also has a Syndicate Blade, like Ayumi, but she has K-Armor as well, which is amazing. Armor is one of the most expensive and most important things in this game, and being able to bring someone who already has a weapon and armor is one of the most cost-effective things you can do. I would recommend getting this card ASAP before people realize how powerful (and budget) she is.

Syndicate Trooper
This card is good at shooting and not much else. It does have the "Stealthy" keyword, which means it can combo well in a Rebel deck, but otherwise there isn't much to say about it.

Syndicate Hacker
So based on what I said about Syndicate Trooper and Syndicate Squad Leader, I bet you would expect me to say "This card is only good at one thing" and move on. Well, not the case this time. This card is the best fuel-loader currently in EXODE, especially if you can get an Elite copy. An Elite version of this card takes 19 seconds to load fuel instead of 100+. It is insanely powerful. Not to mention that if you decide you want to design software then his Programming skill will be extremely useful. His Cybernetics skill also makes him a good researcher. Definitely would recommend grabbing one of these cards before people wake up to how powerful he is.

Camouflaged Sniper
This card will be an absolute beast on your planet. I bet he will be an amazing guard both for your Away Teams and your colony itself, especially if you have walls. He has the "Locked Actions" keyword, which means that he can only do specific things, but you knew that by his name. He's got the standard combat keywords of Warfare, Shooting, and Cover. He is the first card to have specific actions listed, those being Hide and Snipe. We don't know what those do yet, but I assume he can blend in or go invisible or something and shoot from far away. He also has Bound Items of an X-77 Rifle and Camouflage. We do not have stats on either of these yet, but I assume the X-77 will be extremely powerful and long-range, and Camouflage will make him much harder to detect.

Programmed Transactor
I specifically remember thinking that this card was so useless that @tyrnis, @palasatenea, and myself were talking about it in the EXODE Discord Server, where @elindos hopped in and decided to elaborate on the card. He said he would eventually make the Programmed Transactor upgradeable because of what we said. He then went into the utility of it which I will copy paste here:

"About Syndicate Transactor:

• the first use of the Transactor is as a scrappable (to gain explosives). the use of explosives can be to access some protected areas, or "to mine"

• another use can happen once EVAC evolves with looters able to try to access your ship by forcing entrance (Transactor can clear a room), or clearing a cargo bay full of 6 looters because you focused on station halls first (such as, you have a Colombus, you master station halls first, and then you want to move to cargo but it's full of nasties), but it's "expensive" (1 slot)

... that's for the basic use. But considering how skills usage evolved since, it can be nice to upgrade it, however I would like a superior version of upgradable stuff which allows "to unlock traits" (such as: removing locked actions, or adding others)
I think the funniest way could be to add new stuff to Syndicate drops (as was always envisioned) such as hacker modules to install on robots and make them upgradable on a few things
that way, you could "reprogram" your transactor with this module, as an upgradable robot. I'll keep thinking about it. Adding it to suggestions channel!" - @elindos

Black Lotus
Just like Programmed Transactor, I failed to see the utility of this card compared to the default Navy Lieutenant starting ship. However, I believe that the 3 Equipment Sets makes up the difference of other stats. Being able to bring in an extra one will be invaluable, although the Drachian Mantis is still the best ship in the game if you can upgrade it to max. We do not know what the ship keywords will do yet, so there is no point commenting on them, but @elindos has told me that "Cloaking will make this ship a master of space travel and recolonization."

Syndicate Geisha
This is the newest card added to the Syndicate contracts, we have yet to get a feel for her utility. She seems like she will be very powerful on the Colony. She has Charisma, Conversation, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Stealth, and Romantic Ties. Essentially the perfect diplomat, I could see her fitting well into an Elected Leader or Cruise Ship Captain deck. She has Geisha Implants, no idea what these do at the moment, but she can make 'Pink Lotus' each week. No idea what this is either. Will have to come back to her once Colonization is released.

Tom Settler We Are Premium Buddies

The Tom Settler contract originally cost $60. They have the second most copies at 165 total in existence today. They mint 6 cards per week, meaning that 990 new Tom Settler cards are added to the EXODE universe each week. More than Syndicate, even though there are more Syndicate contracts out there. I think it's a good thing that it mints more since Tom Settler cards will be extremely important in the future. I think this is the most important contract out of the three, since no matter what build you are going for you need food and life support. There are 10 different possible cards you can get, which we will go through now.

SMOOTY All-In-One
This card seems like the worst in the entire Tom Settler Contract. It only has space for 1 person, but still needs energy. Perhaps the "Space Habitat" and "Space Dropship" keywords will make this worth bringing during colonization, however we just don't know enough about it to make an accurate prediction at this time. @elindos would you elaborate on why players should bring this card?

Strategic FOODIE-MOODIE
This is one of- if not the - most important card in this contract. Despite being "only a common", the Strategic FOODIE-MOODIE will be invaluable at creating food for your colony. We have yet to know what "Happy Soda" does, but I assume it improves morale due to the name. Your colonists need food, and this card provides it, what else is there to say?

Friendly Eyes XY-6
For you veterans who remember 🍉 [MELN] Weekly EXODE Giveaway #12, you already know how I feel about this card. For the rest of you, I am going to copy-paste what I said there:

I believe that the Friendly Eyes is one of the most underrated cards in the game at the moment. Whilst being "only a common", it has a massive advantage over many other vehicles, that being that it does not use energy. Most vehicles in EXODE has the massive requirement of using up to 12 energy per hour, while the Friendly Eyes can be added to your perfectly planned colony without requiring extra generators. I fully upgraded one and brought it to my test planet for this exact reason. I think that this could (and should) fit into any deck. If you bring no other vehicle, at least bring one of these, it will make exploration much easier while costing you almost nothing.

BUDDY Pinger
I have seen quite a few people speculate that this card will be extremely useful. I personally feel that the Friendly Eyes XY-6 will be better, but we have yet to see the benefits of "sending a message" once per day. The thing I'm worried about is that the BUDDY Pinger runs out of power or something after 3 days, which makes it seem like it could be a waste of a cargo slot. However, if it is able to scan a bunch of places on your planet I could see this as a single-use exploration item to discover everything on your planet in the first few days. If it isn't able to scan most or all of your planet in it's lifespan, I'll probably stick with the Friendly Eyes XY-6.

LITTLE Buddy
This card is similar to the Friendly Eyes in that it is also autonomous, but different because it is a land vehicle. The other main difference is that the radar is one quality level higher, and it has combat stat. We have yet to see how important a combat stat, and one level of radar will be, so I'll stick with the Friendly Eyes for now. I feel that there is less chance of it being destroyed since it can fly. I hope I don't have any flying hostiles!

TOM Custom
This card is definitely one of the most versatile in this deck, however I believe using it as a Laboratory is significantly better than using it as a Habitat. There are better Habitats available for less energy cost, whilst a Laboratory is much more useful in this sense. If you have no other options though, this will work in a pinch.

WHC Unit
This card is one of the most important in the entire game. Every crew needs Life Support, no matter what, and this provides this. It only has 25 days of life when un-upgraded, so you will need to find/create/bring extra Oxygen Crystals ASAP. Not to mention Water. This card is nigh-required in a deck, I had to bring multiple, and that was for my tiny crew. Imagine a Cruise Ship Captain Columbus.

TOM Explorator X4
One of my personal favorite cards. It once again shares the "Autonomous" keyword with the Friendly Eyes and the LITTLE Buddy, however this can carry crew and cargo. This will be amazing for Away Teams, and I plan on bringing one in every deck if possible. The utility is insane. Get your hands on one before they go up in price!

SHELTER "Happy Five"
The best Habitat card in the game. This is what the pros bring. Insanely efficient when max upgraded, moreso than any other Habitat. If you just bring a few of these fully upgraded, you can house your entire ship at a very low energy cost. Get your hands on these as well!

BEAUTY Capsule
Since I just wrote a description for this card in 🍉 [MELN] Weekly EXODE Wrap-Up #23 I am just going to copy paste it here:

I personally love this card. I feel like this will have a good place in an "end-game" or "long-term" style of build, as you've essentially got unlimited living space for 1 or 2 people depending on upgrades. If you could bring a build with just these on a small crew ship, you would be able to save so much energy that you would otherwise have to spend on living space. With that extra energy saved, you can put it towards food production, exploration, or any other thing you're interested in doing. This is definitely one of my favorite additions to this game and am very glad that @elindos decided to add cards to the Alpha Contracts. We do not yet know how Atmospheric Shielding or Happiness will effect gameplay, but I'm sure they will come in useful as well.

Rekatron Weapon Drops

The Rekatron contract originally cost $60. They have the least copies at 145 total in existence today. They mint 10 cards per week, meaning that 1450 new Rekatron cards are added to the EXODE universe each week. I think this is the most 2nd important contract out of the three, as while the other two are nice to have, everyone needs weapons, so I am glad that @elindos made the decision to have this contract mint so many cards. It helps to keep the prices down (although I believe they will go up a lot once more players discover EXODE). There are 11 different possible cards that you can get, which we will go through now.

DEFENSIVE AMMO
This card can be equipped to your characters (or dropped to a colony) to give them extra ammunition. Not much to say, if you have it, bring it. This gives you the most extra magazines out of the 3 options. May be worth dropping to colony if you have a lot of them.

AUTOGUIDED AMMO
This card is just like the above, except it gives 1 less magazine and buffs your character's accuracy by 8. This is my personal favorite for low-accuracy guns, as your caliber doesn't matter, shot placement does.

PARTY AMMO
This card is just like the above, except it gives only 1 magazine, and buffs damage by 15 and grants "Incendiary" and "Stopping Power" keywords to the character. I can definitely see this being useful for weapons that already have a lot of ammo and accuracy but don't do much damage.

FIRETALKER
This card is the cheapest available option. While this may not be the most effective weapon in the game, unless you have a few Rekatron Contracts or a lot of money to spend, buying sidearms for all of your crew can be very expensive. Although the FIRETALKER isn't great, essentially the KARPER HEAVY's little brother, any firearm is better than no firearm, and if you manage to upgrade it it's stats get much better (16 power 16 accuracy 18 ammo 2 mags) and actually outperform the un-upgraded KARPER HEAVY (10 power 15 accuracy 9 ammo 1 mag).

KARPER Heavy
This is the pistol I brought along with all of my crew members. At first I had thought that the GOOD MORNING was a sawed-off shotgun which is why I chose the KARPER Heavy, however the KARPER seems like a better "Jack of all trades" pistol compared to the GOOD MORNING. It has much higher accuracy, ammo count, and comes with a spare mag, all of which the GOOD MORNING lacks, especially in the ammo department. The downside is that it only can be used at short range, but if you have to use a pistol in a fight where you have a rifle, you are probably at short range anyway. I believe that the ammo advantage will become much more apparent when Colonization is released and people starting feeling the pains of an ammo shortage.

GOOD MORNING
For the longest time, I thought that the GOOD MORNING was a shotgun sidearm, not an incendiary pistol. I have never been a fan of sawed-off shotguns in anything as they are typically unreliable, however after examining the GOOD MORNING more thoroughly it seems like an incendiary revolver, and I am now much more interested in it. I will definitely be taking some of these along with me to my colonies.

REKATRON SD
This card is my favorite weapon in the game. A great balance of power, accuracy, and ammo. Just bring some extra magazines and you've got a great all-rounder!

EXPLANATOR
I usually have 1 or 2 people equipped with an EXPLANATOR or Judgment Day instead of a Rekatron SD, as a couple of shotguns can put down a threat faster than any other firearm. However, the low accuracy and short range makes it much better to have them as the exception rather than the rule.

JUDGMENT DAY
This is the most powerful gun in the game. For awhile I had thought that it was a shotgun, since it reminds me of the "Peacekeeper" from Apex Legends. However it seems like it is actually a grenade launcher of some sort, since it has "Explosive Ammo" and "Incendiary Ammo" keywords. I have a fully-upgraded one of these, and the power can go up to 100. Absolutely insane. I believe any hostile that meets a crew armed with one of these will not be alive for much longer.

GALACTIC PEACEMAKER
This could arguably be the most powerful gun in the game as well, but I ranked the JUDGMENT DAY higher because of the accuracy and guaranteed shots. This is a burst-fire gatling gun with awful accuracy and a whole lot of ammo. I definitely think this needs AUTOGUIDED AMMO or DEFENSIVE AMMO, since you will run out of ammo using this with the fast fire rate. This is the most upgradable card in the game, around 80+ times if I recall correctly. I do not have an upgraded version of this because of that, lol. Don't think I ever will, as that seems like quite a large investment for only one deck. However, if you plan on playing only one deck, maybe it would be worth it to you,

FIREWORKS
This is the newest card in the Rekatron contract, and the most dangerous. You can think of it as a handheld firebomb nuke launcher. Absolutely insane with power, but awful accuracy. I feel like the chance for friendly fire (see what I did there) is very large, so hopefully we are able to fire this from far away. It has a lot of negative keywords, like "Sector-wide, Station Risk, and Armed" But does that really matter when you've got 100 shots of 80X power?

Conclusion

I hope that I was able to clear up any confusion related to the Alpha Contracts. When/if more cards are added, I will likely make a 2nd version of this post. If you have any other questions or would like me to explain my opinion on a card more thoroughly, feel free to comment and I will do my best to respond. Also feel free to talk about your opinions on the cards! I would like to know where they stand in the eyes of the community.

EXODE is a real-time strategy space colonization game here on the Hive Blockchain. If you still have not bought your starter pack and signed up, use this Referral Code(c956af8) and you'll also receive 2 free Alpha Booster Packs with 5 NFT cards each and a free Epic Alpha Character. For more information and links, check out the developer's page, @elindos and/or this post.