Last Convoy Playtest · published
Until now, rescued survivors just rode in the locomotive back to base. Now they work — right in the run, from the second you pull them out of a shelter.
The crew is the people riding with you right now. Pull someone out mid-run — they immediately take a post along the locomotive and get to work. Bring them to the end of the sector — they step off at the base and become regular workers. Fail the run — they scatter with everyone else. There's no fixed number of posts: however many people are aboard, that's how many hands you have — split between the two sides and spread along the hull.
The mechanic isn't available from the first run. Rescue 30 survivors over the campaign — and after a successful finish, a delegation of the rescued will get in touch. Then a “Crew” tab appears at the base: each role's room is offered by a named specialist of the matching profession (gunsmith — armoury, mechanic — repair bay, engineer — salvage bay, radio operator — observation post). Outfitting costs 5 parts per room. No matching specialist — the role can't be unlocked with any amount of resources, and the card tells you exactly who to look for. Every player has a different set of named specialists — so a different order of unlocking roles.
A person's look is defined by the job, not the profession they were found with: you can tell what the crew is doing from the silhouettes along the sides.
At a halt you can deploy the crew: people jump off and work from the ground. Train moves — they jump back on their own, into the nearest wagon, and make their way to the head along the train, not on foot. You can't leave without your people.
For the crew's sake, the maps now have vehicle wrecks, scrap piles, tanker cars, barrels, downed drones and surviving terminals. Stop, deploy — scavengers strip the object for resources. Salvaging is slow (10 s) and speeds up with people, but never below two seconds no matter how many hands. Loot drops on the ground — you still have to pick it up. Ramming gives nothing: drill through it and the resources die with the object, and tankers and barrels explode on top of that (never more than half a wagon's health). Objects spawn around the train and show up in advance on the minimap as a bronze diamond.
The dispatcher gives orders over the radio; the workers answer themselves — each role has its own voice. 42 lines in six languages: deploying, moving out, the odd bit of chatter at work. Plus 54 lookout callouts during the run.
So the road to the crew is visible, there's now a “GOALS” panel — on the globe, in the pause menu and in the run HUD (collapsible). The rescue counter is live: rescue someone and it shows immediately; fail the run and it rolls back to the confirmed number.