Captains
Buy the captain that fixes how your run dies. No invented S/A/B tiers.
Key Takeaways
- Eight EN clean cards in the main grid — Lumberjack / Huntress marked pending.
- Match captain to module family (cannons → Patchy, boost kite → Ruth, hull → Tankbert).
- Unlock toast ≠ owned — silver buys in the loadout between runs.
- Read the in-game tooltip before spending when kit text is incomplete on tape.
Main roster (clean cards)
New player — which captains first?
Answer: Start with Norbert (default), then grab The Count for sustain or Racer Ruth if you want boost speed for Overtime.
Norbert is the safe “any kit” pick — turrets+arrows tapes often stay on him when no arrow captain fits. The Count heals by consuming units (health boxes stop spawning on that kit read) — great while you learn to stay alive through four bosses.
Racer Ruth’s spoken trade: more speed when boosting, less normal drive speed. Use her when you’re farming Overtime silver and need kite, not when you’re locking Empress half-speed. Don’t burn early silver on a captain whose kit you can’t read yet — farm first (Silver farming).
Which captain fits which module family?
Answer: Match the captain to the guns — Pirate → cannons/mortar, Count → sustain / long OT, Ruth → boost kite, Pyromaniac → fire+ballista, Tankbert → ram / vehicle kills; leave Norbert on anything else.
That’s the EN-8 cheat sheet. Time Witch and Duelist are on the gallery with sparse spoken kit — read the loadout tooltip before you spend. Module slot details: Best modules.
| # | Captain | Role | Pair with |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tankbert | Hull / HP | Card stills show HP growth on destroying vehicles, with a nitro regen hit. Pair with ram / vehicle-kill routes. |
| 2 | Racer Ruth | Boost mobility | Spoken: +50% speed when boosting, lower normal drive speed. Strong when you need OT kite without Empress. |
| 3 | Patchy The Pirate | Cannon damage | All cannons +100% damage — enemies too. Mount side cannons / Front Cannon / mortar family. |
| 4 | The Count | Sustain | Heal by consuming units (no health boxes spawn). Pair with long Overtime sits and Repair Crew. |
| 5 | Norbert The Normal | Default / baseline | Safe first pick with any kit. Turrets+arrows tapes often stay here when no arrow captain fits. |
| 6 | Time Witch | Named on EN stills | Kit text not dumped on our EN tapes — read the loadout tooltip before you spend silver. |
| 7 | Duelist | Named on EN stills | No verified melee/ram link on tape yet. Ram family players: confirm in loadout. |
| 8 | Pyromaniac | Fire flavor | Thematic with Fire Crew + Side Ballista. Confirm kit text in loadout before spending. |
Key pairings (worth memorizing)
- Patchy The Pirate → cannons + mortar — Side cannons, Front Cannon, mortar family. Enemy cannons also hit harder.
- The Count → sustain — Heal on consume. Helps long Overtime sits next to Repair Crew.
- Racer Ruth → OT kite — Boost speed for silver farms when you’re not on Empress.
- Tankbert → vehicle kills / HP — Grow HP when you destroy vehicles; nitro regen takes a hit — plan mobility elsewhere.
- Pyromaniac → fire + ballista — Same neighborhood as Fire Crew + Side Ballista; confirm tooltip.
How do I unlock / buy captains in the shop?
Answer: Captains sit in the between-run loadout — you buy them with silver, same screen as modules and crew.
Official about-text lists captains among the between-run unlocks. Players browse the shop after a run, read kit text (Racer Ruth / The Count are read aloud on tape), and spend silver when they can afford a pick. One early clip: “need a lot more silver” before new pilots unlocked.
We don’t have a verified price grid or a quest that unlocks each captain by name. Farm Overtime and quest lumps first (Silver farming), then buy the captain that matches the module family you’re already running — don’t buy blind.
FAQ — Empress and other names
Still checking
- No official S/A/B sheet — we will not invent ranks.
- Full tooltip text for Time Witch / Duelist / Pyromaniac — stills + sparse ASR only.
- Cleaner Lumberjack / Huntress crops for main gallery — pending.
- 0.9.9 patch string not confirmed on Steam news.