Best Crew Members

CONTRABAND has 11 hireable crew members. Each gives passive bonuses. You can hire multiple at once — bonuses stack. Here's which to prioritize.

Priority tier (hire first)

Mara Voss — Navigator (8,000cr)

-15% fuel cost. You will jump constantly. This bonus pays for itself within 3 hours of play. Always hire first.

Brood-7 — Engineer (12,000cr)

+10 HP per jump. Passive hull repair means less time at shipyards, more time exploring. Excellent value.

Kairos — Gunner (20,000cr)

+15% combat damage. Every fight becomes shorter. If you plan to follow the main story, you will fight — so this is essential.

Mid-tier (hire when you have spare credits)

Silk — Smuggler (15,000cr)

-20% market prices. Pays for itself fast if you trade a lot. Skip if you prefer missions to trading.

Tezze — Diplomat (18,000cr)

+15% mission pay + peaceful event resolution. Great for pacifist runs.

Phase — Pilot (35,000cr)

+20% speed in combat. Gives you more turns per fight. Strong, but expensive — prioritize the cheaper ones first.

Late-game tier

Echo of a Weaver — Seer (80,000cr, legendary)

Warns of hostile jumps + 1 free rewind per chapter. Essential for Chapter 3 and 4 exploration. Only available after you reach the Weaver sanctum.

Veth the Defector — Warrior (60,000cr, rare, Scourge)

+25% damage vs Scourge + Weaver rep penalty (-20). Only worth hiring if you're going to fight Scourge heavily AND you've already burned your Weaver rep.

Fragment of Oracle — Oracle (150,000cr, legendary)

+2 free rewinds per chapter + see future. Best rewind crew but very expensive. Wait until Chapter 3+ to afford.

Unique tier (special conditions)

The Child — Anomaly (free)

Only available if you saved the Weaver Child in the prologue. Zero cost, zero salary. Her effect is subtle but she hints at future content.

Log-ghost — Phantom (40,000cr, rare)

+30% chance to avoid random combat. Cannot speak. Ideal for pacifist runs and exploration-heavy playthroughs.

Salary system

Most crew charge salary per chapter (100-1500cr). If you cannot afford, morale drops — they leave after two unpaid chapters. Plan for 500-1000cr/chapter in recurring crew costs for a 4-member roster.

Optimal crew by playstyle

• Combat-focused: Kairos + Phase + Veth + Echo
• Trader: Mara + Silk + Tezze + Brood-7
• Explorer: Mara + Echo + Log-ghost + Brood-7
• Pacifist: Tezze + Log-ghost + Echo + Mara
• Lore run (saved the child): The Child + any 3 others

Crew backstories and personal quests

Every crew member has a personal quest that unlocks after sustained service. The trigger is usually crew-specific: Kairos's quest activates after 15 combat wins with him active, Mara's after visiting 25 unique systems, Brood-7's after accumulating 500 HP worth of passive repairs. These quests reward the player with exclusive dialogue, unique cosmetic items, and in two cases, additional passive bonuses that stack with the crew member's base effect.

The most impactful personal quest is Phase's. After 40 turns of combat with Phase active, a random NPC approaches the player at a port to deliver a message: Phase's sister is alive in a pruned branch. Completing the quest requires the player to rewind to a specific earlier moment, meet the sister, and bring back a memory — which costs a Weaver reputation point but grants Phase's second skill tier: +30% speed in combat (up from +20%) and a unique combat barks set.

Crew hiring locations

Not every crew member is hireable at every port. Knowing where to find each recruit saves hours of wandering:

• Mara Voss — Verge Station, always available.
• Brood-7 — Keros-7 docking bay, after Chapter 1.
• Kairos — Keros-2 cantina, or recruited during the Chapter 2 sidequest.
• Silk — The Hooded Buyer's contact network. Requires one completed Hooded Buyer trade.
• Tezze — Tellen's Rest, Core Worlds reputation ≥ 20.
• Phase — Random encounter; spawns in any Verge system after Chapter 2.
• Echo of a Weaver — Weaver sanctum, must complete Chapter 2 main path.
• Veth the Defector — Scourge Reach, during Chapter 3 Lead A, offered as an alternative to killing him.
• Fragment of Oracle — Silent Fold Oracle temple, after first Oracle encounter.
• The Child — Automatically joins if saved in prologue.
• Log-ghost — V-77 dead system, discovered as part of the Missing Pilot side quest.

Crew loyalty and the timeline

Crew loyalty is not just morale — it has timeline implications. Crew members who have accompanied the player through multiple rewinds gain a hidden loyalty stat that persists across branches. This is why Echo of a Weaver's dialogue changes after several timeline forks; she remembers events that were erased from the main timeline. At maximum loyalty, crew members gain a small unique ability or a line of dialogue that explicitly acknowledges the rewind system.

Loyalty decays if a crew member is dismissed voluntarily and rehired later. It does not decay if they leave due to unpaid salary and are rehired once paid back. This is deliberate: dismissing crew is a trust betrayal; salary issues are understood to be cashflow problems.