Expeditions: Samurai Party Planner Tool

The Expeditions: Samurai party planner is a lightweight interactive checklist for Early Access prep. Use the widget on this page to assign emphasis across stealth, combat, and diplomacy for your captain and companion roles. It will not replace in-game menus; it will stop you from boarding De Albatros with five identical bruisers.

How to use the widget

1. Set your captain’s primary focus.
2. Toggle companion role weights inspired by Antje (stealth), Johan/Tora-Hime (combat), and Étienne (diplomacy).
3. Read the suggested balance and the warnings if one pillar is starved.
4. Follow links to fix gaps via Companions, Classes, Builds, or How to Stealth.

Why three pillars

Official marketing repeatedly returns to story, steel, stealth, and strategy. Collapsing those into stealth/combat/diplomacy scores keeps the tool readable while still matching How to Play.

Co-op mode tip

Run the planner twice—once per twin—then compare. If both skew combat, revisit How to Co-op.

After Early Access launches

Rebuild your scores with real kit knowledge. Pair with Crafting notes later. For now, preparation beats speculation.

Scroll to the interactive planner below the mid-page sections in the rendered layout (tool UI loads with this article). If you changed filters, reset and try a romance-first crew using the Romance Guide as your north star.

Interpreting scores

A stealth score of zero is a warning, not a moral failure—but it means you must play louder and richer in steel. A diplomacy zero means you should expect more fights and colder rooms. Adjust before the warlord does it for you.

Example plans

Plan Quiet Embassy: captain diplomacy secondary, Antje high, Étienne high, steel medium. Plan Red Gate: captain combat, Johan/Tora-Hime high, stealth low with acceptance of louder play. Plan Twin Split: one quiet twin, one loud twin—see How to Co-op.

Reset often

Your first planner result is a hypothesis. Reset after each major companion unlock and after each patch that touches stealth or dialogue. The widget is a mirror, not a prophecy.

Teaching new players with the planner

Sit a friend in front of the widget before character creation. Let them move sliders until they can explain their crew in one sentence. Then open Character Creation and lock Flynn to that sentence. Tools teach fastest when they precede menus, not when they apologize after menus.

Page takeaway

Run the widget after every companion unlock; if a pillar hits zero, fix the roster before the next warlord contract.

Planner for all eight companions

Score coverage across Antje, Piet Ruisch, Kage, Johan, Étienne Durand, Tora-Hime, Fuma Ishiko, and Raina before you lock a travel day. Stealth access, steel presence, speech escape, and triage should each have a name. Details live in Crew Spotlight and opinionated lanes on the Tier List.

Act-aware planning

Act One’s ~8 hour slice teaches pillars; Act Two and 1.0 will expand quest pressure. Re-run the planner after major updates listed on the Roadmap. Do not treat a day-one S-tier screenshot as eternal truth.

Co-op planner mode

Twins can each “own” two companions socially while still sharing combat roles. Write that split beside the planner scores and enforce it with How to Co-op veto rules so affection wars do not erase your stealth coverage.

Planner anti-patterns

Do not max every slider to look prepared. Honest zeros on speech while you romance Étienne is useful data. Honest zeros on stealth while you refuse Antje is a warning light. Recalculate after each companion quest milestone described in Companions.

Sharing planner results

Paste scores into your co-op chat before creation finishes. If twins disagree on whether Fuma Ishiko or Antje covers locks tonight, settle it in the planner, not mid-lantern line. The tool exists to make Companions arguments shorter.