Quasimorph Choosing Contracts Guide

A Quasimorph contract is not a loot pinata with a skull sticker. Version 1.0 (Steam, July 31, 2026) still asks you to compare beneficiary, victim, travel time, floors, station type, Power Concentration, and the literal objective text before you launch. Players who sort the board by Reward alone burn clones, Class Chips, and faction access that Walkthrough arcs still need.

This guide teaches a repeatable briefing checklist for Magnum Scriptum’s turn-based extraction RPG. Pair it with Getting Started, Mission Types, and Loot Priority. Mission tooltips are still improving after launch — Magnum Scriptum announced clearer difficulty presentation in the post-1.0 QoL patch summarized on Hotfixes — so learn to read the card yourself.

The contract card is a decision tree

Open the Stock Exchange / mission board and force yourself through this order every time:

1. Beneficiary and Victim — who gains power if you succeed, and who you are hurting.
2. Objective and evacuate condition — what must be true before extract is legal.
3. Time remains versus travel — can the Magnum arrive before the offer expires.
4. Difficulty, skulls, and floors — how long you will stay exposed.
5. Station type — what containers and enemies the floor pool favors.
6. Power Concentration — how rich floor loot may be, not how safe the run is.
7. Reward — only after the first six checks pass.
8. Loadout fit — operator, weapon damage types, medicine, and empty inventory slots.

If any step fails, refuse or wait. Sitting on the Magnum costs less than a dead clone with a full bag.

Video guide

Beneficiary and Victim decide politics

Every contract has two sides. Completing it strengthens the beneficiary and damages the victim. That matters more than the credit line when you are mid-story:

• Helping a Hexarch corporation can open gear and barter stock — see Factions Guide.
• Starving minor factions (Civil Resistance, Tezctlan footholds, local proxies) can erase future story or trade options.
• Civil Resistance, Tezctlan, Xiomara, AnCom, and RealWare all assume you still have political room to maneuver.

Version 1.0 makes side switching available in mission prep. Magnum Scriptum is making that control more visible in the coming QoL patch — until then, hunt the switch before you accept the highlighted side by habit.

Objective text beats the mission label

Labels like Robbery, Defence, or Descend are shorthand. The briefing line tells you when extract becomes legal and what item must leave the station alive. Mission Types expands common patterns; always re-read the live card because hotfixes can change spawn rules (Robbery target usage was corrected in Hotfix 1.0.562).

Rules of thumb:

• Secure the mission item before optional crates.
• Do not confuse mission resolution with cargo already in your backpack — dying after the objective but before extract still deletes unextracted goods.
• Defence and timed gates punish greed harder than Assassination clears.

Travel time and world evolution

The solar system keeps advancing while you fly. Long trips to distant planets let faction Power and tech drift upward, so the gear you packed on Mars can feel obsolete on arrival. Prefer contracts near your current Magnum position during the early campaign — Mars, Phobos, and Deimos Absentia space from Solar System — until Magnum Navigation and Supply can support longer hauls.

If Time remains is shorter than round-trip travel plus a conservative clear, skip the contract. Expired offers teach nothing; late arrivals teach pain.

Skulls, floors, and Power Concentration

Skull ratings widened in 1.0 and Power’s influence on difficulty was reduced compared with some Early Access habits. Still:

• More floors means more food, ammo, and Quasimorphosis exposure outside Absentia.
• Power Concentration estimates how juicy floor loot may be — it is not a free safety rating.
• Faction Technology still hints at what equipment enemies can field; examine on contact per Midgame Combat.

A three-skull Robbery with one floor near Mars can be safer than a two-skull multi-floor horror station with high Power Concentration and a short food budget.

Station type predicts containers

Use station type to decide what you are hunting:

• Industrial / RealWare-leaning sites favor components and cut-resistant problems.
• Research or chem sites favor medical and experimental junk.
• Proxy or contested docks may pair better with Trade Shuttle cargo mode than with a full assault.

Match the station to the Magnum bottleneck you are solving this week — Conveyor parts, Class Chips, rite materials, or story keys — using Loot Priority.

Loadout vetoes

Even a perfect briefing fails if the clone cannot carry the plan:

• Wrong damage types for robots or armored crews — Weapons.
• No stabilize path for bleeds and infections — Wounds and Medicine.
• Overweight kits that kill dodge — Loadout Planner.
• No free slots for the mission item plus one Magnum upgrade component.

If the veto fails, change the contract or the kit. Do not hope the floor will restock you.

Take, wait, or turn back

Take when beneficiary fits the campaign plan, victim loss is acceptable, travel fits Time remains, floors match supplies, station type can drop a needed item, and Reward is a bonus rather than the reason.

Wait when the board is bait-heavy but a better local offer will refresh, or when you are one Magnum upgrade away from making distant trips safe.

Turn back after accept but before launch when prep UI reveals a side conflict, Quasimorphosis already high for the destination, or the objective needs a tool you do not have. Launching is the point of no cheap undo.

Related reading

• Getting Started — extract loop fundamentals.
• Loot Priority — what to keep when the backpack fills.
• Difficulty Settings — campaign presets versus skull myths.
• Factions Guide — political cost of each beneficiary.
• Hotfixes — briefing UI improvements in flight.

Choosing contracts is half of Quasimorph skill. The other half is surviving the floors you wisely accepted. Read the whole card, switch sides deliberately, and let Reward be the last column you trust.