Drift City/Faction Differences

At level 54 in Oros, players face a choice of siding with one of the two game factions. This is undoubtedly the biggest decision any Drift City player has to make, as it affects what the user can (and can't) do, the story of his/her future missions, and where they'll be taken from.

The benefits and drawbacks of each faction are outlined in this article.

Team ROO
Team ROO is the rebel faction of former OMD Drivers who believe that the OMD is creating HUVs in order to monopolize the distribution of Mittron technology so that they can keep the revenue for themselves. If the user decides to choose Team ROO for his/her final missions, they will be mostly focussed on invading Area 71, where Team ROO believes HUVs are created.

From a gameplay perspective, Team ROO has its advantages and disadvantages. First and foremost, due to Team ROO's stance on HUVs (see the spoiler box at the end of this section for the reason), ROO members do not receive HUV calls like OMD drivers. However, this does not mean ROO members cannot do HUV chases, rather in order to chase, they must either party with an OMD member who initiates HUV calls, or obtain HUV Call Units by winning Virtual HUV, which allows them to receive a limited number of calls.

Secondly, ROO members do not receive instant call missions, and ROO Time Attacks (equivalent to the Delivery Service for the OMD) are quite difficult, take a long time (the gold benchmark for all ROO HQ Time Attacks is 2:00) and offer little reward for the required effort.

On the plus side, ROO scout missions (equivalent to OMD's patrols) give more exp per zone. ROO scouts reward 3 experience points per zone between level 45 and 53 (while at the ROO Outpost) and 4 points per zone above that level (after making the choice and moving to ROO HQ). This is compared to only 2 experience per zone for a comparable OMD patrol.

Another advantage to ROO is that their missions give out comparatively more exp than OMD missions and since most ROO HQ missions are performed in a vehicle known as the ROO Van, rather than the user's own vehicle, they are somewhat easier to complete.

Finally, the Team ROO Special License (pictured at right), is awarded only to ROO members for strong racing in the Battle Zone. It repairs 1% of any damage taken when performing reckless driving.

OMD
The OMD Government are the governing body of Mittron Island. Wherever they started mining Mittron, HUVs mysteriously appeared, so they needed to hire drivers to help combat them, given that weapons were forbidden on the Island. Their "need to know basis" structure has led to some of their drivers defecting to Team ROO, but they've hit a lucky break by gaining a Team ROO insider (the player, should they choose the OMD) back on team, and they are armed with inside information. Should a player choose to return to the OMD (a stint as a ROO member is unaviodable, due to the Cras mission storyline), their missions are focussed on eliminating Team ROO, by either foiling their actions or actually arresting their members.

From the player's perspective, returning to the OMD sees a return to receiving HUV calls and instant missions. Also in the player's favour is the fact that OMD missions give substantially more mito than the corresponding ROO missions. In turn, this makes the Delivery Service somewhat more viable for income than ROO's Time Attacks, however compared to Deliveries at previous stations, they still take some time.

On the downside, OMD patrol missions give only half the experience per point to a similarly-leveled ROO scout mission. In addition, due to various circumstances (see the spoiler bar at the end of this section), OMD missions appear somewhat more difficult to complete than their ROO counterparts.

Finally, the OMD Special License is awarded for strong racing in the Battle Zone. When performing reckless driving, there is a 5% chance of a full repair.