Partner question + a couple others

[Toofy]

Ok, first of all, love the game.

The questions are, lets say Barry (CHA-005) and Wesker (CHA-001) are partnered and for instance, Barry leads, both of their level 1 abilities trigger when the specific character explores, are both characters considered "exploring" for their effects to trigger? i.e. Barry gets +5 damage to 1 weapon and I get +20 gold for that turn?

Next, Characters that have specific effects that allow them to deal with infection obviously make them useless in games where Infection is not used, I know there is a "semi unofficial official house rule" to just gain a x10 ammo, so I'm assuming if Infection is not used, don't use these characters?

Also, how about if Partner AND Infection are in play? I'm assuming if you gain 10 infection that you discard both characters and pick an Infected character.

Regarding Infection and Partner, if an infected character attacks a player with a Main and a Partner, can I choose to attack either?

That ends my line of questioning, I appreciate any answers anyone can give, I just like clarification. I did attempt to search for my answers but could not find them on my own and apologize if these had been asked previously.

[WailingJennings]

Hey Toofy. Welcome to the boards. I had a lot of your similar questions when Outbreak came out. That post is pretty old though. Tylar made a point of saying that he never really designed partner mode and infection mode to go together, but his official responses to me at the time were as follows:

1. When you explore in a partner game, you must designate 1 of the two characters to be the "lead" exploring characters. This basically means that person takes the damage if you fail to defeat the infected, but the upside is that you always get both characters "when explore" bonuses. So yes, you would get Barry AND Wesker's ability regardless of who leads (or any other similar combination).

2. Pretty much. If you want to do what I plan to do, after Mercenaries comes out when you get a character who has infection or partner abilities that aren't applicable to the game, they get additional skills at the beginning of the game (more than the other players with useful built in abilities) and just ignore their useless text.

3. Correct, if you become an infected, your partner essentially just dies or runs off.

4. Yes, as an infected player you can attack either the main or partner character of your choice. 1 or the other.