Officer Spotlight: Sol Science Officer

I love defensive. I would definitely choose shield overcharge and beef up my shields.

 

Can you target enemy weapons without the targeting skill? How does it work?

 

I'd take targeting. I hope Genari has that skill too!

 

So all the percent chance stuff is a hidden die roll basically?

 

Die rolls are my thing... yeah I agree with Jmp2 I'd pick the shield upgrade.

 

What I'd like to know is this.

Can you only take 1 level of the 'Specialist" skills, or can you take them multiple times for a corresponding boost each time?

i.e. If my sensors have a standard range of 6, and I have a level 4 science officer on board, is my maximum sensor range 7, with 3 other bonuses, or can I get a sensor range of 10?

[Edit.]
I guess the answer is a maximum of 7, as the chief engineer has 2 separate levels in each of his specialist skills.

Therefore I probably won't use them as I believe the reduction in the other skills holds you back more than the inclusion of a 1 or 2 hex based sensor advantage.

 

So it costs a total of 180 experience to upgrade a character to level 5 when you're a class 3 ship (which I believe is our starter). If you did it to all 5 characters it would be 900 experience. I noticed that class 4 ships cost about 1000 experience. I wonder if a fully upgraded crew on a class3 vs a class4 without upgraded crew, who would win?

 

And if you upgrade your crew [all 5 officers] to level 5, then save up and go for a higher class ship, do you lose those officers?

If so, I can easily imagine working on ship upgrades first so you do not waste experience on crew that you will be losing fairly shortly after they get to their most useful.

I hope that the most sensible system is in place. If you lose your ship in battle, but save the crew thanks to the CMO, then you would have to return to the same class vessel they left, but if you are in 'drydock' and use experience to increase the class of your vessel, then your officers come with you and don't lose any skills or experience.

If that's the case, then maxing the officers will take priority for me. I can take more time getting used to the game in low class vessels, and once I have a crew that works well together and I have the ability to command them well, that's when I would get the ability to requisition a better ship.

Oh, Nickman77. I would personally give the edge to the upgraded crew. Fully experienced helmsman with L5 Evasion means you are not going to be hit as often, meaning shields are able to cope better. Engineer able to increase power means more shots per turn. Weapons officer means more hits. Type 4 Orchis could probably take on a class IV from the start. With a fully upgraded crew, I'd expect to push that out to a class V.

No game is going to be much fun if you can only take on stuff of exactly your own level, you should be able to take on either fully equipped opponents of your own level, or minimised opponents of the next level up right away [IF you're good enough, of course] because always taking on the exact same as you or lower is going to be like shooting fish in a barrel, no matter what the game is.

 

That's what I thought. However, I do seem to remember you having said something about a 'stable' of ships. So can I take it this means that if you do upgrade all your officers, then go for a higher class ship, the officers don't just get wiped, they stay with the ship and you can decide that you want to go out with them again at a later date?

 

I'm excited to hear that.

 

Regarding the crew of any said ship, the exp I gain in that ship with that crew can't be used on another vessel?? So each ship has its on exp pool?

 

As I understand it, for your officers, yes. This is because you have to 'spend' experience to upgrade them like you need to when buying another ship. But what you use to upgrade you [the captain] is 'earned' experience, so that will carry over from ship to ship. Only resetting when the server resets, or you move to another server.

 

Makes sense!