Training Old Officers, or Decommissioning?

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I'm not really sure how to go about this.

I like the idea of keeping my "original" Bridge Officers, as we've been through a lot. I've also put skill points into them that would be wasted if I simply decommissioned them. But what do I do about any Green/Blue officers I have sitting in my queue.

I don't really know how it works.

Is there really any downside to just using them to retrain my old officers with any skills they have that I particularly like? I feel like by doing that, I'm keeping an inferior officer somehow... And even though I might stop using some skills I've put points in, I don't feel that those points are necessarily wasted, as they bring them closer to being able to be promoted.

So... does anyone else keep their original officers and train them, or is it wiser to dump the old crew as soon as you get new, shiny officers?

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It depends on what skills your Bridge Officer/s has in the higher ranks and whether or not these skills fit in with your future planned direction.

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As far as I can tell, most officers I got (whom I swapped several skills at Sol starbase, and upgraded from personal trainable skills) or no different from "green" or "blue" officers you see sometimes.

The only time I'd consider a "new" officer is when I get a new ship with more assignment posts and there's a very good candidate reward in my list...or when I don't like the face of my officer :p

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I wouldn't mind others elaborating on this too. And am I wrong, or can you commission as many bridge officers as you'd like but can only have as many as your ship will allow of that particular divison (eng sci tac)? And if you commission bridge officers and decide to use them to train old ones, will those old ones have a bunch of space and ground traits to choose from or is it only 1 of each per bridge officer?

Again, elaboration on this would be very welcome.

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Their skills are the same, but blue and green have extra passive buffs like +crit etc. You can see these bonus's when you hover over them before commissioning

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Can't you also retrain existing BO's with the abilities of the new officers?

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With Bridge Officers you can only have as many as your Current Rank allows. If you go to the Assignments tab you can see how many tabs are available.

I have Officers I have trained for different scenarios, like a Science Officer skilled to do Funky things to enemy ships like confuse and Jam and another trained in healing and debuffs. Choosing the officer for the encounter.

I have noticed the difference between Blue and Green BO's is the abilities, some Rare Officers have good traits, and skills that are a level ahead. You can burn them to train your existing officers but you only get one skill and the officers talents might be better than your current ones. Its a choice. Will be interesting to see when the Very Rare Officer turns up how much notable difference there is.

Although it would be nice to keep your original crew, at times you have to let them go out there and find there own ship to cash into an asteroid and call from help from his/her old captain. Such is the way of star trek.

Edit: oops, spelling

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As far as I can tell, most officers I got (whom I swapped several skills at Sol starbase, and upgraded from personal trainable skills) or no different from "green" or "blue" officers you see sometimes.

The only time I'd consider a "new" officer is when I get a new ship with more assignment posts and there's a very good candidate reward in my list...or when I don't like the face of my officer :p

There is difference between white and blue officers. Its just not for space combat, but ground combat. Blue officers always have one trait with "superior" prefix, and greatly enhanced numbers. Something like superior lucky, etc.

In space they sometimes have abiltites wich are otherwise trained only by the player..

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more info is welcome!

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I had all of these same questions as I was playing last night.

My characters are all Federation and I was recently awareded a Klingon engineer (in green). I went to the Earth Spacedock just to check him against an existing Klingon engineer that you could recruit for 100 credits. I kept compairing and contrasting each, but still had a hard time seeing the benefits between a 'green' and a 'white' BO listing.

One question I did have was do greens and blues have typically higher ranged skills than white ones (for example, might a white BO have Jam Sensors I over a green or blue BO that might have Jam Sensors II or III?). If someone could elaborate on this I would appreciate it.

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You can retrain any standard skill a BO has, and if you later get a 'green' or higher type you can have that guy train another BO with that skill rather than lose the points in all the other skills for your existing BO. (supposedly it works that way, I havent used the train up feature yet)

I think the only possible reason to get rid of a BO is if you dont like the species/gender of it. Otherwise you can keep it and not be at any disadvantage.

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Supposedly:
Rare BOs may have abilities that Common ones won't have. (I've not seen that yet even on blues.)
Rare BOs have better racial traits

I'm not sure it matters that much. I've used the train-up skill to take skils from reward officers and put them on my existing ones, except for one that I'm keeping as a candidate until I get another officer slot.

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I wouldn't mind others elaborating on this too. And am I wrong, or can you commission as many bridge officers as you'd like but can only have as many as your ship will allow of that particular divison (eng sci tac)? And if you commission bridge officers and decide to use them to train old ones, will those old ones have a bunch of space and ground traits to choose from or is it only 1 of each per bridge officer?

Again, elaboration on this would be very welcome.
You can commission as many officers as you have slots for. I'm not sure exactly how many slots you have, but I think the number of slots listed on the left margin of your Skills window indicates that. However, there is a limit on how many officers can serve on your Bridge (determined by ship type and level), or who can be added to an away team. Theoretically, if you have enough officers, you could have one group serving on the Bridge, and an entirely different group on away teams.

When you first activate an officer, you get the choice to have them train one of your already active officers, or join - you can't have them join, then use them to train someone else. Also, it is just 1 space and 1 ground skill per rank per officer.

As for the Blue and Green officers, I've only seen differences in the tier 4 skills - for instance, if the max Captain skill for a "white" officer is, say, rank II, a "green" or "blue" officer might have rank III instead. I've only ever seen one such upgraded skill per officer, if even that much. To be honest, I haven't paid much attention.

To answer the OP's question, if you like your old BOs, stick with 'em. I don't think the PvE game is so difficult that a little extra edge matters, and, so far, you can't use your BOs for PvP.

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Since nobody answered in the other thread I posted this I'll try my luck in this one.

I was wondering if it was possible to get a little HOW-TO about how to train a BO.

For instance I have a science officer with the following Space skills:

1. Jam Sensors I
2. Tractor Beam II
3. Photonic Shock Wave I
4. Gravity Well II

I suppose these are Ensign, Lt, LtCmdr and Cmdr skills, in that order.

Now I want to keep Jam Sensors and add Tachyon Beam. What are my options? I'll just list what I think I understood, any comments and corrections are welcome.

* Since I am Engineer (level 11, LtCmdr), training the BO myself is out of the question

* Both the Jam Sensors I and Tachyon Beam I skills are of the Ensign rank, so I can't have both. I need them to be JS1 and TB2 or JS2 and TB1 in order to have both.

* I will need to level up Jam Sensors to II to free an Ensign rank skill slot (but then will it replace Tractor Beam II ? ). Also, I'm an Engi and can't train Science Skills, so:

* I will need to buy a BO with Tachyon2 to replace Tractor2 OR ( buy a BO with Tachyon1 AND one with JS2 to replace both slots 1 and 2). Do I or the BOs need to be of a certain rank in order to do that? Say, as I am a LtCmdr, I promote the BO to Lt, and replace the two skills? But then I'd need to spend BO skill points in order to promote the BO to Lt, then waste them as I replace both skills 1 and 2? Or can I replace any of my BOs skills, whatever the skill rank, on my Ensign BOs?

Thanks.

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Also wondering how this TRAIN thing works.

officer #1 has skill a1 (level 1-10 skilll)
new office#2 has skill a5 (new level 1-10 skill)

if officer #2 trains Officer #1 does that mean officer #1 losses skill a1 and now only has skill a5? or does that mean they have both, but can only use one till i switch it (not in combat)?

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Also wondering how this TRAIN thing works.

officer #1 has skill a1 (level 1-10 skilll)
new office#2 has skill a5 (new level 1-10 skill)

if officer #2 trains Officer #1 does that mean officer #1 losses skill a1 and now only has skill a5? or does that mean they have both, but can only use one till i switch it (not in combat)?

Yes, he will lose it and gain the new one with 0 points.

Now I want to keep Jam Sensors and add Tachyon Beam. What are my options? I'll just list what I think I understood, any comments and corrections are welcome.

* Since I am Engineer (level 11, LtCmdr), training the BO myself is out of the question

* Both the Jam Sensors I and Tachyon Beam I skills are of the Ensign rank, so I can't have both. I need them to be JS1 and TB2 or JS2 and TB1 in order to have both.

Correct, but you call also buy the base skill from a trainer if you have the merits. there is a trainer on the other side of the wall at the Sol station for the Boff merchant.

Each Boff get's 4 ground and 4 space skills and only 4 of each. If you replace something, you lose all the points you put into it and start over.

Green and Blue Boffs have better racial ground traits. I've not found one that has better space traits. At least, not yet. You can use their skills to train new officers just like any other, but racial traits do not transfer, you will lose those.

The best method I've found is to just buy your base crew (or use the begining ones) and as you open up new slots, save those for your greens and blues and gear and raise them for your ground missions.

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The "Train" option on the BO works the same way as at the Skill Vendor. It gives you a list of what that BO can train, and you then pick which officer that skill goes to. It also shows which skill it will REPLACE on that officer. Yes, you do lose any skill points spent in the skill you replace.

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For me, I want to keep my original harem of BO's... so what I do, if they grant me an officer that has a skill I want one of my BO's to have, I have the new one just train my current BO that ability. Otherwise, I go to the BO trainer in the spacedock and buy them the skills I want them to have with merits. /shrug I have yet to see any BO, whether offered or on the req vendor that has the entire set of skills I want.

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OK I'll add up my questions to this thread. Hope the OP doesn't mind.

How do the same skills of different tier compare? Eg. High Yield Torps I vs II vs III.
What's more powerful - maxed (lvl 9) HYT I or starters (lvl 1) HYT II?
If I have a BOff with HYT I, is it a good idea to train him in II?
If I do so, does it replace the HYT I, or puts it concurrently in BOff's skill list?

So much questions that the manual or the ingame tool tips doesn't cover... so much guesstimating... :confused:

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anybody know the answers?

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Thanks for the answers. I have another one. The Engineer Cmdr skillbox named "Starship Shields Efficiency" says it will allow me to train officers in Emergency Power to Shields III. I suppose that it implied the ability to teach them EPtS I and II too, since these do not appear in any skillbox?

Also, can I trade a BO to another player? Say he gives me one, I train him and give him back, or the other way around?

Thanks.

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Weren't the Bridge officers supposed to be put into a pool for us to choose from? This implied being able to swap officers in and out as needed. We may have the ability to use only a set amount at a time but we should be able to move them in and out of the Pool as needed. For all the extra officers being heaped upon us and unable to use them is silly. It makes having them useless and no longer a reward.

I hope the Devs intend to improve upon this.

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When you get multiple ships do you have to swap officers back and forth? Or does each ship keep it's group of officers?

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When you get multiple ships do you have to swap officers back and forth? Or does each ship keep it's group of officers?

It will try to use the crew you currently have selected. So if you change ships a lot (chances are though you won’t) then you will also need to change your crew assignments. So, no sir.

How do the same skills of different tier compare? Eg. High Yield Torps I vs II vs III.
What's more powerful - maxed (lvl 9) HYT I or starters (lvl 1) HYT II?
If I have a BOff with HYT I, is it a good idea to train him in II?
If I do so, does it replace the HYT I, or puts it concurrently in BOff's skill list?

With specifically, HYT, HYT1 fires 2 torps, HYT2 has 3 torps, and HYT3 has 4. Lvl 9 HYT1 would have 2 powerful torps but HYT2 at level 1 would have 3 not quite as powerful. 3 torps will outweigh 2 torps even with the increase.

My guess is Lvl9 HYT1 would be just under lvl1 HYT2.

Weren't the Bridge officers supposed to be put into a pool for us to choose from? This implied being able to swap officers in and out as needed. We may have the ability to use only a set amount at a time but we should be able to move them in and out of the Pool as needed. For all the extra officers being heaped upon us and unable to use them is silly. It makes having them useless and no longer a reward.

There is a pool. There are actually two key areas. You have a pool of four in your assignments. One set for ground and one set for space. You can change them out as you see fit. As you get higher in rank, you can have more Boffs. Eventually, you have a bunch of Boffs to choose from. Some probably won’t get used but you can dress them up nicely and play red shirt with them.

You also have the initial pool of pre-commissioned crew. You have 3 slots here. That means you can keep Boffs on hold to either trade, wait till you get another Boff slot, or to train a bit later. Boffs in this pool act like loot. (Note: you are not really trading people, but the commission to which officer they will work for.)

The Engineer Cmdr skillbox named "Starship Shields Efficiency" says it will allow me to train officers in Emergency Power to Shields III. I suppose that it implied the ability to teach them EPtS I and II too, since these do not appear in any skillbox?

Also, can I trade a BO to another player? Say he gives me one, I train him and give him back, or the other way around?

Unfortunately, no sir. It will let you train EPS3 and only EPS3. An that is an engineer skill so you will only be able to train it if you are an Engineer. Just like Rapid Fire 3, You will have to be a Tac officer if you want to train this. Otherwise, you will need to find an uncommon, rare, or very rare Boff that has Rapid Fire 3 (good luck on that).

As mentioned above, you can trade Boffs as long as you have not commissioned them and they are still in your pre-commission pool. You cannot, however, train one and give it back because training requires him to be commissioned. A commissioned officer is bound. At that point you can decommission him and he’ll go back to Starfleet with a sad face.

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OK I'll add up my questions to this thread. Hope the OP doesn't mind.

How do the same skills of different tier compare? Eg. High Yield Torps I vs II vs III.
What's more powerful - maxed (lvl 9) HYT I or starters (lvl 1) HYT II?
If I have a BOff with HYT I, is it a good idea to train him in II?
If I do so, does it replace the HYT I, or puts it concurrently in BOff's skill list?

So much questions that the manual or the ingame tool tips doesn't cover... so much guesstimating... :confused:

Skilling up a BO power only reduces its cool down. It does not appear to affect the relative strength of the ability.

High Yield 2 shoots 2 torpedos, High Yield 3 shoots 3.

High Yield II fits in the '2nd' slot for the BO, so it will not replace the High Yield i. HOWEVER - if you have a RARE BO (blue etc) and they High Yield II in slot 1 they CAN train your existing BO and replace HY 1 with 2.

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Thanks for the answers. I have another one. The Engineer Cmdr skillbox named "Starship Shields Efficiency" says it will allow me to train officers in Emergency Power to Shields III. I suppose that it implied the ability to teach them EPtS I and II too, since these do not appear in any skillbox?

Also, can I trade a BO to another player? Say he gives me one, I train him and give him back, or the other way around?

Thanks.

I dont know HOW to train them in a Tier 3 skill but that is what is supposed to happen. (maybe the skill shows up in the BO trainer once you unlock it?)

You already can train them in Tier 1 or Tier 2 skills using the BO trainer at the Starbase.

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I would like to know what are good BO combo's (as a tact. captain or eng. captain)

thnx

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any updates?

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Min-Maxers get something like a team of 4 very rare betazoids (I go 1 eng 1 tac 2 sci) for quick away missions with overexposed enemies. They then have 5 saurians with the efficient trait (goes for 1.2 - 2 mill on market) for ship BO slots to get like +2 power across the board on their ship.

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If it were just skills, I'd keep my original command crew. However, those ground traits do make it worth ditching a white/common BO for a purple.

It would be nice if BOs got a veterancy bonus based on what level you were when you got them, that could potentially offset traits. I mean, it'd be nice if that Chief Tac officer that I've had since I was an Lt was just a little better than some nameless candidate I picked up as an Admiral.

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If it were just skills, I'd keep my original command crew. However, those ground traits do make it worth ditching a white/common BO for a purple.

It would be nice if BOs got a veterancy bonus based on what level you were when you got them, that could potentially offset traits. I mean, it'd be nice if that Chief Tac officer that I've had since I was an Lt was just a little better than some nameless candidate I picked up as an Admiral.

Absolutely, this is a great idea and should be implemented. More RPG-flair to BOffs.

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Here's what I want to know:

My officers "TRAIN" button is grey.

My "TRAIN OFFICERS" button is grey.

I'm a science officer.

I put 9 points into "SCIENTIST" so I can teach my officers SCIENCE TEAM III.

Why can't I train them?

I know they may not be high enough yet to use the skill but shouldn't I still be able to replace their Commander level skills?

Or do I have to be a Captain to teach them that skill? (I'm a Commander, and I have no idea what level Science Team III is or where it belongs, but I have a feelings it's a Commander-level ability.

G

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when you have assigned officers, where can you see if one was purple or blue? is there still some indication?

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when you have assigned officers, where can you see if one was purple or blue? is there still some indication?
Normally, the Character 'Title' will display in the correct color before being assigned...

The sure way to tell, (which always works regardless if the color of the 'Title' is displayed or not) is that 'Blue' (Rare) BOs will have a single 'Superior' Trait, while 'Purple' (Very Rare) will have 2 'Superior' Traits...

[Archived Post]

Here's what I want to know:

My officers "TRAIN" button is grey.

My "TRAIN OFFICERS" button is grey.

I'm a science officer.

I put 9 points into "SCIENTIST" so I can teach my officers SCIENCE TEAM III.

Why can't I train them?

I know they may not be high enough yet to use the skill but shouldn't I still be able to replace their Commander level skills?

Or do I have to be a Captain to teach them that skill? (I'm a Commander, and I have no idea what level Science Team III is or where it belongs, but I have a feelings it's a Commander-level ability.

G


I think the reason you can't train Science Team III is because the description for the Science skill is wrong. You really needed to drain Doctor to 9. I'm not Science though, just something I read elsewhere. Maybe someone else can confirm .

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I believe only a science officer can train his or her science BOs, same with tac and eng.
Personally, I have trained and retraind BOs to see what skills I liked. Now I keep several BOs with different skills so I can switch them out as I need them...I have different ones for PvP and PvE.