Personally I would like to fly a Constitution refit refit. I agree that being a captain isn't much in STO. Neither is being any kind of admiral. I don't like the rank/tier system, but it wouldn't become better if we limit choices even further. I hope one day when we can craft our own refits and they finally implemented the necessary tech so we are addressed with our chosen titles instead of ingame rank everybody can play like he wants to.

I would say command in STO is the generic skills everybody gets, like Evasive Maneuvers, Brace for Impact etc. The tactical class means which background you come from.

I'm a science captain and I'm most proficient at using Cruisers.

EDIT: What I'd really like to see is us getting rid of the idea of escort/cruiser/science ships and Make the skills associated with them more specialized. Instead of having a line of escort skills give us a line of skills which further increase DPS or maneuverability. Instead of Engineering skills give us skills which increase our Power cores and resistances. etc etc.

Maybe they will do it when duty rosters coming in the game ?
But I would't agree more make the slot's changeable So I can pick up an defiant or a Galaxy class.
I would like to fly an old excalibur class verry nice ship but when i'm a admiral it's not verry good to fly with because you don't have anough slots.
O yes there are upgrades I believe and you Guest it C Store .
Sometimes I wish they keep stuff for about an let's say 2 to 3 moths in C - Store And than give it to game players. Ok if it sells that is otherwise no one would buy it they would wait for it.

But annyway You CAN fly what you like buy some extra slots in the C - Store and your done....

Ok Greets Jetal

I like the current system with one exception, and that's that there are WAY too many ship types in the admiral skills tree. All the previous tiers had cruiser, sci, and escort. Then you get to admiral to find 2 types of each, PLUS the refits? That's ridiculous. They should make tier 5 the same as the other tiers: cruiser, science, and escort. That way, if I've played with my tactical officer in an assault cruiser for a long time, I can switch to a star cruiser or the galaxy-R without having to respec every single time to get the SP benefits.

This makes a lot of sense, as even in the modern navy, a destroyer captain cannot command a submarine; he'd have absolutely no clue what he's doing. Likewise, if you've flown cruisers but never flown an escort before, you'll need to respec and get the hang of it before you'll be good at it.

In that episode of TOS where the starbase admiral takes command of the Enterprise and takes it into the Romulan neutral zone, it proves that you need experience with a ship to command one, you can't merely be an officer.

The most basic answer to the OP question is really, "Why not?"

A "tactical" captain could be assigned to a Science Vessel for any number of reasons. For example, given the amount of strife in this era, a "fighting captain" may be considered ideal of ensuring the safety of the ship and crew.
For a Cruiser a "tactical" captain such as Kirk, Picard (only a scientist if he'd never taken any risks) or Jellico provides Starfleet with similar ensurance for the ship.

"Engineer" captains? Why would Cruisers be the only ships that need the attention of a captain with engineering expertise? Cruisers have a massive engineering department more than capable of looking after the ship without a captain sticking his nose in. Whereas an Escort or Science Vessel would benefit greatly.

If the overall mission of Starfleet is exploration then a captain with a Science background could command any ship.

In all cases the senior staff fill in for the captain where expertise falls short on tactical or engineering issues, that's their job as part of the command team. To a degree, all a captain really needs to be is good at making decisions as managing people. The bridge crew providing options and advice as the situation requires.

Variety? Allowing the player to to play as they see fit within the genre?
I see no issues with the abilty to cross-class Captains and vessels.

Obviously, you have never watched Star Trek at all. This is a terrible idea.

Engs are also better in Cruisers than tacs :p

As well as science vessel cpts than tacs. (and arguably better at it than sci too)

It's more to do with Engineers being slightly op.

Or possibly Sci and Tac need ing a buff to bring them to the same level?