Skills
Skills are permanent bonuses, abilities & capabilities acquired by the player and Officers, they can be found primarily in the Character Screen.
Summary
They are unlocked by spending Skill Points, which are earned upon leveling up, up to a maximum of 15 for the player and from 5 to 7 for officers.
Skills that affect the piloted ship may be upgraded to Elite once unlocked, providing additional benefit at the cost of 1 SP 0% XP.
Aptitude
40 skills are available, divided into 4 "Aptitude" Trees:
- Combat: Skills that improve the combat performance of your flagship.
- Leadership: Skills that improve the combat performance of your fleets and officers.
- Technology: A mix of skills that benefit exploration, stealth, and certain aspects your fleet and officers' combat performance.
- Industry: Skills that improve the efficiency and resilience of your fleet, and make it easier to recover from losses.
Tiers
These aptitude trees have 2 - 4 Tiers, starting with the 1st tier giving nice bonuses and ending in a pair of Capstone skills that are considerably more powerful than lower-tier skills and often influence or complements the player's playstyle.
Players must pick a skill in the 1st tier before being able to pick skills in the higher tiers, and this varies depending on how many tiers that the aptitude tree has:
- 2 Tiers (Combat):
- requires 4 in Tier 1 in order to put a skill point in Tier 2
- 3 Tiers (Leadership):
- requires 3 in Tier 1 in order to put a skill point in Tier 2
- requires 4 in both Tier 1 & 2 in order to put a skill point in Tier 3
- 4 Tiers (Technology & Industry):
- requires 1 in Tier 1 in order to put a skill point in Tier 2
- requires 2 in Tier 1 & 2 in order to put a skill in Tier 3
- requires 4 in Tier 1, 2 & 3 in order to put a skill in Tier 4
In other words, in order to take the 1st Capstone skill for an aptitude tree, it would require putting 4 skills in previous tiers, for a total of 5 points spent in the aptitude.
The 2nd Capstone skill in the aptitude requires 6 previous skills, plus 2 points spent on the 2 Capstones for a total of 8 skill points spent in total.
Dimishing Returns
Many skills are affected by diminishing returns after a certain point, e.g. "Carrier Group" has its full effect when the fleet has 8 or fewer fighter bays, but decreased effect when going past 8 fighter bays.
This encourages the player to be more careful about their fleet composition, as bigger fleets has more sheer force, but also benefits from the relevant skills less efficiently compared to smaller fleets.
Respec
The player can respec their own skills for 1 SP 0% XP.
Skills cannot be unlearned if they are required for another skill, such as needing the minimum amount of skill points to reach a capstone skill for an aptitude tree.
Unlearned Elite skills can be made Elite again later without spending any story points.
Do take caution when unlearning certain skills such as those later in the Leadership aptitude trees, as unlearning certain ones like Officer Training or Best of the Best will retroactively remove these benefits.
Combat
Skills that improve the combat performance of your flagship. | ||
–In-Game Description |
Combat | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Tier | Skill | Icon | Skill effect | Skill Quote |
Tier 1 | Helmsmanship | Piloted Ship:
Elite:
|
It sings when you push the mix just right, like, [humming]. Everything is right in the world, from the stars down to your bones. Coming off a shift, it's like I just woke up. [laughing] Words can't tell it.
| |
Combat Endurance | Piloted Ship:
Elite::
|
Through calamity, the Fourteenth endured, Through hegemony, the Domain endures, Through duty, humanity shall endure.
| ||
Impact Mitigation | Piloted Ship:
Hullmod: Heavy Armor - increases armor, reduces maneuverability Elite:
|
The maneuver produced an oblique impact angle, dissipating the shell's momentum entirely into the ferrofoam applique. It was the unfortunate timing of the resulting shock which brought about Spacer York's tragic end during an otherwise routine heavy equipment transfer.
| ||
Damage Control | Piloted Ship:
Hullmod: Automated Repair Unit - increases weapon repair rate in combat Elite:
|
What's lost is lost. Let these compartments burn away, focus your efforts on what will see us through the next hour.
| ||
Field Modulation | Piloted Ship:
Hullmod: Stabilized Shields - reduces flux upkeep for shields Elite:
Hullmod: Hardened Shields - reduces damage take by shields |
Few have a talent for what I like to think of as 'active tuning'. I find musicians make the best shield officers.
| ||
Point Defense | Piloted Ship & its Fighters:
Hullmod: Integrated Point Defense AI - PD not affected by decoy flares, improved target leading, more damage to missiles Elite:
|
Me, I don't take with them lasers and the like. Puts on a hell of a lightshow, ya'sure, but nothing stops incoming blips like the wall of DU from a good Vulcan matrix.
| ||
Target Analysis | Piloted Ship:
Elite:
|
A machine-assisted human mind is capable of intuiting effective solutions despite conflicting sensor data and contradictory tactical directives. The targeting computer alone can never truly replace a warrior.
| ||
Ballistic Mastery | Piloted Ship:
Hullmod: Integrated Targeting Unit - increases weapon range, more so for larger ships Elite:
|
What's it stopped the Tri-Tach plot? (Guns!) What was it ol' Ludd forgot? (Guns!)
| ||
Tier 2 | Systems Expertise | Piloted Ship:
Elite:
|
No, I don't think it's a contradiction. It's a, uh, spiritual journey. You're tested. But it's like they say, the Devil is in the details.
| |
Missile Specialisation | Piloted Ship:
Hullmod: ECCM Package - improves missiles speed and guidance, reduces effect of enemy Electronic Warfare Elite:
|
My colleagues don't appreciate their whimsy. You get all these little spaceships and you break all the rules 'cause they don't need to survive landing.
|
Leadership
Skills that improve the combat performance of your fleet and of other military assets under your command. | ||
–In-Game Description |
Leadership | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Tier | Skill | Icon | Skill Effect | Skill Quote |
Tier 1 | Tactical Drills | All Combat Ships, including Carriers and Militarized Civilian Ships:
Hullmod: Advanced Turret Gyros - increases turret turn rate Ground operations
|
Perfect.
Now do it again
| |
Coordinated Maneuvers | Ships with Officers, including Flagship:
Hullmod: Escort Package - increases manueverability, top speed, and weapon range when near a larger friendly ship *Nav rating increases top speed up to a max of +20% *The total nav rating for the deployed ships of the fleet increases the top speed of all ships in the fleet, up to a maximum of 20%. Does not apply to fighters. |
Sir- incoming hostiles burning hard. Big ones. Count two. No, three. More... there's too many! High energy read. Contact in six.
| ||
Wolfpack Tactics | Frigates and Destroyers with Officers, including Flagship:
|
A fleet that acts with one mind makes those pretty formations so beloved by senior desk officers, a wallowing beast begging to have its throat slit. Cut loose the hounds that we may be wolves again.
| ||
Crew Training | All Combat Ships, including Carriers and Militarized Civilian Ships:
|
I know your type. Signed the contract with dirt on your boots, all ready to play spacer. Watched too many Hegemony warprop holos, didn't you. Get this now: courage is not competence. Playing hero will get us all killed. Careful, mindful work is what gets the job done.
| ||
Carrier Group | All ships with Fighter Bays and grants increased effect to ships with Officers, including Flagship:
Hullmod: Converted Fighter Bay - converts built-in fighter bays into improvised cargo holds |
The stats tell us they'll be evaporated in a wall of flak before a half dozen missions, but we still want to be 'em. Once they're in the cockpit they're the only ones of all us who have control over their own destiny.
| ||
Fighter Uplink | All Fighters, and grants increased effect to ships with Officers, including Flagship:
Hullmod: Recovery Shuttles - reduces fighter pilot casualties |
The fighter jocks spin legends around themselves, but they're just the tip of a spear which I alone command.
| ||
Tier 2 | Officer Training | Fleet:
*The base maximum officer level is 5. |
They may be a 'rag-tag gang of merchants, smugglers, and pirates', but if you give them something to fight for, I think they might surprise you.
| |
Officer Management | Fleet:
*The base maximum number of officers you're able to command is 8. |
The outlook was grim, so I promised the merc captains double combat bonus. With all the casualties I only had to pay out to half of them, so everything worked out just fine.
| ||
Tier 3 | Best of the Best | Fleet:
*The base maximum number of permanent hullmods you're able to build into a ship is 2. |
What we have, Artemisia, is something that cannot be bought.
| |
Support Doctrine | All Ships without Officers:
Fleet
|
Not every cadet has talent, skill, or even two brain cells to rub together, but by hell and radiation they'll graduate with discipline.
|
Technology
A mix of skills that benefit exploration, stealth, and certain aspects your fleet and officers' combat performance. | ||
–In-Game Description |
Technology | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Tier | Skill | Icon | Skill Effect | Skill Quote |
Tier 1 | Navigation | Fleet:
Ability: Transverse Jump - jump into a system through a nascent gravity well, or directly into hyperspace |
Spend enough time out here and it becomes second nature. It's how I move when I dream. Not all of us get that. Lots do.
| |
Sensors | Fleet:
Hullmod: High Resolution Sensors - increases fleet's sensor range *A slow-moving fleet is harder to detect in some types of terrain, and can avoid some hazards. Some abilities also make the fleet move slowly when activated. A fleet is considered slow-moving at a burn level of half that of its slowest ship. |
I see you, little fish!
| ||
Tier 2 | Gunnery Implants | Piloted Ship:
Elite:
*Enemy weapon range is reduced by the total ECM of your deployed ships, up to a maximum of 10%. This penalty is reduced by the ratio of the enemy ECM rating to yours. Does not apply to fighters, affects all weapons including missiles. |
Over time the augmented reality presented by implants may become difficult to distinguish from normal sensory input. The psych officer should regularly check gunners for signs of Augment Dissociative Disorder by the following criteria...
| |
Energy Weapon Mastery | Piloted Ship:
Elite:
Hullmod: High Scatter Amplifier - reduces beam range; beams deal more damage and apply hard flux to shields |
The eye of an angel was found in the small places, hidden there by merciful God in the first moments of creation. Thus its secrets were laid bare for the ignorant and cruel to loose terrible, fiery wrath. We lament.
| ||
Tier 3 | Electronic Warfare | All Combat Ships, including Carriers and Militarized Civilian Ships:
*Enemy weapon range is reduced by the total ECM of your deployed ships, up to a maximum of 10%. This penalty is reduced by the ratio of the enemy ECM rating to yours. Does not apply to fighters, affects all weapons including missiles. |
err. 401 // connection refused [try again?] err. 401 // connection refused [try again?]
| |
Flux Regulation | Ship Loadouts:
All combat ships, including carriers and militarized civilian ships
Hullmod: Resistant Flux Conduits - reduces EMP damage taken, improves venting speed |
WARNING: By changing these settings user waives responsibility of Tri-Tachyon Corporation for any resulting equipment damage, injury, death, or otherwise undiscovered spacetime effects. Do you wish to continue?
| ||
Phase Coil Tuning | All Combat Phase Ships:
Hullmod: Adaptive Phase Coils - reduces impact of hard flux level on top speed while phased *The sensor strength of phase ships also contributes to the fleetwide stealth bonus granted by the Phase Field hullmod. |
Tri-Tachyon pries open holy creation daily, and at each desecration our wholesale damnation looms. Our path is burden; our path is suffering. We shall face them with faith that our only redemption is final judgment.
| ||
Neural Link | Ships with the Neural Interface Hullmod:
Hullmod: Neural Interface - allows rapid switching between ships *Use the "Switch view to target" control (T) to switch between ships. |
Why should a captain go down with their ship? The Tri-Tachyon corporation does not waste top talent.
| ||
Tier 4 | Cybernetic Augmentation | Fleet:
All ships with officers(but not AI cores), including flagship
|
Don't listen to those weepy crypto-Luddics on the ethics board; the rejection rate is nowhere near what the rumors imply.
| |
Automated Ships | All Automated Ships:
*The total automated ship points are equal to the deployment points cost of all automated ships in the fleet, with a multiplier for installed Al cores - 4x for an Alpha Core, 3x for a Beta Core, and 2x for a Gamma Core. Due to safety interlocks, ships with Al cores do not contribute to the deployment point distribution. |
[REDACTED]
|
Industry
Skills that improve the efficiency and resilience of your fleet, and make it easier to recover from losses. | ||
–In-Game Description |
Industry | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Tier | Skill | Icon | Skill Effect | Skill Quote |
Tier 1 | Bulk Transport | All Ships:
|
You can no more escape the economy than you can escape gravity. It surrounds us, contains us, uplifts us. It bound the galaxy together once, and will again.
| |
Salvaging | Fleet:
|
It makes me feel very small, like we're vermin plundering the cities of fallen angels.
It also makes me rich.
| ||
Field Repairs | Fleet:
|
There's no one within twenty lights that hasn't got crossbones etched on their hull. We have only our skill and whatever we find in that debris field to get us out of here.
| ||
Tier 2 | Ordnance Expertise | Piloted Ship:
Elite:
|
The weak fear the spiritual potency of the killing machine. The strong instinctually recognize its beauty.
| |
Polarized Armor | Piloted Ship:
Elite:
Hullmod: Shield Shunt - removes shields, increases armor *Ships without a shield or a phase cloak are treated as always having 50% hard flux |
The pre-Collapse manuals say never to do this. ... No, I don't know. Haven't had any problems so far.
| ||
Tier 3 | Containment Procedures | Fleet:
|
Check each seal three times true so that Death does not come for you.
| |
Makeshift Equipment | Fleet:
Ability: Remote Survey - do a preliminary survey on all nearby planets remotely |
I guess we left the spares in orbit. It'll be fine ... [static] ... watch this.
| ||
Industrial Planning | Governed Colony:
All colonies
|
A barren but promising world well-situated to become the center of culture and industry of Magec; our models project vast investment in resource exploitation from Guayota's Disk.
| ||
Tier 4 | Hull Restoration | Fleet:
|
There's no hull a true spacer can't make home.
| |
Derelict Operations | All Ships:
*Maximum effect reached at 5 d-mods. |
They think we're trash, the execs and admirals in their shiny starships. They threw us away the second it went bad. But it's us the Sector got built on and it's us that'll cut 'em down.
|
Officers
Officers gain skills like the player, but only to a maximum level of 5 (6 with the "Officer Training" Leadership skill), which are chosen from a pool of 4 skills when they level up.
The pool of skills that can be chosen from are only skills that affects the piloted ship, e.g. all Combat skills and none of the Leadership skills.
1 SP 100% XP may be spent to mentor officers, doubling their experience gain and increasing their skill selection to 6, as well as optionally changing their personality by one step (once per officer).
1 SP 0% XP can be spent to upgrade one of their skills to Elite level (this number can be increased up to 3 with Officer Training & Cybernetic Augmentation).
Rare officers found in cryopods during exploration have 7 skills, of which 5 are Elite.
Officers at max level can be retrained for 1 SP 100% XP to change their Elite skills and their personality.
Mercenary officers can also be hired on markets for 1 SP 100% XP, with a two-cycle term of service. They start at level 4-6 with a fixed set of skills and cannot level up.
AI Cores
Officers
AI Cores are used in place of human officers on ships with the Automated Ship hullmod, used by certain factions found outside core space such as Derelict Drones and REDACTED.
These AI Cores will always have the Fearless personality, which is equivalent to Reckless.
Using such ships requires the Automated Ships skill.
A Gamma Core has 3 skills, a Beta Core has 5 skills, and an Alpha Core has 7 skills.
Integrating the core into the ship for 1 SP 0% XP gives an extra skill and makes the core unremovable except by scuttling or otherwise losing the ship.
All of the AI Core's skills are Elite and can be changed in the officer screen at any time for no cost.
Administrator
Only an Alpha Core can serve as an Administrator to a colony.
They will always have the Industrial Planning skill, but also a special skill called Hypercognition, which will give the following:
- +10% accessibility
- +20% fleet Size
- +50% effectiveness of ground defenses
- +1 stability
Change History
0.97a
- ECM rating:
- Reduces enemy weapon range by the ECM rating
- Both sides can have a penalty at the same time
- Penalty is capped to a maximum of 10%
- After being capped, the penalty is reduced by the ratio of enemy and player ECM ratings(E.G. if both sides have the same ECM rating, each side's penalty is reduced by 50%)
- Electronic Warfare:
- Retains the +1% ECM rating from all combat ships effect
- Makes combat objectives be captured *much* more quickly and from longer range (5x faster, +1000 range)
- Most Remnant fleets no longer have it
- Cybernetic Augmentation:
- Is now a top-tier skill, replacing Neural Link which moves down
- Increases the number of elite skills officers can have by 1 (was: 2)
- Now also increases the damage dealt/reduces the damage taken by all ships with officers
- The bonus is 1% per elite skill the player has
- The damage-dealt bonus is doubled for the flagship
- Neural Integrator hullmod:
- Significantly reduced OP cost (now same as Neural Interface)
- Increases the ship's deployment points/supply cost by 20% instead
- Neural Link:
- Moved down a tier
- Clarified skill description / related hullmod tooltips
- Will now set autofire state to group defaults when switching ships for the first time
- Ballistic Mastery: added "+5% damage dealt by ballistic weapons" to elite effect
- Target Analysis:
- "+10% damage to destroyers" is now an elite effect
- Added extra elite effect: "+5% damage to frigates"
- Also retains original elite effect
- Systems Expertise: changed elite effect to "-10% damage taken"
- Missile Specialization:
- Reduced bonus rate of fire to 25% (was: 50%)
- Reduced bonus missile hitpoints to 25% (was: 50%)
- Added elite effect: +25% missile ammo regeneration rate
- Helmsmanship:
- Changed base speed bonus to 15% (was: 10%)
- Changed elite speed bonus to 10su/s (was: 5)
- Combat Endurance: elite effect will now repair the hull up to 100% (was: up to 50%)
- Field Modulation:
- Increased hard flux dissipation while shields are active to 20% (was: 15%)
- Added "-25% overload duration" to elite effect
- Damage Control: replaced elite effect with: "Repairs of damaged but functional weapons and engines can continue while they are under fire"
- Ordnance Expertise: reduced base skill bonus to 1.5 flux dissipation per ordnance point (was: 2)
- Hull Restoration:
- Somewhat faster repair of d-mods for ships with lower deployment points
- Removed maximum CR increase per s-mod
- Added "+15% maximum CR, -5% per d-mod (minimum 0%)"
- Support Doctrine: added non-elite Ordnance Expertise to skills gained by unofficered ships
- Containment Procedures: fuel use reduction changed to 25% (was: 50%), maximum total is unchanged
0.95.1a [RC3]
- Note: this list is not comprehensive, but should cover the main changes
- Skill effect text now shown at full brightness
- Unless the player has the skill but not its elite effect, in which case the latter is dark to make it clear it's not unlocked
- Rearranged skills in a different tier structure for each aptitude, retaining 2 top-tier picks in each
- Choose enough skills in lower tiers to unlock the next tier
- Can skip a tier by taking more skills in lower tiers instead
- Skills within a tier are no longer mutually exclusive
- Reaching the top tier requires 4 points, plus 1 more to actually take a top-tier skill
- Taking the second top-tier skill requires spending 2 more points in lower tiers, plus 1 more for the skill, for 8 points in the aptitude total
- This replaces wrapping around entirely
- Skills that have been made elite and reassigned can be re-made elite at no cost
- Elite skill levels are generally a bit more powerful
- All skills can be unassigned, there are no more permanent skills
- Unassigning skills that gave additional s-mods will result in s-mods being removed (the player can choose which for the ships in their fleet)
- Unassigning skills that boosted officer level/elite skills will result in either the officer becoming a mercenary on a new contract, or losing excess skills
- And so on
- There is a mechanism for mods to "undo" the effects of any custom skills not covered by this
- And a built-in handler for the "ship over maximum ordnance points" case
0.95a
Complete redo of skills.
- Four aptitudes
- Each aptitude has 5 tiers of 2 skills each
- Pick one of two skills at each tier
- Can pick other skills after reaching tier 5 and wrapping around
- One skill point spent per skill to unlock its effects
- Maximum level is 15
- Gain story points have a variety of uses in the campaign; 4 per level
- Also keep gaining story points at a steady rate at max level
- Story point uses often grant "bonus XP" which increases XP gain
- "Weaker" uses of story points grant more bonus XP
0.9
- Increased maximum player level to 50 for the moment; pending another look at skills
- Removed Surveying skill; can now survey planets with any hazard rating
- Increased cost by a flat +10 supplies
- Significantly reduced the value of survey data (30k for Class V; was: 100k)
0.8.1
- Coordinated Maneuvers maximum now applies after bonus from current ship is subtracted, not before
- Recovery Operations: level 3 now provides +50% fuel found instead of +10% general salvage
- Added "Converted Hangar" modspec to level 2 Fighter Doctrine
- Fleet Logistics:
- Swapped level 1 and 2 effects
- Maintenance cost reduction is now 30% (was: 50%)
- Helmsmanship: level 3 bonus now applies at up to 5% flux (was: 1%)
- Advanced Countermeasures:
- Level 1: increased to -50% kinetic damage vs armor (was: 20%)
- Level 2: increased to -25% HE damage vs shields (was: 20%)
- Level 3: damage to fighters/missiles increased by 50% (was: 30%)
- Fighter Doctrine: bonuses reduced to 15% (were: 25%)
- Carrier Command: bonuses reduced to 20% (were: 25%)
- Wing Commander: level 3 accuracy bonus reduced to 50% (was: 100%)
0.8
- Broad skill rework