Hey! Are Captains still allowed to 'Promote' their bridge officers?

wdwormack214 · November 2018

I probably should've brought this up back in August of this year, when I 'resumed' running STAR TREK ONLINE, after a FOUR YEAR ABSENCE. But I was just totally surprised that my account, WAS STILL ACTIVE/AVAILABLE, despite the fact that I hadn't been using the program for so long.

Please forgive my INCESSANT RAMBLING, any way getting back to my ORIGINAL INQUIRY, I'm a Starship Captain who's been STEADILY 'Promoted', throughout my time in service with Starfleet. I have several characters who have attained 'Flag' rank, but the officers who've been serving alongside them in their commands, have been literally FROZEN/LOCKED in the 'grades'/'ranks' they've held since Admiral Quinn, 'promoted', a "green-as-grass" 'cadet' who found him/her self commanding a starship after the Captain was killed, when he responded to alleged "distress call".

This officer, has been constantly promoted, but the bridge officers who've "faced life & death" with alongside him/her. Who've "accompanied" him/her on away missions/landing parties, are not being recieving the "due recognition, they so richly deserve"!

Hell, people! Even Spock, who always said, he "never sought command" eventually wound up in the "center seat"!

Do we get to promote bridge officers to the point that they will assume their own commands?

I really want to know.

Just askin' here.

angrytarg · November 2018

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Also no.

Seriously though, the way STO deals with "rank" is a bit weird. All our BOFFS inevitably all end up as Commanders since we want them to use all their abilities, which results in a senior staff of 14 Commanders on board of our ships. BOFF ranks are really as nonsensical as player "ranks". The players are always captains and the rank of our BOFFs shouldn't influence their abilities but maybe at best soft skills like HP, something like morale or such.

Over the years the collective forum mind came up with some ideas to use "Captain" BOFFs, like customizable fleet support or pet ships and so forth. Ultimately though all of those are just pipe dreams. There is nothing to do here and I don't think Cryptic is working on that field at the moment.

wdwormack214 · November 2018

> @angrytarg said:
> Short answer: No.
>
> Long answer: Also no.
>
> Seriously though, the way STO deals with "rank" is a bit weird. All our BOFFS inevitably all end up as Commanders since we want them to use all their abilities, which results in a senior staff of 14 Commanders on board of our ships. BOFF ranks are really as nonsensical as player "ranks". The players are always captains and the rank of our BOFFs shouldn't influence their abilities but maybe at best soft skills like HP, something like morale or such.
>
> Over the years the collective forum mind came up with some ideas to use "Captain" BOFFs, like customizable fleet support or pet ships and so forth. Ultimately though all of those are just pipe dreams. There is nothing to do here and I don't think Cryptic is working on that field at the moment.

All I can to say to that is, DAMN!

THAT ABSOLUTELY SUCKS KLINGON TARG PELLETS!

seaofsorrows · November 2018

westmetals wrote: »

You could, theoretically, save your BOFF's tailor settings, then create a new character using their name and tailor settings.

Otherwise, no, you cannot promote past Commander.

This also works if you have a white/green/blue quality officer and you want to replace them with a purple quality but have it be the same officer. Go to the tailor, save their look/outift then discharge them. Get a purple of the same race and gender, give them the same name as the officer you deleted and then apply the look in the tailor. Boom.. upgraded to VR quality.

spiritborn · November 2018

I think part of the problem is that mechanics wise STO has only ensign, lieutenant, commander and captain level ground mobs (frigate, cruiser, battleship and dreadnaught for space) note that these mean the "difficulty" levels and not character levels.

Ground maps are scaled with the idea that the player always has 4 boffs with him/her unless it's specifically done otherwise so promiting your boffs past commander can cause issues there.

the way I justify it in my mind is twofold, first that my UFP characters are on special command (thus doing duties normally meant for a captain dispite being a flag officer and second that flag rank of character is provisional to that special assignment and those characters are given a rank more fitting for their seniority and career once that assignment ends.

dracounguis · November 2018

It'd be nice if we could promote some boffs to Captain. And then, like on ground, have a team of boffs running other ships we own for missions. Just image letting your boffs drive some of your other ships. It'd be cool. Till you realize the AI is stupid and they all fly into stars, black holes or linger near Borg Cubes as they explode!

renata666 · January 2019

This is what I do.

First, I always promote all BOFFs to the highest possible rank I can. However, the rank that shows on their unforms is how I refer to them. My first officer is always Commander, assuming the MC is a captain or higher.. Everyone else sort of trickles down from there, with the newest BOFFs having the rank of Ensign.

Sadly, this only really works for Federation crews. I've yet to find a KDF uniform that has rank insignia. And not every Romulan uniform has rank insignia either. Some do, some don't. And, those that do, may not have insignia to cover all ranks.

The guidelines I follow are mostly for story telling purposes. So, take it or leave it. I can feasibly see having up to 7 ACTUAL full commanders on a ship. Essentially, your first officer and 6 department heads. I just wish Cryptic would make it possible to promote BOFFs to captain, so I could have a "Captain of Engineering."

baddmoonrizin · January 2019

Necro. /Thread

Hey! Are Captains still allowed to 'Promote' their bridge officers?

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