My first go-round was all about powering up BOFFs for access to powers. Then it became clear that a ship filled with "Chiefs" and no "Indians" was ridiculous. Why have 5-10 "Commanders" when the console does not allow for anything beyond Ensign or Lt? It would also make no sense aboard a ship that a Commander would man the Ensign/Lt. stations, much less, Commanders manng all stations. Enter a little role-playing with judicious promotions along with bringing some "redshirts" down on the away team. This all added a little more cohesion and game play satisfaction (not to mention training savings). However, one snag continues to undermine this and unravels the entire point/plot: Specialization Stations.
If a BOFF cannot have a specialization token until Commander rank, then why are there Lt and Lt Commander Specialization stations?! It is goofy and pointless. Either Specialization tokens should be unlocked for BOFFs starting at Lt. rank or ALL specialization seats should be Commander level.
Also rather than add a second thread, I will also add being unable to train a qualified, "ranked" BOFF in skills because one doesn't currently have a ship with a "Commander-level" seat/console in "Science" or "Tactical" is equally senseless. Nothing is more pointless and frustrating to buy a set of class or specialization manuals for a group of BOFFs to find out that one of them cannot train past Lt or Lt Commander in say, Temporal Operative because there is no higher seat in current possession for Tactical-Temporal unlike that of Engineer-Temporal. Menus are tedious to navigate and it is difficult to confirm at a glance what the highest rank is for a class with all the ships on hand. Thus, 15 minutes of button mashing is required every time to make sure one isn't stuck with 4-8 manuals clogging limited inventory.
SIMPLE FIX FOR BOTH: OPEN SPEC TOKENS AT Lt. RANK & ALLOW SKILLS TRAINING REGARDLESS OF SEATS ON HAND IF BOFF IS RANKED ACCORDINGLY.
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I can see equating the toon ship as one as prestigious as that of the Enterprise for the sake of commissions. It is easy to understand an officer preferring to serve as XO/1st officer aboard a prominent vessel over commanding a supply ship, for instance. However, that logic wears thin when considering Ensign and Lt stations. The idea of a contingent of "Rikers" serving aboard a ship to fill second seats doesn't seem very plausible. It also doesn't exactly make sense regarding specialization seats.
We never really saw much in the way of promotions during any of the Star Trek TV series.
Riker, Wesley, Sisko and Kira are the only on-screen promotions I can remember.
If we are on the same page, which may/may not be the case, this is NOT the case at all for console and makes little sense to me why it would be different between the Console/PC versions.
To be clear:
I have for the sake of simplicity but one ship, which is T6 and arranged as follows:
Tac: Lt Commander
Eng: Commander
Eng/Int.: Lt.
Sci: Lt.
What this means (for console) is as follows:
- The ONLY Boffs that can use Commander level SPACE manuals is ENG since I have a Commander-level seat.
- When trying to train Commander for ANY OTHER Boff, I would not be permitted to do so. I can buy/make the mauals but will NOT be able to use them and give the skill UNLESS I OWN A SHIP that literally has that seat, equip said seat and then unlock the skill via the ship's Boff menu.
- In this case, Tac Boffs max at Lt. Commander and Sci maxes out at Lt.
- Away team/ground skills of any kind may be trained assuming the character has the rank
As for Specialized skills...
- ONLY Eng Boffs can train the Int. Specialization... and ONLY up to the Lt. level.
- Non Eng Boff's can not train the spec because they cannot sit in that ship's seat
- No Boff may train in ANY OTHER SPACE SPECIALIZATION WHATSOEVER, since I do not own another ship that has a Com/MW/etc. seat.
The absurdity of this setup is mind-numbing, to say nothing of the currently unusable manuals that must clog storage or be destroyed because they cannot be used for the above mentioned reasons. If PC differs, you have no idea what a PITA you have neatly evaded.
Again, your interpretation certainly provides rationale for the far-fetched scenario wherein Commanders (or perhaps even Captains) might line up... even for the lowly Ensign seat if need be... just for that chance to serve under the distinguished Fleet Admiral X's command. However thinly, the explanation might fall together... but for the specialization seats.
A specialization requires commander level to receive the token (at least for console), so theoretically, no Boff will have a specialization that is not a commander. In practice, the Jems come with Boffs that have a pre-trained token, but that (I believe) is a fluke and they cannot utilize any other tokens until promotion to Commander.
Thus, (In theory) EVERY specialization-capable Boff is/must be a Commander. Fair enough. Yet the overwhelming majority of specialization seats on board the various ships (nearly all of those in my possession) are strangely designed use for those ranking Lt. Commander or below. What that means in practice is that Starfleet/KDF have envisioned a collection of ships that would have to be manned by Commander-level Boffs... in order to use... Lt.-level stations?
Now the highly-unlikely, but uniquely plausible special captain/loyalty idea goes out the window since Starfleet/KDF are making ships by the batch that call for personal demotion to even use the seat effectively. As a unique occurrence, maybe. A a general practice? Absurd.
Solution? Again: Either unlock spec tokens/manuals at Lt level... OR make ALL Spec seats Commander level.