So, last night an idea about the bridge officer power system came into my head. Thought I might just lay it out and see what people think about it, even if there's absolutely no chance that it'll be incorporated into STO.
(Posting here because I'm interested in hearing PvP-centric views of it.)
For a long while now, there've been a couple of things about the STO boff power system that bugged me. First, it really seems like that there are some things that boffs should be able to do on any ship, trained or not. I mean, my eng boff seriously can't figure out how to reroute emergency power to the shields system without special training? These basic abilities really seem like they'd be a function of the ship or regular crew training, and specialized training would only be required if you wanted to get more out of them. In addition, it seems like some types of ships would have focuses that would allow them to provide some basic levels of these abilities -- for example, a cruiser would probably have enhanced auxiliary and EPS systems to allow basic versions of AtSIF. However, some abilities (like Gravity Well) would make sense to require extra training.
Second, it seems weird to have multiple copies of abilities. There's only one emergency power system, so why do I need to carry around two copies of the EPtS ability? For that matter, my boff either knows how to do treknobabble magic to make EPtS more effective, or he doesn't -- why is it possible to have multiple levels of EPtS abilities trained at one time?
Together, these can be summarized as:
- Some abilities seem like they should be common to all ships. (e.g. EPtX) Others seem like a specialized ship should be able to accomplish them. (e.g. AtSIF) Then there are those that would logically require specialized boff training to have available. (e.g. GW)
- Multiple copies of abilities, especially at different levels, doesn't quite make sense -- or fit in with the Star Trek theme. First, there's only one underlying system, so why have multiple copies of an ability? Second, either my boff knows how to do treknobabble magic and get more out of an ability, or he doesn't -- there's only one level of effectiveness at which a particular ability works.
How can we fix these while bringing a more Trek-like feel to the bridge officer power system? I present to you a possible solution:
- Give all ships a basic set of low-level abilities. Next, give specialized ships a smaller set of abilities that represents their focus. Finally, make high-level abilities available for unlock by specialized boff training. This ensures that there is only one copy of an ability available at any time, while expanding ship versatility and preventing your boffs from looking like complete idiots who can't complete the simplest tasks.
- Rework how boff training is done. Instead of granting particular copies of abilities to boffs in the Ens, Lt, LtC, and Cm slots, move to a perk-based system of leveling that grants bonuses to the boff powers. This is a result of moving to single-copy version of the current power system, but also allows for more diversity in bridge officer training.
(For the purposes of this solution, "ensign-level abilities" refer to abilities that are available to ensign-rank boffs (e.g. FAW, EPtS, TSS); "lieutenant-level abilities" means powers that are available at lieutenant rank (e.g. CRF, AtSIF, SS), and so on for LtC and Cm.)
First, we give all ships some basic set of abilities. Looking at the current boff power system, most of the ens-level abilities seem like they could be used by an untrained bridge officer on any ship. (Most ships should be able to reroute emergency power to any subsystem, activate the built-in hazard emitters, or deploy a tactical team, without any specialized bridge officer training.) So, for starters, we give every ship a basic, rank 1 version of all ens-level abilities. These rank 1 abilities could have the normal single-copy cooldown, like 45s for EPtS; how powering up and reducing the cooldown of these abilities will be described later. This will allow for initial diversity in ship powers; even if your ship or your bridge officers aren't specially trained to deploy an engineering team, they'll still be able to pull off a basic version of it.
Then, to help represent the different focuses of specialized ships, we give each class of ship an inherent set of abilities that represents its particular focus. For example, cruisers have a strong engineering focus and are designed for long-range exploration and support roles, and probably have enhanced auxiliary and shield systems; we could give them rank 1 copies of all lieutenant-level engineering abilities. Similarly, sci ships could get rank 1 copies of all Lt-level sci abilities, and escorts could get rank 1 copies of all Lt-level tac abilities. This allows for specialization by ship class; while an escort may not have built-in systems to scramble enemy sensors, the tactical bent probably means that its it is pre-configured to allow for a basic cannon rapid fire cycle. Conversely, a science ship probably can emit a charged particle burst without any special training on the part of the science officer, but it doesn't by default get those nifty systems to set up different mine dispersal patterns. (Klingon-side, the set of class-based inherent abilities could be tweaked.)
Second, boff training would be reworked. Instead of directly granting bridge officers particular ranks of abilities, they'd instead be moved to a perk-based leveling system. Remember how the inherent abilities of ships are only at rank 1 and have the normal single-copy cooldown? Well, we'd introduce perks that allow your bridge officer cooldowns to improve the power of abilities (i.e. improve the rank) and reduce the cooldown to global (i.e. simulate the effect of having multiple copies of an ability). For example, for the EPtS ability, we could introduce five perks: two to increase the rank to 2 and 3, and three to reduce the cooldown from 45 seconds (the single-copy cooldown) to 30s (the global cooldown). For those high-level abilities that aren't granted by the ship, we introduce perks that allow a bridge officer to grant that particular ability at rank 1, and then we add on rank up/cooldown reduction perks. This basic perk setup allows this boff power system to be close to our current system -- you could improve EPtS to rank 3 and 30s cooldown, if you wanted -- while at the same time introducing far more veratility, in that players can now choose to spread their boff's specializations across more abilities, instead of just the 4 (max) that we currently have.
To align this with the current bridge officer station setups, perks must be chosen while "leveling up" a boff and perks are tiered to bridge officer rank; perks chosen at higher levels aren't active if the boff is assigned to a lower-level station. For the fine details, we can say that no more than 1 of each perk is active across your entire bridge crew at one time.
That pretty much outlines the basic boff power system rethinking that I had. I really think that this system would add a lot more diversity in power choices and usage to current gameplay, and not only better reflect the specialization of ships, but also bring the feel of bridge officer powers close to Star Trek. If we were at all serious about it, we could tweak different parts of it (like how are the perks tiered? are there too many tac ablities being given out to all ships? etc.) until it was the best it could be. Unfortunately, I'm getting the feeling that I've spent too much time thinking over something that'll never happen.

Oh well; a captain can dream, right?
Comments
I was going to reply to this aspect when you were talking about it in OPvP last night, but I was trying to get my two new guys to 20/22 to get their anniversary ships.
First, the second part:
Outside of the potential nightmare for the UI, I've oft wondered about this.
If Jack knows ET3, why doesn't Jack know ET2 and ET1? If Jack's sitting at a LCdr station, sure - he can use ET3. If he's sitting at a LT station, why can't he use ET2? If he's at a EN station - why can't he use ET1? I've got a long post out there somewhere about this kind of thing.
Personally, I like the following scenario for BOFFs. Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, and Hobby. They have four abilities (well, at Commander rank). They have that ability they majored in, the ability that they minored in, the ability they did as an elective, and the ability they did as a hobby. Let's look at Jack again, eh?
Say Jack majored in AtS, minored in DEM, took an elective in RSP, and for his hobby he tinkered around with ET. AtS3, DEM2, RSP1, ET1. That's what Jack could do in a Cmdr station. In a LCdr station, he'd be looking at AtS2, DEM1, RSP1, ET1. LT - AtS1, RSP1, ET1. EN - ET1. Basically a case that the station is not complex enough or does not have access to do everything that he can.
Of course, this means that Jack could minor/elective/hobby in three EN abilities to have 3 abilities even while in an EN station. But if he can do that, why not? Again, that's where I ran into the massively cluttered UI - because even EN stations would provide 3 abilities and LT stations would provide 4. So it would bump the usual number of abilities from 12 to 19 on a ship.
I might try to hunt down my post on that...meh, maybe not.
Second, the first part:
Tom's sitting at a station. Jerry's sitting at a station. Tom uses EPtS1. This will trigger a CD on the EPt system. When the EPt system is ready, Jerry can use EPtS1. The EPt system will be ready to be used again before Tom's ready to use it again...tada, Jerry can use it while Tom's still getting ready to use it. Thus why having multiple copies may make sense...
I'll come back and read the rest, but I just remembered wanting to comment on the part I quoted when you mentioned it last night...
Actually, the perk system I outlined allows Jack to do just this. Suppose Jack took the ET Rank 2 perk at Lt level and trained ET rank 3 at LtC level. (The rank 3 perk would require the rank 2 perk.) If you put Jack in a LtC station, then the ET rank 3 perk will be active, and your ET ability will always be at rank 3. If you put Jack in a Lt station, then the ET rank 3 perk wouldn't be active, but the ET rank 2 perk would -- the ET ability is now at rank 2. (Justify this by saying that the station doesn't provide the right interface for Jack to better coordinate his ET or something.) Compare that to the current system, where even if Jack knows ET3, if he's sitting at a Lt station -- too bad, no ET for you.
UI-wise, this might add a whole bunch of new buttons, but I think that the benefits to diversity of powers is huge.
Wait, you're saying that Tom needs 45s to remember how to use EPtS again? Or that Tom's EPtS button just locks in place until 45s later? But Jerry (sitting right next to him) can reach over and push the button just fine? That's what doesn't make sense to me. There's only one emergency power system; when it recharges, any boff should be able to use it again, subject to the individual ability cooldowns. (i.e. emergency power might recharge after 30s, but it's not safe to divert that much power again to the shield system until 45s later. No boff can activate EPtS before 45s, but any boff can activate it afterwards.)
The single-copy-of-abilities idea that the system I outlined represents that idea -- an ability cooldown is the same no matter who used it last. In addition, this system decouples individual abilities from boffs; you (the captain) just say "Reroute emergency power to shields!", and one of your boffs goes and does it. Note that the perk system allows boffs to lower the individual ability cooldowns -- say that Tom's training allows him to finagle something cute with the shield system (override the safeties?): boom, that's 5s off the EPtS cooldown, which is now at 40s, even if Jerry were the one to (behind the scenes) actually hit the EPtS button. Your boffs aren't just spending all of their time watching their consoles and seeing the pretty clocks tick down; they're applying their knowledge where they can, when they can.
I appreciate the feedback, virusdancer; I look forward to hearing more!
/silliness
But seriously, I think I laid out a good reason why it doesn't make sense for Tom and Jerry to have separate buttons. Either it's emergency power is recharged and it's safe to pump moar powah into the shield system, or it's not; there's fundamentally only one "copy" of any given ability on a ship. We shouldn't have to wait 45s (baseline) for Tom to collect his wits and remember how to push his button, and Jerry shouldn't be overeager and blow out the shields by pushing the button too early.