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[Guide] Admiralty and Duty Officers for New Players
ultimatenewbie
Member Posts: 269 Arc User
Introduction
This New Player's Guide is part of a series on STO - see also:
Ideally, over time I will add additional guides on other topics.
The information in this guide is current as at January 2021. This Guide will be biased towards Federation players, given they are the large majority of the player base - however they will be broadly applicable to KDF and Romulan characters too. As with all of my guide threads, I express my opinion but I try to be fair and balanced. In addition, please feel free to suggest additions/improvements below and I'll include them in the main thread (and credit you for it).
As this is a guide for new players, I have deliberately limited references to high-end ships, powers and Zen store items; it is unlikely that a newbie can afford a 200 million Energy Credit item from the Exchange to support a particular high-end build, so I have not addressed that here unless for context only.
Guide - Admiralty and Duty Officer System for New Players
Duty Officer System (see below for the Admiralty System)
General points
You will receive access to the 'Duty Officer' system from Level 11, and receive your first complement of doffs at the same time. You can acquire additional doffs from Starfleet Academy (the 'Personnel Officer' NPC) - also remember to visit the Historian near the Personnel Officer and do the Midterm exam for a quick way to earn 480 Dilithium (once per day); Google "STO Lore" for the answers!
In STO, the Duty Officer system provides experience, bonuses to space and ground combat, income (including dilithium) and some unique equipment. The Duty Officer system also provides gradual access to Transwarp destinations via the 'Diplomacy' track, however since the amalgamation of sector blocks from Season 10 this has been less helpful. As you progress up in each of the tracks (Diplomacy, Science, Military, Trade etc), you will gain additional titles, better quality Duty Officers and an Ambassador's uniform at the end of the Diplomacy track.
Some players really focus on the doff system as a source of XP, income and for roleplaying purposes (eg, if you're trying to emulate Dr McCoy, the Medical track of the Duty Officer system will open up the 'Doctor' title). Experiment, and play as you see fit. Particularly at low levels, the doff system can help players increase rank up, particularly as doff missions just run in the background and can be initiated en masse just before you log off and can be cashed in when you log in the next day (or whatever).
Understanding the Detail
You begin with 100 doff spaces, however initially you will start with only a dozen or so doffs. Make sure you regularly visit the Personnel Officer on Earth Spacedock to fill up the empty slots - you can also purchase boxes of various doffs from the C-Store for 300 Zen if you wish (but it is definitely not essential). This will give you more doffs to send on missions.
The duty officer missions that are available vary based on which sectors you are in. In addition to map-specific missions, your Department Heads also have specific missions. Whilst they are a more stable list, remember to click on your 'First Officer' assignments as you travel between sectors, as new Diplomatic missions can become available there.
You can have up to 20 doff missions running simultaneously. Each mission will have different requirements. For instance, a Science doff mission might be limited to Science officers generally (so your Tactical, Engineering, Civilian etc doffs cant run it) and Medical in particular (eg, just a Nurse, Doctor etc) must perform a mission. If you dont have a required doff in your roster, you will see a red triangle informing you that you cannot start the mission.
In addition to these broad requirements, missions will have a certain percentage chance of 'critical success', 'success', 'failure' and 'disaster' - these metrics will largely be influenced by the traits of the duty officers that you use. For instance, if your doff has a 'Tactful' trait in a diplomatic mission that gives you bonus chance of critical success, you will see your crit success (and success) percentages increase by using that doff over one without it (ceteris paribus).
The game - helpfully - automatically suggests doffs for each mission. I use this extensively, rather than manually trying to select the most optimal doff. Generally the choices are very good - however sometimes the mission will use a doff that was required in the next mission that I was about to start, which can be frustrating. @Thunderfoot006 has previously made the point that, when assigning Doffs to missions, it is best to focus on reducing the chance of 'failure'/'disaster', rather than maximising the chance of a 'critical success' - this leads to more dependable progress and rewards from the doff system.
Doff Quality
As with most aspects of STO, there are various grades of quality for doffs - Common (white), Uncommon (Green), Rare (Blue), Very Rare (Purple), Ultra Rare (deep Purple) and Epic (Orange). Epic and Ultra Rare doffs dont happen too often.
Purple doffs are nice to have, and are rewards for levelling up to 'rank 4' of each doff track (Diplomacy, Espionage etc), plus from certain missions and rewards (for example, the doff 'Law' from the mission 'Installation 18'). However, Green quality doffs will get the job done for the most part, generally having a 70-80 per cent chance of success. White doffs are handy to have to donate to fleet projects if you actively participate in a fleet.
Active Space and Ground Doffs
Duty Officers can also be made "active"; five for space and for ground warfare. The various doffs have different effects - eg the Nurse has a chance to beam down a medic to heal you during ground combat.
Higher quality doffs will lead to a higher chance of this occurring; certain purple quality doffs are highly sought after by high-end players to provide advantage in combat and can command prices of tens of millions of energy credits.
Active doffs make a material difference to the effectiveness of your ship and Captain in battle. Make sure your active doffs actually support your ship's build - for instance, Damage Control Engineers greatly help reduce the cooldown times for Emergency Power to Weapons and Shields - if you dont have these bridge officer powers on your ship, then swap your active doffs out for something that your doffs can assist in. As you change ships, it can be easy to forget to sub out new doffs.
Admiralty System
General points
You will receive access to the Admiralty system from Level 52, when you are an Admiral (General if KDF). In many respects, the Admiralty system functions the same way as the Duty Officer system and similarly provides various rewards including XP, Dilithium and other things (eg, Prisoners and Colonists, both of which are helpful for certain doff missions that rewards Dilithium, GPL etc).
Upon reaching level 52, you will automatically receive an 'Admiralty Card' for each of the ships in your active ship list (see the Ship Selector NPC at various locations (ESD, DS9 etc)). However, you will not receive a card for each of the ships that you have previously used but dismissed, nor will you automatically receive a card for ships in your 'drydock' unless you cycle them through your active list of ships again. Therefore, do not dismiss any of your early ships as you level up until you reach Level 52.
Once you have an admiralty card from a ship you can fly, you can dismiss the ship and you will retain the Admiralty card. At no point will you be able to fly an Admiralty ship, just as at no time can you become one of your doffs.
Understanding the Detail
The Admiralty system will generally provide three types of mission - Tactial, Engineering or Science. These missions will require a certain amount of points, generally biased towards their profession, in order to complete successfully. You can visually determine the type of mission by looking at the picture at the left - it will have the following info:
As you level up, I strongly encourage you to consider stocking up on Science ships - there seems to be* a disproportionate bias in the Admiralty system towards missions that require additional Science points, and therefore having access to more Science ships means you can complete more missions. This is concerning if you are a KDF player, given that faction does not have many Science ships, and if you are a Romulan then you are totally gimped as you will have to rely solely on Event ships such as the Anniversary Krenim Science Ship. Sorry.
*My perspective could be biased. Make sure you visit the Narendra System in the Beta Quadrant to receive the USS Sally Ride epic-quality science ship for free.
Unlike the doff system, the game will not suggest a ship for you to use (you can have up to three ships for any one mission). This means you'll have to fiddle around a bit to find the optimal combination of ships for each mission. Also, pay attention if you intend to use a single-use ship - wasting them on a forlorn hope is not an effective use of those scare resources.
Admiralty Card Quality
Also unlike the doff system, Admiralty cards from Tier 6 ships will have, overall, more points than Tier 5, 4 etc ships. Tier 1 ships (such as the Miranda) are suitable only for the easiest of missions or only when accompanying more powerful ships. In addition, ships will have different modifiers on them - eg, + X Science points if alone (note: small craft like shuttles dont count as a ship when applying modifiers like X science points if alone - so use them for additional critical chance etc). When I find a link that has all modifiers set out I'll add that here.
However, similar to doffs, ships in STO come in various grades of quality:
In addition, completing (or critical success) certain Admiralty missions may award you a single-use high quality Admiralty card (eg, a Pilot Escort) - this does not/not mean you can then select a pilot escort from the Ship Selector NPC and go fly it into battle against the Iconians. Sorry.
Again, as with all things in STO, the higher quality of your ships, the better chance of triggering a critical success in your Admiralty mission.
Efficacy
The Admiralty System is very helpful in generating material amounts of XP and dilithium in late-game play - this is particularly the case with the Klingon admiralty missions as they have more missions that award dilithium. Admiralty becomes available at a handy time so you can start stockpiling dilithium to convert to Zen to purchase a competitive C-Store ship or alternatively to upgrading of weapons and equipment to Mk XIV via the R&D system just as you reach the pinnacle of ship combat in STO. In addition, the additional XP can help bridge the level gap between certain end-game missions, particularly in the Delta Quadrant, or once you reach Level 60 the XP is extremely helpful in quickly levelling up further to gain 'Specialisation points', which I've outlined in my Guide on the Skill Point System.
Have fun!
This New Player's Guide is part of a series on STO - see also:
- Early Decisions - Ultimate Newbie's guide for new players (the main thread);
- [Guide] Starship Equipment, Weapons and Consoles for New Players; and
- [Guide] Captain Skill Points and Specialisation System for New Players.
Ideally, over time I will add additional guides on other topics.
The information in this guide is current as at January 2021. This Guide will be biased towards Federation players, given they are the large majority of the player base - however they will be broadly applicable to KDF and Romulan characters too. As with all of my guide threads, I express my opinion but I try to be fair and balanced. In addition, please feel free to suggest additions/improvements below and I'll include them in the main thread (and credit you for it).
As this is a guide for new players, I have deliberately limited references to high-end ships, powers and Zen store items; it is unlikely that a newbie can afford a 200 million Energy Credit item from the Exchange to support a particular high-end build, so I have not addressed that here unless for context only.
Guide - Admiralty and Duty Officer System for New Players
Duty Officer System (see below for the Admiralty System)
General points
You will receive access to the 'Duty Officer' system from Level 11, and receive your first complement of doffs at the same time. You can acquire additional doffs from Starfleet Academy (the 'Personnel Officer' NPC) - also remember to visit the Historian near the Personnel Officer and do the Midterm exam for a quick way to earn 480 Dilithium (once per day); Google "STO Lore" for the answers!
In STO, the Duty Officer system provides experience, bonuses to space and ground combat, income (including dilithium) and some unique equipment. The Duty Officer system also provides gradual access to Transwarp destinations via the 'Diplomacy' track, however since the amalgamation of sector blocks from Season 10 this has been less helpful. As you progress up in each of the tracks (Diplomacy, Science, Military, Trade etc), you will gain additional titles, better quality Duty Officers and an Ambassador's uniform at the end of the Diplomacy track.
Some players really focus on the doff system as a source of XP, income and for roleplaying purposes (eg, if you're trying to emulate Dr McCoy, the Medical track of the Duty Officer system will open up the 'Doctor' title). Experiment, and play as you see fit. Particularly at low levels, the doff system can help players increase rank up, particularly as doff missions just run in the background and can be initiated en masse just before you log off and can be cashed in when you log in the next day (or whatever).
Understanding the Detail
You begin with 100 doff spaces, however initially you will start with only a dozen or so doffs. Make sure you regularly visit the Personnel Officer on Earth Spacedock to fill up the empty slots - you can also purchase boxes of various doffs from the C-Store for 300 Zen if you wish (but it is definitely not essential). This will give you more doffs to send on missions.
The duty officer missions that are available vary based on which sectors you are in. In addition to map-specific missions, your Department Heads also have specific missions. Whilst they are a more stable list, remember to click on your 'First Officer' assignments as you travel between sectors, as new Diplomatic missions can become available there.
You can have up to 20 doff missions running simultaneously. Each mission will have different requirements. For instance, a Science doff mission might be limited to Science officers generally (so your Tactical, Engineering, Civilian etc doffs cant run it) and Medical in particular (eg, just a Nurse, Doctor etc) must perform a mission. If you dont have a required doff in your roster, you will see a red triangle informing you that you cannot start the mission.
In addition to these broad requirements, missions will have a certain percentage chance of 'critical success', 'success', 'failure' and 'disaster' - these metrics will largely be influenced by the traits of the duty officers that you use. For instance, if your doff has a 'Tactful' trait in a diplomatic mission that gives you bonus chance of critical success, you will see your crit success (and success) percentages increase by using that doff over one without it (ceteris paribus).
The game - helpfully - automatically suggests doffs for each mission. I use this extensively, rather than manually trying to select the most optimal doff. Generally the choices are very good - however sometimes the mission will use a doff that was required in the next mission that I was about to start, which can be frustrating. @Thunderfoot006 has previously made the point that, when assigning Doffs to missions, it is best to focus on reducing the chance of 'failure'/'disaster', rather than maximising the chance of a 'critical success' - this leads to more dependable progress and rewards from the doff system.
Doff Quality
As with most aspects of STO, there are various grades of quality for doffs - Common (white), Uncommon (Green), Rare (Blue), Very Rare (Purple), Ultra Rare (deep Purple) and Epic (Orange). Epic and Ultra Rare doffs dont happen too often.
Purple doffs are nice to have, and are rewards for levelling up to 'rank 4' of each doff track (Diplomacy, Espionage etc), plus from certain missions and rewards (for example, the doff 'Law' from the mission 'Installation 18'). However, Green quality doffs will get the job done for the most part, generally having a 70-80 per cent chance of success. White doffs are handy to have to donate to fleet projects if you actively participate in a fleet.
Active Space and Ground Doffs
Duty Officers can also be made "active"; five for space and for ground warfare. The various doffs have different effects - eg the Nurse has a chance to beam down a medic to heal you during ground combat.
Higher quality doffs will lead to a higher chance of this occurring; certain purple quality doffs are highly sought after by high-end players to provide advantage in combat and can command prices of tens of millions of energy credits.
Active doffs make a material difference to the effectiveness of your ship and Captain in battle. Make sure your active doffs actually support your ship's build - for instance, Damage Control Engineers greatly help reduce the cooldown times for Emergency Power to Weapons and Shields - if you dont have these bridge officer powers on your ship, then swap your active doffs out for something that your doffs can assist in. As you change ships, it can be easy to forget to sub out new doffs.
Admiralty System
General points
You will receive access to the Admiralty system from Level 52, when you are an Admiral (General if KDF). In many respects, the Admiralty system functions the same way as the Duty Officer system and similarly provides various rewards including XP, Dilithium and other things (eg, Prisoners and Colonists, both of which are helpful for certain doff missions that rewards Dilithium, GPL etc).
Upon reaching level 52, you will automatically receive an 'Admiralty Card' for each of the ships in your active ship list (see the Ship Selector NPC at various locations (ESD, DS9 etc)). However, you will not receive a card for each of the ships that you have previously used but dismissed, nor will you automatically receive a card for ships in your 'drydock' unless you cycle them through your active list of ships again. Therefore, do not dismiss any of your early ships as you level up until you reach Level 52.
Once you have an admiralty card from a ship you can fly, you can dismiss the ship and you will retain the Admiralty card. At no point will you be able to fly an Admiralty ship, just as at no time can you become one of your doffs.
Understanding the Detail
The Admiralty system will generally provide three types of mission - Tactial, Engineering or Science. These missions will require a certain amount of points, generally biased towards their profession, in order to complete successfully. You can visually determine the type of mission by looking at the picture at the left - it will have the following info:
- Around the border will be blue (Federation), red (KDF), green (Romulan), or yellow (Ferengi)
- At the centre, there will be a profession branch symbol which shows the profession that needs the most points - Engineering (Yellow), Tactical (Red) or Science (Blue);
- At the bottom right will be a symbol indicating the type of rewards - Skill Points (green arrow), crafting materials (Blue circle symbol), Energy Credits (blue EC symbol), Prisoners or Colonists (light grey person symbol), mystery item (dark grey ? box), Dilithium (purple Dil symbol) or Gold-Pressed Latinum (GPL symbol).
- In addition to the picture, look at the 'Event' on the right - these rewards will be in addition to those outlined above. Eg a Dil mission could have an event that also rewards crafting materials.
As you level up, I strongly encourage you to consider stocking up on Science ships - there seems to be* a disproportionate bias in the Admiralty system towards missions that require additional Science points, and therefore having access to more Science ships means you can complete more missions. This is concerning if you are a KDF player, given that faction does not have many Science ships, and if you are a Romulan then you are totally gimped as you will have to rely solely on Event ships such as the Anniversary Krenim Science Ship. Sorry.
*My perspective could be biased. Make sure you visit the Narendra System in the Beta Quadrant to receive the USS Sally Ride epic-quality science ship for free.
Unlike the doff system, the game will not suggest a ship for you to use (you can have up to three ships for any one mission). This means you'll have to fiddle around a bit to find the optimal combination of ships for each mission. Also, pay attention if you intend to use a single-use ship - wasting them on a forlorn hope is not an effective use of those scare resources.
Admiralty Card Quality
Also unlike the doff system, Admiralty cards from Tier 6 ships will have, overall, more points than Tier 5, 4 etc ships. Tier 1 ships (such as the Miranda) are suitable only for the easiest of missions or only when accompanying more powerful ships. In addition, ships will have different modifiers on them - eg, + X Science points if alone (note: small craft like shuttles dont count as a ship when applying modifiers like X science points if alone - so use them for additional critical chance etc). When I find a link that has all modifiers set out I'll add that here.
However, similar to doffs, ships in STO come in various grades of quality:
- Common (white) cards are the 'free' ones that Admiral Quinn or Chancellor J'mpok gives you leave to acquire as you level up.
- Uncommon (green) quality cards are the lesser ship rewards from Lockboxes (eg, Mirror ships that can be bought on the Exchange);
- Rare (blue) quality cards include most C-Store ships (not Fleet quality);
- Very Rare (purple) quality cards include some C-Store Ships (such as the fleet-quality Pilot Ships, T5 Odysseys, T6 Flagships) and all other Fleet quality ships; and
- Ultra Rare (deep purple) quality cards are the Event ships (such as from the 2016 Anniversary) and most (all?) single-use cards.
- Upon completing the Federation and Klingon Empire Admiralty trees, you will be awarded an Epic (Orange) quality ship card (one from each tree). Also the U.S.S. Pastak is a reward from the current Featured Episode (Time and Tide).
In addition, completing (or critical success) certain Admiralty missions may award you a single-use high quality Admiralty card (eg, a Pilot Escort) - this does not/not mean you can then select a pilot escort from the Ship Selector NPC and go fly it into battle against the Iconians. Sorry.
Again, as with all things in STO, the higher quality of your ships, the better chance of triggering a critical success in your Admiralty mission.
Efficacy
The Admiralty System is very helpful in generating material amounts of XP and dilithium in late-game play - this is particularly the case with the Klingon admiralty missions as they have more missions that award dilithium. Admiralty becomes available at a handy time so you can start stockpiling dilithium to convert to Zen to purchase a competitive C-Store ship or alternatively to upgrading of weapons and equipment to Mk XIV via the R&D system just as you reach the pinnacle of ship combat in STO. In addition, the additional XP can help bridge the level gap between certain end-game missions, particularly in the Delta Quadrant, or once you reach Level 60 the XP is extremely helpful in quickly levelling up further to gain 'Specialisation points', which I've outlined in my Guide on the Skill Point System.
Have fun!
Post edited by ultimatenewbie on
0