markhawkman wrote: »It's one of those min-max things that you don't need to worry about all that often unless you're maximizing a build. Sure, every little bit helps, but the difference between say, Superior Creativity and Basic Creativity is not massive.davefenestrator wrote: »Agreed, I should have included some qualifiers.markhawkman wrote: »IF you bother. some traits work the same at common as VR:davefenestrator wrote: »I disagree slightly -- if you train a less-than-VR boff with less common / harder to get skills like BFAW III, Gravity Well III, etc. then you will have wasted those training manuals when you replace the boff later.In the early game, VR (purple) BOffs aren't really that important. You can grind up to level 65 with white (common) BOffs. The Very Rare BOffs are for getting that special boost you want to push you over a threshold in some attribute.They are almost exclusively for end-game tweaking of a build, so spending hard-earned EC on them at early- to mid-game is less than productive because by end-game you may have a completely different build, and thus different priorities, but the EC will have been spent.
Also, if you don't want bridge bunnies then male VR boffs are often only 500 - 5,000 credits on the exchange so why not start with VR?
The truth is the rarity of a boff after it's commissioned is based on the game counting how many "superior" traits there are... which is why Gorn are pretty much always BLUE, they normally only have one trait that CAN be Superior.
Purple: two or more superior, not basic.
blue: one superior and one basic, or one superior and no basic.
green: one basic and no superior(potentially 2 basic, and one superior) also the tutorial boffs who have no basic or superior.
white: 2 basic, no superior.
So, if you're not using those Superior traits, or basic traits, their existence doesn't matter. For example: compare Andra, Gregg, Kristel, and Heath, for space they have identical stats. Ground? that's different, but not space.
Andra(purple): Leadership, Covert, Superior Luck, Superior Teamwork
Gregg(blue): Leadership, Basic Sure Footed, Superior Covert, Teamwork
Heath(white): Leadership, Basic Luck, Basic Peak Health, Teamwork
Kristel(white): Leadership, Basic Creativity, Basic Sure Footed, Teamwork
So, if you're stacking SROs, then a mix of purple and blue is acceptable. The only OTHER Superior traits an SRO boff CAN have are ground.
For SROs that aren't on your away team it's only the SRO trait that matters not whether the boff is blue or pink. The same for any other boff that is space-only: a white quality human with Leadership is as good as a pink one IF they always stay on the ship.
I was responding to the idea of using your white and green level-up boffs though, possibly for both space and ground.
Answers
Some traits have 3 power levels: "Basic" <something>, then just <something>, then "Superior" <something>
It's the trait level that matters not the boff color. A blue boff with "Superior" <something> behaves the same as a pink one.
What differs between boffs is pink get two Superior traits, blue get one, green and white get none.
For boffs you only use in space, all except a few special ones only get one Space trait the other 3 are Ground traits. So for Romulans a blue one with Superior Romulan Operative is just as good (in space) as a pink one. For Humans, there is only the regular Leadership trait (no Basic or Superior) so white boffs are just as good as pink (in space).
The main reason to buy pink boffs sooner rather than later is if you want to teach them a bunch of skills using training manuals. You'll have to buy the manuals again if you recruit or buy a better boff later on.
My character Tsin'xing
Yes, don't worry about buying the vendor ones again. It's other manuals that must be crafted (which is still pretty cheap), or rare ones you get from converting a bridge officer into a manual.
But except for Space Romulans and Space Nausicaans which can be Rare as well since you only need their Pirate/Superior Romulan Operative trait... You should aim for Very Rare boffs since they got 2x Superior traits. Superior Luck+Superior Aggression for damage dealers/tanks and Superior Creativity+Superior Surefoot/racial disable - Vulcan Nerve Pinch, Mind meld or something like that for healers/sci nukers.