Explanation on How What Class You Choose Affects the Gameplay

[JamesGarrett]

I have seen quite a few threads and posts all started on the same subject, and so I hope to break it down into one large explanation. Feel free to ask for further clarifications or post any corrections. I will post links to some other helpful threads after.

When choosing your Class (Tactical, Science, Engineer) the primary thing you are affecting is what type of kit you can use, what kind of ground powers you can train in, and what special Ground Power your captain gets at Lvl 5 and every 10 levels after as well as what special Space Power your captain gets at Lvl 8 and every 10 levels after.

You can only use kits of your available profession, and only your Captain can equip kits. A kit will contain one or more Powers that can be activated only while during Ground Away Missions/Combat.

Each Class will have access to skills which will boost Powers of ground abilities. Training in these skills helps to better the Power types mentioned in the skill, and some also increase raw damage or such regardless of activated Powers.

Every so many levels, you be granted an activated Power. Each class will get one at the same levels, and every 10 levels afterwards you be granted another Power of the same type. First are the generic Space Powers that each class will get. The first is Evasive Manuevers for example. Every class gets that. Next will be a Ground Power, and then another Space Power. The same Power will be granted to everyone of a specific Class (ie all Tactical Class players will receive Attack Pattern Alpha).

On the ground, Powers are used either by your Captain through Kits or the bonus powers earned through levels. Powers are also used either by your command or through AI programming by your Bridge Officers. These are the Powers you train them up in through each Bridge Officers Skills window. As mentioned, the Skills you train for your Captain affect Powers but do not grant them.

In space, all Captains can train the exact same skills as everyone else. There are no skills that only certain classes can access that affect Space (minor exception being training a skill that allows for one of the three "Team" Space Powers for one of your BO's). All of those exclusive skills affect Ground only.

Now many people out there have been saying or trying to compare Classes to archtypes from other games. This kind of works, and kind of does not. On ground, for the most part, yes Tactical can do lots of damage or DPS, Engineer's can survive quite long by employing devices hurt enemies and keeping their shields fully charged, and Scientists can heal health using powers and I believe are the only Class to get crowd control powers. Each class also gets Buffs and Debuffs however, some more frequently than others, associated with their Class (ie Tactical Officers get Buffs to do more damage).

These DPS/Healer/Buff does not translate into space quite the same however. Your role in space is more defined by what ship you choose. A common misconception is that Tactical Officers are damage dealers, Engineers healers, Scienctists buffers, etc in space. This is not quite true. The Escort ship type has the capability to output very large amounts of damage in a large burst by having several forward facing weapons, but do not have strong shields. Of the ships, only escorts can use cannons which fire for a lot of damage, but have a very limited firing arc. Cruisers are said to have more energy, or better use of energy (which affects what how much damage you do, how strong your shields are, how fast your go, etc) as well as have a lot of hit points. Science vessels get very strong shields, but few hits points. The get innate abilites to target systems and detect cloaked vessels among other things. That DOES NOT mean that you have to be a Tactical Officer to use an Escort however. The most DAMAGE in an Escort will be done by Tactical Officer who has maxed training in the weapons he uses, and because of his special, class only abilities granted by leveling for example.

You WILL get five of those special, class only Space abilities by Admiral that will provide short buffs. However, taking those abilites out of the equation - a Tactical Officer and an Engineering Officer who both max out all the skills that affect phasers in space, are the same race, with the same racial abilities, use the same ship, with the exact same BO's and the exact same equipment WILL DO THE SAME DAMAGE. Just because one is a Tactical Officer does not guarantee more damage. As well, that Science Officer can train up just as much to get the most out of shields or whatnot as an Engineer - so Engineer's are not necessarily the toughest. But as said, in space, those Powers that are class exclusive would make the difference.

However, for those who want to try different combo's, feel free! For example - a Science Officer in an escort will have lots of firepower and fun abilites to tweak opponents that others won't have. A Tactical Officer in a cruiser will have hit points and more damage output than others. An Engineer will keep that Science ship together and repair damage while using the Science ships innate abilities to pick targets apart. These are all examples of what can be done.

Hopefully this all helps.

If you want more information about Player Skills:

http://http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=56922

If you want more information about Class Specific Powers:

http://http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=56914

If you want more information on Bridge Officer Skills:

http://http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=56940

**EDIT** Added for the benifit of those that may not read all the following posts. Another thing that will be affected is what Tier III Powers you can train to your Bridge Officers down the road. At the moment, it appears that you can only train Tier III Powers that you earn access to from your Skills in BOs of the same class as you. For example, an Engineer Captain could not train a Tactical BO even if he had access to High Yield Torpedo III. I am not sure if this will stay the case after Open Beta wraps and will endeavor to add more clarity once I have played with the system directly myself.

[sentobrasso]

This the best post about this subject till now.

Great job Mr. Garrett.

[JamesGarrett]

Hey, I'm all about the helping, but can hardly take credit.

Lot's of this stuff is elsewhere and I learned it from doing a lot of searching threads, talking to others and testing. I just thought we should get in one place.

[Uhntis]

Thanks for putting this together. Good job.

[Madjik]

Originally Posted by JamesGarrett

Hey, I'm all about the helping, but can hardly take credit.

Lot's of this stuff is elsewhere and I learned it from doing a lot of searching threads, talking to others and testing. I just thought we should get in one place.

None the less, it is now all in one handy place, and for that I propose a sticky.

[JamesGarrett]

Off of the forums for a while - post any questions you have and I'll try to get to any I can a little later.

[JamesGarrett]

Bump in the hopes this information can help others

[Pyryck]

Should be a sticky and required reading prior to logging in the first time!

[ngille]

definately an awesome post. +5 forum uberness for the OP

[Riasha]

Thank you! Your helpful information didn't even cause my eyes to cross!