Transcript from dev chat Sep 22

Bizarro_Rekhan> Hello everyone, and welcome to today's dev chat! With us today is Steven "Snix" Nix, our Combat Systems Designer. He'll be answering your questions about player progression. To ask a question, please join #stoquestions and post it there. You can also discuss the chat in #talktrek.

Bizarro_Rekhan> SenatorPardek> My major concern is will there be penalties for cross-class skills, especially in Space. Will my Engineer take a penalty for tactical skills? What if I want my Scientist to fly a Galaxy Class or Excallibur Class, will I be at a disadvantage? Is ground and space totally divorced or do costs change depending on your profession?

snix> Space skills represent your ship and its crew, so they are open to all players. Characters do gain a handful of career specific space abilities (clickable powers). On the ground, skill selection is restricted to the character's chosen career.

Bizarro_Rekhan> ghost202> More info on Kits plz, what they, are how they unlock, etc.

snix> Kits are career specific items that provide a collection of abilities (clickable powers). The abilities are usually grouped into a collection that emphasizes a particular career specialty. The player may only have one kit equipped at a time, but they may swap kits out of combat to change their character's current selection of abilities,
thereby changing their current speciality (or spec). Kits are acquired through mission rewards and exploration.

Bizarro_Rekhan> Zeroth> In CO, during the End-Of-Open-Beta event, at level 40, all the powers was
quite overwhelming. What kind of tools do you have planned for dealing with not just our own skills, but those of our BOs efficiently?

snix> On the ground you may set up your BOs to use their abilities automatically or by request, so you can manage how much direct activity you perform. In space firing your ship's weapons occurs often and is your focus, but your BO abilities are used at more discreet moments. Even after you've acquired several officers, activation of their abilities occurs

snix> at a slow enough pace so as to not be overwhelming.

Bizarro_Rekhan> Zeroth> What kind of benefit will we gain from levellling up a skill to its max?

snix> Skills earned at lower ranks cover broad categories of improvement. Maxing out the Lieutenant skill 'Starship Projectile Weapons' offers a slight improvement to any projectile weapon fired. Maxing out the Commander skill 'Photon Projectiles' offers a significant improvement to photon projectiles specifically, but would not improve quantum projectiles.

snix> Abilities are generally improved by three different skills in combination. For this example, firing a photon torpedo would be modified by a character's 'Starship Projectile Weapons', 'Starship Torpedoes', and 'Photon Projectiles' skills, providing up to 100% more effectiveness over an unskilled character with similar gear.

Bizarro_Rekhan> herocreator> You mentioned that you will be advancing through the ships. How exactly
will the mechanic work to acquire them? Will it be mission based, where you do a big mission for your faction that requires the ship so they give it to you or will it be more traditional, requiring the player to "purchase" them (though without money I am not sure how it would work).

snix> Characters gain the right to command larger ships by advancing in rank. As part of a rank promotion, they acquire one new ship of the appropriate size. In order to gain additional ships of that size, extra Merit with Starfleet must be expended.

Bizarro_Rekhan> flosche95> In the Ask Cryptic #15 it sounds like I can spend my skillpoints as I want to.
Let's say I have earned 10 skillpoints. Can I spend 3 in ground skills, 3 in spaceskills and another 4 to learn to fly a new shipclass or are there differnt types of skillpoints for the diffent types of skills?

snix> You can spend your skillpoints as you like, on skills that are available based on your earned rank. Those include your career specific ground skills, as well as the cross-career space skills that represent your ship and crew.

BizarroDaeke> captainbrown> How will BO skills differ from player skills. And will there be some overlap?
For example if I choose the tacitcal path for my captain can I still gain access to some of the science path skills by having a well trained science officer?

snix> Player skills differ in that they influence your personal abilities, as well as the performance of your bridge officers and ship. Bridge Officer skills focus on discreet abilities, like how well they can use the 'High Yield Torpedo' ability.

snix> Your character's choice of career influences their personal skill selection, but your officers have their own careers and you can spend skillpoints to improve them even if different from your own.

BizarroDaeke> JBJeremy> In a skill-based system, there are no levels to indicate the difficulty
level of a particular encounter or mission. What steps are you taking to ensure that players will be guided toward participating in content that matches their current skill levels?

Cryptic_Geko> Although players don't have a true level, we basically extrapolate a level based on Skill Points spent. In a less esoteric way, critters have a level. Basically, we extrapolate the expected effectiveness of a player based on how many skillpoints they have spent and critters will "Con" to them accordingly.
Cryptic_Geko> So we expect a player with, say, 100 skillpoints spent to be doing "X" dps and have "Y" defense/HP, and we have critters that are build to fight a player with "X" and "Y" - and those critters will con evenly to that player.

Bizarro_Rekhan> Ladies and gentlemen: Mr. Al Rivera!

BizarroDaeke> [LF]NiomoLire> Question: just to get a confirmation, we are allowed to get ALL the
space skills from each profession. correct? in the Ask Cryptic there was a bit of restatement from one question to the other.

Cryptic_Geko> The short answer is Yes. All players get access to all space skill, so if you are a science officer, you still can get tactical and engineering space skills. However, there are some clickable space abilities that are profession specific, and all ground skills are restricted by class.

BizarroDaeke> Zoberraz> Q: So, if we understand correctly, most player captain skills are passive abilities, whereas bridge officer abilities as mostly activable powers.

snix> Player skills that are purchased are passive improvements to their officers' and ship's ability. Players do acquire clickable abilities through rank progression (both space and ground) and augment this by acquiring Bridge Officers for space abilities and Kits for ground abilities.

Bizarro_Rekhan> Five-minute warning, folks.

BizarroDaeke> Loekii> So can we ever 'gimp' ourselves with poor skill section? Or will any combination will 'con' evenly with other skill builds?

snix> The way skill selection is offered, you acquire very broadly applicable skills first. For example, one of the first skills is 'Starship Directed Energy Weapons' which applies to all energy weapons. These early skills are useful throughout the game, so while you are learning how to play and build your character the skill choices don't force or 'gimp' you.
snix> As you learn the game and advance in rank, more specific skills are offered that allow you to specialize. Even if you start down a specialist path, your choices and the cost of skill advancement allows for reworking your character.

BizarroDaeke> WebGuest03> Question: We know that at some point a player may level up and learn all the
skills in the game. Is there a restriction as to how many of these are available for use during combat. For example, if a player learns 34 skills can he mapp all 34 to buttons/keys and use them in combat. Is it the same for land and space?

Cryptic_Geko> You get to use/keep ALL your skills all the time. you don't need to pick them to make a "build". "Skills" are typically passive bonuses that are always active, so your Photon skill will improve all your photon attacks, and your deflector skill will make all deflector abilities better.
<Cryptic_Geko> What you will have to do is pick the right weapons, items and Bridge Officers for your ship - so that is your "build". You make a similar decision when you choose your away team or your ground Kit and weapons.

Bizarro_Rekhan> That's about it, folks! Thanks a bunch for all your questions, and we'll see you again soon. Be sure to check the STO website for more updates about the game.

Cryptic_Geko> Live long and Prosper.

snix> Thanks for your questions! We look forward to seeing you in STO!