I admit it: I went to the Jean-Luc Picard School of Leadership, also known as watching Star Trek: The Next Generation reruns every weeknight during summer or after the completion of my homework. While many of my extended family members served in the United States Navy, the process was pretty shrouded in mystery.
My dad ran his own business, so I saw how that worked. But what would it look like to run a starship and conduct diplomatic missions with new civilizations fairly and effectively?
To Jean-Luc Picard, there’s always hope — and diplomacy, making decisive actions, and preserving the lives of crew members and civilians at large are duties associated with being a Starfleet officer. Add in the Prime Directive, of course, which indicates the Federation should not interfere in the development or progress of people who have not yet developed warp-enabled technology.
That’s why it’s cool to recruit officers in Star Trek Fleet Command, the latest Star Trek game on my “nerd out about it!” list.
How Officers Work in Star Trek Fleet Command
There are three factions in the game: Romulan, Federation, and Klingon. Each faction has their own officers. The officers are based upon the focus you select for each ship.
- Federation officers have the primary ability options: If you choose Explorer for your ship focus, your officer gets Defense. If Battleship, then your officer stat is Health/Attack. The Interceptor focus does not unlock anything for your officer.
- Klingon officers get the following opportunities: For an Interceptor focus, you get Attack. With Explorer, you get Health/Defense. There is nothing for Battleship, which seems pretty weird for a Klingon setup!
- Romulan officers look like this: If the focus is Battleship, the officer gets Health. If it’s Interceptor, you get Attack/Defense. There is nothing for Explorer.
Officer Categories in Star Trek Fleet Command
Your officers will be divided into categories. All officers are one of four character types:
- Epic
- Rare
- Uncommon
- Common
These officers come with unique abilities that bolster your ship, from morale to shield health. While it might be tempting to always go with an officer that increases a physical stat like shield health, it doesn’t always pay off — Spock’s morale ability, for example, can really rally your crew in a desperate situation.
Each faction has a mix of category types.
How to Use Your Star Trek Fleet Command Officers
You assign officers by selecting a ship and choosing manage, then assign officers. You have to call your ship home before you can do officer assignments — no field promotions here. To level an officer up, you spend their XP, and to promote them, you have to select the tab next to XP.
You can sometimes send officers on away teams, so keep that in mind as you choose how to level up your character.
Your officers’ abilities are activated only when you’ve placed them on the bridge, so make sure to post them there during crucial moments. However, you can keep your officers below deck to take advantage of their attack, defense, and health bonuses — so if they are not doing something special, stow them.
- Captain’s Maneuver: You have to slot your officer into the help, represented by the middle slot, if you’d like to use “Captain’s Maneuver.” This allows you to take a special evasive action and doesn’t change even if your officer character gets promoted.
- Synergy: This ability encourages cooperation between two entities, but you can also use it to boost your Captain’s Maneuver. This is simply based on where and how your officers are slotted.
Can You Get Captain Kirk as an Officer in Star Trek Fleet Command?
Yes, much of the Bridge Crew from Star Trek: The Original Series is available in the game, but some, like Kirk, are Epic and hard to get. Christopher Pike is also available for play. If you’re more of a Picard fan like me, yes — you can get Jean-Luc and his Bridge Crew, including the charming and crushworthy Commander Riker.
Don’t forget “Badgey,” an officer from Lower Decks who is simply a comm badge. Badgey is Deceptive!
All Officers in Star Trek Fleet Command
On the Enterprise Crew, you have the following:
- Arkady Ivanov, Uncommon, with the Always Enthusiast Captain Maneuver — can inspire morale for 3 rounds if the shield of the ship is depleted; 50% chance of success. His ability is Shields Refractor, which can raise the shield health by 10%.
- Hikaru Sulu, Uncommon, with the Do Not Test Me Captain Maneuver — you can inspire morale for a full round if the ship takes a critical hit; there is a 40 percent chance of making this happen. Your Ranking Fire ability adds 15% to weapons damage when the ship has morale.
- Montgomery Scott, Uncommon, with the Miracle Worker Captain Maneuver — reduces ship repair time by 10%. His ability is Born Engineer, which adds 10% to hull Health.
- Leonard McCoy, Rare, with the “I’m a Doctor, Not a…” Captain Maneuver, which provides a 20% bonus to other officers’ abilities when combat happens. His ability is called Excellent medicine, which gives a 10% increase to officers’ defenses whenever the ship takes a hit.
- Spock, Rare, has the Captain Maneuver of Logical, which increases the ship’s accuracy by 15% at the beginning of each combat round. His Illogical ability restores as much as 25% shield health if the ship has morale.
- Nyota Uhura, Rare, has the Hailing Frequencies Open Captain’s Maneuver, which provides a 50% chance of weapon fire delay for opponents when your shield is depleted. Her Target That Signal ability increases ship accuracy by a whopping 40%.
- James T. Kirk, Epic, has a Leader Captain Maneuver which boosts all stats by 40% if the ship has morale, and his Inspirational ability can inspire morale at the start of every round for 2 rounds (with a 50% chance of working).
In addition to your Enterprise crew, you could work with the Klingon Patriots, Nero’s Crew, Blood & Honor, Romulan Patriots, Shakedown Cruise (that’s where you can use Pike), Surveyors & Miners, Starfleet Academy, Aux Controls, Khan’s Crew, Another Time, Glory in the Kill, Section 31, and many other crews and combos.
Here’s to your success: assemble the best Bridge Crew you can, go forth, and meet new civilizations without getting yourself killed.
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