How do crew skills actually work?

[Lemmonator]

For example I have 10 points of Xenoculture but when doing derelect ship its showing skill 3 and difficulty 3 and modifier is 0. Dose this mean its only taking the highest number on a crew member and not the combined number from all crew members. I do have one crew member with 3 Xenoculture. If that is one of the ways this works then it would be good to know.

Another example is observation choice showing skill 3 and difficulty -1 and effective skill 4 and I have 10 points combined observation. So I am uncertain how this works. Is it better to have high skill on one crew mate only or is it better to have higher skill with combined points that is the main question.

So far I have spread out my points over the 2 levels I gained with my crew under the assumption that combine skills number is better than a just one high score on just one crew member.

If it turns out its better to have just one crew mate with a high skill number for the surveys then I will start the game over and spread my points out according to that.

I know that some research gives bonus for every crew mate having a point into a specific stat to get max bonus from 6 crew mates having at least 1 in the same stat for purpose of some of those research items which is fine.

Thanks for your time and patience to who ever answers my question.

[Gabarn]

skillchecks seem to use the highest number, spreading the points out benefits if you've taken those research bonusses.
also, not sure if it requires a certain skill value, but i've had crew unlock new research relevent to their skill, like faster repair

[Thog]

There are a few things goin on:
1. Aggregate skills for ship bonuses via research. That's the skill box you see in the lower left corner of the crew screen. So, for EACH crew that has 1 point in dairy churning, the SHIP gets a bonus to ice cream making.

2. Individual skill checks. These come into play when a specific crew member is named, shown, etc. So, if Private Snuffy has 2 skill in xenowizardy, and the skill check is 3, then Private Snuffy's check is -1.

3, To answer your question about generalists vs specialists: it depends on what ship bonuses you want to stack. You can finish the current content with every crew member having 5 in one skill, and 1 point spread across the others. Or you could have each one specialize, however, then only ONE crew would be contributing to a each ship bonus skill, and each point beyond whatever it states has diminishing returns per individual. So, for max ship bonus, spread the love. For maximum individual checks, specialize. For moderate success in both, spec to 5 and spread the rest.

[Lemmonator]

Originally posted by Thog:

There are a few things goin on:
1. Aggregate skills for ship bonuses via research. That's the skill box you see in the lower left corner of the crew screen. So, for EACH crew that has 1 point in dairy churning, the SHIP gets a bonus to ice cream making.

2. Individual skill checks. These come into play when a specific crew member is named, shown, etc. So, if Private Snuffy has 2 skill in xenowizardy, and the skill check is 3, then Private Snuffy's check is -1.

3, To answer your question about generalists vs specialists: it depends on what ship bonuses you want to stack. You can finish the current content with every crew member having 5 in one skill, and 1 point spread across the others. Or you could have each one specialize, however, then only ONE crew would be contributing to a each ship bonus skill, and each point beyond whatever it states has diminishing returns per individual. So, for max ship bonus, spread the love. For maximum individual checks, specialize. For moderate success in both, spec to 5 and spread the rest.

Thanks for the reply and Thanks to everyone else as well for their replies.

[Palandus]

It also means that if your crew member starts with 2 in something, then you should only specialize them in it. So if you have one that has 2 in astro science to start, and you give 6 astro science to someone else, it won't actually use the other person with 6, but the one with 2 to start. Because the assumption is that you'll specialize the specific specialist. Just thought you should know that tidbit.

[Harathan]

Originally posted by Asha'man:

Thanks for the reply and Thanks to everyone else as well for their replies.

The commander of the Starcom space station literally explains this to you in game, in almost the exact same words as you've been told here. The game even tells you this the first time your crew levels up, your First Officer pops up with a little message telling you to go talk to the guy about crew skills.

[Lemmonator]

thanks I should have wrote down lol

[Palandus]

Simpler to screenshot them, alt-tab and save to an image file, then reference them as needed.

[Lemmonator]

Originally posted by Bonegrinder:

Simpler to screenshot them, alt-tab and save to an image file, then reference them as needed.

thanks

[justkevin]

Players have requested some way to view officer training techs from the ship menu, so I am thinking about that issue.

[Lemmonator]

Originally posted by justkevin:

Players have requested some way to view officer training techs from the ship menu, so I am thinking about that issue.

Thanks.

[Lemmonator]

Originally posted by Bonegrinder:

It also means that if your crew member starts with 2 in something, then you should only specialize them in it. So if you have one that has 2 in astro science to start, and you give 6 astro science to someone else, it won't actually use the other person with 6, but the one with 2 to start. Because the assumption is that you'll specialize the specific specialist. Just thought you should know that tidbit.

Thanks

[Thog]

Originally posted by justkevin:

Players have requested some way to view officer training techs from the ship menu, so I am thinking about that issue.

That would be helpful. Currently I'd always wait till I got back to case and consulted the research tree before allocating points.

[Umbral Reaver]

We're also not sure what the 'diminishing returns' effects are. The tech says that each crewmember with 1 engineering increases ship repair speed by 10%. So with eight crewmembers with 1 engineering, that's +80%, right? But it also says higher skill has diminishing returns. Does 2 engineering add 15% or something?