Wing Commando Captains

[eharper256]

Any chance we'll ever see this as a possibility?

I realise it states 'captain should be on the bridge' but in my case in nearly all ship battles he isn't anyway because he's constantly boarding, and as we don't select who is on an assault shuttle until they get there (lol- literally schrodingers shuttle) why can't he be piloting it in the first place? XD

Mostly this came about since I thought 'I want to try an Assassin/Bodyguard/Wing Commando captain who's totally an adrenaline junky and leaves all the bridge command to his XO anyway.' and actually started to build it in a new game, only to my horror I couldn't select my third class.

[Trese Brothers]

We've talked about it many times but are still of the mind that it doesn't work for balance reasons. Perhaps in the future, but not something we'll eval until the enemy carriers are released.

[CoryTrese]

I don't think this is something we can support. By definition, the pilot of a Small Craft is removed from the ship. You suffer defeat if the Captain is removed from the Ship.

It doesn't fit the Lore or our vision for the Captain, and it would require a major re-write. I think most players would rather we focus those weeks on something else.

[eharper256]

Ah well, captain will continue to teleport onto the shuttle in time for boarding as something else then lol. Thanks for answering at least.

Actually, a quick related question: Wing Jobs say 'does not contribute to ship dice pools': how does this affect an officer who takes it as their third job? Do they suddenly stop contributing their other classes as well? i.e. Lets say they were a Pirate/Pilot/Wing Commando; would they:

A) Flat out no longer contribute their Pirate and Pilot piloting to the main ship any longer?
B) Stop contributing all Piloting when they're in the shuttle?
C) Still contribute the Pilot and Pirate to the main ship, but only WC Pilot bonus only applies to Shuttle?
D) Something else?

[JimmysTheBestCop]

I actually like the wing commando as support to a blades captain. Great buffs for blade users.

Knife Works talent is that good for blade users. Their on init is real good too if he is actually piloting a shuttle. He can attack with blades from spot 3. And has a low damage double enemy attack that gives enemy an init penalty while debuffing their defense.

I like swordsman/wing Commando/zealot to go along with a blade captain

If your going assassin/bodyguard I would really go swordsman and focus on blades and crits. Or pistoleer and focus on pistols. But I rather have spy then assassin in the pistol scenario and go for critical pistol attacks using blades mostly to parry melee attacks. Your spy pistol would be in spot #2 though not 1.

Even for the assassin it's better to start in spot 2 using gliding advance to get into spot 1 while going stealth.

Not entirely sure if a stealth bodyguard works. I mean it works but it's a lot of micromanaging since you can't stealth in spot 1 except with awful smoke bomb talent at 12 init. No thank you. Maybe if it was 6 or 8 init. 12 init for no damage. I'll pass.

Could swap zealot in for assassin if you didn't want to mess with stealth micromanaging. Stealth is used to basically score non stop criticals. So if your not building for that then you can swap jobs out. Zealot has one of the best self buffs and it's a level 1 talent.

I actually wish bodyguard was a starting captain job. Then captain could go beast mode pistoleer/swordsman/bodyguard

[darion-neclador]

Well i can understand that the WC talents are very tempting for a CC Cap, maybe unlocking the class but not allowing the Captain to be assigned to a Shuttle might be a compromise?

@jimmy Try Mo/Sword/BG, it's quite beastly :D .

[CoryTrese]

It was a fun/balancing choice to allow the Captain into Crew combats, regardless. That is keeping with the Lore and theme of the game, so it fits. /shrug

In this case, the Job in question (Wing X) doesn't itself contribute to pools. The Officer's other Jobs and intrinsics are unaffected. This also applies to promoted craft pilots who stat with a craft job and later acquire a pool job.

I hope that helps. Thanks again for playing our game, it means the world to my brother and I.

--Cory

[JimmysTheBestCop]

Originally posted by darion-neclador:

Well i can understand that the WC talents are very tempting for a CC Cap, maybe unlocking the class but not allowing the Captain to be assigned to a Shuttle might be a compromise?

@jimmy Try Mo/Sword/BG, it's quite beastly :D .

Interesting.............................. very interesting

[eharper256]

Originally posted by CoryTrese:

It was a fun/balancing choice to allow the Captain into Crew combats, regardless. That is keeping with the Lore and theme of the game, so it fits. /shrug

In this case, the Job in question (Wing X) doesn't itself contribute to pools. The Officer's other Jobs and intrinsics are unaffected. This also applies to promoted craft pilots who stat with a craft job and later acquire a pool job.

I hope that helps. Thanks again for playing our game, it means the world to my brother and I.

--Cory

Okay, so its Option C. Good to know.

Yes, I very much enjoy Star Traders. Wouldn't have 70+ hours in it otherwise. Well, besides the unlock mechanic, but that's what an achievement un-locker program is for, lol.

Yup, I considered a MO/SW/BG as a natural combo, but I'd always swap Swordie for Zealot in this case, since I don't generally like more than 1 pure combat job on any officer.

[Cutlass Jack]

Yeah I was disappointed my pirate/swordsman captain couldn't be one. He is the forefront of every boarding party so it would just make sense. Especially since he can be part of the boarding party the Commando brings.

I'd have liked bodyguard for my third job if I could go swords mainhand and pistol offhand, instead of pistol/dagger. But it actually is fun on the #2 position of my boarding team, who combines it with Combat Medic to be a great suport unit to my captain.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

I kind of agree about the Captain not needing Wing Commando. From a role play perspective it doesn't really make sense.

But for an optimal build it probably doesn't make sense either. Because mostly all talents you need a shuttle. So that is a late mid to end game type of build.

There is only 2 attack talents in crew combat. 1 being basically the same as a swordsman counter or balanced blade aka Whirling Blade vs Sharp Counter/Balanced Blade.

The other attack is a good debuff or low hp enemies but it does very little damage unless your melee damage is extremely buffed. Aka Breakneck Assault.

Knife Work and Predictive Intel are really great. Then its all boarding or craft piloting talents. So it would actually be a waste to have it on the Captain.

It works much better on a support character who is say buffing a bladed captain. Or just as a straight up craft pilot or boarding talent master. But it all says "support" character to me.

But.........

What about starting Bodyguard for a Captain job?????

[jamesthesecond]

Have crazy idea.....wing commander with traits benefiting carrier built...but I being eating too much spice and drinking too much vudka....lol...

[CoryTrese]

More Traits coming

[eharper256]

Originally posted by JimmysTheBestCop:

I kind of agree about the Captain not needing Wing Commando. From a role play perspective it doesn't really make sense.

But for an optimal build it probably doesn't make sense either. Because mostly all talents you need a shuttle. So that is a late mid to end game type of build.

Oh sure its not an optimal build for a captain, but I like running silly builds and seeing how far they get. I'm now doing my Captain as a Doctor/Commander/Exo-Scout with a skills focused build.

But in that one idea I had, it very much made sense from a role-play perspective. I can almost hear the sighs of the XO as the captain leaps into the shuttle again. XD

[Kaerius]

Originally posted by JimmysTheBestCop:

I like swordsman/wing Commando/zealot to go along with a blade captain

I've taken to prefering non-combat captains lately, but I really do like swordsman/w.commando/zealot, very solid up front, and I like teaming it up with a swordsman/bodyguard/commander. This way they both have tons of combat talents, but also have some out of combat ones for when you're reaching combat talent saturation(one of the problems with too combat focused officers, esp swordsman/w.commando/assassin).

It gives each of them a nice team buff, knife work for the two up front, and rallying aura for the whole party.

Smuggler/merchant/diplomat captain with 10 negotiate, 10 tactics, 3 command makes you a money making god and good at ship combat.