Basic crew combat builds

[W]

I'm mainly playing as a trader as I'm a noob. I read Nerd Commando's guide (excellent btw), but I got overwhelmed. My current team works after painful trial and error. I've realized this game is as much about the crew as your ship build. Thus, I'm not afraid to fire crew to build a better assault team. What simple crew builds do you recommend?

[cirerrek]

Hi Spensermurphy80,

I'm in the process of delving into the world o crew combat builds as well.

The most detailed guide I've found on this so far has been this

https://startraders.gamepedia.com/Melee_Captain_Playthrough#Tips_and_Tricks

Though some of the info might be dated as it looks like the Gestalt Explorer doesn't offer Combat Medics as recruits, so I'm not sure where you would get an early doctor or combat medic outside of dual classing one of your officers.

I think some of the guide is overkill if you aren't playing impossible (the author lists a lot of reasons to re-roll your crew, which because of RNG takes forever).

But I do appreciate that the author talks through their reasoning in a detailed enough fashion that I can grasp most of it.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

Spot | Jobs

1/2 assassin/swordsman/zealot (captain)
2/1 swordsman/wing commando/zealot
3 bounty Hunter/exo scout/xeno Hunter
4 combat medic/doctor/military officer

For spots 1 and 2 I like 1 level of zealot. If it's a captain I might level zealot more for command and ship purposes.

Level 11 of assassin and wing commando and Max lvl swordsman. Blades only.

Spot 3 I kind of level up pretty even depending on which talents I want first. Snubber equipped.

Spot 4 one level of military officer. 8 level combat medic and max level doctor. This spot doesn't shoot. Only buffs, heals up, heals morale and remove debuffs. Doesn't ever attack.

This is my impossible xeno killing group. Gear, armor, weapons are important as well here. That's why they are highly specialized for crew combat.

High initiative and really good fortitude and hp are needed. You need a recruiting talent and you have to recruit from highly developed planets.

Usually takes me less then 10 trues to recruit a solid combat officer. They don't need to be perfect. But if it's not a good planet that's when you are talking about countless tries to get an officer.

So contact farming is extremely important as well as starting contacts. Cause you need contacts to form your crew combat team.

[Cowardly Camper]

Mine is not necessarily the best, but it massacres enemies on hard and below.
Captain - anything/assassin/blade slot 1, use blades
Officer - soldier/exo/xeno slot 2, use shotgun
Officer - doctor/combat medic/pistoleer slot 3, use pistol
Officer - solider/exo/sniper, slot 4, use sniper.

Optional slot 4
Officer - soldier/exo/xeno, use rifle

Note, keep firing and hiring soldiers until you get a combined wisdom/quickness of at least 40, then promote them to your officers. You might want to roll for evasion as well. For captain, max out evasion, blades, quickness, and wisdom.

[Trese Brothers]

Thanks to everyone for posting suggestions!

[Grimelord82]

The ones posted above are 100% combat focused. That IS the title of your thread after all.
Here's some of my combos:
1) M. Officer/Spy/Pistoleer - ship combat abilities like Intelligence stealing, stealth check, ship ransom. I have a difficult time not having a Spy/Pistol user in every team. Only pistol you can do from position4.
2) Soldier/Commander/Exoscout - Commander adds some buffing ability, increases ship defense.
3) Commander/Doctor/Xenohunter - same as above, pairs okay with Doctor. Xeno looks like the odd class out, would be better with more Intimidate behind it, but the combat abilities from just this class are worth having in position4 over any other combat class.
4) Quartermaster/Zealot - intimidate for Mission pay, command for ship defense. If the character has large HP they can tank a LOT of damage if someone else also armor buffs them.

Scroll down to the "Selecting a new Captain" section here: https://startraders.gamepedia.com/Captain_Creation

You have to work with what you have at least a little bit. It's okay to have oddball officers.
Skills like (6) Intimidate only work if you make them an officer, so look for those. Then combo at least 2 classes together which reinforce that skill. Quartermaster + Zealot for Intimidate is good. Bounty Hunter/Xeno/Pirate/Smuggler can all be used as a 3rd class to fit what other strengths that crewmen may have, give them a heal/debuff quench, etc.

I use all of the above in combat crews on Hard difficulty. The whole crew fights. The whole crew heals/removes debuffs as needed from themselves or others.
Some teams run 2 support, 2 damage. Some teams are 1 and 3. Snubbers or Pistol Spy if either have buffs put out stupid damage.