(Spoiler) Introducing the Recruitable Story Contacts:

[�[Dire_Venom]�]

Just compiling a list of all the recruitable contacts for referance:
(Bear in mind that their stats and bonus skills can varry by up to 20% or so, there is some variation when you recruit them)
Feel free to add any contacts that have been left out!

<<Elsa Nariman>>

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1254282739

• Can be Permenatly recruited as an officer during the De Rivesh Arc.
  
• Start with the jobs Explorer and Exo-Scout trained.
  
• Will start off as the average level of all your officers.
  
• Has bonus points in Explore, Evasion and Stealth.
  
• Starts with the traits Magnetic, Scavenger and Erudite.
  
• Trivia: Is Best Girl <3

<<Nikolai Ramius>>

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1254282626

• Can be Permenatly recruited as an officer during the Stranded Merchant Arc.
  
• Starts with the jobs Merchant and Mechanic.
  
• Will start off as the average level of all your officers.
  
• Has bonus points in Negotiate, Repair and Pistols.
  
• Starts with the traits Mediator, Shrewd and Jaded.
  
• Trivia:Despite loving money, he will join your crew for no cost.

[Trese Brothers]

Very nice! you're missing Vytautas :D

[TeWhetu]

Well this thread (while old) is relevant to me.

I am playing on Impossible difficulty and have the option of recruit Vytautas. I want to.
However, I will first need to dismiss one of my existing officers. I am not sure who to let go.

I understand Vytautas starts as a Wing Commando and Soldier. That means he'll have both blades and rifles to start. The issue is I don't know how many levels he has (to start) in each, so I don't know which of my existing officers to release.

A screen shot of a starting Vytautas (who has not been levelled) would help. Alternatively, if someone could answer any (or all) of the following questions, then it would be much appreciated:

1) What level will Vytautas when you get him? Does it depend on my captain level (if so I'm level 31).
2) How many levels does Vytautas start with in each of Wing Commando and Soldier?
3) Does Vytautas have a third starting profession?
4) What are Vytautas's bonuses in blades, rifles and other?
5) What about his traits, anything significant there?
6) How are his attributes?

I've looked around online and cannot find anything.

If I wasn't playing on Impossible difficulty I'd just check and then reload.

If I was in-world, I would have a chat with good ol' Vytautas and ask him what his strengths are.

Any help would be appreciated.

Te

[Trese Brothers]

He recruits in at 1/1 levels for his Jobs. Only 2 Jobs. Level is near captain level.

Attributes and Skill but bonuses has some randomness on them but them are always outstanding.

[TeWhetu]

Thanks, that helps a lot!

For those that are interested, this is what I got. Unfortunately he's not good enough to last longer than it will take me to find a decent Swordsman/Bodyguard/Commander, but good to know:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2425291304

Then again, maybe I'll try him out with a shotgun for a while and see how he goes.

[Trese Brothers]

Oh +11 Rifles, pretty solid!

Fearless, Survivor ;) good luck reproducing that combo!

Thanks for posting to the thread for those who may follow in your footsteps.

[Tomcat]

This recruit is really the best of the three though if you can figure out what job and weapons work great with him. I don't want to spoil it for you by suggesting what I feel is the best build for him. This one recruit can rival any crew combat focused captain build.

He would be your most accurate rifleman and he comes with a 90%+ death save.

You could make him a full-time janitor and he would still hit better with his +11 rifles skill than anyone else.

=============

Nonetheless, you could make a better soldier if you found one with +dmg traits and came with +5-6 Rifles skill. But Vyvautas is a consistent pick that you will always find whereas everyone other soldier is rolled by luck.

[Grimwulf]

I am amazed by how many people find use for Vyvautas. In all my playthroughs I only accepted him once, as a temporary replacement for a dead officer, until I got a chance to get a better one from my contacts.

For me, his incredibly low initiative is the ultimate deal breaker. Even if he was just a soldier or just a wing commando, and therefore didn't ask for an officer position, I wouldn't keep him. It's funny, since his quest might be the hardest one among recruitables, and yet even Edge Almaen (the stowaway smuggler that you get early on for free) makes a better officer candidate for a smuggler/merchant/negotiator mix.

I still remember the pain and dissapointment when I first recruited Vy into my team.

[Tomcat]

Really, it's just the Jyeeta (wilderness type) that causes me to rank him as number 1. He can reliably hit and do good damage whereas others might need to scramble with feints, heals, and buffs. The only person I really care about having high initiative is the medic for a first turn vaccination watch.


Otherwise, I'd rank the merchant as the best. I used to use him as diplomat but I found him much better as an Engineer. I can get more missions done without being setback by repair times and it's provides a more comfortable leeway with era timing. Diplomat would give me more money and allow me to make friends easier but if I get knocked down for any reason, repair costs could be half a year of time loss.


Elsa's use really is so that she can provide the explorer skill to the whole ship. I've been using her as a Scientist.


Since I don't smuggle or use black markets, I find edge to be very useless.

[wilky]

(sorry to bump an old thread) Does anyone have a screenshot of Edge Almean? Curious about the skill bonuses / starting professions?


Also, I saw that there was a recent patch that added a new story vignette... but no new recruitable characters added, correct? Thanks


Edit: Also, how does Nikolai's "Mediator" trait work in conjunction with his natural Negotiate skill bonus? For instance, does it not really matter too much if he starts with +6 Negotiate or +8 Negotiate or whatever? Because he's just going to cap out at 12 soon enough? Or maybe even retroactively by the time you recruit him?

[Tomcat]

Edge Almean is a normal crew with a Smuggler job.

She has 3 command, 5 Intimidate, 5 Negotiate.

She has sharp witted, Gossip, Seedy.

20 S 19 Q 19 F 28 C 20 W 19 R



As for the Mediator trait, you probably got that on him from some Salvage or other method. The traits he is hard coded with is Jaded, Shrewed, and Brilliant.


He starts with +11 Negotiate. I don't know if it caps if he ended up with Mediator. Someone either has to be really motivated to look at the code for this answer or the Trese brothers would have to answer this.

[wilky]

Publicado originalmente por Tomcat:

Edge Almean is a normal crew with a Smuggler job.
She has 3 command, 5 Intimidate, 5 Negotiate. She has sharp witted, Gossip, Seedy.
20 S 19 Q 19 F 28 C 20 W 19 R

As for the Mediator trait, Nikolai probably got that on him from some Salvage or other method. The traits he is hard coded with is Jaded, Shrewed, and Brilliant.

He starts with +11 Negotiate. I don't know if it caps if he ended up with Mediator. Someone either has to be really motivated to look at the code for this answer or the Trese brothers would have to answer this.

Oh ok. Thanks for the info/correction. Seems like it could be a strong play to recruit Nikolai and spec him mostly Mech/Engi for max +Repair skill, then promote Edge Almean to officer and spec her like Smuggler/Diplomat/Merchant for +Negotiate.

[Trese Brothers]

If some of the posts are about exact stats for the officers, or small variations, it's important to know that there is some RNG flex whenever one of them is recruited. It's within a tight band, but it give some variation between games where Nikolai is a mass negotiator or an absolute phenom.

I will check into the question about mediator.

[wilky]

Publicado originalmente por Trese Brothers:

If some of the posts are about exact stats for the officers, or small variations, it's important to know that there is some RNG flex whenever one of them is recruited. It's within a tight band, but it give some variation between games where Nikolai is a mass negotiator or an absolute phenom.

I will check into the question about mediator.

I understand about some small randomness in the stat values, but I was confused about the Mediator thing because the top post in this thread (from 2018) seems to incorrectly mention that Nikolai always starts with it (as opposed to Brilliant)

[Trese Brothers]

Well, 2018 was a long time ago :)

[Tomcat]

So putting two and two together, it might have started with Mediator, but then it was quickly realized that it would be a useless trait since the cap is at 12.

Rather than adding additional lines which would separate mediator boosted stats with born boosted stats, they swapped his trait. So it's likely that once mediator detects a number of 12 in the parenthesis, it no longer triggers for additional gains.