Crew maximum skill

[Storm]

Hi there,

I watched a video that spoke of a "maximum" of crew skill in something (like engineering), could stop at just 4 stars and such. But the video didn't go into detail.

The gist of what I took away from it days later (sorry, can't find the exact video now as I watch dozens of X4 videos), was that perhaps the starting skill of a crew could hamper them from reaching full 5 stars.

For example, as if having 1 star in boarding, could prevent them from getting 5 stars in piloting or engineering.

Does anyone have any definitive information on this please?

I've searched and searched but can't seem to find any information on this.

I'm planning on starting a new game, and getting leveled up marines from VIG as the crew for all my ships (so pilots and engineers), but am concerned that if I get veteran marines, they may never achieve 5 stars in either piloting or engineering if there really is a max exp cap.

Any definitive advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

[🎮 PalkoVvodets 🔑]

Originally posted by Storm:

For example, as if having 1 star in boarding, could prevent them from getting 5 stars in piloting or engineering.

Definitely not. Already earned starts in engineering won't prevent pilot from becoming Ace.

[Comander-07]

No issues. In fact having high morale thx to long service helps even with low level skills

[Tommytools]

I know that the stars actually represent 15 levels (3 per star) and that each consecutive level is significantly more difficult to get.

It isn't based on an experience bar filling up, but every time an employee does something that could raise their skill (making a kill as pilot for example) there is a % chance they gain a level. So you can have very lucky employees that level very fast, others that stay stuck at low level, most will level slowly but steadily if kept busy.

I've also had employees that had 1-2 stars in other skills with max piloting and morale, I highly doubt they're mutually exclusive, but I've never had reason to check.

[Tommytools]

Originally posted by Comander-07:

No issues. In fact having high morale thx to long service helps even with low level skills

That's a very good point, half of the skill an employee gets in any given task is from morale level after all.

So a 0 star pilot with 5 star morale will still count as a 2.5 star pilot.

[flywlyx]

No, skills are completely independent of each other. It's just difficult to get 5-star pilots, whereas achieving 5-star engineering is much easier. Simply assign engineers to a construction ship and keep them in a construction/deconstruction cycle.

[Wraith]

Building for example level up a huge chunk of crew in engineering and then you can just transfer them to ships for easy access to high level crew

Combat can get engineer crew leveled pretty quickly as well but nowhere near as fast as building

In fact only boarding and piloting are skills that are hard to level
Boarding because they have to actually board to level and piloting because there so few proc outside combat and exploration

[Storm]

Awesome, thanks everyone!

[Venerable_Sin]

Here is the "official" X4 wiki information I believe you are after, although your question was basically already answered. It may be beneficial to you or someone else wanting more detail. You will have to visit the wiki to read the body of the entry but here is some relevant info:

The title of the wiki entry is:
X4 3.1x NPC Skill/Experience training - a short overview
Last modified by Tamás Répási on 2024/07/18 23:57

Youtube links of the wiki entry is:
Piloting skill talk thru vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSsAAtj0Zz0

Morale skill talk thru vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jhMsfni4Lc

Management, Boarding & Engineering talk thru vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SkWsJz0xfw

Many thanks to Werit Gaming for providing those talk thrus!

[Comander-07]

Originally posted by Tommytools:

Originally posted by Comander-07:

No issues. In fact having high morale thx to long service helps even with low level skills

That's a very good point, half of the skill an employee gets in any given task is from morale level after all.

So a 0 star pilot with 5 star morale will still count as a 2.5 star pilot.

yeah thats why midgame all of my best managers are my old pilots lol.
I guess that would also make for slightly better than garbage marines

[Storm]

Awesome, thanks!

Definitely going to go through that information, love learning about this game :)