Guide on Captain differences / tier lists / and what leveling does for them

[Games4476]

Does anyone have an guide or anywhere I can read up about this stuff?

[C0DEx]

I was looking for this too, without success.
The main stuff I found so far that the tier only increases the number of perks and maybe the main stat, depending on the captain type (explorer will get one more scan range on tier 2 than tier 1, while merchants have the same main stat (licenses) at all tiers).

Levels boost most stats provided by the perks, but there are some exceptions.
You can see exact perk stats while hovering over the captains icon when in the screen where you plan assignments. Texts in green are the stats boosted by the captains level.
Captains spawn randomly, but certain stations have a higher chance of spawning certain captains (not confirmed, but it feels like it).
Military stations will spawn military captains, mining stations will spawn more mining captains, trade hubs will spawn merchants, smuggler hubs will spawn smugglers. Can't confirm yet that salvage stations spawn scavangers more frequently, and I also haven't found a reliable way to find explorers.
Additional armed ships can drastically reduce the risk of being ambushed, up to guaranteed 0% for some commands like traveling.
Scouting all sectors in a commands area will not only increase yields of mining and salvaging, but will also reduce the risk of being ambushed.
I'd also like to know if the level or tier of a captain has any impact on its actual combat AI. Also, does someone know of a good way to level up military captains?

I'm probably missing something, but thats all I found out so far for myself.

[rickcarson]

Originally posted by C0DEx:

Can't confirm yet that salvage stations spawn scavangers more frequently

I've found a few in the salvage stations, but I think they spawn elsewhere too.

(the same way that smugglers can turn up in unexpected places, though some might argue _that's what they do_. :D

[BroodingSnow]

The "Lost Friend" mission seems to give a Tier 3 captain, and those always seem to be multiclass.

[Kasper]

i also noticed there level adds "hours" for their respective specialty, so in level one the max amount of hours you can send them out i think its 4 hours. while a level three you can send em for 5-6 hours.

[Bobucles]

Most special captains will do exactly what you expect and be extra effective at their mission type. Everyone can generally do everything, but merchants are required for trade missions and smugglers are required to deal in stolen items.
Can confirm that level ups will boost captain traits. Some main stats will power up, mostly the invisible traits like max mining time or the like. The visible main stats don't power up.

Speed increasing traits like reckless/navigator are extremely powerful on mining/salvaging missions. Wealth increasing traits like commoner/connected are extremely powerful on procurement/trade/sell missions. Risk traits like reckless/commoner/stealthy are extremely powerful on travel missions. Risk traits will also force a minimum ambush chance on missions, making them very risky(huh).

Some ship attributes will affect mission success. The most obscure trait is omicron, which affects ambush chance. Mining ships tend to have the lowest omicron, which is why their ambush chances end up very high. Everyone should have weapons, EVERYONE, no exceptions.

Mining/Salvaging weapons are essential for their missions, and mining/salvaging squadrons will boost those missions around ~50% or so. Cargo space doesn't need to be very high, it seems that they unload every half hour when they deliver to the player.

Hyperdrive quality is essential for travel missions. Both range and cooldown will make the ship FAST, even faster than going in person and getting lagged by loading screens. The squad leader determines the speed of travel missions, so an ultra fast leader can drag around escorts of slow ships. Very powerful, every useful utility.

Everyone has unique scouting perks. It's fairly intuitive and X captain will reveal X thing on their scouting mission. Explorers ironically are the weakest in this regard, as they don't really reveal anything.

Dual specialty captains DO EXIST. I only found one as a mission reward, from a "find x person" mission. He was a daredevil/scrapper with crappy traits. Sadly I spaced him, so no pic.

[Games4476]

This is all great information. Thanks guys

[Astasia]

Originally posted by Bobucles:

Risk traits will also force a minimum ambush chance on missions, making them very risky(huh).

I haven't seen this, is it only specific traits that do that? I killed swoks a few times and threw 10 combat turrets on my captained ships and many missions are always 0 risk for them now even with increased ambush chance traits. Before giving them so many turrets the "travel" mission seemed useless as it always had like 20-30% ambush, but now I use that all the time to very quickly move them around the galaxy with 0 ambush chance, at least in naonite and lower sectors for now.

Mining and Salvaging missions also both have "safe" options, so it's possible to avoid turrets and just have them hang out in an area doing safe mining all the time. The yields aren't that much lower, seems to be like 30% less or so.

[Bobucles]

Minimum risk might only apply to certain missions. Bringing travel risk down to 0% is possible, but trade risk and normal mining/salvage will have a forced minimum that risk reduction won't help with.

"Safe" missions require at least one appropriate zone which has been cleared out. For example, trying to do a safe mission in the core is impossible until you clear out a spot. The safe penalty and multi mining bonus appear to add and subtract, so safe multi mining gives pretty good hauls. Otherwise it's like, half.

My difficulty setting isn't too high, one step above normal? Risk reduction near the core needs around 10-15k omicron, but it's obviously far less towards the galactic rim.

[Astasia]

Originally posted by Bobucles:

"Safe" missions require at least one appropriate zone which has been cleared out. For example, trying to do a safe mission in the core is impossible until you clear out a spot.

By "cleared out" I assume that includes any non-hostile faction system. As I've pushed my salvagers over 100 sectors inward from where I am just chaining safe missions for higher tier rewards. None of it is explored, I haven't been anywhere near there personally and don't know what the local factions are, but they still get a ton of items with 0 risk.

[Games4476]

Originally posted by C0DEx:

You can see exact perk stats while hovering over the captains icon when in the screen where you plan assignments. Texts in green are the stats boosted by the captains level.

I wish you could see these stats not just at the screen, but this is great information for everyone.

[Diranux]

I love the idea of captains leveling. But right now it feels like it doesn't really add anything.. Why would another 1-3 hours on a mining mission be a bonus when i can just send him out again?
I wish each captains had a random talent tree where you gained some points to spend
or traits did.. would feel more rewarding

[Bobucles]

Captain levels also boost their traits. Good traits get better, and bad traits get mitigated. The big thing is picking captains with strong traits. It's a very big improvement for no real change in salary.