Officers

**Colonial Fleet Officers** can be attached to fleets to provide additional bonuses, and increase the size of the fleet. Additionally, only fleets with an officer attached can undertake campaign Story Missions and Resource Missions.

## Types

There are six types of officer, each with their own set of Fleet skills and Captain skills.

* Commanding Officers strengthen the CIC subsystem for the entire fleet and provide damage reduction to the flagship
* Explorers strengthen the Navigation subsystem for the entire fleet and provide increased speed and mobility to the flagship
* Combat Engineers strengthen the Engineering subsystem for the entire fleet and provide increased repair, damage reduction, and armor to the flagship
* Technologists strengthen the Tech Bay subsystem for the entire fleet and provide DRADIS range, firewall regen, and hull points to the flagship
* Commander, Air Group (CAG)s strengthen the Hangar subsystem for the entire fleet and provide squadron improvements to the flagship
* Marine Colonels strengthen the Armory subsystem for the entire fleet and provide marine improvements and increased munitions to the flagship

## Recruitment

Officers are recruited from the officers screen, accessible via the Control Panel. On the left of the screen is the officer list. The Active Tab displays all officers that have already been recruited; the Recruit Tab displays the list of hopeful recruits that you can choose from.

In either tab, selecting an officer will display their action
buttons:

* Recruit adds the officer to your Active Tab list,
* Assign places an officer in one of your fleets,
* Promote increases the abilities of an officer,
* Unassign removes an officer from a fleet, and
* Dismiss permanently removes the officer from the game.

When an officer is assigned to a fleet, their face will appear next to that fleet’s name in the Strategy Index. The officer will always serve on the flagship of their fleet. Note that if the flagship is destroyed in battle, the officer will be killed! When an officer is selected, their information panel on the right gives a detailed outline of their capabilities. The Experience panel shows how much XP they currently have, and how much
is required for their next promotion. The Command panel shows the total Fleet Points of units are currently assigned to their fleet, and their maximum.

## Promotions

An officer can be promoted when they have enough experience for their next rank. Additionally, you can spend Requisition Points to make up the experience shortfall.

When you have confirmed that you want to promote an officer, you will get to select their new skill from the skills panel in the center of the screen.

In addition to new skills, every second level increases leadership by 1. Each point of leadership increase posture range by 1.

## Skills

The Skills list shows the skills the officer has already unlocked. The Skills panel is divided into three columns:

* Command skills, which increases the Fleet Point value of the officer’s fleet;

* Fleet skills, which increase the strength of their specialist subsystem for all units in their fleet;

* Captain skills, which are unique bonuses applied only to the officer’s flagship.

Once a new skill has been selected, it will be added to the officer’s skill list in their information panel.

There are four Command skills, five Fleet skills, and three Captain skills, for a total of twelve skills. Each officer starts with the first level of their Fleet skill and can learn nine more skills.

As not every skill may be learned, it is important to strike a balance between Command, Fleet, and Captain skills.