The SF MMO Star Trek Online will focus on bridge officers, overhauling and modernizing the system.
Bridge officers are one of the unique features of Star Trek Online. They activate various skills in the ship combat aspect of the game: for example, an engineer (identified by a yellow shirt in the Federation) can take care of the ship’s repairs through skills (Self-Heal), while a tactical officer (red shirt) tends to have offensive abilities.
In “Away Missions,” they serve as a sort of party replacement, firing their phasers and also using their skills.
The entire system is set to undergo modernization by Cryptic. Essentially, it seems aimed at changing the currently rather cumbersome way in which bridge officers learn skills to a drop and purchase system through training books. Cryptic also wants to give them more abilities to choose from, which will become increasingly expensive as the officer learns more.
The developer diary with all the details can be found here. As for when this will go live, even Cryptic does not know at the moment. The system change is still in development.
