Skills

Theoretically, a Captain skill could be changed if/when the captain character rotates. However, for simplicity the skill can just be tracked as if the command crew always stays the same. The exception to this is when a ship suffers casualties and receives new crew replacements. In that case, the old crew skill is averaged with the base crew skill of the replacements (with numbers of both accounted for) to determine the current one. Likewise, if a ship's captain is determined to be a casualty, then he is replaced by the next senior officer (with a Captain skill five points lower for each officer grade below the deceased captain). Once a new captain is assigned to the ship, the Captain skill is recomputed, per the skill generation rules.

New Version

The use of skills within the Starfleet Command RPG have been simplified, to accommodate the sheer numbers of ships involved and the events that can take place at any one time. All skills are boiled down into three:

• Command Skill
• Crew Skill
• Ship Skill

The Crew skill is all of the individual skills of each crew member of a ship, recognized as one overall skill level. It represents all specific skills present on the ship, when a Test roll (ex: Shipboard Systems) is required.

The Command skill does not have the same opportunity of individual use that the Crew skill has. Its purpose is to represent the captain's experience in decision-making and is averaged with the Crew skill to determine the Ship skill. It reflects a very specific skill, one borne of experience and specialized education.

The Ship skill is used to resolve Events that occur, either as assigned missions (outside of game-monitored combat) or unexpected incidents. It is comprised of the average of the Crew and Command skills.

Both of the first two skills are initialized at the ship's commissioning [see Skill Generation below]. The Ship skill is recomputed at the time of an Event, when a ship's safety is possibly at risk.

Both receive a free point following a successful ship's shakedown cruise (to reflect the crew coming together as a team). Following that, both receive one point every two years following the first January after ship's commissioning. Instead of computing every ship's latest skill point levels every January, whenever a ship is chosen for an Event the skill level from the last computation is updated (and recorded).

Skill Generation

Each ship starts out with a (hopefully) trained crew, but instead of every ship having a common Crew skill or a captain that performs identically to every other captain, the ships receive skills for both that reflect the differences that occur when comparing a multitude of ships to each other. These reflect different training styles, experiences and overall capabilities of the individuals serving on those ships. These skills are not static; they will increase with new experiences and can even decrease, as casualties occur. This section explains how those initial skills are determined.

Crew Skill

Crews are made up of diverse personnel; species, genders, ages and definitely experiences will be multiple and varied for each person there. Instead of generating the individual experience of each and every last crewman aboard, the recognition of Starfleet training will set a base and then a randomized number will be added to it; this determines the initial Crew skill for that ship, and is recorded on the ship's profile.

Crew Skill Generation

Era	Roll:
Pre-United Earth Stellar Navy	50 + 1d6
United Earth Stellar Navy (2069)	50 + 1d12
United Earth Starfleet (crew training)	50 + 1d20
Early UFP Starfleet (2161-2273)	50 + 1d30
"Modern" UFP Starfleet (2274-)	50 + 1d35

Command Skill

Captains of Starfleet officers are a different breed, compared to most 'Fleeters. They huge responsibility of commanding a starship, the enormous authority to affect UFP policy and foreign relations, the direct impact they have on the lives of those serving beneath them: these are all well-documented elsewhere. What is understood, though, is the experiences that go into making a stellar commanding officer is an art, not a science. The below chart indicates the ranges of Command skill different captains will have, dependent upon their rank and their era.

Command Skill Generation

Era (Roll:)	LT/LTJG	LCDR	CDR	CAPT
Pre-United Earth Stellar Navy
United Earth Stellar Navy (by 2071)
United Earth Stellar Navy Academy (by 2095)
United Earth Starfleet
Early UFP Starfleet (2161-2273)
"Modern" UFP Starfleet