Effects of officer special abilities?

[thedoctorking]

What are the effects of "wily", "damage control expert", etc., at the different levels of command? 

I'm especially concerned about "poor shiphandler" in command of a division. Does he screw up the maneuvering of his unit? 

[blarglol]

I've tried to figure out what officer characteristics affect divisional commanders and how that applies to the ships in their division, but to no avail. I'm not sure if anyone but Fredrik knows at this point.

[thedoctorking]

I wonder if I have a "gunnery expert" as admiral in a region, is every ship in that region going to learn how to be a better shot?

[blarglol]

Aug 26, 2024 11:57:02 GMT -6 thedoctorking said:

I wonder if I have a "gunnery expert" as admiral in a region, is every ship in that region going to learn how to be a better shot?

I do not know, but I don't think actual Admirals have traits, at least not any I have seen. They just get a performance rating: Average, Incompetent, etc. 

This actually lends credence to Rear Admirals (Commodores) having some trait effects on their divisions. They can actually have attribute traits, and it would not be unbalanced to have their likes/dislikes affect 2-6 vessels. Having the Admiral of an entire region affect all the ships there might be unbalanced.

Perhaps "Good administrator" would apply to all the ships of a division and lower their upkeep other than just one. That should be easy enough to observe, I will keep my eye open. 

On the flip side, if a division commander has "Poor Shiphandler," would it make all the ships in the division more likely to collide or run aground? Harder to test but again I will observe.

[thedoctorking]

I had an admiral in my current game who was a gunnery expert. He had been one throughout his career so maybe his skill didn't apply any more once he was an admiral and two levels above ship command.

[blarglol]

Hmmm, well never mind then there goes that theory. Back to the drawing board...

[director]

Aug 27, 2024 15:56:05 GMT -6 thedoctorking said:

I had an admiral in my current game who was a gunnery expert. He had been one throughout his career so maybe his skill didn't apply any more once he was an admiral and two levels above ship command.

Quick, someone notify Willis Lee!

[attemptingsuccess]

AFAIK traits only apply to the ship they are serving on, but I would like to point out that traits are mostly explained in the manual in Appendix 6. Some things are not explained

OFFICER CHARACTERISTICS
Speed enthusiast: This officer will get that extra knot of speed out of his ship, especially
if new. (Not Explained: Chance to overtax engines and lose 1 knot of speed)
ROF enthusiast: This officer will get his crew to improve ROF, at the cost of a slight
increase in the risk of flash fires, as he is prone to overlook safety measures in the quest
for higher ROF. (+10)
Gunnery expert: This officer will improve the gunnery of his ship. (+10)
Torpedo expert: This officer will improve torpedo firing of his ship.
Disciplinarian: This officer goes by the book. His crew will improve relatively fast, but
attention to rules and regulations will stop the crew from becoming really good.
Music lover: This officer will put much effort into improving the performance of the
ship’s band, which can have its advantages and disadvantages.
Sportsman: This officer loves sport, and will put much effort into the physical fitness of
his crew. (Not Explained:This is to the detriment of crew training)
Lucky: This officer will somehow evade many critical hits to his ship.
Aggressive: This officer will take a more aggressive stance than most of his colleagues.
Timid: This officer will take a more careful stance than most of his colleagues.
Well connected: This officer has connections in high circles. He will be more costly to
remove or reassign. (Not Explained, will also promote faster)
Wily: This officer is a master of evasive tactics. He will reduce the chance of his ship
being hit.
Poor Admin: Ships under this officer are more likely to miss signals or get lost in battle.
Poor shiphandler: More likely to get into collisions or other mishaps.
Loose cannon: You never know what this officer will be up to. He may perform brilliantly
or poorly, and may get into all kinds of trouble. (This is just random, but he will make suggestions to implement special training/remove cautious debuff)
Good administrator: Reduces maintenance cost of his ship.
No connections: This officer lacks connections or patrons, and will get promoted more
slowly.

+Aviator, which is not here and does ?

[cwemyss]

Some of these have direct applicability at least one level up, for Division commanders. Aggressive/Timid, Wily, Good/Bad Admin, Gunnery expert, ROF enthusiasr, Aviator for a CarDiv RAdm. Others too.

Possibly a reduced effect, because he's not directly commanding individual ships, but he'll have influence on the COs below him. Might also scale it based on the RAdm's ability... Brilliant/Above Avg would have more of an effect in subordinates, Below Avg would have less.