Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander/Officers

Officers are needed to do two things: complete tasks and fly ships. In the process, they will probably encounter enemies to fight.

Skill Points and Levels
Officers start at level 1 and can only reach level 15. Each level requires an increasing amount of XP, shown under their portrait, to reach it, granting one skill point. Skill points can be used to learn new space powers or upgrade existing space and ground powers. Level 2 and level 3 officers can only learn new powers. Level 4, level 5, and level 6 officers can upgrade any power once. Level 7 or above officers can upgrade existing powers a second time. Due to the level cap, you cannot upgrade all powers to the maximum tier.

Since the Officer Academy lets you promote all officers to the levels 4, 7 and 10, you should run one fleet for space combat (possibly including a fourth officer to give you options) and let them get as much of the combat XP as possible. When upgrading your main three officers, you are generally going to want to upgrade space powers rather than ground powers, since space powers will be used much more. If you have trouble with ground fights, you can have your secondary officers focus on ground powers. An important element to this is researching the bonus XP gain tasks as soon as feasible.

Stats
All officers have nine stats, of which the first six increase when the officer levels up. The first four--Diplomat, Engineering, Science and Tactical--effect the time required to complete research tasks. The other five apply to ground combat. The officer's Aim minus the target's Evasion determines the percent chance of landing a hit. Higher speeds result in more attacks per battle.

Traits
Traits come in three varieties: event traits, stat traits, and rank traits.

Event Traits
Every officer starts with at least two of these. When an event dialogue pops up, these traits may increase the options available. When they do, it is almost always advantageous to pick the new options.

Stat Traits
These are acquired from combat. Most of them provide buffs, but officers can also pick up decreased resistances to status effects.

Rank Traits
These are acquired at specific levels. They allow officers to perform higher tier tasks and command higher tier ships.

Space Powers
Most officers have three space powers that can be used in the same way that a ship power is used.

Ground Powers
Most officers have four ground powers for use in ground combat.

Officer List
As of version 1.1.0.2, there are only a limited number of officers available. Knowing what attribute combinations they have can keep you from re-rolling in search of a combination that does not exist.