Officer Presets Are Here

And They Are a Big Disappointment!

by CmdrBond

We have been asking, and waiting, for officer presets for nearly two years. We have heard that they were coming and the excitement has been building. Now officer presets are finally here! And, they are, in my opinion, a big disappointment! I will offer my thoughts; but I’m also interested in what you think. Let’s explore them together. Be sure to add your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below.

First, where are the Officer Presets located and how do you get them? This brings us to the first issue that I have with the Officer Presets. Scopely has decided to bury them behind a grind wall or pay wall with the new Syndicate section. As you can see in Figure 1, you must get to Syndicate level 4 to get your first Officer Preset. Keep in mind this will only give you one Officer Preset. This means that you will have to grind for several weeks in order to earn enough Syndicate XP to reach level 4 or you can buy a Syndicate XP pack for $99. Neither option is ideal.

Figure 1: Syndicate Level 4

Figure 2: Syndicate - Claim Reward

As I mentioned above, Syndicate Level 4 only gives you one Officer Preset. In order to get more Officer Presets, you have to reach Syndicate levels: 9, 12, 15, 17, 20, 22, and 25. (See Figure 3 thru Figure 9). This makes achieving all of the Officer Presets a very long and painful process.

One final note on the Syndicate XP Level bonuses in general. Once you have enough XP to reach a Syndicate Level, you must actually claim the rewards for that level before they take effect. (See Figure 2). Also, once the rewards are applied, they are permanent.

Figure 3: Syndicate Level 9	Figure 4: Syndicate Level 12
Figure 5: Syndicate Level 15	Figure 6: Syndicate Level 17
Figure 7: Syndicate Level 20	Figure 8: Syndicate Level 22
Figure 9: Syndicate Level 25

Now let’s move on to how the Officer Presets work. To find the Officer Presets, you go to your Manage Ship option for a ship in one of your docks. (See Figure 15). Then select the Assign Officers option. (See Figure 16). On the Assign Officers screen, you will notice a new menu icon to the upper right of the bridge crew. (See Figure 17). Clicking on this icon will bring you to the Officer Preset screen. If you do not have Officer Presets enabled, your screen will look like Figure 10. Clicking the “i” button in the upper right of this screen will give you additional details on the Officer Presets (See Figure 10). If you have the Officer Presets available your screen will look like Figure 12.

Once the Officer Preset option is available you will need to create an Officer Preset. To create an Officer Preset place the bridge crew that you want use as a present on the bridge of your ship. Then open the Officer Preset screen as described above. Your screen should look like Figure 12. Your current bridge crew will be displayed at the top. Click “Save” next to an available Preset Slot. (See Figure 12). You will then be prompted to confirm. (See Figure 13). Note that you will overwrite any existing crew preset once you press Confirm. Your screen should now look like Figure 14. Your current bridge crew is now populated into the Preset Slot you have chosen.

To use an existing preset, go to your Manage Ship option for a ship in one of your docks. (See Figure 15). Then select the Assign Officers option. (See Figure 16). On the Assign Officers screen, click on the Officer Present menu icon to the upper right of the bridge crew. (See Figure 17). Take note of the current bridge crew that I have in Figure 17. Also take note of the under-bridge deck crew. In this example it happens to be our Officer Preset bridge crew that we previously saved. To enable the existing preset in the Officer Preset screen, click Apply next to the preset that you want to use. (See Figure 18). After clicking Apply the screen will automatically go back to the Assign Officers screen and the Officer Preset that you selected will be on the bridge. (See Figure 19).

Figure 10: Officer Preset - Not Enabled	Figure 11: Officer Preset - Selection Details
Figure 12: Officer Preset - One Slot Enabled	Figure 13: Officer Preset - Save Preset Confirm
Figure 14: Officer Preset - Preset Created	Figure 15: Manage Ship
Figure 16: Manage Ship - Assign Officers #1	Figure 17: Manage Ship - Assign Officers #2
Figure 18: Officer Preset - Apply Preset	Figure 19: Officer Preset - After Preset Application

However, this brings us to another issue with the Officer Presets. Remember that our preset officers were originally in the under-bridge crew. When your Officer Presets are a part of the under-bridge crew, they will be moved to the bridge and leave gaps in the under-bridge crew. (See Figure 19). So, you must be careful when assigning Officer Presets, especially if the Officer Presets are located in the under-bridge crew on another ship. You will need to check your ships before sending them out lest you potentially send out a ship without a full crew.

This brings us to the next issue with Officer Presets. As you can see, the Officer Presets do not include the under-bridge deck crew. This means you have to come up with a work around for the under-bridge deck crew such as pre-staging your different under-bridge deck crews on different docks and rotating the appropriate ships and Bridge Crews as appropriate. Also, if your Bridge Crew requires a different under-bridge deck crew than you currently have loaded then you still have to search through all of your officers to get the officers that you need. This doesn’t make it more efficient. It makes the whole process less efficient.

The Officer Presets as they are currently employed do not offer any real improvement to game efficiency which is what we wanted the Officer Presets for in the first place. And placing the Officer Presets behind a Grind Wall or Pay Wall is just adding insult to injury. In my opinion, these issues render the Officer Presets almost completely useless because of the time and effort required to enable them and for the lack of the under-bridge deck crew.

Let me know what you think in the comments section below.