Battlestar Galactica Deadlock Officers Guide

Introduction

Data taken from in game testing, ? Campaign, highest difficulty, all so you don’t have to.

Fleet Cap

All fleets have a fleet cap of 4000 points if you don’t have an officer. A brand new officer also has a cap of 4000 points.

To deploy larger fleets, an officer must invest in the Command skill, which adds +1000 fleet cap per skill point invested, up to a max of +4000, or 8000 fleet points total.

Officers start out at LtCol (Rank 1).

LtCol (Rank 2) can invest in Command I. This is highly recommend, as it allows bringing a 7th ship.

LtCol (Rank 4) can invest in Command II.

LtCol (Rank 6) can invest in Command III.

LtCol (Rank 8) can invest in Command IV.

There is no benefit to having a higher fleet cap than needed to use your desired ships. For reference, here are a few fleet compositions (not an exhaustive list):

4000 Points (No Command)

2x Adamant, 5x Manticore

5x Berzerk, 1x Adamant

5000 Points (Command I)

7x Berzerks (Technically 4550 points)

1x Atlas 6x Berzerk

6000 Points

3x Atlas, 3x Berzerk, 1x Adamant

2x Artemis, 1x Janus, 3x Berzerk

7000 Points

I could not find any fleet combinations that were exactly 7000 points.

8000 Points (Command IV)

4x Artemis Battlestars, 2 Berzerks, 1 Manticore

2x Jupiter Battlestars, 1x Atlas, 2x Berzerk

2x Jupiter Battlestars, 2x Minerva Battlestars

Auto Resolve

Autoresolve seems to be based solely on Fleet Points. Autoresolve doesn’t seem to care if your fleet composition has 5 Janus or 3 Celestra. Officer ranks, ship types, preexisting ship damage, and crew veterancy appears to be ignored. If you want the best autoresolve chances, you always want your fleet points to be at your fleet cap.

That said, I highly recommend fleet compositions that can fight manual battles, to avoid losing ships when your casualty odds are unacceptable. Being able to win a battle with 0% casualties is a nice time saver, but attrition adds up quick if you’re odds aren’t at 100%.

It is unknown if smaller ships are more likely to die, or if casualties are completely random. Note that ships carrying officers can be killed by autoresolve.

The full autoresolve formula is not known at this time, but here are the rules of thumb:

If Cylons outpower the Colonials 2:1, odds of victory will be ~%50, but casualties will be ~50%.

If Cylons outpower Colonials by 10:8, odds of victory will be 99%, but casualties ~30%.

If Cylons and Colonials are matched 1:1, odds of victory will be 100%, but casualties will be ~25%

If Cylons are outmatched by 1:2, odds of victory will be 100% and there will be no casualties. Note that even without casualties, repairs may be needed.

Raw Data:

(Colonial Fleet Points) vs (Cylon Fleet Points) (Win%) (Casualty%) (Colonial FP/Cylon FP)

3250 5900 62 46 0.55

4400 6850 85 22 0.64 – Outlier, likely an error. More data needed.

3900 5900 79 35 0.66

3900 4950 97 28 0.79

3900 4850 99 28 0.8

3250 3950 100 27 0.82

4550 5500 100 27 0.83

4550 3900 100 23 1.17

4550 3500 100 21 1.3

6650 3950 100 8 1.68

4550 2700 100 15 1.69

Posture

On the hardest difficulty, fleets with no officers or low ranked officers have only +4 posture. This can be increased by up to +8 from the following:

+1 from Rank 3 (All Officers)

+1 from Rank 8 (All Officers)

+1 from CIC +5 (CIC Officer Fleet skill capstone)

+1 from Posture +1 (CIC Captain skill capstone)

Thus, +8 posture is only possible on a Rank 10 CIC officer that neglects the Command skill, but all officers can get to at least +6.

The importance of posture, and therefore CIC officers, remains a highly debated subject to this day. I will refrain from adding my own thoughts, and instead settle for presenting the raw data.

Negative posture indicated defensive posture, positive indicates offensive, and Boost is a special posture that is unaffected by posture/CIC bonuses. Note that these numbers may be higher in actual battles due to crew veterancy, ship bonuses, and officer bonuses.

Posture -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 BOOST

Engineering (Defensive)

Damage Reduction 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 13

Subsystem Repair 132 128 124 120 116 112 108 104 100 96 92 88 84 80 76 72 68 52

Squadron Repair 140 135 130 125 120 115 110 105 100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 40

Armory (Defensive)

Marine Armor 56 54 52 50 48 46 44 42 40 38 36 34 32 30 28 26 24 16

Marine Strength 204 197 191 184 177 170 164 157 150 143 137 130 123 116 110 103 96 69

Tech Bay (Defensive)

Dradis Range M 6800 6575 6350 6125 5900 5675 5450 5225 5000 4775 4550 4325 4100 3875 3650 3425 3200 2300

Firewall Regen /s 8.2 7.9 7.6 7.4 7.1 6.8 6.5 6.3 6 5.7 5.5 5.2 4.9 4.7 4.4 4.1 3.8 2.8

Fire Control (Offensive)

Turret Range 72 76 79 83 86 90 93 97 100 104 107 111 114 118 121 125 128 58

Turret Accuracy 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 41

Munition Salvo Size 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 52

Navigation (Neither)

Pitch 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 59

Yaw 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 59

Distance 64 69 73 78 82 87 91 96 100 96 91 87 82 78 73 69 64 140

Hangar (None)

Squardon Launch Delay (s) 3

Squadron Evade 65

Skill Points

This is the last thing to cover before discussing specific officer types. All officers start at Rank 1, with a single Fleet skill unlocked. The maximum rank is 10. One skill point is unlocked at each level up, for 10 skill points total (including the starting skill).

Each officer has 4 Command skills, 5 Fleet skills, and 3 Captain skills, for 12 skills total. No matter what, an officer will have to miss out on at least two of their 12 possible skills.

The possible combinations are as follows:

200

Command 2 (6000 fleet cap)

Fleet 5 (+5 to a subsystem)

Captain 3 (3 captain skills)

020

Command 2 (8000 fleet cap)

Fleet 3 (+3 to a subsystem)

Captain 3 (3 captain skills)

002

Command 2 (8000 fleet cap)

Fleet 5 (+5 to a subsystem)

Captain 1 (1 captain skills)

110

Command 3 (7000 fleet cap)

Fleet 4 (+4 to a subsystem)

Captain 3 (3 captain skills)

101

Command 3 (7000 fleet cap)

Fleet 5 (+5 to a subsystem)

Captain 2 (2 captain skills)

011

Command 4 (8000 fleet cap)

Fleet 4 (+4 to a subsystem)

Captain 2 (2 captain skills)

Note that most Captain skills (with the exception of the CIC Posture capstone) only affects the capital ship the officer is actually aboard. Thus, you will likely prefer to place the officer on a ship that greatly benefits from their captain skill, or sacrifice the captain skill in favor of fleetwide bonuses.

Because having more ships and heavier ships is almost always useful, especially against larger cylon fleets, the best skill setup for officers is *almost* always 002.

CIC Officer

The CIC Officer is by far the most controversial, ranging from overpowered to useless depending on who you ask. I will attempt to refrain from adding my own opinion, and instead present the raw data.

CIC Subsystem +1 per rank (or about +4% system strength). At CIC +5, gain 120% CIC strength, which grants +1 Posture.

Captain I: 10% EXP Gain. (Officer only).

Captain II: +5% Damage Reduction*.

Captain III: +1 Posture Range (Entire fleet).

*(All Captain bonuses affect the captain’s flagship only, unless otherwise noted.)

The CIC Officer can reach a maximum posture of +8, as opposed to +6 for other officer types. For reference, this is the difference between +8 and +6 posture:

Posture -8 -6 6 8

Engineering (Defensive)

Damage Reduction 33 31 19 17

Subsystem Repair 132 124 76 68

Squadron Repair 140 130 70 60

Armory (Defensive)

Marine Armor 56 52 28 24

Marine Strength 204 191 110 96

Tech Bay (Defensive)

Dradis Range M 136 127 73 64

Firewall Regen /s 8.2 7.6 4.4 3.8

Fire Control (Offensive)

Turret Range 72 79 121 128

Turret Accuracy 60 70 130 140

Munition Salvo Size 68 76 124 132

Navigation (Neither)

Pitch 60 70 70 60

Yaw 60 70 70 60

Distance 64 73 73 64

In summary:

Defensive gets +2% damage reduction, +8% subsystem repair, +10 squadron repair, +4 Marine Armor, +12 Marine Strength, +9% DRADIS range, +0.6 Firewall Regen.

Offensive gets +7% range, +10% accuracy, +8% salvo.

These bonuses (and penalties) might seem small, but they are comparable (and stackable with) veterancy bonuses. Making the most out of a CIC officer requires careful considering range, ship types, and engagement angles.

NAV Officer

Arguably the most universally useful officer. Although faster ships obviously benefit from the % speed bonuses the most, heavy ships can be saved by gaining enough turning speed to rotate their considerable armor effectively.

Navigation Subsystem: Improve max speed, turning rate (Yaw), and elevation control (Pitch) for the entire fleet.

Captain I: +50% Elevation Control (Pitch)

Captain II: +50% Yaw Control (Turn)

Captain III: +30% Max Speed

A high-level NAV officer can allow medium capital ships to outrun Cylon fighters, maneuver to outflank Cylons and get in and out of danger quickly.

ENG Officer

The Engineer is inarguably the most useful officer, despite having the least glamorous role. Damage reduction across the entire fleet dramatically improves survivability and therefore crew veterancy. The heavier a fleet, the greater the benefit.

ENG Subsystem: Damage reduction, subsystem repair, squadron repair rate.

Captain I: +60% Subsystem Repair Rate

Captain II: +5% Damage Reduction

Captain III: +20 Armor

It should be noted that, despite subsystem repair rate rarely mattering before a fight is concluded, the damage reduction and armor bonus stack multiplicatively.

Assuming 100 armor to start with, +20 armor and +5% damage reduction is 120*1.05=126 armor. If you assume 100 hull, that’s an effective 220*1.05=131 armor.

By rotating to show at least three different armor sections, you go from (100+100*3)=400 to (100+120*3)*1.05=485 effective armor for a 20% increase (under best case scenarios).

This is enough to barely survive attacks that would otherwise kill a capital ship but won’t make one invincible.

HNG Officer

The most specialized officer, whose effectiveness depends entirely on how well one makes use of squadrons. They can multiply the effective lifetime of battlestar and carrier squadrons, or make Berzerk Squadrons nearly untouchable.

More than any other officer, they depend on the Command skill (to bring more fighters via Fleet Point hungry battle stars and Atlas carriers), and due to the number of fighters prefer Fleet skills to benefit the entire fleet.

Their captain skills, by process of elimination, are of questionable utility. A bonus to repair rates and accuracy certainly won’t do much in a fighter brawl if you’re outnumbered by Cylon Swarms.

Worse, the capital with the most fighter slots is the slow and vulnerable Atlas carrier. That said, the +40% speed bonus can turn an Assault Raptor into a hilariously effective scout/bomber, and any accompanying Viper Mk IIs into deadly ace pilots, provided that one focuses on outrunning Cylon fighters instead of holding one’s ground.

HNG: Squadron Launch Delay, Squadron Evasion

Captain I: +30% Squadron Repair

Captain II: +20% Squadron Accuracy

Captain III: +40% Squadron Speed

TEC Officer

The Tec Officer is arguably the second least useful officer, but he is still specialized enough to shine in specific fleet compositions. Of particular note is the power of the +40% DRADIS range on a Manticore scout. Combine with TEC+3 for a truly ridiculous Dradis Range, potentially enabling a missile-heavy fleet to identify Cylons, lock on, and launch missiles within the first seconds of battle.

TEC Subsystems improve DRADIS range and firewall regen. This is the least useful fleet skill, as a single manticore with the first Captain skill can single-handedly ID an entire Cylon fleet, rendering DRADIS range relevant to the rest of Colonial forces for the remainder of the battle.

The captain’s capstone skill is very helpful for ensuring that the captain – be he manning a Manticore Scout or a Jupiter Battlestar – survives a fair fight. If you have missile locks and the Cylons don’t, the fight is unlikely to be fair.

Captain I: +40% Dradis Range

Captain II: +3 Firewall Regen

Captain III: +25% Hull Points

HNG Officer

Inarguably, without question, the most useless officer. He shines the brightest when your capitals have been boarded by Cylons, which requires you to first lose the fighter battle. Worse, boarding parties are easily fought off with a few minutes of defensive posture, regardless of the officer in command.

I’ll be the first to admit that there have been times I’ve wished I’d had an ARM Officer to repel boarders, but I’ll also be the first to admit that a CIC officer could repel boarders just as easily, an HNG or NAV officer could have prevented the boarders from arriving in the first place, while an ENG officer could rapidly repair the damage. Even the lowly TEC Officer could turn the tides with timely intel long before borders become relevant.

Their capstone skill is the worst of them all. The aggression of the Cylons means that no battle is likely to stall long enough for the Colonial fleet to run out of munitions. Even if munitions become a problem, a single Celestra brings more than enough backup munitions to win the fight.

Even a Raptor heavy focused on boarding parties has no use for ARM officers, as the Raptors provided a redundant bonus against boarding, and there is no benefit to boarding multiple raptors (regardless of marine strength) on the same Cylon capital. It is impossible to take Cylon capitals, after all, as the Cylon ship and its Cylon crew are one and the same.

ARM Subsystem improves Marine armor and Marine strength across the fleet.

Captain I: +25% Marine Strength

Captain II: +4 Marine Armor

Captain III: +40% Munition Salvo Capacity

To Do

To-Do (ie, unlikely I’ll ever do it, would you like to?)

• Exact stat bonuses of each rank of the fleet subsystem skills for each officer.
• Examples of fleet compositions that use officer capstone abilities well. This would require actually playtesting.
• Better compromise between RP and raw data.
• Test CIC versus non-CIC officers against each other.