Soldak Entertainment Blog Update

In his latest blog entry on the official Soldak Entertainment website, founder Steven Peeler reveals some preliminary details about how spaceship attributes and crew members will function in the indie developer's as-of-yet unnamed sci-fi action RPG.
Currently there are 6 "attributes" for your spaceship crew: Tactical, Helmsman, Structural, Engineering, Computers, and Captain. Each time you level up you get a few (right now 5) attribute points to allocate however you want. This essentially represents your generic, unnamed crew.

Tactical increases your damage and is the required attribute for weapons. Helmsman increases your defense and is the required attribute for thrusters, engines, and defenses. Structural increases your structure hit points and is the required attribute for armor, damage control, and structure related components. Engineering increases your energy and is the required attribute for batteries, engines, power collectors, power plants, and shields. Computers increases your attack and is the required attribute for computers, ECCM, jammers, radars, and sensors. Captain unlocks hulls.

This is going to end up being different than fantasy games. In a fantasy game you usually have a specific class and then you focus on one or a few attributes that are best for that class and for the most part ignore the rest. For example a warrior would usually focus on strength, vitality, and dexterity while a mage would focus on intelligence. In this game while you might focus on a few attributes, you probably won't be able to ignore any of them.