Given everything so far on Tribble it was safe to assume a new Command Specialization hybrid seating would be available soon.  This was confirmed officially today with the most recent blog post from Jeremy Randall.

In addition to the new Command Specialization, we also learned that any bridge officer can be retrained to use these specialization abilities, although only one Specialization can be active at any time. Added to the new benefit of having multiple skills per BOFF, this changes represent a major positive step forward for bridge officers.  Jump past my speculation below to see the actual powers as announced in today’s blog post.

Something seems a little off.  Is there more to this?

[WILD Speculation]

We’ve heard about things for the future.  Things we’d like to have in terms of Bridge Officers as playable Captains – or – as Captains of ships we could control as part of task force.

Looking at the powers below, its easy to see using them with my away team or as part of a group of like minded players in ground scenarios.  Some of the space powers don’t make sense if it’s just for one ship, or if its for a group of players say in an STF.  They seem impractical, or at least very situational.  Unless it’s meant to control pets?  Or a task force ships commanded by your officers…?

If that were true (and again I am in the wild speculation territory), would the first steps be to have officers with more than just 4 skill options?  And then have a command level person with group command skills?  And perhaps a ship that would allow all of those pieces to work together?  Perhaps a T6 Command or Capital Class Cruiser?

[/WILD Speculation]

What do you think?

New Command Skills include:

GROUND

Coordinate Bombing Strike Create a series of spatial charges in a straight line between you and your foe. After a short delay, they will detonate sequentially, dealing moderate kinetic damage to any foes in the blast zone.

Delegated Devastation You grant your entire team a Damage Bonus with energy weapons, at the cost of setting your own weapons Offline for several seconds.

Hammer and Anvil Issue a team-wide offensive command to crush the enemy from both sides. Allies that strike any enemy from behind will gain a substantial bonus to their Flanking Damage, while those that strike an enemy’s front will receive increased Damage Resistance.

Overwhelm Shields Mark a targeted foe, to coordinate your allies’ weapon fire. All energy weapon attacks made against the marked foe will drain additional shields, and restore a small amount of shields to the ally that fired upon them.

Return Fire Instantly remove a portion of any remaining cooldowns on all teammates, while also granting a small Damage Boost. The severity of both of these effects is higher, the more dire the situation is for each teammate – the lower their current Health, the higher the benefit they gain.

Sanctuary Create a perfect respite on the battlefield, for a short amount of time. While within the Sanctuary Field, you gain perfect Stealth and a Heal-Over-Time effect. However, all abilities are Disabled and your Run Speed is decreased. The field is large enough for allies to gain these same benefits if they are very close to your position.

Shock and Awe Mark a targeted foe, to coordinate your allies’ weapon fire. While marked, the Damage Resistance of the foe is reduced. If sufficient damage is dealt while the mark is active, the target will become Disabled and incapable of acting.

Strategic Analysis Requires Combat. Grants a team-wide Damage Bonus and Damage Resistance increase that continues to increase the longer the Command Officer remains in combat. Higher ranks of this ability do not scale faster, but have longer maximum durations, and therefore higher maximum boosts. The effect ends immediately if combat ends.

Take Cover Issue a team-wide command to Crouch. Any teammate that follows your orders will gain a large Damage Resistance boost as well as Immunity to all Control Effects and a Heal-Over-Time. Those that do not Crouch will only receive Damage Resistance.

Timely Intervention Instantly rescue a nearby teammate from imminent defeat. Activate this ability to initiate a site-to-site transport to the nearest ally that is below 50% health, and render them untargetable for a short period of time. This ability may only be activated if a nearby ally will be saved by it. (Note: Ally becomes invalid target for this ability for a period of time after being saved by it, preventing chain-immunity.)

SPACE

Ambush Marker Cannot be used while in Combat. Place an Ambush Marker at your current location, which will grant a high Stealth value to all nearby allies. If any Foe is drawn to the location, the Ambush triggers, granting all nearby allies a large Damage Bonus and summoning additional Attack Craft to pummel the unsuspecting enemy.

Call Emergency Artillery Even the most battle-hardened commander can occasionally use the support of heavy-hitting bombers. Use this ability to summon a set of three Attack Craft that are equipped with heavy-hitting kinetic mortar barrages. These ships will warp in at your current location and follow a trajectory toward your targeted foe, dealing periodic kinetic damage to any foes along that path before warping out again.

Concentrate Firepower Mark a targeted foe, to coordinate your allies’ weapon fire. All torpedo attacks made against the marked foe deal additional Kinetic damage that bypasses shields. Striking the marked target also has a chance of granting a free High Yield Torpedo I mode to the attacking ally.

Needs of the Many Your current Shield Capacity is instantly set to zero. All teammates will, in return, gain an amount of Secondary Shielding that scales proportionately to the percentage of shields that were sacrificed.

Overwhelm Emitters Mark a targeted foe, to coordinate your allies’ weapon fire. All energy weapon attacks made against the marked foe will drain additional shields, and restore a small amount of shields to the ally that fired upon them.

Phalanx Formation By following a series of markers that will be created relative to your current location, you, and all allies that follow, will gain increasingly impressive offensive bonuses to aid you in combat. Each of the three markers successfully navigated grants larger boosts, and all of them stack with one another.

Rally Point Place a holographic marker near the targeted foe’s location. Any allies (or self) that enter the designated Rally Point will instantly have a large portion of their Hull and Shields restored. Each ally may only benefit from a single Rally Point once.

Reroute Power from Life Support While active, all four ship subsystems will gradually gain additional current power, and you will be immune to all effects that would knock subsystems offline. However, your Crew will also gradually become disabled, and the Cooldown of all abilities will suffer greater and greater penalties the longer this ability remains active. It can be turned off at will. Only for use in the most dire of circumstances. Subspace Interception Instantly rescue a nearby allied starship from imminent defeat. Activate this ability to initiate a quick warp jump to the nearest ally that is below 50% hull, and render them untargetable for a short period of time. This ability may only be activated if a nearby ally will be saved by it. (Note: Ally becomes invalid target for this ability for a period of time after being saved by it, preventing chain-immunity.) Suppression Barrage Enhance your weapons to pass a debilitating effect on to any foe you fire upon. Enemies that are Suppressed will have their Movement and Damage reduced, while also becoming incapable of targeting any Torpedoes, Mines or Fighters that are allied with the user of Suppression Barrage.