I like the sound of that. Using Hackers as an example, they could have unique options, like temporarily shutting down an enemy weapon or shield emitter on elite NPC's.

In practice, people with the Hacking profession could have a Hack option next to the Attack button (Or Attack could even be replaced by Hack). It could use 5 energy like attacking, but the Hack would cause no physical damage to the enemy at all. Instead, there would be a chance of causing the effects that I mentioned above. So for other legion members, it would be like having extra Artifacts on the enemy.

Of course, since Hacking would do no damage in the above example, this would mean Hackers would have reduced chances (Or even no chance) of getting on the top damagers lists, so the lists would need to be altered, either by having a top hackers board in addition to the top damagers board, or by adjusting the top damagers board somehow. There could even be unique rewards that would only be available to Hackers, so for example where damagers that are fighting against a Vortul, Crimson Carrier, can get Vortul Platings or Vortul Blast Phasers, Hackers could instead get a Vortul Cloaking Grid.

This would allow players to get rewards that are more suited to their play style, and allow for far more specialisation in the game. Oh, but it would also need to be decided what happens to these unique modules when a player changes professions of course. But that's just details and i'm simply spawning ideas.

I like the sound of that. Using Hackers as an example, they could have unique options, like temporarily shutting down an enemy weapon or shield emitter on elite NPC's.

In practice, people with the Hacking profession could have a Hack option next to the Attack button (Or Attack could even be replaced by Hack). It could use 5 energy like attacking, but the Hack would cause no physical damage to the enemy at all. Instead, there would be a chance of causing the effects that I mentioned above. So for other legion members, it would be like having extra Artifacts on the enemy.

Of course, since Hacking would do no damage in the above example, this would mean Hackers would have reduced chances (Or even no chance) of getting on the top damagers lists, so the lists would need to be altered, either by having a top hackers board in addition to the top damagers board, or by adjusting the top damagers board somehow. There could even be unique rewards that would only be available to Hackers, so for example where damagers that are fighting against a Vortul, Crimson Carrier, can get Vortul Platings or Vortul Blast Phasers, Hackers could instead get a Vortul Cloaking Grid.

This would allow players to get rewards that are more suited to their play style, and allow for far more specialisation in the game. Oh, but it would also need to be decided what happens to these unique modules when a player changes professions of course. But that's just details and i'm simply spawning ideas.

but then how would people go about getting these additional cloaking modules if they werent hackers?

That's the whole point; they wouldn't be able to. That's the point of specialisation. You gain something in one area, but lose out on another. In this instance, using my above example, the Hackers would gain a Hacking module, but lose out on the Vortul Weapon and Armor.

All of the professions could have unique bonuses. I simply used Hackers as an example. So, FerrusManus, Miners could have a unique Mining/defence structure for their planets. Or perhaps extra Cargo space to haul large ore shipments. Again, these are purely examples - anything is possible. But once the specialisations start meaning something, different types of players could start having specific uses as part of their legions. I for one think this would make the legions work together better, and would certainly improve the social aspect of the game.

Precisely, sgtlynch. Or Biologists could have extra crew strength, eg. they gain 3 Tactical Officers for each rank point spent instead of 2. And that would be particularly attractive to people who want to play the game with a small ship (So they have low damage thresholds).

My point is that with a little imagination, *anything* could be a bonus. I'd like to see what Dan's thoughts on this would be.