What's up with ENG proficiency numbers?
Hemlock Martinis
✭✭✭✭
in The Bridge
I doubt I’m the first person to notice this, but I think I’m the first to write about it at length. Five of the six skills are fairly balanced when it comes to proficiencies and the Gauntlet mode. But there’s been a strange drought of new high-proficiency ENG crew over the past few years. The resulting imbalance is bad for the Gauntlet mode and bad for the game. I hope this analysis shows the scale of the problem and the need to change it.
Let’s start with the numbers. (All of these figures are from the community-maintained spreadsheet.) The #1 ENG proficiency is currently held by the Caretaker, a Gauntlet-exclusive crew. His proficiency average of 689 is a whopping 198 points higher than that of Captain Scott, who holds the second-highest ENG proficiency average at 491. This gap is almost four times larger than the gap between the #1 and #2 proficiencies in every other skill.
CMD: Kahless the Unforgettable 666, Marshal of France Q 615 (51 points)
DIP: Locutus of Borg 707, Chancellor Gowron 691 (16 points)
MED: Defensive Phlox 703, Mirror Phlox 653 (50 points)
SCI: Armus 683, Commander Ari bn Bem 681 (2 points)
SEC: Gangster Spock 624, Gary Seven 620 (4 points)
That 198-point gap between is an outlier by any metric. The other five skills are far more evenly distributed. In CMD, for example, there are 26 crew with average proficiencies that fall within the gap between the #1 spot and the one 198 points lower. That same gap covers 17 crew for DIP, 19 crew for SCI, and 14 crew for MED. (SEC is something of an outlier here: its distribution is so smooth at the upper levels that 48 crew fall within the 198-point gap.) Taken as a whole, it's bizarre that there aren't at least a dozen ENG-primary crew whose proficiency average falls between the Caretaker and Captain Scott.
This has a tangible impact on gameplay. Simply put, no other ENG-primary crew can consistently compete with the Caretaker in Gauntlet match-ups. Remember that Captain Scott literally has no secondary proficiency score—a unique feature among all 5* crew. The head-to-head results show the depth of the problem. In ENG/MED, the Caretaker’s average (989) is almost three hundred points higher than the second-place tie between Leonardo da Vinci and Defensive Phlox, who each have an average of 703. What’s particularly striking here is that Defensive Phlox is actually MED/SCI/SEC. The top ENG/MED champs, in other words, are mostly just the top MED champs. That’s how bad the ENG proficiency drought has gotten.
In ENG/SCI, the Caretaker’s average (1098) is slightly more balanced by the presence of Seven of Nine, who has a 1028 average. It also helps that Borg and Civilian are common Gauntlet traits. Survivalist Kirk’s 976 average also brought some much-needed diversity to this match-up. But there’s still room for improvement: The rankings currently go from old two-skiller Dr. Richard Daystrom in fourth place (958) to Rain Robinson (782) and Jett Reno (781) in fifth and sixth place, respectively. As with MED, however, note that besides the Caretaker, this is largely a contest between SCI-primary crew.
It’s tempting to think that the Caretaker might simply be unbalanced. Indeed, he has a lot going for him. ENG/MED/SCI is one of the rarest skill combinations in the game, no matter the order. He’s Gauntlet-exclusive, giving long-time players an edge over newer and unluckier ones. He still has top-tier Voyage numbers. And, as already noted, he’s a Gauntlet beast. But the problem here isn’t actually the Caretaker. He ranks #7 in the overall Gauntlet stats and sits a full 259 points lower than Locutus of Borg. It’s his lack of competition in the ENG proficiency space that’s the problem.
Locutus is actually a pretty useful comparison here. His high DIP proficiency (707 average) is only 16 points higher than that of Chancellor Gowron (691 average), with Mambo Picard (683 average) and Bartender Guinan (651 average) close behind. Locutus’ overall stats make him a valuable asset to any Gauntlet stable, but there are plenty of other crew that can challenge him, especially if they get a favorable trait spread. There are no similar counters for the Caretaker when it comes to ENG. That gives players little incentive to exclude him from their Gauntlet teams, especially when ENG is the primary stat. The result is a flatter, more boring, and less enjoyable competitive field.
I don’t think the ENG proficiency drought is intentional on DB’s part. My guess is there’s been a conscious effort to add more high-base ENG crew over the past year, including Tribble Herder Scotty, Queen Po, Determined Janeway, Seven in Silver, Ishan Chaye Sisko, Laborer Kirk, and so on. Focusing on creating new ENG crew that would be good for Faction missions and events may have left other attributes overlooked. Indeed, there’s also no comprehensible reason to leave such a strange disparity in ENG proficiencies. I doubt it’s making them any money.
I decided to dig into this at length after seeing Torpedo Surgeon McCoy and the new ENG-primary Kirk and Sisko over the past month. Their skill orders and relatively weak proficiencies left me worried that DB will keep missing prime opportunities to end this drought. Indulgent Seven is pretty good proof that they read this forum and listen to us, so I’m hopeful that they’ll take steps to fix this once they learn about it. Ideally, the next few ENG-primary 5* crew should be tilted towards high proficiencies instead of high bases. They don’t need to be better than the Caretaker, but they need to be able to compete with him in some way.
We’re also long overdue for a new Honor Hall crew: Kahless the Unforgettable came out in April 2017, Captain Beverly Picard came out in March 2018, and nobody else was added in the spring of 2019 or thereafter. The next one should be ENG-focused with overall proficiencies somewhere between the other two options. Possible choices include Ira Graves, Henry Starling, and Arturis. And if there aren’t any 5* ENG crew on the horizon that could help end the drought, high ENG proficiencies at the 4* level would be a good stop-gap measure. Four of the top 10 MED proficiency crew are 4*, so there’s a precedent to take the same approach here. This wouldn’t be a permanent solution, of course, but it would be a good first step.
I hope this is helpful and interesting to whoever reads it.
Let’s start with the numbers. (All of these figures are from the community-maintained spreadsheet.) The #1 ENG proficiency is currently held by the Caretaker, a Gauntlet-exclusive crew. His proficiency average of 689 is a whopping 198 points higher than that of Captain Scott, who holds the second-highest ENG proficiency average at 491. This gap is almost four times larger than the gap between the #1 and #2 proficiencies in every other skill.
CMD: Kahless the Unforgettable 666, Marshal of France Q 615 (51 points)
DIP: Locutus of Borg 707, Chancellor Gowron 691 (16 points)
MED: Defensive Phlox 703, Mirror Phlox 653 (50 points)
SCI: Armus 683, Commander Ari bn Bem 681 (2 points)
SEC: Gangster Spock 624, Gary Seven 620 (4 points)
That 198-point gap between is an outlier by any metric. The other five skills are far more evenly distributed. In CMD, for example, there are 26 crew with average proficiencies that fall within the gap between the #1 spot and the one 198 points lower. That same gap covers 17 crew for DIP, 19 crew for SCI, and 14 crew for MED. (SEC is something of an outlier here: its distribution is so smooth at the upper levels that 48 crew fall within the 198-point gap.) Taken as a whole, it's bizarre that there aren't at least a dozen ENG-primary crew whose proficiency average falls between the Caretaker and Captain Scott.
This has a tangible impact on gameplay. Simply put, no other ENG-primary crew can consistently compete with the Caretaker in Gauntlet match-ups. Remember that Captain Scott literally has no secondary proficiency score—a unique feature among all 5* crew. The head-to-head results show the depth of the problem. In ENG/MED, the Caretaker’s average (989) is almost three hundred points higher than the second-place tie between Leonardo da Vinci and Defensive Phlox, who each have an average of 703. What’s particularly striking here is that Defensive Phlox is actually MED/SCI/SEC. The top ENG/MED champs, in other words, are mostly just the top MED champs. That’s how bad the ENG proficiency drought has gotten.
In ENG/SCI, the Caretaker’s average (1098) is slightly more balanced by the presence of Seven of Nine, who has a 1028 average. It also helps that Borg and Civilian are common Gauntlet traits. Survivalist Kirk’s 976 average also brought some much-needed diversity to this match-up. But there’s still room for improvement: The rankings currently go from old two-skiller Dr. Richard Daystrom in fourth place (958) to Rain Robinson (782) and Jett Reno (781) in fifth and sixth place, respectively. As with MED, however, note that besides the Caretaker, this is largely a contest between SCI-primary crew.
It’s tempting to think that the Caretaker might simply be unbalanced. Indeed, he has a lot going for him. ENG/MED/SCI is one of the rarest skill combinations in the game, no matter the order. He’s Gauntlet-exclusive, giving long-time players an edge over newer and unluckier ones. He still has top-tier Voyage numbers. And, as already noted, he’s a Gauntlet beast. But the problem here isn’t actually the Caretaker. He ranks #7 in the overall Gauntlet stats and sits a full 259 points lower than Locutus of Borg. It’s his lack of competition in the ENG proficiency space that’s the problem.
Locutus is actually a pretty useful comparison here. His high DIP proficiency (707 average) is only 16 points higher than that of Chancellor Gowron (691 average), with Mambo Picard (683 average) and Bartender Guinan (651 average) close behind. Locutus’ overall stats make him a valuable asset to any Gauntlet stable, but there are plenty of other crew that can challenge him, especially if they get a favorable trait spread. There are no similar counters for the Caretaker when it comes to ENG. That gives players little incentive to exclude him from their Gauntlet teams, especially when ENG is the primary stat. The result is a flatter, more boring, and less enjoyable competitive field.
I don’t think the ENG proficiency drought is intentional on DB’s part. My guess is there’s been a conscious effort to add more high-base ENG crew over the past year, including Tribble Herder Scotty, Queen Po, Determined Janeway, Seven in Silver, Ishan Chaye Sisko, Laborer Kirk, and so on. Focusing on creating new ENG crew that would be good for Faction missions and events may have left other attributes overlooked. Indeed, there’s also no comprehensible reason to leave such a strange disparity in ENG proficiencies. I doubt it’s making them any money.
I decided to dig into this at length after seeing Torpedo Surgeon McCoy and the new ENG-primary Kirk and Sisko over the past month. Their skill orders and relatively weak proficiencies left me worried that DB will keep missing prime opportunities to end this drought. Indulgent Seven is pretty good proof that they read this forum and listen to us, so I’m hopeful that they’ll take steps to fix this once they learn about it. Ideally, the next few ENG-primary 5* crew should be tilted towards high proficiencies instead of high bases. They don’t need to be better than the Caretaker, but they need to be able to compete with him in some way.
We’re also long overdue for a new Honor Hall crew: Kahless the Unforgettable came out in April 2017, Captain Beverly Picard came out in March 2018, and nobody else was added in the spring of 2019 or thereafter. The next one should be ENG-focused with overall proficiencies somewhere between the other two options. Possible choices include Ira Graves, Henry Starling, and Arturis. And if there aren’t any 5* ENG crew on the horizon that could help end the drought, high ENG proficiencies at the 4* level would be a good stop-gap measure. Four of the top 10 MED proficiency crew are 4*, so there’s a precedent to take the same approach here. This wouldn’t be a permanent solution, of course, but it would be a good first step.
I hope this is helpful and interesting to whoever reads it.
13
Comments
I generally try to have a strong combination of the featured skill and each of the other 5 skill, focusing on those with high profs for the featured skill (so Armus over Mirror Picard for Sci+Cmd but not Cmd+Sci). So for example, for a featured skill of Sci, I might pick:
Gary Seven (Sci+Sec)
Locutus (Sci+Dip)
Armus (Sci+Cmd)
Defensive Phlox (Sci+Med)
Seven of Nine (Sci+Eng)
When it comes to Cmd, Sec gauntlets, the Caretaker is still comparable than most of the Eng+Cmd, Eng+Sec, and Eng+Dip crew. If the Caretaker matches a trait or two, he can be the best option. There are exceptions, especially when crit rate is considered (like the Borg gauntlets where Assimilated La Forge gets 65%, he wins an Eng+Cmd matchup), but there are few crew that can match him.
I don't mind Eng+Sci matchups, as those are his best skills and there are comparable crew with Sci+Eng (Seven of Nine, Survivalist Kirk). Eng+Med just suffers from too few crew in general. Part of the issue is that DB has released very few viable gauntlet crew over the past year. Most new crew have up to 400 max prof (no bonuses). I can't even think of a great gauntlet crew from the past year...
It's nice to have the ENG proficiency issue up in writing. But I suspect it will be just as unresponded to by DB as my thread regarding the above quoted issue:
https://forum.disruptorbeam.com/stt/discussion/14953/updates-for-honor-hall-and-gauntlet
That's the upper limit on Mirror Jean-Luc Picard's proficiency range, which is 243-753, not his unbuffed proficiency average, which is 591. Each crew's proficiency average can be found in the community spreadsheet I linked above. Those averages are calculated by applying each crew's proficiency range to the formula found here. Note that the spreadsheet's proficiency averages are slightly greater than a straightforward average thanks to the Gauntlet's baseline 5% crit bonus.
DB has been pretty pointed about not releasing top-quality gauntlet crew for quite a while. I’m struggling to remember anyone after Away Team Number One’s Release last February, though I do not claim to know for sure.
I bet DB could drive some sales by releasing a proficiency-heavy Stranded Reno, maybe with immortal stats like this:
ENG: 975+(310-900)
MED: 835+(150-650)
SEC: 400+(150-325)
My goal was an ENG/MED-primary crew (which people will be excited for anyway) that would be a Chancellor Gowron-type foil - good enough to beat the special crew with the right crit bonus or a lucky set of rolls but not a direct clone and not so good that the need to get the special crew goes away. The MED proficiency could maybe use a little tweaking - it’s modeled more after Gary Seven’s secondary than the Caretaker’s secondary, to give a little variety to things, but I could understand if people felt it was either too OP or had too wide of a range (as is the most common complaint about Defensive Phlox’s wife MED range).
The only plus side to Caretaker's dominance is despite a decent selection of traits, I've never seen him at 65% and very rarely at 45%. Some of the other power houses get more 45/65% gauntlets.
North Star Tucker is cursed for me....either that or it's just his very low minimum score...the guy can be unfatigued with a 45% crit rating and still loose to the caretaker 90% of the time
...but that to me almost serves to demonstrate just how much more unfair Locutus is. I admit I am biased on this subject as I still have not managed a copy of Locutus, but I can tell you I have every crew you listed as a competitor for Locutus and they are no competition at all, going up against Locutus is a death sentence, especially if Diplomacy is involved. In one Gauntlet last week Surak had a 25% bonus and Locutus was only 5%, and I lost EVERY Dip/Sci battle against Locutus, even when I hit multiple crits. His minimums are so high it is impossible for him to roll poorly. The difference in total Gauntlet score between #1 Locutus (1,656) and #2 Gary Seven (1,496) is roughly equal to the gap between #2 Gary Seven and #12 Bartender Guinan (1,330).
Caretaker can be fixed by adding in even one new crew with a high Engineering proficiency, there is nothing short of nerfing Locutus that will ever balance his utter dominance over the Gauntlet.
Ah apologies, my mistake
Locutus is the best but he's not dominant. There are other solid DIP crew who have different traits and that gives a little more variety. The amount of times I don't take Locutus is greater than the amount of times I don't take Caretaker. I should also point out Locutus is my best SEC proficiency crew. If I had even one strong SEC crew I would take Locutus even less.
Another strong DIP crew would further inhibit Locutus depending on trait combination.
Whoa...you don’t even have Thrax? Leland? Will Scarlett? Commander Landry and Duelist Yar also stand out as better SEC options than Locutus...ouch. Sending good vibes your way so you can get Gangster Spock or Gary Seven in your next BeGold.
All that aside, I also put Locutus on the bench much more often than the Caretaker. Guinan, Gowron, and Mambo Picard all get pretty regular usage and I do have Kai Opaka (plus a Minuet-shaped popsicle) that has had a few gauntlets where I could have taken her instead of someone else. Heck, I’ve even sent Abe Lincoln and Klingon Bride Jadzia out a few times when the traits were right and I wanted a little variety. They are at least capable of beating someone, unlike Tempted Data and the others left in the Caretaker’s dust.
Maybe he meant Locutus is his best SCI crew? Because yeah, he ranks as my 25th best in SEC proficiency (that's max, not average, mind you — I don't track averages). But even Beowulf Kim is ahead of him.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
You're right. There were only two top-ten Gauntlet crew released in 2019: Away Team Number One in February and Commander Ari bn Bem in September. They currently hold the #5 and #4 overall Gauntlet scores, respectively. Both are SCI-primary as well.
Now that I look at it in depth, there's been some stagnation over the past year in the top 10 ranks for each skill. DIP and MED haven't had a new top 10 crew since 2018. ENG just received one this week with Ishan Chaye Sisko, who now ranks at #8. (Don't get too excited, he's at #146 overall and no real threat to the Caretaker's dominance.) CMD got Away Team Number One at #8, which is pretty wild since she's actually SCI-primary. SEC and SCI have been the only ones to see any real shake-ups in the past twelve months. SEC got Fury Kes (#4) in April 2019 and Conflicted Sisko (#8) in February 2019, while SCI got Commander Ari bn Bem (#2) and Away Team Number One (#4) last year.
What's interesting is that DB actually added a good number of competitive Gauntlet crew in the last few months of 2018. November 2018 alone had Armus (#1 SCI, #3 overall), Prince Bashir (#9 CMD, #66 overall), Nurse Faith Garland (#3 MED, #65 overall), and Survivalist Kirk (#8 SCI, #30 overall). December 2018 gave us Away Team Michael Burnham (#5 SCI, #14 overall), Boothby Replicant (#7 SCI, #6 overall), and Etana Jol (#10 ENG, #109 overall). And then, for whatever reason, the gold rush ended. Not sure what happened there.
If DB is interested in a healthy Gauntlet metagame, I still think the ENG drought should be their top priority. But it's pretty clear that there are opportunities to shake things up across the board. The only exception is SCI-primary crew, which are weirdly dominant in the upper Gauntlet ranks at the moment. Beyond that, we could really use a few top-tier DIP or MED proficiency crew—maybe even with strong ENG secondary scores to give the Caretaker a run for his money.
A good gauntlet character isn't solely defined by its best stat. I have Ushaan Archer, Leland, Thrax, Scarlett and Tuxedo Odo plus some 4*'s. I never use them. Usually their other stats are weak enough and infrequently get strong trait bonuses.
Need a strong SEC? For SEC/DIP I have Locutus and Gowron. For SEC/SCI I have Locutus and Armus. For SEC/MED I have 2 Flavours of Phlox. For SEC/CMD I have Kahless and Picard. For SEC/ENG I have Caretaker (HA!).
Mirror Shukar I use every once in awhile but not really. I'm willing to lose a little on SEC gauntlets till I get something that's better. Ideally I would like Gangster Spock or Away Team Burnham.
All great analysis! I really hope DB is listening, as the Gauntlet has grown terribly stale. (I think we were complaining about that 2 years ago even.)
Crazy that I have not had a Gauntlet YET that I could use my AT Number One in. The bonus skills probably keep coming up Armus heavy for me.
For those interested, the traits involved are Civilian, Tactician, Desperate
Breaking it down by pairs is the better way, no doubt. Here’s what I have for comparison:
SEC/DIP: Locutus, Gowron, Shukar, Ushaan Archer, Leland, Thrax, Undercover Sulu
SEC/SCI: Gary Seven, Gangster Spock, Shukar, Armus
SEC/MED: Defensive Phlox (w/Mirror Phlox in the freezer)
SEC/COM: Gary Seven, Mirror Picard, Enabran Tain
SEC/ENG: Musketeer La Forge, Caretaker, Tempted Data, Mirror Bashir
He is also cursed for me. Always gets minimum possible rolls and seldom crits even on his special days. Then others like Locutus are charmed and always roll very well - crits for him are normal. The gauntlet reward crew and honor hall tend to be charmed.
For myself, RNG was such that I didn't win a copy of Locutus until a few months ago, just before I hit 20000 rounds -- so I went from having no Locutus to having him at 2/5 in the period of one week. Interestingly, RNG has been kinder of late, and he's now at 4/5, as is my Armus. I've finished Bartender Guinan a while ago and the Caretaker more recently.
And here's what I realized: Once I hit 5/5 on Locutus and Armus, which should happen eventually, and possibly quite soon, I'm likely to lose interest in the Gauntlet, just playing occasionally to rack up some merits.
There's no story/plot, just six rolls of the dice. Interesting rewards keep you playing, to an extent. But once you've got those rewards, Gauntlet is really just a boring grind.
Captain Level: 95
VIP Level: 12
Unique Crew Immortalized: 525
Collections Completed: Vulcan, Ferengi, Borg, Romulan, Cardassian, Uncommon, Rare, Veteran, Common, Engineered, Physician, Innovator, Inspiring, Diplomat, Jury Rigger, Gauntlet Legends