Each hirable NPC has 7 skills and each skill has 5 levels of competency (the more stars, the better). Numbers of stars are somewhat randomly generated in that I don't think it is possible to get NPCs with really low numbers of stars any more. <Clarification: this may apply to hired NPCs only; 'free' NPCs given when buying or given plot ships may still have very low skills - Snafu>
Only the skills marked in bold font are relevant to the performance of the NPC in question (their Primary Skills). In most cases, each NPC will have three Primary Skills, but Engineers and some Specialists only have one. Marine Officers are unique in that they have a skill that improves with use: "Boarding Experience".
In Rebirth 3.00, Virtual Seminars were introduced to the game, which allow us to add a star to a Primary Skill of our hired NPC. They are only currently available via Smalltalk from other NPCs and this feature is described in more detail in the official guide to 3.00 here and on this wiki here <edit: they may be obtainable as mission rewards too; needs checking - Snafu>. Virtual Seminars cannot be used to increase a Marine Officer's Boarding Experience, but since Virtual Seminars take some effort to acquire I would suggest that would be a waste anyway.
Info on exactly how the skill values are are used is sketchy but CBJ has revealed a few titbits:
Further info on Marine Officers from w.evans:
NPC | Skills | Effect | Description | Hire Fee |
---|---|---|---|---|
Skunk NPCs | ||||
Engineer | Engineering | 13'000 39'000 | ||
Marine Officer | Boarding Leadership Morale | Affects boarding strength multiplier | 19'000 57'000 | |
Ship NPCs | ||||
Engineer | Engineering | 0* - repairs to 60% max hull 4* - repairs to 84% max hull | Maximum repaired hull percentage: | 13'000 |
Captain | Leadership Navigation Morale | 27'000 81'000 | ||
Defence Officer | Leadership Combat Morale | 58'000 174'000 | ||
Architect | Management Engineering Navigation | 36'000 108'000 | ||
Pilot | Navigation Combat Morale | 11'000 | ||
Station NPCs | ||||
Manager | Leadership Management Navigation | 48'000 144'000 | ||
Defence Officer | as DO above | |||
Specialists | ||||
Boosts production up to 10% depending on cumulative skills | ||||
specialistagriculture | 122'000 366'000 | |||
specialistpowerstorage | 168'000 504'000 | |||
specialistfood | 157'000 471'000 | |||
specialistchemical | 185'000 555'000 | |||
specialistprecision | 195'000 585'000 | |||
specialistweapons | 220'000 660'000 | |||
specialistpharmaceuticals | 147'000 | |||
specialistmetals | 145'000 435'000 | |||
specialistgeophysics | 128'000 | |||
specialistsurfacesystems | 232'000 696'000 | |||
specialistpowersupply | 210'000 630'000 | |||
specialistaquatics | 115'000 345'000 |