noobie, skill speciliaties

[briansommers]

When do I get a specialty in a skill?

Do I pick one or ??

 

[dragoner]

Short answer, yes. But which skill are you talking about?

 

[briansommers]

nothing in particular, just in general.

So I get say Flyer skill

I assume I can get flyer skill in general? or do I HAVE to pick a specialty?

 

[AndrewW]

With most skills that have specialities you pick the specialty when you have 1 or more ranks in the skill. At skill level 0 you don't get a specialty. A few career tables can give the specialty with the skill, in which case you you gain a rank in the skill with that specialty.

 

[GypsyComet]

You pick a specialty *every time* you gain a rank in the general skill.

Example:

Before any character generation takes place, the Engineering skill tree looks like this
Engineering/Jump Drive: -- (no skill, penalty on all rolls)
Engineering/Maneuver: -- (ditto)
Engineering/Electronics: -- (and so on)
Engineering/Life Support: --
Engineering/Power: --

If you were to gain a zero rank, such as in Basic Training, it now looks like this
Engineering/Jump Drive: 0 (no bonuses or penalties from skill)
Engineering/Maneuver: 0
Engineering/Electronics: 0
Engineering/Life Support: 0
Engineering/Power: 0

Once you gain a rank, it needs to go to a specific spot. Even if you didn't go through the "zero" step explicitly, it still happens once you get a '1'.
Engineering/Jump Drive: 1
Engineering/Maneuver: 0
Engineering/Electronics: 0
Engineering/Life Support: 0
Engineering/Power: 0

If you gain another rank, it can look like this
Engineering/Jump Drive: 2
Engineering/Maneuver: 0
Engineering/Electronics: 0
Engineering/Life Support: 0
Engineering/Power: 0

or like this
Engineering/Jump Drive: 1
Engineering/Maneuver: 0
Engineering/Electronics: 1
Engineering/Life Support: 0
Engineering/Power: 0

And so on.