FAQ/Skill Points
From The Skybrary
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Click here for a list of all the skills.
As your skyrate goes about its business, it will gain Trade, Combat and Flight Points. Since many people on the Radio have asked "What should I spend my skill points on?", I have created this guide/FAQ to answer some of those questions.
[edit] Trade-related skills
Trade points accumulate at a rate of 1 point per 3000 profit. This means that if you cut a bad trade, you will stop earning Trade points until you've made up the loss. Early on, Trade points are extremely difficult to earn, which is why everyone regardless of play style should spend their first 40 Trade points reaching Trade License 2. This allows you to earn more money (steel and oil are much more valuable than wood and food), which in turn earns you more Trade points.
Two other skills of great importance are Creative Storage and Cutthroat Business. In order to maximize these skill, though, you will need to put points into Negotiation and Tax Evasion. Being able to carry more cargo and sell at higher profit is key to becoming a successful trader.
Additional bonus skills for specific goods are also useful if you find yourself trading heavily in a particular good. These skills, Farm Mogul, Luxury Schmuxury, Industry Tycoon and Black Market yield 6% tax discounts on buying and selling two particular goods; the first two ranks are fairly inexpensive, so you may wish to invest some trade points even before you maximize CS and CB.
Finally, Smuggling will reduce your losses when you are shot down, whether in manual combat or by the autoresolver. Since it requires Combat points and has Black Market and Salvage Operations, both of which require Combat and Trade points as a prereq, this will probably be a skill you maximize late in the game.
[edit] Combat-related skills
You earn 1 Combat point plus an additional point for every five levels, up to a maximum of five Combat points per fight. Points are earned only for manually resolved fights- for example, a level 18 fight earns 4 points, a level 21 earns 5 points, and a level 74 still earns 5 points.
The most important skills for any combat pilot are Eagle Eye (hit more often), Precision Fire (hit harder) and Crack Shot (hit harder on criticals). These dramatically increase your damage output, and are absolutely necessary if you wish to engage Diamond Convoys with any efficiency.
If you often find yourself mobbed by pirates and hard pressed to escape, you may wish to invest some Combat points in maneuvers, because they temporarily increase your evasion and allow you to reposition yourself to some degree. Good maneuvers are Barrel Roll, Immelman and Wingover. Afterburner, Airbrake and Maneuver are also highly useful, and they will be discussed in Flight Point Skills. Usually, one rank of the skill is enough. Note that not all planes are able to perform every maneuver; many trade-only planes are unable to perform Immelmans or Barrel Rolls. Ask older players for details (once the Skybrary is updated you can check there too). Do not buy Loop, and avoid buying Sideslip unless you cannot perform Barrel Roll.
Another useful skill is Salvage Operations. Since trade points are hard to come by for pure combat pilots, this skill will take a while to max (you should still reach TL2 first before investing in SO). It does net a significant bonus though.
The last skill in a successful combat pilot's repertoire is Combat Infamy. Each rank adds 1, 1, 2, 2 and 3 levels permanently to every combat you fight, for a maximum of +9 levels for CI5. This will let you earn combat points slightly faster and earn you more money, but it will also make your combats harder. Getting CI is not recommended until you are in a Tier 2 plane.
[edit] Flight Point Skills
Flight points are earned at a rate of 1 every half hour of flight time. They are the hardest skill point to come by, as there is absolutely no way to accelerate the rate at which you earn them. With that in mind, your first 10 Flight points should go into Cartography and Flight License. This allows you to fly to new places, and allows you to queue up for the night so that you can continue to earn flight points while you sleep. Straight traders should continue putting points into Cartography, Fuel Efficiency and Flight License as needed, with possibly Afterburner for fleeing combats. When buying Flight Licenses, keep in mind how far you can actually fly; often times you may be unable to reach a skyland you have just unlocked.
Combat pilots have it tough on Flight points. After getting Cartography and Flight License 1, you will want to buy a rank of Maneuver, and save up for a rank in Airbrake and/or Afterburner. Once you have a rank of the last two, save up your Flight points and work on maximizing Maneuver and buying Flight Licenses when needed. Eventually you will also wish to master Perception for better hunts.
In summary, buy Flight License 1 and Cartography first, reach Trade License 2, and work on the combat trio EE/PF/CS. A list of all the skills with commentary and the author's personal ratings (1-5 stars) is below.
[edit] Skills List
[|||||] Maneuver: A must for any combat pilot.
[|||--] Fuel Efficiency: Useful early to mid-game, especially if it lets you reach FL4.
[||||-] Airbrake: Some people swear by its power, though lower stall speed also works.
[|||||] Afterburner: Being able to escape is always good. One or two ranks is plenty.
[|||||] Flight License: A point sink, but absolutely necessary.
[|||--] Cartography: You'll want at least a few ranks to be able to queue 12+ hours.
[|||--] Perception: Great if you hunt a lot, effect is most pronounced after you master it.
[||---] Skyland Trust: Another point sink, but useful for mission runners.
[|----] Leadership: Not very useful right now, just reduces crew wages some.
[|||--] Trade Prestige: TP are much easier to earn later on, so not as bad of a sink. Good for mission runners.
[|----] Negotiation: Terrible skill, but unfortunately required for better ones
[|||||] Creative Storage: Absolute must for traders.
[|----] Farm Mogul: Wood, fish and food don't trade for much, so the 6% tax cut per rank isn't quite as visible.
[|||--] Luxury Schmuxury: The 6% tax cut per rank is very good if you are a luxury trader; unfortunately the lux market is tough.
[|||--] Tax Evasion: A 6% tax cut per rank on buy tax is moot because you buy low anyway. Is a prereq for CB.
[|||||] Cutthroat Business: The 6% tax cut per rank on sell on all goods is amazing.
[||||-] Industry Tycoon: Oil trades well in FL4-5 skylands, so this skill is worth it if you have the spare points.
[|||||] Trade License: Self explanatory. Required to access better goods
[||---] Black Market: Good for 'nip and grog, but since it costs Combat Points, is disproportionately expensive.
[||||-] Smuggling: Reduces losses when shot down, but again extremely expensive as it has two CP/TP prereqs.
[||||-] Salvage Operations: Great for the combat pilot with Trade points to spare.
[|||--] Gumption: Not necessary, but very useful to have if you like maneuvers.
[||||-] Immelman: For planes lacking rear arcs, it is a useful way to deal with Kingfishers and annoying trade planes.
[|||--] Split S: The reverse Immelman, useful for the same purposes
[|||||] Precision Fire: Deal more damage. 'Nuff said.
[|||||] Eagle Eye: Hit more often. Need I say any more?
[|||||] Crack Shot: Criticals deal more damage. CS4+ is required for efficiently taking down Diamond Convoys.
[|||||] Combat Infamy: Don't get this one early, but for combat pilots this skill is a must later on
[||||-] Barrel Roll: A great attack and defense maneuver that I swear by, though it takes a little practice.
[||||-] Wingover: A superb defensive maneuver, will get you out of all sorts of trouble.
[|----] Sideslip: Doesn't move your plane far enough... but if you're in a Barracuda it's the only thing you can do.
