Captain Specialization

Captain and Bridge Officer Specializations are, in addition to the skill and trait systems, a key to individualizing and specializing your character and Bridge Officers.

Captain Specializations are a form of skill progression that is opened after achieving Level 50 and therefore completing the main skill tree. Each specialization grants three different perks: 1) An inert buff scaling with the points spent in it, 2) any of the selected tree-abilities, 3) certain unlocks (e.g., starship traits) depending on the amount of points spent. Two specializations may be active at once (primary & secondary); inactive specializations do not grant their buff or tree-abilities, while unlocks shown in the bottom Progress Bar still remain enabled. For Bridge Officers, only a single specialization may be active (granting new abilities but no further buffs).

Specializations
For player characters, Primary Specializations offer 30 purchasable Abilities and can be activated as Primary or Secondary, while Secondary Specializations offer only purchasable 15 Abilities and are only available as a Secondary Specialization. In total, each Specialization offers three perks: Only two Specializations can be active for a player character at the same time (one as Primary, one as Secondary). Inactive specializations do not grant their Passive buff, nor activate any of their purchased Abilities. Unlocks, however, remain available, even for inactive specializations.
 * A passive bonus scaling with the points spent in that Specialization (Must have one point in the tree to initially activate)
 * Any of the purchased Abilities
 * Unlocks (e.g., starship traits, Training Manuals for your BOffs, or the ability to purchase Primary Specialization-specific kit modules)
 * Having one Primary Specialization active will grant the player access to all tiers (I-IV) of the Specialization, provided it has been completed before hand.
 * Having one Secondary Specialization active will grant the player access to the first two Tiers of a Primary Specialization, or the entirety of a Secondary-only Specialization (I-II).

Gaining and spending specialization points
Starting with level 51, each level-up provides a specialization point. Spending 10 points in a specialization that is available as either Primary or Secondary unlocks the ability to craft Specialization Training Manuals. These can teach Bridge Officers in that Specialization, adding to them the option to activate it, thereby unlocking special space and ground abilities.

After reaching the level cap (currently level 65), specialization points can still be earned indefinitely by filling the skill point bar the same way as during actual leveling (maxing out at 155,872  per captain specialization point). Specializations cannot be changed or reset because a character is able to acquire all the specialization points that can be spent. As of September 2019, there are 195 specialization points total, and therefore one would need to fill their skill bar an additional 180 times (earning a total of 28,056,960 ) to complete the current specialization skill list.

Surplus Specialization Points
Once all 195 Specializations have been earned, any surplus points earned are converted into dilithium ore. The rate is 2,880 per surplus point which is automatically credited to your character's supplies at the time your experience bar fills and also automatically resets the meter.

Note that bonus Specialization points, such as from Featured TFO Rewards or Admiralty (Federation Tour of Duty 10 namely), earned prior to Season 11.5 do not count towards this limit. Points earned prior to this will simply add to your total limit before conversion starts.

Tutorial
Once a character reaches level 51, a short optional tutorial will be offered in-game, as follows: