In my current lineage of Sunless Skies, I’ve managed to get two officers with exactly the same stats.
The Analytical Princess: +10 mirrors, +2 Affiliations: Academe
The Clay Conductor and Copper Companion: +10 mirrors, +2 Affiliations: Academe
This, unfortunately, creates a sense that both officers are interchangeable since neither have a quest any more and there’s nothing to be gained mechanically from assigning one over the other. It’s about the only permanent quest result that make me regret my decisions and not because the results were unexpected or I felt emotional paigns over who these people became, but because the stats are exactly the same. It also… Doesn’t exactly feel like this should be results anyways.
It makes sense, in the game world, for the princess because of who wears her skin and the fact that she gave mirrors before her ‘upgrade.’ However, the Clay Conductor never gave mirrors before their companion (their initial stats giving hearts and iron) and I’m not certain what in-game-sense it makes for the pair to give you mirrors. The art of investigation, deduction, and perception in all forms is not what I expect from copper and clay working together in harmony to sing and celebrate with social grace and taking pleasure in the simple act of learning how to dance. Nor does it lend itself well to academe, the institutions of scholarly pursuits and scientific practices. Singing is the realm of the boheme.
Though there is little room for each first officer to occupy its own niche in terms of raw mechanical stat gains, it still seems… Regretful that two should be exactly the same for gameplay purposes. Of course, it’s possible I just haven’t finished their quest and the next captain might have new opportunities. I’m still investigating the truth with this captain, but this is all still something I wanted to say.