What are the best jobs in Star Traders: Frontiers?

The operational pillars are the most essential: Pilot (ship handling and evasion), Gunner (ship damage, including the powerful Firing Orders talent), Doctor (keeping crew alive) and Mechanic (repairs and versatile dice). Beyond those, Soldier and Swordsman drive boarding combat, while command and trade jobs like Quartermaster, Navigator and Merchant round out a capable crew.

Which job deals the most ship damage in Star Traders: Frontiers?

The Gunner is your primary ship-combat damage job, and its Firing Orders talent is widely considered the best ship-damage buff in the game. Most crews want at least one strong Gunner, and stacking Gunner talents makes your weapons far more effective unless you are specifically aiming to capture ships intact through boarding.

How important is a Doctor in Star Traders: Frontiers?

Very. Crew members can be wounded or die, and a good Doctor keeps your people alive through injuries, disease and the wear of long voyages. In a game where losing trained crew is a serious setback, the Doctor is one of the most valuable operational jobs and belongs on almost every ship.

Should I focus combat jobs or operational jobs in Star Traders: Frontiers?

Cover the operational pillars first — Pilot, Gunner, Doctor and Mechanic — because they keep your ship running and your crew alive in every situation. Add boarding and combat jobs like Soldier and Swordsman once those are solid. A crew that can fly, fight, repair and heal is far more resilient than one stacked purely on combat.

Can a crew member have more than one job in Star Traders: Frontiers?

Yes. Each crew member can hold multiple jobs at once, and ranking up jobs unlocks their talents. This lets you combine roles — a Pilot who is also a Navigator, or a Soldier who is also a Swordsman — so building and stacking jobs is the core of crew customisation and the reason party-building is so flexible.

Star Traders Frontiers Jobs Tier List

How to think about jobs in Star Traders

In Star Traders: Frontiers your crew is your build. Each member can hold several stackable jobs, and ranking those jobs unlocks talents — the active abilities you use in ship combat, boarding and the contests that come up across the galaxy. That means choosing jobs is really choosing what your ship can do: how well it flies, how hard it hits, how long your crew survives, and how you handle trade, travel and intrigue. Some jobs are near-mandatory because they cover functions every ship needs; others are powerful but specialised; and a few are situational picks for particular playstyles.

This tier list ranks the key jobs by how much they carry a typical crew — survivability, combat impact and how essential their function is — rather than by raw numbers on a single talent. Because jobs stack and combine, treat it as guidance on what to prioritise, not a rule that every crew must be identical.

The strongest crews are balanced, not stacked. One brilliant Gunner cannot save a ship with no Pilot to evade, no Mechanic to repair, and no Doctor to heal. Cover the core functions first, then specialise.

The jobs tier list

This ranking weighs how essential a job's function is, its combat or operational impact, and how much it improves a crew's overall resilience. It assumes you combine jobs and cover the basics first.

Pilot Drives your ship's handling and evasion with talents like Evasive Maneuvers, keeping you alive in combat and safe on landings. Almost every ship needs a strong Pilot. Gunner Your primary ship-combat damage job. The Firing Orders talent is the best ship-damage buff in the game, making Gunners central to winning fights. Doctor Keeps your crew alive through injury, disease and long voyages. In a game where losing trained crew hurts badly, a good Doctor is near-essential. Mechanic Repairs your ship and provides a versatile spread of dice, so Mechanics end up on almost every crew. The backbone of keeping a ship operational.

Soldier One of the most powerful offensive boarding jobs, with a talent that deals extra damage to enemy crew. Essential if you want to win by boarding and capturing. Swordsman A front-line boarding fighter whose talents buff and attack at once, making it a strong, self-sufficient melee combatant in crew-vs-crew fights. Quartermaster / Navigator Operational glue — managing stores, morale and trade, or handling navigation and void travel and escapes. Quietly vital for long, stable voyages.

Merchant / Explorer Specialists that boost trade profits or exploration and discovery. Excellent for economy- or explorer-focused captains, less central to combat-heavy crews. E-Tech / Pistoleer Useful support and ranged-combat options that shine in specific builds and boarding setups, but are more situational than the core pillars.

Spy / Smuggler Powerful for intrigue, contraband and faction play, but narrow in focus. Great for espionage captains, niche for everyone else.

S tier — the four pillars

These four jobs cover the functions every ship needs, which is why they top the list regardless of playstyle. The Pilot keeps you alive and mobile, with talents like Evasive Maneuvers for defence and safe-landing skills that reduce the cost and risk of travel. The Gunner is your damage core: its Firing Orders talent is widely regarded as the best ship-damage buff in the game, so most crews want at least one strong Gunner. The Doctor keeps your trained, valuable crew alive through the injuries, disease and attrition of long voyages — losing crew is a serious setback, and a Doctor is your insurance against it. And the Mechanic repairs your ship and contributes a versatile spread of dice, making it one of the most common and useful crew members you will field. Build these four first, and your ship can fly, fight, heal and endure.

A tier — boarding and operational glue

These jobs are not weaker so much as more specialised, and several are essential for particular strategies. The Soldier is among the most powerful offensive boarding jobs, with a talent that deals extra damage to enemy crew — indispensable if your plan is to close in, kill the enemy captain and capture ships. The Swordsman complements it as a front-line melee fighter whose talents buff and attack simultaneously, making it self-sufficient in boarding actions. The Quartermaster and Navigator are the quiet operational glue: managing stores, morale and trade, or handling navigation, void travel and escapes. They rarely grab headlines, but on long, stable voyages they prevent the slow disasters — running out of supplies, getting lost, failing to escape — that sink less rounded crews.

Job	Role	Why it ranks here	Best for
Pilot	Ship operations	Evasion and safe travel keep you alive	Every crew
Gunner	Ship combat	Firing Orders, the top damage buff	Winning battles
Doctor	Operations	Keeps trained crew alive	Every crew
Soldier	Boarding	Top offensive boarding talent	Capture-focused captains
Merchant	Trade	Boosts trade profit	Economy captains

B and C tiers — specialists

The lower tiers are not bad jobs, just narrower in what they do. Merchant and Explorer are excellent for captains built around trade profit or exploration and discovery, but contribute little in a firefight. E-Tech and Pistoleer add useful support and ranged-combat options that shine in particular builds and boarding setups, while being more situational than the core pillars. Spy and Smuggler are powerful for intrigue, contraband running and faction manipulation, and an espionage-focused captain will rate them far higher than this — they sit in C tier only because their value is concentrated in a specific playstyle rather than spread across every crew. Pick these to match the captain you want to play, not as defaults.

Building a capable crew

For a strong, resilient crew, cover the four pillars first — Pilot, Gunner, Doctor and Mechanic — then add the boarding power of a Soldier or Swordsman and the operational glue of a Quartermaster or Navigator. From there, lean into specialists that fit your captain: a Merchant for a trader, a Spy or Smuggler for an intriguer, an Explorer for a pathfinder. Remember that jobs stack, so a single crew member can fill more than one role, and ranking jobs to unlock their best talents is what turns a competent crew into a great one. To put your crew to work, see our ship combat guide and trade and contracts guide, and if you are just starting out, the beginner guide covers the fundamentals.

Do not stack one role and neglect the rest. A crew that can fly, fight, repair and heal will out-survive a glass-cannon crew every time — and surviving long enough to rank up your jobs is how you become powerful.