Hi, I'm Grognerd, I'm one of the early playtesters for Shadow Empire. Below is a guide I made over on the Matrix forums, concerning the traits to look for when hiring (and firing!) your senior cabinet officials.

I'm also a Twitch streamer, and Shadow Empire is one of the games we love to play over on my channel! So if you have any comments or questions, or just want to view some game play, you can check me out here at https://www.twitch.tv/grognerd.

Your first big personnel decision occurs during planet creation, when you have the option to fully or partially start with a cabinet already in place.

My recommendation is to start with only your Supreme Command Council in play. You may think you may have an easier time if all the hassle of creating your various ministries is already complete, but this is not necessarily so.

Sure, you do save a LOT of Political Points (PP) by having these guys pre-hired ... but on the other hand, you have to keep in mind how Bureaucratic Points (BP) are distributed, which is evenly at start. So your very limited amount of early game BPs are going to be split between each ministry, diluting the BPs from going to places you might prefer early game (most likely Economic or Military Research).

You can fix this by reallocating the budget, but this has a downside in that ministers really hate it if you cut their budget. And trust me, having a cabinet with a lot of unhappy ministers in it is not a good thing.

The next thing you want to look out for is the initial green Fate cards you are dealt at start. What you are hoping for is this Fate card, 50 Political Points. If you see this card at start, shout for joy! Because your early game cabinet formation just became a lot easier.

You also begin the game with only one Fate Point, so be sure to save that point to get your 50 Political Points when the need arises (which will be soon).

Your Secretary will notify you on Turn 1 that you have the option to create a new organization, for 4PP. What to pick?

Most players will want to get their science game going early on, which is sensible, making Economic Council and Military Research Council obvious choices to go with at start.

However, one strategy you might want to consider is Interior Council at start. Why? Because this is the ministry in charge of generating HR Stratagems, should give you earlier access to more and better Recruit cards. Your starting Supreme Command Council can only generate Recruit Junior cards, and recruited Juniors are generally pretty terrible.

So the idea here is to sacrifice a bit of initial science in the hopes of attracting better talent early on. Look at the initial unemployed leader you have in your Reserve pool; if he is blessed with some starting Administration skill (which is the skill used by the Interior minister to generate Human Relations points) then this might be the way to go.

You can add a new ministry each subsequent turn, by calling your Secretary and asking him or her to discuss a "New Org." for 2PP. You'll notice that the PP cost will double each time you do this, which is why that 50 Political Point Fate card I spoke of earlier is so very very desirable.

An excellent way to fill your new cabinet positions is to hire the available candidate with the highest Suitability rating. The Suitability rating is, IMO, a very good general guide to finding the person with the best fit for the job.

However, for those of you who want to fill your senior management with a bit more hands on control, the rest of this Guide is for you!

There are two things that council ministers do for you in Shadow Empire:

1) They convert their allotment of BPs to fixed jobs every turn, with better results based on the right job skills each minister possesses; and
2) They are used to enact Stratagems, including Stratagems that require a die roll. That die roll is influenced by certain Stratagem skills each minister has.

What follows is a listing of each cabinet position, and both the job skills and stratagem skills each minister is called upon to use in their day to day operations. This should help you make intelligent decisions as to what person is best for each job.

Also listed is the skill type breakdown for each position, listing the number of the categories of all the used skills. This will be handy for allocating stat boosting artifacts and the like.

Skill Categories
---------------------
Intelligence: Int
War: War
Charisma: Cha
Strength: Str
Will: Will

The Secretary almost usually never uses any skills. The best choice here is someone in tune with your current ideologies so as to have high loyalty, and not do stupid things that cause those bad 4-choice decisions.

One awesome ability the Secretary does have, however, is that the position gets automatically refilled for free if it ever become vacant ... either with an available character in the reserve pool or a completely new generated character in the absence of one. So even if you have no one in the Reserve and no recruit Stratagems, you can always fire and appoint your Secretary, provided you can afford the PP cost to make the switch. Firing the Secretary does cost a lot extra in PPs due to this fact, but it is nice to know that option is always a possibility.

Lastly, the Secretary also acts as the minister of last resort, when neither the appropriate cabinet official nor the Supreme Command Council is available. The roll is done at a -25 penalty.

[edit: recent patches have made this a bit more complicated, with the Secretary taking priority over the SCC as a backup minister in many cases]

Early game, this person is important for generating basic cards and postures normally generated by the cabinet officials you have yet to create (Interior, Foreign Affairs, Secret Service and Staff Council). As you can see below, Covert Ops, Diplomacy, Administration and High Command are all useful skills to have. He or she will also use the first 3 of those 4 skills mention above to execute those cards, in the absence of the correct cabinet official.

The SCC also makes the Skill Rolls for any other leaders who are not present for some reason, making him or her the first backup in such situations [usually ... see Secretary].

Mid-game, after your cabinet is complete, you'll probably want to put all priority into the office's main job, which is the generation of Political Points. For that, you'll want your SCC to be well versed in that most important skill, Administration.

Skill type breakdown: 2 Int, 3 War, 9 Cha

Job Skills
-----------
Generate Political Power: ADMINISTRATION
Generate HR Cards: ADMINISTRATION
Generate Spy Cards: COVERT OPS
Generate Posture Cards: HIGH COMMAND
Generate Diplomacy Cards: DIPLOMACY

Stratagem Skills
----------------
Send Spy (Secret Service Council): COVERT OPS
Bonus (Interior Council): LEADERSHIP
Gift 400 Credits (Foreign Affairs Council): ORATORY
Non-aggression pact (Foreign Affairs Council): DIPLOMACY
Open Contact (Foreign Affairs Council): DIPLOMACY
Offer Protection (Foreign Affairs Council): DIPLOMACY
Trade (Foreign Affairs Council): DIPLOMACY
Scientific Cooperation (Foreign Affairs Council): DIPLOMACY
Propose Peace (Foreign Affairs Council): ORATORY

This guy or gal seems to have only one steady job, and that is to use High Command skill to generate extra Readiness for all your troops. I believe their other operational military skills also come into play for militia forces in battles within his command range, and of course the High Command rating will be a thing in battles everywhere.

The SHQ Commander will also grant a bonus during manual trading with the Trading Houses, using his or her Trade skill. So if you do a lot of hands on trading, this is a consideration as well.

So generally, you want someone in this job with a very high High Command skill, and very possibly Trade as well.

Skill type breakdown: 1 Int, 1 War

Job Skills
----------
Readiness Bonus: HIGH COMMAND
Trade Negotiation: TRADE

Your spymaster will rely on Covert Ops for his or her various day to day activities, and to a large degree with the Stratagems played as well. The latter occasionally calls on other skills such as Personal Combat, Bribery, Interrogation and Intimidation.

Skill type breakdown: 16 War, 3 Cha, 1 Str

Job Skills
-----------
Active Field Operations: COVERT OPS
Spying Operations: COVERT OPS
Internal Security: COVERT OPS

Stratagem Skills
----------------
Assassinate Leader: PERSONAL COMBAT
Call to Power I: COVERT OPS
Call to Power II: COVERT OPS
Call to Power III: COVERT OPS
Call to Rebellion I: COVERT OPS
Call to Rebellion II: COVERT OPS
Call to Rebellion III: COVERT OPS
Call to Success I: COVERT OPS
Call to Success II: COVERT OPS
Call to Success III: COVERT OPS
Gift to Faction: BRIBERY
Investigate Leader: INTERROGATION
Send Spy: COVERT OPS
Send Spy Team: COVERT OPS
Send Spy Ring: COVERT OPS
Support Faction: COVERT OPS
Threaten Leader: INTIMIDATE

The Foreign Secretary's basic card-generating skill is Diplomacy. For Stratagems, Diplomacy and Oratory are both very important, with Intimidate being only rarely useful. UPDATE: With the addition of intelligent alien species in patch 1.08, Ecology is now a thing! The Foreign Affairs Council uses Ecology on two stratagem cards dealing with alien diplomacy (see below).

Skill type breakdown: 2 Int, 25 Cha

Job Skills
----------
Major Diplomacy: DIPLOMACY
Minor Diplomacy: DIPLOMACY

Stratagem Skills
-----------------
Annexation: INTIMIDATE
Cultural Exchange: DIPLOMACY
Embassy: DIPLOMACY
Free Movement: DIPLOMACY
Free Trade: DIPLOMACY
Friendship pact: DIPLOMACY
Gift 400 Credits: ORATORY
Gift 1000 Credits: ORATORY
Gift 2500 Credits: ORATORY
Non-aggression pact: DIPLOMACY
Open Contact: DIPLOMACY
Offer Client: DIPLOMACY
Offer Protection: DIPLOMACY
Ouverture: ORATORY
Propose Peace (Minor): ORATORY
Propose Peace (Major): ORATORY
Provocation: INTIMIDATE
Scientific Cooperation: DIPLOMACY
Scientific Exchange: DIPLOMACY
Scientific Joint Effort: DIPLOMACY
Trade: DIPLOMACY
Unification: ORATORY
Victory Pact: DIPLOMACY
Xeno Diplomat: ECOLOGY
Xeno Diplomat Team: ECOLOGY

The Interior Council's 4 main jobs all rely on Administration skill, as do the vast majority of their Stratagems. Leadership, Bribery and Oratory are occasionally used, as is Streetwise when you are dealing with the Godfather.

Skill type breakdown: 22 Int, 16 Cha

Job Skills
----------
Taxation: ADMINISTRATION
Tariffs: ADMINISTRATION
Human Resources: ADMINISTRATION
Interior Policies: ADMINISTRATION

Stratagem Skills
----------------
Bonus: LEADERSHIP
Bureaucratic Push: ADMINISTRATION
Cabinet Retreat: ADMINISTRATION
Co-Existence: STREETWISE
Commercial Gift: LEADERSHIP
Crackdown on Crime: STREETWISE
Crime Raid: STREETWISE
Decrease Sales Tax: ADMINISTRATION
Decrease Income Tax: ADMINISTRATION
Demand a Share: STREETWISE
Draft Colonists: ADMINISTRATION
Draft Recruits: ADMINISTRATION
Draft Workers: ADMINISTRATION
Efficiency Drive: ADMINISTRATION
Emergency Tax: ADMINISTRATION
Estate Gift: LEADERSHIP
Export Tariff Increase: ADMINISTRATION
Export Tariff Decrease: ADMINISTRATION
Give 500 to Militia: BRIBERY
Give 500 to Populace: BRIBERY
Give 2000 to Populace: BRIBERY
Governor Convention: ADMINISTRATION
Grand Convention: ADMINISTRATION
Import Tariff Increase: ADMINISTRATION
Import Tariff Decrease: ADMINISTRATION
Increase Sales Tax: ADMINISTRATION
Increase Income Tax: ADMINISTRATION
Meet Godfather: STREETWISE
Militia Enthusiasm: LEADERSHIP
Mission Impossible: LEADERSHIP
Official Gift: LEADERSHIP
Patriotic Collection: ORATORY
Volunteer Drive: LEADERSHIP
Wargames: ADMINISTRATION

The Economic Council 4 main jobs require Inventor, Science, Prospecting and Administration, with the first two most likely being of top importance to you as they allow you to move down the Tech Tree. They are also responsible for enacting a few Stratagems as well.

Skill type breakdown: 7 Int, 2 Cha, 1 Will

Job Skills
-----------
Discovery: INVENTOR
Research: SCIENCE
Prospecting: PROSPECTING
Economic Policies: ADMINISTRATION

Stratagem Skills
-----------------
Antitrust Ops: RESIST INFLUENCE
Attract Free Folk: ORATORY
Archaeology Effort: SCIENCE
Private Investment: ORATORY
Prospecting Push I: PROSPECTING
Prospecting Push II: PROSPECTING

Military Research does not play Stratagems. Thus you want an egghead here well versed in Inventor and Science so as to power down the Tech Tree, and that's about it.

Skill type breakdown: 2 Int

Job Skills
-----------
Discovery: INVENTOR
Research: SCIENCE

Everything I said about the Military Research Council above applies to the Applied Science Council. Also note that in games that start at tech level 3 or 4, this is an office you will probably want to delay creating, as you will not be able to discover any of the applied sciences until you move further down the tech tree.

Skill type breakdown: 2 Int

Job Skills
-----------
Discovery: INVENTOR
Research: SCIENCE

Available when you opt to use the new Air Rules, this does what the Military Research Council already does, which is to discover and research military techs, but only airpower related techs on the tree (colored sky blue and marked "Air"). The Military Research Council can also discover and research Air techs, but only if you have not created the ARC ... once the ARC is present the MRC will no longer try to discover or research Air techs.

The nice thing about this arrangement is that it allows you to discover and research two military techs at the same time (one Air and one non-Air), and this in turn helps gets around the late game problem of the drop off in efficiency of having more than 100 BPs committed to the same task.

Another nice thing about the ARC is that creating the department takes only 50% of the PPs needed for all the other ministries.

Skill type breakdown: 2 Int

Job Skills
-----------
Discovery: INVENTOR
Research: SCIENCE

A most one-dimensional cabinet position, who deals only with the Technician skill in his or her daily duties. Does not play skill check Stratagems.

Skill type breakdown: 2 Int

Job Skills
----------
Discover Model: TECHNICIAN
Design Model: TECHNICIAN

The Staff Council has four jobs but all of them use only one skill, High Command. Operational Command and Intimidate are also used for some population-related Stratagems.

Skill type breakdown: 6 War, 2 Cha

Job Skills
-----------
Discover OOB: HIGH COMMAND
Operationalize OOB: HIGH COMMAND
Occupation and Governance: HIGH COMMAND
Postures: HIGH COMMAND

Stratagem Skills
-----------------
Expel Population: OPERATIONAL COMMAND
Forced Relocation: INTIMIDATE
Pillage: INTIMIDATE
Suppress Unrest: OPERATIONAL COMMAND

As you can see, Zone Governors are pretty hard to pigeon hole, as they access a wide variety of skills in their day-to-day jobs. But you can tailor your Governor to the Zone to some degree. For example, if there are many ruins in a Zone, you may want to look for a high Scavenging Governor.

Skill type breakdown: 9 Int, 1 Cha, 1 Str

Job Skills
-----------
Agriculture Bonus: AGRICULTURE
Scavenging Bonus: SCAVENGING
Mining Bonus: PROSPECTING
Help Trader Financing: TRADE
Prospecting Find Chance: PROSPECTING
Health Increase: MEDICAL
Entertainment Increase: ORATORY
Education Increase: SCIENCE
Security Increase: INVESTIGATION
Hunting Bonus: ECOLOGY
Reduce Hunger: SURVIVAL

Last but not least we have your Advisors. Since they give you an extra Stratagem skill roll when attached to another minister, use them to fill the gaps in key skills you want but lack in your main cabinet leaders. For example, lets say you are Autocratic and want to avail yourself of Assassinate Leader. However, your Secret Service Council leader, while a whiz at Covert Ops, sadly does not know the first thing about Personal Combat. In that case just be sure to appoint an Advisor that knows Personal Combat, give him a Personal Guard for good measure, and voila! An instant assassin, who can be attached and detached to and from Secret Service as the need arises.

There are a couple skills in the game that act as jack-of-all-trade skills, giving a bonus to all Skill Rolls. So feel free to take these into account for all hiring and placement decisions as well:

IMPROVISATION: "This helps the Leader in question to make a Skill Roll on a Skill he doesn’t master very well. If any Skill Roll is made on a Skill with a value of 15 or lower the Improvisation Skill adds a small bonus."

6th SENSE: "Hard to define, but a very valuable Skill. It gives the Leader a sense what is the right course of action in almost any situation. It adds a random bonus of 1 up to half its value to any Skill Roll."

OK, so now you know how to allocate the leaders with the best skills for the right job. And you now realize your administration could benefit from a good old-fashioned cabinet shuffle! This will involve firing leaders, which causes discontent, especially on the part of the leader who is fired. However, you are offered an opportunity to mitigate the unhappiness by promising a future job to the newly unemployed leader, either of the same level, better level, or worse level. The better your promise, the more PP the firing will cost.

So how are jobs ranked, you wonder? In a nutshell, there are 3 tiers of jobs, with the Governors and OHQ Commanders being the lowest (aside from the non-job of the Reserve pool), Advisors and the Secretary being the middle, and the SHQ Commander and Directors being the top tier in terms of job prestige. Here's the chart from the manual:

5.8.2.1. Job Prestige

Job Prestige
Reserve Pool: 0
Governor: 40
OHQ Commander: 40
Advisor: 70
Secretary: 70
SHQ Commander: 100
Director: 100

Leaders that you fire get sent back to the Reserve Pool. They will likely be very unhappy at their sudden unemployment, and are potentially a threat to lead a revolution against you.

On top of that, they are by nature clogging up the Reserve Pool. Assuming you never want to hire them again, they can undesirably show up as one of the two options to fill a new job opening, forcing you to spend 2 PP to dismiss them as a candidate. This will upset them even more, as well as the Faction they belong to (if any).

The way around this problem is through the play of retirement cards. These cards, generated by your Interior Council, will help clear the deadwood out of your Reserve Pool:

Zero Retirement: 0 Cr, 1D20
Bronze Retirement: 120 Cr, 3D20
Silver Retirement: 500 Cr, 5D20
Golden Retirement: 1000 Cr, 7D20

The "XD20" above refers to the number of 20-sided dice that are rolled. To succeed in the retirement attempt, you need to roll a number equal to or higher than the target's Seniority rating. The money cost of the card is only paid if the roll succeeds. If it succeeds, the target leaves the Reserve Pool, never to be seen again.

If you roll under the target's Seniority, the target will decline to retire. However, a normal failure can still help a future effort, by reducing the target's Seniority. A failed Bronze roll will reduce the target's Seniority by 25%, Silver by 50%, and Golden by 75%.

However, a critical failure (a roll 50 below the target's Seniority or less) will not only not reduce Seniority, but may also have adverse effects on the target's opinion of you and your Word Score. Since there are no modifiers to the retirement rolls, this is always a concern when the target has over 50 Seniority.

Another highly efficient means of personnel management in the game is the Secret Service Council's Assassinate Leader card. One of the prime benefits of the Autocracy profile, this card is an all-in-one solution for ministers you decide are not the right fit for your organization.

Not only will the target be removed from office, but this method avoids the potentially costly retirement procedures outlined above. Just push a button, and they're gone! Just make sure not to fail; getting a Secret Service minister and/or attached Advisor with high Personal Combat skill is always a desirable goal when playing Autocracy.