Profession

Professions (Race/Class Combinations)
Race - Class - Profession - Faction
	Explorer	Tradesman	Warrior
Jenquai	Jenquai Explorer (JE)	Jenquai Seeker (JS)	Jenquai Defender (JD)
Progen	Progen Sentinel (PS)	Progen Privateer (PP)	Progen Warrior (PW)
Terran	Terran Scout (TS)	Terran Tradesman (TT)	Terran Enforcer (TE)

Overview

Originally, all three Classes were planned for each Race in Earth & Beyond. However, before the game went Live in 2002, the Jenquai Seeker (JS, a Tradesman), the Terran Scout (TS, an Explorer), and the Progen Privateer (PP, another Tradesman) professions were dropped, and were not known during the game's Sunset Live (commercial) run from 2002 to 2004, leaving only six professions to choose from.

When the Earth & Beyond Emulator was developed, the three professions mentioned above were implemented, and may now be played!

There are now nine professions available in the Earth & Beyond Emulator which correspond directly to the nine race+class combinations:

Profession	Abbreviation	Race	Class
Jenquai Explorer	JE	Jenquai	Explorer
Jenquai Seeker	JS	Jenquai	Tradesman
Jenquai Defender	JD	Jenquai	Warrior
Terran Scout	TS	Terran	Explorer
Terran Tradesman	TT	Terran	Tradesman
Terran Enforcer	TE	Terran	Warrior
Progen Sentinel	PS	Progen	Explorer
Progen Privateer	PP	Progen	Tradesman
Progen Warrior	PW	Progen	Warrior

Max Level Profession Summary

Summary and Comparison of each Profession at Max Level with Optimal Gear
Prof	Weapon				Device		Core Tech			Cargo	Hull	Sig	Scan			Warp	Turn	Mass
Prof	Beam	Missile	Proj.	Slots	Tech	Slots	Shield	Reactor	Engine	Cargo	Hull	Sig	Base	Range	Power	Warp	Turn	Mass
JE	9	-	8	3	9	6	8	9	8	30	44000	500	5000	16150	32	7955	20	65
JS	9	-	8	4	9	5	8	9	8	40	49000	500	3500	13775	19	6145	30	70
JD	9	8	8	5	9	4	8	9	8	30	65500	500	3500	14275	19	6145	40	75
TS	8	9	-	4	9	4	8	8	9	37	48000	2500	5000	16000	50	8954	20	60
TT	8	9	-	4	8	5	9	8	9	40	54000	2500	3500	11525	6	8117	30	65
TE	8	9	8	5	8	4	9	8	9	35	72000	2500	3500	11525	19	6799	40	70
PS	8	8	9	4	9	5	9	8	8	30	55000	2500	5000	15650	32	6355	30	70
PP	8	8	9	5	8	4	9	9	8	40	61000	2500	3500	11525	19	6049	40	75
PW	8	8	9	6	8	3	9	9	8	30	82000	2500	3500	11525	32	6049	50	80

Jenquai

For more details on the Jenquai race in general see Jenquai.

Jenquai Explorer

Recommendation: new players wishing to acquire combat XP would do well to kill everything possible in Io before taking missions requiring combat from anywhere outside the sector. Your combat skills are so weak in the early stages that you'll find all such missions quite difficult unless you improve your weapons user level, which requires leveling up your combat XP.
- or get PM gear made and explore XP to EL 25 for combat cloak. This skill doubles ALL damage and can make combat much easier.

As the only Jenquai that can prospect, it falls to the Explorers to collect any ores that are to be turned into minerals to become either ammunition or components.

Jenquai only Devices can be built by any Jenquai (with the skill trained). It becomes a matter of priorities -- Defenders need to use their building skills for Weapons and Seekers use their for Components and Engines (which no other Jenquai can do). Thus, Devices and perhaps Reactors are usually built by Explorers {as long as they do not have the "Jenquai restricted" label}.

Be advised that achieving 200% build quality at the highest levels requires practice -- and the materials with which to practice are costly in either play time or credits.

Like all other characters capable of mining, JEs will likely NOT have a shortage of credits problem.

JEs are excellent at risky prospecting, as long as the mobs in the area can't see through a Cloak. If they can, that area is best left to the Progen Sentinels and/or a group including plenty of warrior types.

Uniquely, the Explorer has the Shield Leech skill, sometimes referred to as "the JE's fourth weapon". Shield Leech partly reduces the shields of all mobs AND turns the energy of those shields into reactor power for the JE and, at higher levels, the entire group. Some warrior classes frequently run out of energy (reactor power) and thus may need to limit firing unless the JE is present and uses this skill to refill their reactors.

Also uniquely, at the highest two levels of Cloak skill, a JE's can signature-reduce or completely conceal an entire group of ships. Warping while cloaked is also possible at these levels. Group Cloak is not available to Jenquai Defenders or Seekers, so having a JEs in company can be very useful in dangerous areas, and particularly when touring lower-ranked pilots around.

JEs also have the Jumpstart skill. Dead ships can be restarted on the battlefield, saving the cost of a tow to the last station that player registered at. Of course, one does have to either kill or lure away the mobs that did the damage to the player's ship first since the JE's ship is not very robust. To use this on yourself, target yourself with ` (the upper-left-corner key on keyboard) and then use the handle on the target screen at lower right.

In addition, the JE alone has the Create Wormhole ability. This allows the user and/or group members to instantly 'jump' to any of ten different pre-assigned locations, known as wefts, scattered across the galaxy. Having a JE "taxi" around can speed up the completion of mission immensely. However it is of limited use for trade runs, as passing through a wormhole damages "trade goods", reducing the profit margin considerably.

Given that the JE is a superb taxi and support vehicle, the JE pilot will usually try to maximize the Device, Wormhole, Cloak, Prospect and Shield Leech skills. As a beam user, JEs must face their target and, as such, cannot kite enemies like a missile user, and so impulse speed is of lesser importance. Some pilots will assign the Engine skill a lower priority due to this. However, the JE is capable of some of the fastest speeds after the Terran Scout, and another school of thought is to maximize engine power. A short-cut to the best warp speed is to get your JE to L5 engines and then acquire The Polar Express, a L5 engine with the same 4,000 warp speed as a good L8 engine. The only hitches are that this engine is only available as a reward for a seasonal mission, for a limited part of the Christmas season each year, and that the engine has two de-buffs, which weaken your ship's resistance to EMP and Plasma damage.

Jenquai Seeker

Jenquai Seekers are the trading class for the Jenquai people.

They will likely be tasked with Building multiple types of gear: Components and Engines certainly (they are the only Jenquai with the capability) and likely one or two of Weapons, Devices, and Reactors. (Note: no Jenquai are capable of building shields. Jenquai shields are usually built by Terrans).

With so many Building skills needing to be trained, Seekers will likely invest few skill points in Projectile Weapons, Scanning, Engines, and possibly Reactor Optimization (at least until they pass OL 150).

The Seeker lacks the Shield Leech skill that the JE has, but the JS has one more weapons slot.

Seekers also have one fewer device slot than the Explorer and thus may be slightly less useful at buffing and debuffing in group combat.

Jenquai Defender

Having one fewer weapons slot than the Progen Warriors, and using lower DPS Beam Weapons, the Jenquai Defender is less able to directly kill mobs in straight up fights. However, using tactics, skills, and gear their DPS is unmatched in the EMU and at endgame they do considerably more damage than any other class.

The Combat Cloak skill offers partial compensation for the lack of 6 weapon slots, and if firing while cloaked, the JD gains a targeting enhancement for a limited time after auto-decloaking.

The JD is however, limited to only Level 8 shields and, therefore, can not use the brutal direct attacking methods of the Progen.

Defenders uniquely have the Psionic Shield capability. Psi Shields make the JD (or any ship on which the JD confers it) completely invulnerable while the shield lasts. The Psi shield disappears instantly when either a certain period of time has elapsed, or when it has absorbed a certain number of hit points (both time and damage absorbtion amounts are dependant on the skill level you have). As Jenquai shields and armor tend to be less durable than those of the other races, JDs should remain alert and recharge their Psi shield frequently to maintain their invulnerability, as a strong enemy can quickly strip away a JD's standard defenses.

Like all Jenquai, JDs specialize in Beam weapons and are the only race which can use Level 9 beams. As they can only use up to L8 MLs and PLs, most Jenquai pilots don't allocate skill points to non-beam weapon skills.

JDs are particularly endangered when up against high-level mobs that are able to see through cloaks, rendering the JD's preferred stealth-attack tactics useless.

As Beam users, JDs don't really have a strong need to train the Build Weapons skill, as they don't need to build ammunition. Should you wish to be a weapon-builder, building that skill on a character who is a missile or projectile user would be a better choice, as they will benefit from being to build their own ammo.

The Defender, uniquely, has the Summon skill which allows for more precise teleportation than the Fold Space skill. Different levels of this skill allow a JD to teleport an enemy right infront of his guns, to teleport other ships or his entire group from far across the sector to right in front of him and, at the highest level, to teleport their own or a group member's ship directly into the hangar of that particular ship's last registered starbase. Some mobs can resist being Summoned, this presumably indicates an ability to resist Psi attacks.

The Defender also has the Energy Leech skill, which directly transfers some of the target mob's reactor charge to the reactors of the JD and (at higher levels) the JD's group.

Terran

For more details on the Terran race in general see Terran.

Terran Scout

The fastest warping class in the game a geared TS can reach just under 9K warp.

Both Devices and Engines can be built by both Scouts and Tradesmen, but shortage of skill points means you probably should decide which one will do one of them and then allow the other one to do the other.

Capable of prospecting, Terran Scouts have the role of acquiring ores and refining them into minerals for use in building ammunition and components.

Like the Progen Sentinel and unlike the Jenquai Explorer, the Scout is vulnerable while prospecting in heavily defended areas. You may want to bring friends to kill the mobs (which has the happy effect of sharing both the combat and explore XP plus a little bonus — with each of you needing what the other supplies in order to keep your skills balanced).

This implies that Scouts are unlikely to suffer from a shortage of credits.

The Scout has an interesting skill in Hull Patch. While this is of limited use in the early going, gangs running raids may well find it very useful since the combination of Jumpstart (which all Prospector types have) and Hull Patch can get a fellow group member up and going again at near full strength without returning to a station. {full strength would require the Repair Equipment skill as well, which some warriors may have trained.} {Note: Terran Tradesmen also have the Hull Patch skill. No Progen or Jenquai characters have it.}

Terran Tradesman

The Tradesman is usually tasked with building three different types of elements; Components, Shields, and one of Devices or Engines. No Terran can build Reactors -- player made Terran Reactors are built by either Progen or Jenquai characters.

Because of this, skill points for other things will likely be limited. Since Weapons and Devices/Engines will be built by another of the Terran characters, these are excellent choices to NOT receive skill points.

Many Tradesmen also limit skill points going into Beam Weapons (they don't fit the "kiting" model of combat) and probably Befriend (Befriend allows you to escape a single mob character, and you usual goal is to kill it — wasted effort). However, at max level both of these skills can become invaluable... depending on the TTs play style.

The Tradesman's credit generation is sometimes powered by his Negotiate skill. Collect ores or loot with your characters on other accounts, then trade them in station to your TT (thus gathering the Trade XP). Then trade them back if they need refining and get the minerals that will be sold from the miner type. The TT then sells the goods to station and reaps a bonus in the selling price (just move some of the resulting funds to your other character and you're good). Trading items to a TT is much better trade xp, for looted/mined items, then trading to other classes.

Otherwise, his fewer number of missile launchers than the Terran Enforcer and possible lack of player made ammo imply that his killing for loot prospects are not very strong.

Tradesmen do have the largest holds of any ship in the game -- this allows them to act as ammo carrier on behalf of the warrior types when going on raids.

With Hull Patch and Shield Recharge skills, the TT is useful in gangs to get a damaged ship up to full strength without pulling back to a station. {One of the prospector types will have to Jumpstart a dead ship first and then a warrior type can repair the equipment afterward.}

The TT also has access to a number of debuff devices, which can be very beneficial in combat.

Terran Enforcer

As a warrior type that uses ammunition, the Terran Enforcer will usually invest many skill points into Weapons since the resulting 200% ammo has superior damage (and thus DPS) relative to purchased goods.
- (this is true for all ML and PL ammo and all Tradesman, Warriors, TS, and PS can make ammo. In fact the only class, in the EMU, that cannot make ammo is the JE).

Other critical warrior uses of skill points include Shields and enough Reactors to keep the missiles firing. {Alas, MLs are not the most effective damage per energy cost form of weapons, that position is held by PLs. TEs probably are not going to use many PLs as the buffs required to optimize that are found mostly on "Progen only" devices and equipment.}

Given the above, the TE is not very likely to have the skill points available for the Build Engines skill, which task must then be left to a different Terran type. All three Terran types have the Build Engines skill, so which does it becomes a matter of which can spare the skill points.

Progen

For more details on the Progen race in general see Progen.

Progen Sentinel

As the only Progen type that can prospect, it falls to the Sentinels to collect any ores that are to be turned into minerals to become either ammunition or components.
"Jenquai restricted" Devices can only be built by Progen Sentinels. Thus, if you have any desire to engage in this activity, you'll need to budget skill points for this. {Sentinels can also build many other devices -- as long as they do not have the "Progen restricted" label.}
See Manufacturing if interested in what it takes to make 200% items....for ANY class.
Like the other characters capable of mining, the Sentinel will likely NOT have a shortage of credits problem.
Prospecting in some or many high level areas is fraught with risk of being attacked by well armed mobs. Unlike the Jenquai Explorer, the Sentinel can not cloak to avoid most of these and so must be tough enough to defeat them, or else mine in groups capable of destroying these mobs. This will likely require maximum skills in PLs, reactors, and shields, plus devices (for resistance buffs).

Progen Privateer

If you have other characters that build weapons or devices, you may wish to use the Privateer to build everything else possible: Components, Reactors, and Shields. (Note: no Progen character can Build Engines. Player-made engines for Progen use are made by Terrans).
In order to concentrate skill points for a builder's role, Privateers will probably neglect both Beam Weapons and Missiles. The Engine skill and Build Weapons might be others to give lower priority.
Progen Privateers, like Terrans, can train the Negotiate skill, which increases the profit margins on items bought and sold.
IMPORTANT:The PP is the fastest leveling combat class in the game. They have the same number of weapon slots as the JD and TE, and they have the best DPS of all Tradesmen. With this added to the combination of the Shield Recharge and Critical Targeting skills, they are basically warriors that can heal. Being able to recharge their shields, along with their massive hold, makes killing/looting/selling an incredible way to level TL and CL at the same time.

Progen Warrior

In group combat, the Progen Warrior expects to find himself in the front of the attack, using his massive shields and effective resistance to draw the mob's fire and thus protect the other members.
- They are the Tank class in the EMU.
The Warrior will likely also deliver the highest Damage Per Second (DPS) on the target, as long as their ammo supply holds out (and they are not going against an equally geared JD).
Build Weapons is the only build skill that a Progen Warrior can have. While needed in order to build higher quality ammo, finding enough skill points can be a challenge and may well require that other skills (such as Repair Equipment, and weapons other than PLs) receive few or no skill points.
Warriors generally satisfy their need for credits by looting dead mobs and selling the contents. Their need to carry vast quantities of ammunition may limit warriors to only looting the highest value (stackable) items.

Class vs. Profession Ambiguity

There is significant ambiguity within the community on the definitions and meanings of "class" and "profession".
This is largely due to the fact that the game makes little to no reference to class at all which was more than likely a strategy employed due to three of the envisaged professions being omitted at the launch of the original Live version of Earth & Beyond. By referring instead to simply a combined concept of race+class, the game's developers were able to subtly avoid the issue that all three classes (Warrior/Trader/Explorer) were originally planned to be available for each race, which would have led to the game feeling incomplete at launch.
In-game, the terms "class" and "profession" are informally, interchangeably and ambiguously used; but on the wiki we've standardized on the following terminology:
Race — refers to Jenquai, Terran, and Progen,
Class — refers to Explorer, Tradesman, and Warrior, and
Profession — refers to combinations of the above two categories, viz. Jenquai Explorer, Jenquai Seeker, Jenquai Defender, Terran Scout, Terran Tradesman, Terran Enforcer, Progen Sentinel, Progen Privateer, and Progen Warrior.
This standardization is due to this usage largely being followed on the wiki already, as well as in the in-game character creation process, which at least makes it clear that there are nine professions, not three.
During character creation it says "Choose Profession" at the bottom, and the arrows move you through the nine professions. The Character and Starship Creator is even more explicit on this fact when Megan says right off the bat:

"All right, let's make a character! First you'll need to select a profession. There are six[nine] available and you can learn about each by clicking their names at the top of the screen."

On the other hand, when you select the Sentinel during character creation Megan says at one point (after to referring to it as a profession multiple times):

"A unique combination for a unique class."

So even here there is some ambiguity. However, it is clear that the most common interpretation is the one we're following for the wiki. That said, you should expect people to continue to use these terms interchangeably and ambiguously and they aren't wrong, it is ambiguous, but we're following the above guidelines on the wiki for consistency, so please do the same when contributing to the wiki.

There is still some (minor) debate regarding using the strict Race + Class names vs. the Official Profession names, and perhaps even more debate over the combination of Race + Profession and the resulting acronyms which are most commonly used, especially considering that the character creation shows:

Profession

Race + Class

But here we're leaning toward the Sunset Live interpretation which is the most commonly used in-game, on the forums, and on the wiki, i.e.

Profession	Abbreviation	Race	Class
Jenquai Explorer	JE	Jenquai	Explorer
Jenquai Seeker	JS	Jenquai	Tradesman
Jenquai Defender	JD	Jenquai	Warrior
Terran Scout	TS	Terran	Explorer
Terran Tradesman	TT	Terran	Tradesman
Terran Enforcer	TE	Terran	Warrior
Progen Sentinel	PS	Progen	Explorer
Progen Privateer	PP	Progen	Tradesman
Progen Warrior	PW	Progen	Warrior