OK, no news of anything about officers lately, so I might as well post this.
Officers are only made though combat situations, and they determine the ship's behavior when either on auto-control or not being controlled by the player at all. First off, the officers have personalities (mentioned on the front page of the website). Each personality will determine what the ship will do when it sees an enemy.
PersonalitiesFor example, a cautious officer may not take part in direct combat, rather providing fire support. This can be a bonus to a ship such as the buffalo cruiser. A bold officer may charge into battle when it sees a worthy opponent, but he/she tends to attack ships too big for it's size. Bold officer may also make combat maneuvers other officers may not be able to do, such as turning to avoid a missile instead of letting the shields absorb it. Suicidal captains do just that, they charge into battle with no idea whatsoever on what to do, they may even just stand there shooting the enemy's shields without activating their own. This is effective vs retreating or escaping ships, as they won't let it go without it taking some damage. There are probably other officer personalities out there, but these are just examples.
All officers also impart a 10% boost to all ship parts, which include: speed, accuracy, range, and maneuverability. Each additional officer will impart half the last bonus. e.g. 2 officers will impart 15%, 3 will impart 17-18% and 4 officers will impart 18-20%.
Number & Influence of OfficersThere may be more than one officer per ship, depending on the amount of crew required. There may be, perhaps, 1 officer for every 100 men on a ship. If there is less than 100 crew for one ship, there can still be one officer, but no more than one. (e.g.-if a ship has 100 men, it can acquire an officer. If it has more than 150 men, it can acquire another officer. 100 men to start, needs 50 more for another, etc.). If a ship has say, 300 men and 3 officers, each officer can influence the other to bend to their will. If there were 2 bold officers and 1 cautious officer, most of the time it would be a bold maneuver the ship will take instead of a cautious one.
Creation & Revealing PersonalitiesOfficers may only be acquired through combat, which means no purchasing them from the orbital station! Take care of ships who have officers, but remember their personalities and use them to your advantage. Speaking of personalities, each officer's personality is only reveled after combat (e.g. an officer is created after a battle, but his personality will be revealed at the start of the next battle he takes part in. The ship with the officer must be sent out and not in reserve to reveal it). This gives you a cloud of doubt before a battle, a little food for thought...
