Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)
By already maxed out, do you mean skills that are already at 3, or already as high as you want them? If the first, you sure that they were already maxed, and not you're being given the choice to max them?
I guess to cut down on the extreme amount of specialization. We already can do a lot with ships and fits, throwing a fully equipped officer ultra-designed for one particular role might be a bridge too far. Plus, technically, it's not that horrible if you pre-set what kind of pilot you want to have. Rarely, if ever, you'll be thrown in a corner choosing between a level 1 skill you don't want and another level 1 skill you can't do anything with on that character.
That's my biggest problem, i get full control over everything else in my fleet, yet can't specialize my officers, why?
Really, it'd be nice if the officer skill only affected how many officers you can have manning ships at any one time. I'd like to be able to swap out decent but not quite perfect officers with new talent to see if I can't get better luck legitimately.
The very fact that my choices are Missile Specialization or Carrier Command (on a non-carrier ship) makes me start tailoring ship loudouts to utilize missiles, even when I don't typically put a high priority on doing so normally. It makes me think outside the box to a degree.