Next we need to determine what can be done to make the current squads and fleets better.
There are 3 primary ways to do this:
1) add a new character/ship
2) gear up an existing character (or pilot, for a ship)
3) add ability levels to an existing character/ship (ships also gain power when you add ability levels to their pilot(s))
but there's also an important 4th thing to do: add character/ship levels. These are the basic level of a toon or ship, and range from 1 to 85. If you add a character level you'll notice that there isn't much difference for a specific toon between level 45 and 46, or 75 and 76. There's not even much difference between level 1 and level 2 (especially by the time your player level has hit 85). But character levels are important because it's not possible to add ability levels or gear unless the toon meets the character level prerequisite.
The most important character levels are, arguably, the even numbered levels from 76 to 84 and level 85. Why? Because the greatest ability boosts are gained through Omega ability mats, which can only be applied to an ability at level 76, 78, or 80 (depending on the particular ability's requirements) and Zeta mats, which can only be applied to an ability at levels 82, 84, and 85.
This means that you might find a character at level 79 gains access to a completely new ability at level 80. This can be incredibly important, so we'll pay particular attention to what levels we want to increase, whether or not a character has a special ability coming up, and what level is required for that special ability.
We also, though, have to pay attention to the level required for the most restricted piece of gear at a toon's current gear tier so that they can complete the tiers their currently on and gain the bonuses associated with going up a tier.
Okay, with all that in mind, we're going to make a list of important squad improvements in the next comment. This will include everything above: adding characters, adding gear, adding ability levels, and, where necessary, adding character levels to make those improvements possible.
