If you jump right into Alpha Protocol, especially the PC version, it may appear confusing to you when the game says to select a specialization after the Saudi Arabia mission.

There is no in-game direction or tool-tip that simply explains what specialization is or how to select it. In fact, the game simply brings up the skills selection screen that you are already used to seeing.

You may think, “Isn’t this what I picked at the beginning of the game? Do I just get a final chance to change my mind?” This is not the case. In the beginning of the game, you chose your Agent History. After the Saudi Arabia mission, you choose a Specialization.

Agent History: Allocating your action points (AP) that you start the game with.
Specialization: Choosing 3 skills that you can improve beyond normal limits.

How Do I Select My Specialization?

At least on the PC version, selecting your 3 specialized skills is vague. However, simply click on the name of the skill that you want. It will turn red to signify that you have selected it for specialization.

Specializations

Commando Specialization

   Commando Specialization:
Few things are as dependable and solution-oriented as violence. Commandos train for situations where they’re outnumbered and outgunned – specializing in automatic weapons and physical conditioning.
Specialized Skills: Submachine Guns, Assault Rifles, Toughness
Engineer Specialization

   Engineer Specialization:
Knowledge is power – especially when it’s knowledge of explosive compounds and sophisticated electronics. An Engineer specializes in devices of high impact and low subtlety.
Specialized Skills: Shotguns, Sabotage, Technical Aptitude
Operative Specialization

   Operative Specialization:
The dangerous and morally suspect world of espionage weeds out the rigidly minded. Most agents find their own way through life and specialize in an unorthodox variety of skills.
Specialized Skills: Player’s Choice of 3
Spy Specialization

   Spy Specialization:
Good spies are stuff of literature, but great spies don’t let themselves become the subject of folklore. A Spy specializes in evasion and killing from the shadows.
Specialized Skills: Stealth, Pistols, Martial Arts

Agent History

Soldier History

   Soldier:
Decorated for service in the armed forces, your commanding officer felt that general infantry was a waste of your potential. Your natural language talent and quick wit caught the attention of a recruiter for an agency that doesn’t officially exist.
Starting Levels: Assault Rifles – 2, Submachine Guns – 2, Technical Aptitude – 1, Toughness – 2
Field Agent History

   Field Agent:
No stranger to covert operations, you’ve spent the last several years working for the US State Department on overseas assignments. Capable of being a charismatic presence one moment, and an inconspicuous shadow the next, you’re always the agent on location, never the one hiding behind a desk.
Starting Levels: Stealth – 3, Pistols – 1, Martial Arts – 2
Tech Specialist History

   Tech Specialist:
Having made a mockery of every aptitude test sent your way, it was no surprise that you finished your first PhD before you were legally allowed to buy alcohol. While the CIA initially hired you to design cutting edge electronics, being cloistered in a lab proved unsatisfying and your superiors granted you a transfer to clandestine services.
Starting Levels: Stealth- 1, Shotguns – 2, Sabotage – 3, Technical Aptitude – 2
Freelancer History

   Freelancer:
Fearless from birth, the only thought that ever caused you an ounce of panic was the thought of a 9-to-5 job. After a remarkable college career, you vanished off the radar of the known world to make your fortune. According to your dossier, you’ve been a mercenary in Africa, a bodyguard to the Sulta of Brunei, the on-again off-again paramour of a European princess, and the holder of three patents in Great Britain.
Starting Levels: Player’s Choice with 31 AP
Recruit History

   Recruit:
Though you’ve barely logged three months working for the Department of Justice, your ambition, drive, and aptitude caught the eye of a clandestine government agency. Your path will be difficult – with little experience and formal training you’ll have to rely on your wits while you learn your lessons in the field.
Starting Levels: No AP
Veteran History

   Veteran:
You are the Leonardo da Vinci of clandestine warfare: a gifted marksman, a master of stealth, and a tech savvy engineer rolled into one. Alpha Protocol didn’t go looking for you, you went looking for them. Having saved the world once, why not save it again?
Starting Levels: Player’s Choice with 120 AP

Solid Tip: To select Veteran, You must complete the game as a Recruit.