The Botany Bay is an Uncommon grade 3 Survey ship, a data-mining specialist rather than a fighter. Its Data Mining ability pours an enormous bonus into your Mining Laser, but only against Corrupted Data and Decoded Data, so it exists to farm those two resources quickly. You unlock the build at Shipyard level 18. If you need Corrupted or Decoded Data, this is the ship for the job; for anything else, look elsewhere.
How to get the Botany Bay
The Botany Bay needs 60 blueprints and a Shipyard at level 18 before you can build it. Once those are in place, the build cost is 725 3-star Common Refined Crystal, 800,000 Tritanium, 28,000 Dilithium, and 180 3-star Common Refined Gas. Construction takes 6 days and 1 hour. The blueprint source rotates through the game’s events and stores, so check what is currently offering them before you commit resources.
At Shipyard 18 this is a mid-game build, and it competes for the same Tritanium and Dilithium you are pouring into your main combat ships. Treat it as a project you finish when a data-mining event is on the calendar, not something to rush ahead of your grade 3 fighters.
Botany Bay ability
The ship ability is Data Mining. It increases the Botany Bay’s Mining Bonus from the Mining Laser by 26,500% at ship level 1, rising to 41,000% at level 45, when mining Corrupted Data and Decoded Data. Ship abilities are always active, so the bonus applies the moment you send the ship to one of those nodes. The catch is the narrow target: the bonus does nothing on ore, gas, crystal, or any other resource, which is why the Botany Bay is a single-purpose farmer rather than a general miner.
In practice, the ability turns what would be a slow trickle of Corrupted Data and Decoded Data into a usable haul. Those data resources feed the events and research tied to the arc that introduced them, so the Botany Bay earns its dock space during those windows and sits idle the rest of the time. Level the ship as high as your resources allow before a data event, since the bonus keeps climbing all the way to level 45.
Stats and tiers
Base values from the current game data; research, buffs, and officers raise them in play.
| Tier | Warp (speed / range) | Impulse | Cargo (protected) | Shield HP | Hull HP | Health (displayed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 / 16 | 75 | 13,000 (1,000) | 1,090 | 1,360 | 1,225 |
| 5 | 3.4 / 21 | 75 | 60,000 (2,500) | 1,867 | 1,360 | 1,613.5 |
| 9 | 3.8 / 32 | 110 | 150,000 (3,500) | 8,880 | 1,360 | 5,120 |
Cargo climbs sharply as the ship tiers up, which is what you want on a farming run, while the hull stays flat and the shield does most of the survivability work by tier 9. Mining speed rises alongside the tiers too, from 1.5 at tier 1 to 4 at tier 9, so a tiered-up Botany Bay clears a data node noticeably faster than a fresh one. Protected cargo also grows to 3,500 by tier 9, which is the slice of your haul a raider cannot take if they destroy the ship mid-run.
Weapons and firing pattern
Warm-up is the round a weapon first fires; cool-down is the number of rounds between shots after that. The Botany Bay carries a single weapon and is not built for combat.
| Weapon | Type | Shots | Warm-up | Cool-down | Damage | Crit chance | Crit damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photon Torpedoes | Kinetic | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3,157–3,858 | 10% | 150% |
Crew slots and officer bonus
The Botany Bay opens officer slots as it levels:
| Ship level | Officer slots |
|---|---|
| 5 | 1 |
| 10 | 2 |
| 15 | 3 |
| 25 | 4 |
| 35 | 5 |
| 45 | 6 |
The ship also boosts the officers you place on it. Its attack, defense, and health bonuses to officers are identical, and they step up the ladder below as the ship’s total officer stats grow.
| Amount | Bonus |
|---|---|
| 100 | 25% |
| 200 | 50% |
| 325 | 75% |
| 450 | 100% |
| 600 | 125% |
| 800 | 150% |
| 1,100 | 175% |
| 1,500 | 200% |
| 2,000 | 225% |
| 3,000 | 250% |
Crew for the Botany Bay
Because the Botany Bay only ever mines Corrupted Data and Decoded Data, the crew matters less for combat and more for how safely and quickly it parks on a node. Lean toward officers that raise mining speed and protected cargo so a hostile player takes less if they hit you mid-run. The ship’s Data Mining bonus does the heavy lifting on yield, so your officers are there for pace and protection, not damage. For the current best mining picks, see our Officer Tier List, and keep in mind that crew recommendations shift as the meta changes.
Best crews for mining with the Botany Bay
Captain: Joaquin
Officer: T’Pring
Officer: Raphael DuPont
A great crew for mining data with the Botany Bay. It has a high protected cargo.
Captain: Barot
Officer: Elea Makinen
Officer: Raphael DuPont
A great crew for mining crystal when using the Botany Bay.
Captain: T’Pring
Officer: K’Bisch
Officer: Domitia
A great Botany Bay gas mining crew.
Captain: Stonn
Officer: Helvia
Officer: One of Eleven
The Botany Bay crew to pick when mining Ore.
The Botany Bay in Star Trek
The Botany Bay is a real piece of Star Trek history. It appeared in the original series episode “Space Seed” as a DY-100 class sleeper ship, launched from Earth in the 1990s during the Eugenics Wars. It carried Khan Noonien Singh and his fellow genetically engineered humans in cryogenic sleep across nearly three centuries of deep space before the U.S.S. Enterprise found it drifting in 2267. The in-game ship keeps that origin: a 20th-century vessel with nuclear fission engines and an X-25 network array built to gather data at an astounding rate, which is a fitting backstory for a dedicated data miner.
Botany Bay build cost by tier
Build and repair costs for every tier, carried over from the previous version of this page.
| Tier | Build cost | Repair cost | Build time | Repair time | Cargo | Protected cargo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 800,000 Tritanium 28,000 Dilithium 725 3★ Common Crystal 180 3★ Common Gas |
326 Tritanium 35 Dilithium |
6d 1h 0m | 26m | Base: 13,000 Upgrade: 9,000 Total: 22,000 |
Base: 1,000 Upgrade: 100 Total: 1,100 |
| Tier 2 | 28,450 Tritanium 1,270 Dilithium 330 2★ Common Gas 1,800 2★ Common Ore 300 2★ Survey Parts |
577 Tritanium 67 Dilithium |
1d 2h 40m | 31m | Base: 52,000 Upgrade: 10,000 Total: 62,000 |
Base: 2,750 Upgrade: 100 Total: 2,850 |
| Tier 3 | 51,150 Tritanium 2,650 Dilithium 360 2★ Common Gas 14 2★ Uncommon Gas 1,800 2★ Common Ore 90 2★ Uncommon Ore 623 2★ Survey Parts |
768 Tritanium 92 Dilithium |
2d 5h 20m | 41m | Base: 92,000 Upgrade: 13,000 Total: 105,000 |
Base: 4,500 Upgrade: 100 Total: 4,600 |
| Tier 4 | 85,500 Tritanium 5,000 Dilithium 406 2★ Common Gas 34 2★ Uncommon Gas 1,620 2★ Common Ore 243 2★ Uncommon Ore 1,280 2★ Survey Parts |
1,163 Tritanium 141 Dilithium |
3d 16h 53m | 53m | Base: 135,000 Upgrade: 15,000 Total: 150,000 |
Base: 6,250 Upgrade: 1,200 Total: 7,450 |
| Tier 5 | 263,000 Tritanium 13,200 Dilithium 5 3★ Common Gas 7 3★ Uncommon Gas 13 3★ Common Ore 17 3★ Uncommon Ore 51 3★ Survey Parts |
2,966 Tritanium 380 Dilithium |
5d 13h 20m | 1h 9m | Base: 180,000 Upgrade: 16,000 Total: 196,000 |
Base: 9,100 Upgrade: 300 Total: 9,400 |
| Tier 6 | 642,000 Tritanium 28,400 Dilithium 3 3★ Common Gas 9 3★ Uncommon Gas 2 3★ Common Ore 31 3★ Uncommon Ore 3 3★ Rare Ore 201 3★ Survey Parts |
7,499 Tritanium 1,024 Dilithium |
7d 9h 46m | 1h 32m | Base: 226,000 Upgrade: 18,000 Total: 244,000 |
Base: 11,050 Upgrade: 200 Total: 11,250 |
| Tier 7 | 1,586,000 Tritanium 79,250 Dilithium 1 3★ Common Gas 14 3★ Uncommon Gas 2 3★ Rare Gas 58 3★ Uncommon Ore 11 3★ Rare Ore 622 3★ Survey Parts |
17,681 Tritanium 2,573 Dilithium |
9d 6h 13m | 1h 54m | Base: 274,000 Upgrade: 21,000 Total: 295,000 |
Base: 12,900 Upgrade: 200 Total: 13,100 |
| Tier 8 | 4,155,000 Tritanium 176,500 Dilithium 5 3★ Uncommon Gas 9 3★ Rare Gas 13 3★ Uncommon Ore 39 3★ Rare Ore 1,510 3★ Survey Parts |
50,257 Tritanium 8,038 Dilithium |
12d 0h 53m | 2h 28m | Base: 325,000 Upgrade: 35,000 Total: 360,000 |
Base: 14,750 Upgrade: 300 Total: 15,050 |
| Tier 9 | 10,280,000 Tritanium 538,000 Dilithium 4 3★ Uncommon Gas 24 3★ Rare Gas 15 3★ Uncommon Ore 113 3★ Rare Ore 3,865 3★ Survey Parts |
132,486 Tritanium 26,492 Dilithium |
14d 19h 33m | 3h 10m | Base: 390,000 Total: 390,000 |
Base: 16,700 Total: 16,700 |
Botany Bay ship XP needed by level
Experience required to reach each level, with the health and shield bonuses that come with it.
Tier 1
| Level | XP | Health Bonus | Shield Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 37 | 7 | |
| 2 | 800 | 112 | 20 |
| 3 | 1,000 | 212 | 37 |
| 4 | 1,400 | 336 | 59 |
| 5 | 1,700 | 461 | 81 |
Tier 2
| Level | XP | Health Bonus | Shield Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 2,400 | 611 | 107 |
| 7 | 2,900 | 760 | 134 |
| 8 | 3,900 | 935 | 164 |
| 9 | 4,600 | 1,109 | 195 |
| 10 | 6,000 | 1,309 | 230 |
Tier 3
| Level | XP | Health Bonus | Shield Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 7,000 | 1,508 | 265 |
| 12 | 8,500 | 1,720 | 302 |
| 13 | 9,500 | 1,932 | 340 |
| 14 | 11,000 | 2,168 | 381 |
| 15 | 13,500 | 2,393 | 421 |
Tier 4
| Level | XP | Health Bonus | Shield Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 15,000 | 2,642 | 464 |
| 17 | 17,500 | 2,891 | 508 |
| 18 | 19,500 | 3,153 | 554 |
| 19 | 23,000 | 3,415 | 600 |
| 20 | 25,000 | 3,689 | 649 |
Tier 5
| Level | XP | Health Bonus | Shield Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 29,000 | 3,975 | 699 |
| 22 | 31,500 | 4,262 | 749 |
| 23 | 36,000 | 4,549 | 800 |
| 24 | 39,000 | 4,848 | 852 |
| 25 | 42,000 | 5,159 | 907 |
Tier 6
| Level | XP | Health Bonus | Shield Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 47,000 | 5,471 | 962 |
| 27 | 51,000 | 5,795 | 1,019 |
| 28 | 57,000 | 6,119 | 1,076 |
| 29 | 61,000 | 6,443 | 1,133 |
| 30 | 69,000 | 6,779 | 1,192 |
Tier 7
| Level | XP | Health Bonus | Shield Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 72,000 | 7,128 | 1,253 |
| 32 | 81,000 | 7,477 | 1,315 |
| 33 | 86,000 | 7,826 | 1,376 |
| 34 | 95,000 | 8,188 | 1,439 |
| 35 | 100,000 | 8,549 | 1,503 |
Tier 8
| Level | XP | Health Bonus | Shield Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 105,000 | 8,923 | 1,569 |
| 37 | 116,000 | 9,297 | 1,634 |
| 38 | 122,000 | 9,671 | 1,700 |
| 39 | 134,000 | 10,057 | 1,768 |
| 40 | 140,000 | 10,443 | 1,836 |
Tier 9
| Level | XP | Health Bonus | Shield Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | 154,000 | 10,842 | 1,906 |
| 42 | 161,000 | 11,241 | 1,976 |
| 43 | 176,000 | 11,640 | 2,046 |
| 44 | 183,000 | 12,051 | 2,119 |
| 45 | 200,000 | 12,462 | 2,191 |
Resources to max out a Botany Bay
Total Build Cost
- 17,891,100 Tritanium
- 872,270 Dilithium
- 1,096 2★ Common Gas
- 48 2★ Uncommon Gas
- 5,220 2★ Common Ore
- 333 2★ Uncommon Ore
- 725 3★ Common Crystal
- 189 3★ Common Gas
- 39 3★ Uncommon Gas
- 35 3★ Rare Gas
- 15 3★ Common Ore
- 139 3★ Uncommon Ore
- 166 3★ Rare Ore
- 2,203 2★ Survey Parts
- 6,249 3★ Survey Parts
Specialized Components
- 642 Common Plutonium
- 1,176 Uncommon Plutonium
- 228 Rare Plutonium
Total Experience: 2,561,700
Botany Bay videos
The BOTANY BAY – Finding The Blueprints and the Augments
Botany Bay!! | Why The BB Should Be Your #1 Base Raiding Miner, Not A Museum Piece
Is the Botany Bay worth it?
The Botany Bay is worth building if, and only if, you are actively farming Corrupted Data and Decoded Data. In that lane it is far faster than any general miner thanks to the Data Mining bonus. Outside it, the ship has no use, and it cannot be scrapped for parts, so it will simply sit in your dock between events. Build it when the data grind is in front of you, and skip it if it is not.