The Court of Q is a station building tied to Q’s Trials. It unlocks at Operations level 19 and upgrades to level 70. Every level raises the Protomatter you collect from finishing a Trial, and from level 15 it layers on critical-hit combat bonuses for both player fights and hostile grinding. You place it with a Court of Q Key and level it with Emblem of Assessment, so progress is paced by how often you run Trials. Worth building if you play Trials, skippable if you don’t.
What the Court of Q does
The in-game description frames the building as a gift from Q: adding opulence to the Court grants greater rewards and opens access to more of Q’s Trials. In practice it does two things. Its main output scales the Protomatter you earn from Trials, and its later levels add three critical-hit buffs that apply to your fleet in combat.
The Protomatter bonus is active from level 1 and climbs steeply as you upgrade. The three critical-hit buffs switch on at level 15 and keep growing to the cap. Values below are current as of the latest game data.
| Buff | Active from level | Value at anchor levels |
|---|---|---|
| Protomatter rewards from Trials | 1 | L1 15%, L15 100%, L40 475%, L70 1,300% |
| Critical hit damage against players | 15 | L15 15%, L40 150%, L70 300% |
| Critical hit damage against hostiles | 15 | L15 15%, L40 100%, L70 250% |
| Critical hit damage reduction | 15 | L15 10%, L40 100%, L70 225% |
Two of the critical-hit buffs are offensive, adding damage against players and against hostiles. The third is defensive, cutting the critical-hit damage other players deal to your deployed ships.
How to unlock the Court of Q
The Court of Q becomes available once your station reaches Operations level 19. That single requirement places the building at level 1, which takes 100 Court of Q Key and 35 seconds to build. Levels 1 through 15 stay behind Operations 19. From level 20 up, each milestone is gated by a matching Operations level, so the Court reaches Operations 70 as its requirement for the final level.
Upgrade costs and build times
Level 1 costs 100 Court of Q Key. Every level after that is paid in Emblem of Assessment, a currency you earn through Q’s Trials. Here are milestone levels across the climb to 70.
| Level | Cost | Build time | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 Court of Q Key | 35s | Operations 19 |
| 10 | 640 Emblem of Assessment | 1h 50m | Operations 19 |
| 20 | 1,150 Emblem of Assessment | 1d 5h | Operations 20 |
| 30 | 1,580 Emblem of Assessment | 3d 1h | Operations 30 |
| 40 | 1,960 Emblem of Assessment | 48d 11h | Operations 40 |
| 50 | 2,320 Emblem of Assessment | 830d 2h | Operations 50 |
| 60 | 2,650 Emblem of Assessment | 1748d 22h | Operations 60 |
| 70 | 2,960 Emblem of Assessment | 538d 4h | Operations 70 |
The full climb from level 1 to 70 costs 100 Court of Q Key and 119,150 Emblem of Assessment. The cumulative unboosted build time runs to 18,808 days, so real upgrades lean heavily on speedups and any build-time research you have.
How the Court of Q fits your station
This is an event building, not a core economy or combat structure. Its value is proportional to how much you run Q’s Trials, because the Protomatter multiplier only pays off when you are completing Trials to collect the reward. If Trials are a regular part of your play, upgrading the Court compounds every run.
Because levels past 15 need Operations to climb in step, the Court is naturally a mid-to-late-game project. Early on, Operations 19 is enough to unlock it and start banking the Protomatter bonus at lower cost. The critical-hit buffs from level 15 are a helpful side benefit for players who fight other players or grind hostiles, though they sit behind the Protomatter output for most accounts. Emblem of Assessment is the real bottleneck, so plan upgrades around when you can farm that currency rather than pushing the building ahead of your supply.
Is the Court of Q worth upgrading?
For Trials players, yes. The Protomatter bonus grows from 15% at level 1 to 1,300% at level 70, a large multiplier on a reward you are already collecting. The critical-hit buffs add combat value on top. For players who skip Q’s Trials, the Court earns little, and the steep Emblem of Assessment cost is better spent elsewhere. Match your investment to how often you actually run Trials.