Who Decius is in STFC
Decius is a rare Romulan officer in Star Trek Fleet Command who earns his slot on crews that pick fights with bigger ships. His captain ability rewards you for engaging targets stronger than your own, and his officer ability turns each incoming hit into a stacking damage boost. Together that gives him a clear identity: a counter-puncher you bring along when you expect to be the underdog.
He sits in the Romulan Patriots synergy group, runs as a Science-class officer despite his combat focus, and shows up in crews built around weapon damage and faction grinding inside Romulan space. Most players first meet him while pulling Romulan recruits, then keep him on the bench for situational use.
This guide covers who Decius is in Trek canon, what his two abilities actually do in the game, the matchups where he pulls his weight, and what to think about before sinking shards into a rank-up.
Star Trek background
In canon, Decius is a Romulan military Sub-Commander who serves aboard the Praetor’s flagship in the mid-23rd century. He appears in the original-series episode “Balance of Terror,” played by Lawrence Montaigne, and is the first named Romulan ever shown on Star Trek.
His role in the episode is short but consequential. During a Romulan incursion into Föderation space in 2266, Decius sends an unauthorized coded message to the praetor with a status report on the operation. His commander reads the move as reckless and demotes him two ranks, even though Decius has friends in the senate who might otherwise protect him. Later in the same encounter, when his commander hesitates to attack the USS Enterprise, Decius goads him into the fight by asking permission to take the kill himself. The appeal to pride works, and the warbird engages.
The Enterprise had been feigning damage. With his ship overpowered and facing capture, the Romulan commander triggers a self-destruct rather than surrender. Decius and the rest of the crew die in the blast.
A second version of the character later appears in the Strange New Worlds episode “A Quality of Mercy,” portrayed by Mathieu Bourassa. The STFC officer card pulls from his classic Romulan look, helmet and all.
Role in STFC
Decius is a rare, Science-class Romulan officer in the Romulan Patriots group. His in-game flavor leans into his backstory: a soldier with experience fighting tougher opponents and a temperament that wants to take the fight to a stronger ship.
Functionally, he is a damage officer with a target-strength clause on the captain seat. If your ship is going up against something with a bigger total strength rating, his captain bonus turns on. His officer ability then layers a small weapon-damage bump on top each time you take a hit, so the longer the fight goes and the more punishment your hull absorbs, the more damage you put out.
This shape suits players who want to punch above their weight: hunting hostiles a couple of levels above yours, scrapping with armadas, or harassing higher-power ships in faction zones. It is less useful when you are clearly the stronger ship in the fight, because the captain bonus only fires against tougher targets.
Decius’s captain ability and officer ability
Decius has two abilities. Reckless activates when he is captain of the ship. Honor Guard activates when he sits on the bridge in any officer slot.
Captain ability: Reckless
While the opposing ship has a greater Strength rating than yours, Reckless increases your ship’s Accuracy, Armor Piercing, and Shield Piercing. As of the latest Daten, the rank-1 captain bonus is 10 percent across all three stats, and the bonus grows with each rank Decius gains. Push him to higher ranks and the gap between his attacking stats and the target’s defenses widens further.
The trigger condition matters. Reckless only fires when you are the lower-strength ship, so it is the wrong captain for steamrolling weaker hostiles. It is the right captain when you are trying to take down a ship you would normally lose to, or when you want a Romulan damage captain who scales with how much of an underdog you are.
Officer ability: Honor Guard
When Decius sits on the bridge as an officer, Honor Guard adds a Weapon Damage bonus to your ship every time it gets hit by a weapon attack. The bonus stacks across the fight, so a Decius on a tougher hull turns each absorbed hit into a small return on damage output. Weapons that fire multiple shots only trigger the bonus once per attack, so you do not get an inflated stack from a multi-shot volley.
The per-hit value scales with rank. Current as of the latest game data:
| Rang | Weapon damage per hit |
|---|---|
| 1 | 6% |
| 2 | 7% |
| 3 | 8% |
| 4 | 9% |
| 5 | 10% |
At rank 5, every hit you take adds 10 percent to your weapon damage, and those stacks build on each other. That is what makes Decius interesting on long engagements: the more your shields and hull take a beating, the more your guns return the favor.
Where Decius shines
A few situations earn him a bridge slot:
- Hostile farming above your usual level. If you are pushing into hostiles two or three levels stronger than your ship, Reckless turns on and gives your weapons real bite.
- Romulan faction grinding. Decius is a Romulan officer with Romulan synergy, so he benefits from any crew that wants a Romulan tag and helps you pile up reputation in Romulan space.
- Drawn-out fights where you expect to take hits. Honor Guard scales with damage absorbed, so a slow grind against a heavy hitter plays into his strengths more than a quick burst kill.
He is less useful when you outclass your target and the fight ends in two or three rounds, or when you are running a mining or station-defense crew that is not built around aggressive engagement.
How to get Decius shards
Decius lives in the Romulan faction officer pool. His shards come from the sources you would expect for a rare Romulan officer: Romulan recruit tokens, Romulan faction crates, and events tied to Romulan space or to the Romulan Patriots group. Specific drop rates and event windows shift with each major patch, so check the in-game store and current event rotation rather than treating any one source as permanent.
You generally do not need to spend money to collect him. Steady Romulan faction grinding will produce his shards over time, and the rank-up shard costs (30 for rank 1, scaling up to 465 for rank 5) sit in line with other rare Offiziere in the game. If you are sitting on Romulan recruit tokens and weighing who to open for, he is a reasonable pick for any player active in Romulan space.
Synergies and crew building
Decius’s class is Science, but his Romulan Patriots synergy bonuses favor a Command-and-Engineering supporting cast over a Science one. With Decius as captain, the supporting slots pick up the biggest synergy bonus when filled with Command or Engineering officers, and a smaller bonus when filled with Science officers. That cuts against the usual instinct to match class to captain, so it is worth keeping in mind when you build around him.
For crew partners, he slots in naturally with other Romulan Patriots and with any Romulan officer who buffs weapon damage or hit-by-hit triggers. Crews built to soak punishment and trade fire over multiple rounds get the most out of Honor Guard. Crews that aim to end a fight in a single alpha strike get less, since the stacking damage bonus needs time to build.
He does not pair well with mitigation captains, mining crews, or any setup that wants the fight over quickly. His value sits in fights that last long enough for the underdog math to pay off.
Frequently asked questions
Is Decius any good?
Decius is a solid niche officer. He is not a general-purpose captain, but his captain ability gives a real edge in fights against tougher ships, and Honor Guard adds value to any crew that expects to trade hits. For players grinding Romulan reputation in the early and mid game, he is worth ranking up.
Where do Decius shards come from?
His shards live in the Romulan faction recruitment pool. Faction recruit tokens, Romulan faction crates, and Romulan-themed events are the usual sources. Specific drop rates and event windows change with each patch, so check the in-game store and current event rotation when you are ready to push for a rank-up.
What ship is Decius best on?
Reckless is weapon-focused and only fires against stronger targets, so any combat hull you use to punch above your weight is a fit. Romulan combat ships are the obvious home, especially when you use them to hunt hostiles or armadas slightly above your usual range. He is less useful on explorers or mining-focused builds, where the combat profile does not match his triggers.
Is Decius worth the rank-up?
Yes for players active in Romulan space or hunting tougher hostiles. Reckless scales sharply with each rank, so even one or two extra promotions noticeably change how he plays. If you do not engage stronger ships and you do not run Romulan crews, the rank-up is a lower priority than your faction captains.
Does Honor Guard stack across the whole fight?
Yes. Every weapon hit on your ship adds another instance of the Weapon Damage bonus, and those stacks carry through the rest of the engagement. The catch is the multi-shot clause: a weapon that fires several shots in one attack only triggers the bonus once for that attack, not once per shot.
Bottom line
Decius is the right pick for Romulan-focused players who like the idea of trading hits with a bigger ship and coming out ahead. He earns his slot on combat crews that engage upward and have the hull to absorb the punishment Honor Guard wants. If you tend to outclass your targets or your bridge is built for fast kills and mining defense, your shards are better spent on a different officer.
