The DTI Headquarters is a station building that houses the Material Converter, a temporal device that transmutes refined resources into other types or rarities of the same grade. It becomes available once your Operations reaches level 42, and it upgrades to level 70. On top of the converter it grants scaling combat buffs, larger Broken Ship Part drops, and heavy damage bonuses against Krenim enemies. For late-game commanders juggling grade 4 and higher materials, it earns its plot quickly.
What the DTI Headquarters does
The heart of the building is the Material Converter. It applies concentrated tachyon energy to artificially refine a resource, and it does two things. It converts a material into a different type of the same grade and rarity, for example turning grade 4 Rare Ore into grade 4 Rare Crystal. It also converts a material into a different rarity of the same type and grade, for example turning grade 4 Uncommon Crystal into grade 4 Rare Crystal.
The converter is unstable, so higher grades open up as you upgrade the building. Grade 4 refining becomes available at building level 30, grade 5 at level 40, and grade 6 at level 50. A recurring claim of Bonus Converter Tokens unlocks at level 40; those tokens feed Bonus Converter Refineries, which carry no tax and no cooldown. One-time claims of five tokens each arrive at levels 20, 30, 50, 60, and 70.
The building also carries a stack of combat and economy buffs that grow with its level. The table below lists each buff and its value at a few anchor levels. All numbers are current as of the latest game data.
| Buff | Active from | Level 1 | Level 20 | Level 40 | Level 70 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PvP Apex Barrier | Level 1 | +150 | +750 | +2,250 | +7,500 |
| Isolytic Defense | Level 1 | +5% | +24% | +55% | +125% |
| Isolytische Schädigung | Level 1 | +1% | +15% | +30% | +75% |
| Officer stats (attack, defense, health) | Level 1 | +20% | +215% | +750% | +2,815% |
| Broken Ship Parts drop | Level 1 | +1% | +20% | +100% | +250% |
| Damage vs Krenim | Level 1 | +100% | +2,000% | +5,000% | +11,000% |
One caveat on the PvP Apex Barrier line: it does not apply when Tal is assigned to your bridge or to station combat. The Damage vs Krenim buff is large but only matters when you are actually fighting Krenim enemies.
How to unlock the DTI Headquarters
The only requirement to place the DTI Headquarters is Operations level 42. Once that is met, the first level costs 16 DTI Security Access Card and 800 Parsteel and finishes in about 35 seconds. Higher tiers raise the Operations gate again: level 45 needs Operations 45, level 50 needs Operations 50, and the pattern continues up to Operations 70 for the final level.
Upgrade costs and build times
Costs are paid in DTI Security Access Card and Parsteel, with the Parsteel shifting to Σ-Parsteel at the very top of the track. Build times stay short through the early levels and then climb sharply after level 40. These milestone rows show the shape of the curve; every value is current as of the latest game data.
| Ebene | Kosten | Build time (unboosted) | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 DTI Security Access Card, 800 Parsteel | 35s | Betrieb 42 |
| 10 | 45 DTI Security Access Card, 7,000 Parsteel | 1h 50m | Betrieb 42 |
| 20 | 95 DTI Security Access Card, 144,500 Parsteel | 1d 5h | Betrieb 42 |
| 30 | 195 DTI Security Access Card, 13.26M Parsteel | 3d 1h | Betrieb 42 |
| 40 | 400 DTI Security Access Card, 2.866B Parsteel | 48d 11h | Betrieb 42 |
| 50 | 830 DTI Security Access Card, 125B Parsteel | 830d 2h | Operations 50 |
| 60 | 1,705 DTI Security Access Card, 40.19T Parsteel | 1,748d 22h | Operations 60 |
| 65 | 2,450 DTI Security Access Card, 6.015M Σ-Parsteel | 134d 9h | Operations 65 |
| 70 | 3,515 DTI Security Access Card, 26.97M Σ-Parsteel | 538d 4h | Operations 70 |
Taking the building from level 1 to level 70 costs 50,091 DTI Security Access Card, 114.2T Parsteel, and 88.39M Σ-Parsteel in total. The cumulative unboosted build time comes to 18,808 days and 17 hours, so speedups and build-time bonuses do most of the work at the top of the track.
How the DTI Headquarters fits your station
Because it gates on Operations 42, this is an end-game building. The converter matters most once you are regularly short one flavor of a high-grade material. If you have a surplus of grade 4 or higher resources in the wrong type or rarity, the Material Converter turns that surplus into what your refits and research actually need. The grade gating tells you what to aim for: level 30 opens grade 4, level 40 opens grade 5, and level 50 opens grade 6, so most players push toward the level that covers the materials they use.
The combat buffs are a bonus on the same building. They start small and steepen after level 40, which lines up with the point where Parsteel costs and build times balloon. Plan those upgrades around your speedup stock rather than trying to power through them, and treat the Krenim damage bonus as situational until Krenim content is on your plate.
Is the DTI Headquarters worth upgrading?
For a late-game roster, the converter alone justifies placing the building, since turning spare materials into the ones you actually need clears a common bottleneck. The scaling Officer stats and combat buffs stack on top of that utility. The cost is the catch: Parsteel demands and build times past level 40 are steep, so raise it in stages, aim first for whichever grade unlock you need, and lean on build-time bonuses instead of rushing straight to level 70.