Who Cath is in Star Trek Fleet Command
Cath is a rare Command officer in Star Trek Fleet Command, built around two practical jobs: cutting the cost of repairing your ship and reducing the hits you take from lower-level hostiles. She is a Ferengi, and she crews best alongside other Ferengi Offiziere.
She will not headline a top combat crew, and that is fine, because she is not trying to. Her captain ability saves resources every time you repair, and those savings stack up fast for players who grind hostiles or run Missionen back to back. Her bridge ability then keeps your ship alive a little longer while you do it.
If you are early or mid game and tired of watching repair costs eat your parts, Cath is worth a look. The sections below cover her Star Trek background, what each ability does, where she earns her seat, how to get her shards, and who she pairs with.
Star Trek background
Cath is a Ferengi, the profit-driven species best known from Deep Space Nine through characters like Quark, Rom, and Nog. Ferengi culture runs on commerce. Its guiding text, the Rules of Acquisition, treats the pursuit of profit as the highest calling, and latinum as the measure of a life well lived.
That same culture was rigidly patriarchal. For most of Ferengi history, females were barred from earning profit, owning a business, or even leaving the home freely. Deep Space Nine returned to this theme more than once, following Ferengi women who pushed against those rules and slowly changed them. That is the backdrop Cath comes from. Her in-game story follows a widow who, after raising her son Gavah into a successful profiteer, finally steps out of the role Ferengi society assigned her and sets herself up as an independent operator and stationmaster.
Worth knowing: Cath herself is original to Star Trek Fleet Befehl rather than a character lifted from the shows. Think of her as a new figure placed inside well-established Ferengi lore, which is why her flavor leans so heavily on Ferengi culture rather than a specific episode.
Cath’s role in STFC
Cath is a utility and economy officer, not a damage dealer. Her value sits in two places. As captain, she lowers the cost of repairing your ship. On the bridge as a regular officer, she reduces the kinetic damage coming in from hostiles, which helps your ship survive longer in player-versus-environment combat.
Both effects point toward grinding and sustainability rather than burst power. Repairs in STFC cost parts and resources that you would rather spend on upgrades, so anything that shaves that bill has quiet, ongoing value. A ship that takes less damage also needs fewer repairs in the first place, so her two abilities support the same goal from different angles. That makes her a natural fit for players who spend a lot of time clearing hostiles and want to keep running costs down.
Captain ability and officer ability
Rely on nobody (captain ability)
When Cath captains a ship, she improves its repair cost efficiency by 40% as of the latest Daten. In plain terms, repairs cost less. The bonus applies after research and station bonuses and stacks on top of them, so it works alongside any repair-cost reductions you have already unlocked rather than replacing them. For a player who repairs often, that is a steady saving on parts and resources over a play session.
This part of her kit does not change as you promote her, so the repair benefit is available as soon as she is in the captain’s chair. If the repair discount is all you want from her, you do not need to invest heavily in ranks to get it.
Show them what you can do (officer ability)
On the bridge, Cath reduces the kinetic weapon damage dealt by enemy hostiles, and that reduction grows as you promote her through her ranks. There is a catch worth knowing: the ability only works against hostiles up to a capped level. It helps most while you are grinding lower-tier targets and falls off against high-level hostiles, and it does nothing against other players’ ships. Treat it as early to mid-game survivability rather than an end-game defensive tool.
Because this ability scales with promotion while the captain ability does not, ranking Cath up is mainly about getting more out of the hostile damage reduction.
Where Cath shines
Cath suits a few specific situations:
- Grinding lower-level hostiles, where her officer ability trims the damage you take and her captain ability keeps the repair bills low. The two effects compound the longer your session runs.
- New and mid-game accounts that feel the pinch of repair costs while leveling ships and pushing through mission chains.
- Ferengi-themed crews, where she sits naturally beside her synergy officers, covered in the next section.
She is a weaker pick in serious player-versus-player fighting or against high-level armada and hostile targets. Her hostile-only damage reduction does nothing there, and officers built for raw combat output will contribute more. Knowing that boundary is the difference between using her well and being disappointed by her.
How to get Cath
Cath is a selten officer, so she usually comes from shard sources rather than a single guaranteed unlock. Officer shards in STFC rotate through event rewards, faction stores, and special recruitment offers, and availability moves around over time. Rather than chase a source that may have rotated out, check the current store and event listings in your game to see where her shards are showing up right now.
Once you have enough shards to recruit her, each promotion up the ranks asks for more shards. As a guide to that climb, here is the shard cost by rank, current as of the latest data:
| Rang | Shards to promote into this rank |
|---|---|
| 1 | 38 |
| 2 | 55 |
| 3 | 115 |
| 4 | 155 |
| 5 | 225 |
That adds up to 588 shards in total to take her from recruitment all the way to her maximum rank, so plan your shard spending around how much you expect to lean on her.
Synergies
Cath belongs to a Ferengi synergy group, and her class synergy bonus rewards a mixed bridge. As of the latest data her synergy bonus is 5% for Command officers, 10% for Wissenschaft, and 10% for Engineering, so she pairs comfortably with crewmates across those classes rather than locking you into one type.
Her named synergy officers, with their listed synergy percentages, are Arrock at 10%, Fess at 10%, Rom at 10%, and Quark at 5%. All four are Ferengi, so a Ferengi-flavored crew is the most direct way to get extra value out of her. Beyond those officers, build the rest of your bridge around the job at hand, whether that is squeezing out repair savings or grinding hostiles, and let the synergy bonuses be a bonus rather than the whole plan.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cath any good?
For her niche, yes. If you grind hostiles or burn through repair costs, her repair cost efficiency and hostile damage reduction earn their seat. As a general combat officer she is average, so judge her by how much player-versus-environment grinding you actually do.
Where do you get Cath shards?
From rotating shard sources such as events, faction or special stores, and recruitment offers. The exact source changes over time, so check your current event and store rotations in game.
What ship is Cath best on?
Any ship you repair often or use to grind lower-level hostiles benefits from her. She is not tied to a single hull, so put her on whatever you run most for PvE and repairs.
Is Cath worth ranking up?
Her officer ability gets stronger with each promotion, so ranking her up matters if you rely on the hostile damage reduction. If you only want the captain repair bonus, that part does not scale, so heavy investment is optional.
Cath is a specialist. She rewards players who spend their time clearing hostiles and want to keep repair costs in check, and she slots cleanly into a Ferengi crew. If that is how you play, she is a sensible pickup. If you are chasing raw combat power, your shards will probably go further on an officer built for the fight.
