The [PRO] Counterplay Device is an Epic Forbidden Tech built for player-versus-player combat on Explorers. Its headline buff pushes Explorer Apex Barrier as high as 40,000 against other players, and higher tiers add Apex Shred, a cumulative per-round cut to an opponent’s Shield Mitigation, and a large lift to Isolytic Defense. If you fly an Explorer in PvP, this is one of the stronger Forbidden Tech pieces to chase.
What [PRO] Counterplay Device does
The primary buff raises your Explorer’s Apex Barrier against players, starting at 500 when it unlocks and scaling to 40,000 at max tier and level. One catch to plan around: the Apex Barrier buff does not apply while the officer Tal is assigned to the bridge, so this piece and a Tal captaincy work against each other. The remaining buffs come online as you tier the device up.
| Buff | Unlocks at tier | Unlock value | Max value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Explorer Apex Barrier against players | 1 | 500 | 40,000 |
| Explorer Apex Shred against players | 3 | 3% | 50% |
| Opponent Shield Mitigation reduced each round (cumulative) | 6 | 1% | 25% |
| Explorer Isolytic Defense against players | 8 | 40% | 500% |
Read together, the four buffs make an Explorer harder to break in a player fight while chipping away at the enemy’s shield mitigation over a long battle. Apex Barrier and Apex Shred feed the Apex damage system, and the Isolytic Defense line blunts isolytic weapons, so the value is highest against endgame opponents who run those systems.
How to get [PRO] Counterplay Device
This is Forbidden Tech, so it uses the Forbidden Tech refinery economy rather than officer shards or ship blueprints. You unlock the piece with Forbidden Fragments of its rarity in the refinery, and you open the slot it sits in (or pull the piece back off a ship) with Forbidden Tech Fusion Rods, which come from the refinery and the store. Because it is an Epic piece, expect to gather Epic-tier fragments rather than the common ones. Fusion Rods, catalysts, protomatter, reactors and probability devices are the shared Forbidden Tech currencies you draw on across every piece, so unlocking one competes with upgrading the rest.
Upgrading [PRO] Counterplay Device
Two tracks raise the device. Tiering up with catalysts raises the level cap and switches on the later buffs at the tiers shown above, while leveling up with protomatter scales each active buff’s value toward its max. Reactors and probability devices improve your odds on the upgrade attempts.
| Ebene | Level cap | Kosten |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Starting tier, no cost |
| 7 | 35 | 4,000 Rare Prototype Tech Tier-Up Catalysts |
| 12 | 60 | 4,125 Epic Prototype Tech Tier-Up Catalysts |
Reaching max tier costs 24,800 Rare and 9,075 Epic Prototype Tech Tier-Up Catalysts in total. Leveling all the way to 60 costs 815,050 Epic and 368,000 Rare Prototype Tech Protomatter. Those totals are steep, so most players tier it to whichever buff they care about most before grinding out levels.
Best ships and uses for [PRO] Counterplay Device
Every buff on this device is tied to Explorers and applies only against other players, which makes the use case simple: slot it on the Explorer you take into PvP. It does nothing on a miner, a battleship, an interceptor, or against hostiles and armadas, so it belongs on a dedicated player-combat build. Since the Apex Barrier buff shuts off with Tal on the bridge, keep Tal out of the captain seat on the ship carrying this piece and lean on your other Apex and survivability officers instead.
[PRO] Counterplay Device in Star Trek
The device draws on the Deep Space Nine episode “Civil Defense.” During the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, a counterinsurgency program was hidden in the systems of Terok Nor, the station later known as Deep Space 9. When the crew accidentally triggers it, the program escalates through security lockdowns, neurocine gas in the habitat ring, and a station self-destruct. Gul Dukat had installed it to hold power even if he were incapacitated, only to find its designers had also rigged it so that he could never abandon the station alive. The game turns that ruthless fail-safe into a piece of tech that punishes an enemy who tries to outlast you.
Is [PRO] Counterplay Device worth it?
For an endgame player who fights other players in an Explorer, yes. The Apex Barrier and Isolytic Defense numbers are large, and the shield-mitigation drain rewards longer duels. If you rarely PvP, or you fly battleships and interceptors instead, your Forbidden Tech resources go further elsewhere. Take it as far as the tiers that unlock the buffs you actually use, then decide whether the level grind is worth the last few percent.