The ECS Horizon is a grade 3 Common Survey ship for Independent players in Star Trek Fleet Command, and its whole job is mining dilithium. The ship ability raises your dilithium mining rate as the vessel levels up, so it earns its keep parked on a node rather than in a fight. You unlock the build at Shipyard level 26. For a free early ship, it is a dependable second dilithium hauler that carries you well into the mid-game.
How to get the ECS Horizon
The Horizon is built at your Shipyard, not bought as a hull. You need 40 blueprints and the “Unlock Horizon” research before the build becomes available, and your Shipyard has to be at level 26. The build itself costs 800,000 Tritanium and 28,000 Dilithium, and it takes 10 days and 5 hours to finish. The data does not tie the blueprints to a specific event or store, so plan around the build requirement rather than a fixed source, since blueprint offers rotate over time.
ECS Horizon ability
The ship ability is Dilithium Mining Laser, and it increases the mining rate of dilithium. It starts at 15% at ship level 1 and climbs to 200% at level 45, so the higher you level the hull, the faster it strips a dilithium node. Ship abilities are always active, which means the bonus applies the moment the Horizon latches onto a node with no button to press. Because the bonus is tied to ship level, leveling the Horizon matters more than tiering it if raw mining speed is your goal.
ECS Horizon active ability
The Horizon also has a player-triggered ability called Automated Defenses. It increases the combat effectiveness of the mining ship while it is attached to a mining node, which gives an otherwise defenseless survey some teeth against players who try to knock it off dilithium. You turn it on while mining; it is meant to make the ship costly to attack rather than to send it hunting.
Stats and tiers
Base values below come from the current game data; research, buffs, and officers raise them in play. The Horizon has nine tiers, and these three rows anchor the low, middle, and top of that range.
| Tier | Warp (speed / range) | Impulse | Cargo (protected) | Shield HP | Hull HP | Health (displayed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2.1 / 22 | 75 | 105,000 (1,750) | 4,410 | 4,410 | 4,410 |
| 5 | 2.5 / 27 | 75 | 158,020 (1,945) | 12,600 | 4,410 | 8,505 |
| 9 | 3.0 / 40 | 75 | 280,000 (2,500) | 35,970 | 4,410 | 20,190 |
The cargo hold is the number that matters for a miner: it grows from 105,000 at tier 1 to 280,000 at tier 9, with a small slice of that held as protected cargo that survives an attack. The hull HP stays flat while the shield does the scaling, so most of the Horizon’s survivability rides on its shield.
Weapons and firing pattern
Warm-up is the round a weapon first fires, and cool-down is how many rounds pass between shots after that. The Horizon carries a single energy weapon, its Phaser Turret, so it is not built to trade blows with a warship.
| Weapon | Type | Shots | Warm-up | Cool-down | Damage | Crit chance | Crit damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phaser Turret | Energy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7,125–8,708 | 10% | 150% |
Crew slots and officer bonus
The Horizon opens more officer seats as it levels, topping out at five.
| Ship level | Officer slots |
|---|---|
| 5 | 1 |
| 10 | 2 |
| 20 | 3 |
| 30 | 4 |
| 45 | 5 |
On top of the seats, the ship adds a bonus to the attack, defense, and health of the officers you crew on it. The three stats step up on an identical ladder, so one column covers all three. The bonus climbs as the summed officer stats on the bridge rise.
| Officer stat total | Bonus (attack / defense / health) |
|---|---|
| 100 | 30% |
| 200 | 60% |
| 325 | 90% |
| 450 | 120% |
| 600 | 150% |
| 800 | 180% |
| 1,100 | 210% |
| 1,500 | 240% |
| 2,000 | 270% |
| 3,000 | 300% |
ECS Horizon refits
The Horizon has one refit tied to its active ability.
| Refit | What it does |
|---|---|
| Horizon Auto Defense | Unlocks the Automated Defenses ability for the Horizon. While Automated Defenses is active, the survey gains a large boost to its combat power against players while it is on a mining node. Costs 120 shards to unlock. |
Crew for the ECS Horizon
Because the Horizon is a dedicated dilithium miner, the bridge you want is a mining bridge: officers that raise mining speed and add protected cargo so an attacker walks away with less of your haul. If you lean on Automated Defenses to hold a contested node, defensive officers that improve survivability start to matter too, but the default build is pure mining. Officer picks shift with the meta, so check the current Officer Tier List for the mining crews players are running now.
Best crews for ECS Horizon
Captain: Barot
Officer: Elea Makinen
Officer: Raphael DuPont
ECS Horizon crew for mining crystal.
Captain: T’Pring
Officer: K’Bisch
Officer: Domitia
ECS Horizon crew for mining gas.
Captain: Stonn
Officer: Helvia
Officer: One of Eleven
ECS Horizon crew for mining ore.
The ECS Horizon in Star Trek
The Horizon comes straight out of Star Trek: Enterprise. It was a J-class Earth Cargo Service freighter, one of the slow, pre-warp and low-warp haulers that kept early-22nd-century Earth colonies supplied before Starfleet had a real presence in deep space. The ship is best known as the Mayweather family vessel: Travis Mayweather, helmsman of the NX-01 Enterprise, was a “space boomer” who grew up aboard the Horizon, and the episode named for the ship brings him home to it after his father’s death. In the game it keeps that identity as a working freighter repurposed for mining.
ECS Horizon build cost by tier
Build and repair costs for every tier, carried over from the previous version of this page.
| Tier | Build cost | Repair cost | Build time | Repair time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 800,000 Tritanium 28,000 Dilithium |
— | 10d 5h | 1h 26m 42s |
| Tier 2 | 1,601,000 Tritanium 47,750 Dilithium 73 3★ Common Gas 332 3★ Common Crystal 172 3★ Survey Parts |
4,665 Tritanium 2,456 Dilithium |
1d 3h | 1h 43m 18s |
| Tier 3 | 3,180,000 Tritanium 111,750 Dilithium 159 3★ Common Gas 3 3★ Uncommon Gas 665 3★ Common Crystal 15 3★ Uncommon Crystal 317 3★ Survey Parts |
9,665 Tritanium 3,873 Dilithium |
2d 6h | 1h 58m 54s |
| Tier 4 | 5,330,000 Tritanium 237,250 Dilithium 323 3★ Common Gas 15 3★ Uncommon Gas 1,050 3★ Common Crystal 93 3★ Uncommon Crystal 510 3★ Survey Parts |
19,407 Tritanium 6,396 Dilithium |
3d 18h | 2h 15m 5s |
| Tier 5 | 9,900,000 Tritanium 466,500 Dilithium 300 3★ Common Gas 50 3★ Uncommon Gas 1,300 3★ Common Crystal 221 3★ Uncommon Crystal 880 3★ Survey Parts |
35,679 Tritanium 10,818 Dilithium |
5d 15h | 2h 38m 36s |
| Tier 6 | 17,700,000 Tritanium 935,000 Dilithium 200 3★ Common Gas 105 3★ Uncommon Gas 1 3★ Rare Gas 1,325 3★ Common Crystal 400 3★ Uncommon Crystal 3 3★ Rare Crystal 1,546 3★ Survey Parts |
67,090 Tritanium 19,962 Dilithium |
7d 12h | 2h 56m |
| Tier 7 | 43,700,000 Tritanium 2,420,000 Dilithium 450 3★ Common Gas 170 3★ Uncommon Gas 3 3★ Rare Gas 690 3★ Uncommon Crystal 17 3★ Rare Crystal 3,430 3★ Survey Parts |
115,445 Tritanium 35,214 Dilithium |
9d 9h | 3h 24m 42s |
| Tier 8 | 76,500,000 Tritanium 4,350,000 Dilithium 440 3★ Uncommon Gas 22 3★ Rare Gas 3,000 3★ Uncommon Crystal 98 3★ Rare Crystal 12,680 3★ Survey Parts |
201,960 Tritanium 64,950 Dilithium |
12d 4h 30m | 3h 52m 48s |
| Tier 9 | 122,700,000 Tritanium 7,270,000 Dilithium 480 3★ Uncommon Gas 84 3★ Rare Gas 6,600 3★ Uncommon Crystal 339 3★ Rare Crystal 30,600 3★ Survey Parts |
344,337 Tritanium 124,950 Dilithium |
15d | 4h 26m 12s |
ECS Horizon ship XP needed by level
Experience required to reach each level, with the health and shield bonuses that come with it.
Tier 1
Level 2: 800
Level 3: 1,000
Level 4: 1,400
Level 5: 1,700
Tier 2
Level 6: 2,400
Level 7: 2,900
Level 8: 3,900
Level 9: 4,600
Level 10: 6,000
Tier 3
Level 11: 7,000
Level 12: 8,500
Level 13: 9,500
Level 14: 11,000
Level 15: 13,500
Tier 4
Level 16: 15,000
Level 17: 17,500
Level 18: 19,500
Level 19: 23,000
Level 20: 25,000
Tier 5
Level 21: 29,000
Level 22: 31,500
Level 23: 36,000
Level 24: 39,000
Level 25: 42,000
Tier 6
Level 26: 47,000
Level 27: 51,000
Level 28: 57,000
Level 29: 61,000
Level 30: 69,000
Tier 7
Level 31: 72,000
Level 32: 81,000
Level 33: 86,000
Level 34: 95,000
Level 35: 100,000
Tier 8
Level 36: 105,000
Level 37: 116,000
Level 38: 122,000
Level 39: 134,000
Level 40: 140,000
Tier 9
Level 41: 154,000
Level 42: 161,000
Level 43: 176,000
Level 44: 183,000
Level 45: 200,000
Resources to max out a ECS Horizon
Total Build Cost*
- 324,311,000 Tritanium
- 18,258,250 Dilithium
- 1,955 3★ Common Gas
- 871 3★ Uncommon Gas
- 42 3★ Rare Gas
- 4,672 3★ Common Crystal
- 4,055 3★ Uncommon Crystal
- 184 3★ Rare Crystal
- 25,340 3★ Survey Parts Total
Experience: 2,561,700
*Costs and time are base values only. These are player-specific based on buildings and research.
ECS Horizon recycling time & reward
Scrapping rewards at level 45
Scrap Time*: 10d 12h 54m
Seconds: 910,440
Rewards*:
- 28,181,100 x Tritanium
- 2,381,338 x Dilithium
- 358 x 3★ Uncommon Gas
- 14 x 3★ Rare Gas
- 664 x 3★ Uncommon Crystal
- 25 x 3★ Rare Crystal
- 51,234 x Ship Xp
- 2,125 x 3★ Survey Parts
Note:
* Trit & Dil rewards are based on upgraded components.
* Scrap time will depend on the level of your Scrapyard.
ECS Horizon video
Unlocking the ECS Horizon | Comparing To Max Envoy + Short Raid!
Is the ECS Horizon worth it?
For a grade 3 Common ship, the Horizon does one thing and does it well: it mines dilithium faster the more you level it, and it holds a big cargo bay to bring the haul home. It is a good pick for anyone who wants a second dedicated dilithium miner in the early-to-mid game, and Automated Defenses gives it a way to sit on a contested node. Once you outgrow it, it becomes scrap fodder from Operations level 30, so it stays useful even at the end of its run.