The Holodeck is a station building that unlocks at Operations level 15 and upgrades to level 30. It gives you access to missions from past game arcs and raises three base stats across your whole fleet: Piercing against hostiles, cost efficiency on ship parts, and FKR reputation from hostiles and armadas. Every five levels it also pays out officer shards. It is a slow, long-term build, but the buffs reach large numbers by level 30.
What the Holodeck does
The Holodeck has two jobs. First, it opens a store of missions from earlier game arcs, so you can buy and replay story content you may have missed. Every five Holodeck levels unlocks a new batch of these missions and pays out shards for Enterprise-E Data, Enterprise-E Troi, and Enterprise-E Picard through the Holodeck section of the Recruit Store.
Second, each upgrade raises three base buffs that apply to your whole account. Piercing goes up against hostiles, ship parts cost efficiency lowers what you spend upgrading ships, and FKR reputation (Federation, Klingon, Romulan) rises faster from hostiles and armadas. All three start at Holodeck level 2 and climb with every level after that.
| Buff | Active from | Value at level 10 | Value at level 20 | Value at level 30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piercing bonus (vs hostiles) | Level 2 | 195% | 500% | 1,000% |
| Ship parts cost efficiency | Level 2 | 24% | 70% | 200% |
| FKR reputation | Level 2 | 24% | 65% | 150% |
At level 2 each buff opens at its floor value: 20% Piercing, 5% ship parts cost efficiency, and 5% FKR reputation. These are current values as of the latest game data.
How to unlock the Holodeck
You can place the Holodeck once your Operations building reaches level 15. Level 1 costs 800 Parsteel and 1 Holographic Diode and finishes in about three minutes. After that, the milestones no longer depend on other buildings; the main gate becomes the special material the higher levels need.
That material is the Holo-Field Amplifier. At Operations level 32, with the Holodeck unlocked, you start receiving a daily gift of Holo-Field Amplifiers, which fund the climb toward level 30. Until you reach that point, your amplifier supply, not Parsteel, sets the ceiling on how fast the building can grow.
Upgrade costs and build times
Costs scale steeply. The table below shows milestone levels; build times are unboosted, before any construction speed bonuses or speedups.
| Level | Cost | Build time | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 800 Parsteel, 1 Holographic Diode | 3m | Operations 15 |
| 5 | 114.4M Parsteel, 5,300 Holo-Field Amplifier | 4d 19h | None |
| 10 | 2.866B Parsteel, 6,960 Holo-Field Amplifier | 24d 5h | None |
| 15 | 13.26B Parsteel, 8,890 Holo-Field Amplifier | 77d 17h | None |
| 20 | 125B Parsteel, 11,360 Holo-Field Amplifier | 415d 1h | None |
| 25 | 4.827T Parsteel, 13,200 Holo-Field Amplifier | 653d 10h | None |
| 30 | 40.19T Parsteel, 19,000 Holo-Field Amplifier | 874d 10h | None |
Taking the Holodeck from level 1 to level 30 costs about 114.2 trillion Parsteel, 1 Holographic Diode, and 287,466 Holo-Field Amplifiers in total. The unboosted build time adds up to roughly 8,337 days, so construction speed bonuses and speedups make a large difference on this building.
How the Holodeck fits your station
The Holodeck is a late-game project. You can place it at Operations 15, but the Holo-Field Amplifiers that fund the deeper levels only start arriving at Operations 32, so most of the leveling happens well into the game. Because the amplifiers come as a daily gift, your pace is capped by how many you collect rather than by Parsteel alone at the top end.
Treat the Piercing and FKR reputation buffs as PvE tools. Higher Piercing helps your ships cut through hostile and armada defenses, and the reputation boost speeds up faction standing from the same fights. The ship parts cost efficiency buff quietly lowers the material bill on ship upgrades, which adds up if you build and tier ships often. The past-arc missions are the other draw, giving newer players a way to finish older story content and collect the Enterprise-E officer shards along the way.
Is the Holodeck worth upgrading?
Yes, but on a long timeline. The buffs reach large values by level 30, with Piercing at 1,000% and ship parts cost efficiency at 200%, and the officer shards every five levels are a real payoff. The price is patience: trillions of Parsteel and years of unboosted build time. Push it steadily as your amplifier supply allows rather than rushing it, and prioritize it once you are past Operations 32 and fighting hostiles and armadas regularly.