The North Star is a grade 3 Rare survey ship from the Independent faction, built for mining rather than fighting. Its ship ability turns the total health of its crew into a mining-rate boost on 3★ gas, ore, and crystal, so it rewards a high-health bridge. You can build it once your Shipyard reaches level 18. For a mid-tier miner, it earns its slot.
How to get the North Star
The North Star needs 90 blueprints and a Shipyard at level 18 before you can build it. The build costs 520,000 Tritanium and 30,000 Dilithium, and it takes 7 days and 12 hours to finish. The game data lists the requirement and the cost but not where the blueprints come from, so watch the current in-game events and faction store for North Star blueprints rather than assuming a single fixed source.
North Star ability
The North Star’s ship ability is Healthy Mining. It raises the mining rate of 3★ gas, ore, and crystal based on the combined health of every officer aboard the ship. At ship level 1 it adds 0.1% mining rate per point of total officer health, and that scales up to 1% per point at level 45. Ship abilities are always active, so the bonus applies the moment the ship starts mining. Because it tracks crew health, loading the bridge with high-health officers is what makes this hull mine quickly.
North Star active ability
Separate from Healthy Mining, the North Star has an activatable ability called Automated Defenses. You trigger it yourself, and it runs on a cooldown that shortens as the ship tiers up. When it is active and the ship is attached to a mining node, it increases the vessel’s combat effectiveness, giving your miner a better chance of surviving an attack while it is parked on a resource. Turn it on when you expect to be hit on a node rather than leaving the miner defenseless.
Stats and tiers
These are base values from the current game data; research, buffs, and officers raise them in play.
| Tier | Warp (speed / range) | Impulse | Cargo (protected) | Shield HP | Hull HP | Health (displayed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2.9 / 20 | 110 | 3,000 (300) | 3,050 | 3,050 | 3,050 |
| 5 | 3.3 / 26 | 110 | 5,000 (500) | 8,710 | 3,050 | 5,880 |
| 9 | 3.7 / 39 | 110 | 12,000 (1,200) | 24,880 | 3,050 | 13,965 |
Cargo and shield capacity climb steeply across the nine tiers, while the hull holds steady. The displayed Health is the shield and hull average the game shows on the ship card.
Weapons and firing pattern
Warm-up is the round a weapon first fires; cool-down is the number of rounds between shots after that. The North Star carries a single energy weapon, the phaser turret, which fires once every round.
| Weapon | Type | Shots | Warm-up | Cool-down | Damage | Crit chance | Crit damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phaser turret | Energy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5,481–6,699 | 10% | 150% |
Combat is not this ship’s job, so treat the weapon as a way to chip back at an attacker rather than a reason to send the North Star into a fight.
Crew slots and officer bonus
The North Star opens more officer slots as it levels, reaching a full bridge of six by ship level 45.
| Ship level | Officer slots |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 2 |
| 15 | 3 |
| 25 | 4 |
| 35 | 5 |
| 45 | 6 |
The ship also grants a bonus to your officers’ attack, defense, and health stats, and those three bonuses are identical on this hull. The bonus climbs the ladder below as the total stat value rises.
| Amount | Bonus |
|---|---|
| 100 | 30% |
| 200 | 60% |
| 325 | 90% |
| 450 | 120% |
| 600 | 150% |
| 800 | 180% |
| 1,100 | 210% |
| 1,500 | 240% |
| 2,000 | 270% |
| 3,000 | 300% |
North Star refits
The North Star has one refit, and it strengthens the ship’s active ability.
| Refit | What it does |
|---|---|
| North Star Auto Defense | Unlocks a stronger Automated Defenses. While that ability is active, the survey ship gains a large increase in combat power against players when it is on a mining node. Costs 120 shards to unlock. |
Crew for the North Star
Because Healthy Mining scales with the crew’s total health, the guiding principle is to fill the bridge with your highest-health officers and pair them with officers that raise mining speed or protect cargo. A captain who lifts officer health across the whole crew feeds straight into the ability, and a mining-rate officer on top of that pushes the yield higher. Picks change with the meta, so for current recommendations see our Officer Tier List.
Best crews for North Star
Captain: Two of Eleven
Officer: One of Eleven
Officer: T’Pring
A North Star mining crew that focuses on speed and protected cargo. Below deck focus your crew on health.
Captain: Stonn
Officer: Helvia
Officer: One of Ten
A North Star mining crew that focuses on mining ore. Below deck keep your crew balanced.
Captain: T’Pring
Officer: K’Bisch
Officer: Domitia
A North Star mining crew that focuses on mining gas. Below deck keep your crew balanced.
Captain: Barot
Officer: Elea Makinen
Officer: Raphael DuPont
A North Star mining crew that focuses on mining crystal. Below deck keep your crew balanced.
The North Star in Star Trek
The North Star belongs to the Earth Cargo Service tradition seen in Star Trek: Enterprise, the fleet of civilian freighters whose crews were known as Boomers. Those families spent whole lives aboard cargo and colony ships, running trade routes far from Earth in the years before the Federation existed. Vessels such as the ECS Fortunate and ECS Horizon fill that role on screen. The ECS North Star is the game’s own ship built on that background, a long-serving Boomer freighter and survey vessel rather than a named starship from a specific episode.
North Star 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 | Cargo | Protected cargo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 520,000 Tritanium 30,000 Dilithium |
1,900 Tritanium 235 Dilithium |
7d 12h 0m | 38m | Base: 6,500 | Base: 650 |
| Tier 2 | 387,000 Tritanium 20,300 Dilithium 51 3* Common Crystal 22 3* Common Gas 107 3* Survey Parts |
1,270 Tritanium 102 Dilithium |
1d 3h | 43m 36s | Base: 7,800 | Base: 780 |
| Tier 3 | 701,000 Tritanium 47,150 Dilithium 48 3★ Common Gas 1 3★ Uncommon Gas 100 3★ Common Crystal 2 3★ Uncommon Crystal 193 3★ Survey Parts |
2,514 Tritanium 256 Dilithium |
2d 6h | 51m | Base: 9,100 | Base: 910 |
| Tier 4 | 1,234,000 Tritanium 115,500 Dilithium 96 3★ Common Gas 5 3★ Uncommon Gas 159 3★ Common Crystal 14 3★ Uncommon Crystal 322 3★ Survey Parts |
4,640 Tritanium 658 Dilithium |
3d 18h | 1h 3m | Base: 10,400 | Base: 1,040 |
| Tier 5 | 2,290,000 Tritanium 247,000 Dilithium 89 3★ Common Gas 16 3★ Uncommon Gas 200 3★ Common Crystal 33 3★ Uncommon Crystal 532 3★ Survey Parts |
9,170 Tritanium 1,444 Dilithium |
5d 15h | 1h 20m 30s | Base: 12,200 | Base: 1,220 |
| Tier 6 | 4,080,000 Tritanium 531,500 Dilithium 59 3★ Common Gas 44 3★ Uncommon Gas 200 3★ Common Crystal 60 3★ Uncommon Crystal 1 3★ Rare Crystal 972 3★ Survey Parts |
17,442 Tritanium 2,984 Dilithium |
7d 12h | 1h 47m 48s | Base: 15,500 | Base: 1,550 |
| Tier 7 | 10,050,000 Tritanium 1,483,000 Dilithium 140 3★ Common Gas 73 3★ Uncommon Gas 1 3★ Rare Gas 105 3★ Uncommon Crystal 4 3★ Rare Crystal 2,150 3★ Survey Parts |
43,726 Tritanium 8,132 Dilithium |
9d 9h | 2h 25m | Base: 19,800 | Base: 1,980 |
| Tier 8 | 17,700,000 Tritanium 2,855,000 Dilithium 481 3★ Uncommon Gas 10 3★ Rare Gas 490 3★ Uncommon Crystal 35 3★ Rare Crystal 11,995 3★ Survey Parts |
81,621 Tritanium 16,422 Dilithium |
12d 4h 30m | 3h 13m 36s | Base: 24,100 | Base: 2,410 |
| Tier 9 | 28,050,000 Tritanium 4,965,000 Dilithium 50 3★ Uncommon Gas 10 3★ Rare Gas 120 3★ Uncommon Crystal 22 3★ Rare Crystal 5,370 3★ Survey Parts |
132,318 Tritanium 30,347 Dilithium |
15d | 4h 3m 54s | — | — |
North Star 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 North Star
- 65,012,000 Tritanium
- 10,294,450 Dilithium
- 710 3* Common Crystal
- 474 3* Uncommon Crystal
- 38 3* Rare Crystal
- 454 3* Common Gas
- 326 3* Uncommon Gas
- 14 3* Rare Gas
- 13,411 3* Survey Parts
Total Experience: 2,561,700
North Star recycling time & reward
Scrapping rewards at level 45
Scrap Time*: 8d 11h
Seconds: 730,800
Rewards*:
- 6,527,200 x Tritanium
- 1,545,669 x Dilithium
- 138 x 3★ Uncommon Gas
- 6 x 3★ Rare Gas
- 257 x 3★ Uncommon Crystal
- 10 x 3★ Rare Crystal
- 51,234 x Ship XP
- 1,203 x 3★ Survey Parts
Note:
* Trit & Dil rewards are based on upgraded components.
* Scrap time will depend on the level of your Scrapyard.
North Star video
Northstar is back! | Basic Crew Setups & How To Fly Her! | Star Trek Fleet Command
Is the Northstar still relevant two years into Star Trek Fleet Command? | (Re)Evaluations
Is the North Star worth it?
As a grade 3 Rare survey ship, the North Star sits in the early-to-mid mining tier. It is worth building if you want more 3★ mining output and you can crew it with high-health officers to feed Healthy Mining. It stays useful until stronger miners arrive, and once you outgrow it you can scrap it from Operations level 26 for a return that includes 3★ Survey Parts. Newer players filling out a mining fleet are the ones who get the most from it.