Origin is a base progression mission in Star Trek Fleet Command that completes when your Operations building reaches level 24. There is no travel and no combat in it: warp 1 to start, warp 1 to complete, and a recommended level of 1. The payout is 500,000 Parsteel, and finishing it opens the next part of the chain.
Origin objectives
One objective, and it happens entirely inside your base.
- Upgrade Operations to Level 24. No system is attached to this step.
Nothing branches here. There is no choice split and no target to clear. The mission watches the building and pays out the moment the level 24 upgrade lands, so you never pick it up from an officer and never hand it in.
Where and what warp
Warp 1 to start and warp 1 to complete. Both sit at the floor because the objective has no destination attached, so warp range never gates Origin whatever ship you happen to have available.
The recommended level of 1 is just as misleading. Operations 24 is the real requirement, and getting there is mid-game work rather than an early errand. Before the upgrade will queue at all, the game asks for Science Lab 5, Foundry 5 and Engine Technology Lab 5, so those three buildings decide when this mission becomes reachable for you.
Origin rewards
Origin pays 500,000 Parsteel. Completing it also opens the next part of the chain.
Set that against what the upgrade costs and the number shrinks fast. On current game data, Operations 24 runs 2,354,980 Parsteel alongside 43,290 Tritanium, 14,430 Dilithium, 560 3★ Common Refined Ore and 50 3★ Uncommon Refined Ore, so the reward returns a little over a fifth of the Parsteel you just spent. Treat it as a rebate on work you were going to do anyway, not a reason to do it.
Tips
Check the three lab requirements before anything else. Science Lab, Foundry and Engine Technology Lab all have to be at level 5, and each carries its own build queue and its own prerequisites, so a base that has coasted on shipyard upgrades can find Operations 24 sitting behind several days of catch-up work.
Budget the time rather than the resources. The level 24 step runs about 6 days 4 hours unboosted on current data, the longest single Operations upgrade the game has asked of you to that point. Speedups and a build boost cut into it, but the Parsteel and Tritanium are usually easier to come by than the days.
Watch the ore lines. The 560 3★ Common Refined Ore and 50 3★ Uncommon Refined Ore are the pieces most likely to stall the upgrade, because refined ore comes out of the Refinery in batches instead of accumulating quietly like Parsteel does. Start refining before you finish saving.
The upgrade pays out in combat as well. Operations carries a Weapon Damage Bonus that rises with every level and reaches 24% at level 24, so the value of clearing this mission is really the ship damage and the buildings the level opens up, rather than the half million Parsteel bolted onto the end of it.
Line up the next step while the timer runs. Operations 25 asks for Shipyard 24 and Ship Hangar 24, and both take long enough that starting them during the Operations 24 build keeps the queue busy instead of leaving you idle the moment the upgrade lands.
