The Orion Corvette is a grade 1 Common Battleship for the Independent faction, and one of the first warships you can build. It unlocks at Shipyard level 5 and leans on hull health and steady energy damage rather than any special trick. As an early combat hull and a cheap scrap feeder for Battleship parts, it earns its slot in the opening hours of the game and little beyond them.
How to get the Orion Corvette
You build the Orion Corvette at Shipyard level 5, once you have completed the research that unlocks it. The build needs 15 blueprints and costs 800 Tritanium, and it finishes in about 50 minutes. Its blueprints come from the PVE chests you earn by destroying low-level hostiles, so normal early grinding tends to supply them without waiting on a special event. Because it is a common grade 1 ship, none of this is expensive by the standards of your first shipyard. Taking one all the way to tier 4 and level 20 costs roughly 12,525 Tritanium and 73 one-star Battleship parts in total across its upgrades, so it is cheap to build and cheap to finish.
Orion Corvette ability
The Orion Corvette’s ship ability is Enhanced Hull, and like every ship ability it stays active with no input from you. It raises the ship’s maximum hull health, starting at plus 10 at level 1 and climbing to plus 110 at level 20. On a hull this small, those extra points buy a few more rounds of survival in a slugging match, which suits a ship meant to trade blows rather than dodge them. Because the bonus is a flat amount of hull health rather than a percentage, it matters most while the Corvette is your main combat ship and fades in value as you move to larger hulls with far bigger health pools.
Stats and tiers
Base values from the current game data are shown below; research, buffs and officers raise them in play. The Corvette tops out at tier 4 and level 20.
| Tier | Warp (speed / range) | Impulse | Cargo (protected) | Shield HP | Hull HP | Health (displayed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.5 / 5 | 115 | 1,000 (100) | 120 | 100 | 110 |
| 2 | 1.7 / 6 | 115 | 1,000 (100) | 120 | 140 | 130 |
| 4 | 2 / 8 | 115 | 1,000 (100) | 120 | 270 | 195 |
Cargo and protected cargo hold steady across tiers, so the Corvette is not a mining or hauling hull. What rises with tier is hull health and the damage its weapons put out, which is what you want from a starter Battleship.
Weapons and firing pattern
The Corvette carries two identical energy guns, the Plasma Cannons. Warm-up is the round a weapon first fires, and cool-down is the number of rounds between shots after that; both cannons warm up on round 1 and then fire every round. The figures below are at max tier.
| Weapon | Type | Shots | Warm-up | Cool-down | Damage | Crit chance | Crit damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plasma Cannon 1 | Energy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 107–130 | 10% | 150% |
| Plasma Cannon 2 | Energy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 107–130 | 10% | 150% |
Two guns firing every round give the Corvette a simple, reliable damage output for its grade, averaging around 237 per round at tier 4.
Crew slots and officer bonus
The Corvette opens with one officer slot and adds more as it levels, reaching a full bridge of three by level 20.
| Ship level | Officer slots |
|---|---|
| 5 | 1 |
| 10 | 2 |
| 20 | 3 |
The ship also boosts the officers you put on it. The Corvette raises officer attack, defense and health by the same percentage, stepping up the ladder below as the ship’s own components level.
| Amount | Bonus (attack / defense / health) |
|---|---|
| 20 | 15% |
| 40 | 30% |
| 65 | 45% |
| 90 | 60% |
| 120 | 75% |
| 160 | 90% |
| 220 | 105% |
| 300 | 120% |
| 400 | 135% |
| 600 | 150% |
Crew for the Orion Corvette
As a Battleship, the Orion Corvette rewards a bridge that pushes weapon damage and shield mitigation, since its job is to stand in and out-trade the target rather than evade it. At this grade you are usually crewing it with whatever early officers you have on hand instead of a tuned bridge, and that is fine for what the ship is asked to do. For current picks, see our Officer Tier List, and keep in mind that the best crews shift as the meta moves.
The Orion Corvette in Star Trek
The Orions are a long-running Star Trek species, best known for the Orion Syndicate and a reputation for smuggling and piracy that reaches back to the original series. There is no single screen vessel called the Orion Corvette; it is a design built for the game. Its in-game story fits that heritage: the Orions run the Corvette as a quick smuggling ship whose hard outer shell and powerful thrusters let it hold its own in a firefight when a run goes wrong.
Orion Corvette 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 | 800 Tritanium | 28 Tritanium | 50m | 6m | Base: 1,000 | Base: 100 |
| Tier 2 | 925 Tritanium 9 x 1★ Battleship Parts |
48 Tritanium | 20m | 7m | Base: 2,000 | Base: 200 |
| Tier 3 | 3,700 Tritanium 22 x 1★ Battleship Parts |
91 Tritanium | 40m | 9m | Base: 3,000 | Base: 300 |
| Tier 4 | 7,100 Tritanium 42 x 1★ Battleship Parts |
140 Tritanium | 1h 6m 40s | 10m 42s | Base: 4,000 | Base: 400 |
Resources to max out an Orion Corvette battleship
- 12,525 Tritanium
- 73 1★ Battleship Parts
Total Experience: 3,243
Orion Corvette recycling time & reward
Scrapping rewards at level 20
Scrap Time*: 4h 30m
Seconds: 16,200
Rewards*:
- 3,879 x Tritanium
- 5 x 2★ Common Ore
- 1 x 2★ Uncommon Ore
- 3 x 2★ Common Crystal
- 1 x 2★ Uncommon Crystal
- 709 x Ship Xp
- 6 x 2★ Battleship Parts
Note:
* Trit & Dil rewards are based on upgraded components.
* Scrap time will depend on the level of your Scrapyard.
Is the Orion Corvette worth it?
For its grade band, the Orion Corvette is a solid early Battleship and not much more. It fights well enough in the opening levels, but it caps at tier 4 and level 20, so stronger hulls pass it quickly. Its lasting value is as a scrap feeder: it becomes scrappable at Operations level 5, and breaking one down at level 20 returns Tritanium, ore, crystal, ship XP and a batch of 2-star Battleship parts. Build it early, fly it briefly, and recycle it once you outgrow it. New players and anyone farming Battleship parts for scrapping are the ones who get real use out of it; established commanders can skip it.