The Alliance Starbase, often called the outpost, is your alliance’s shared station, and it runs on its own set of 29 buildings that are separate from your personal base. They are powered by three plasma resources you harvest from Plasma Storms, every one of them tops out at level 34 (the Tachyon Detector is the lone exception at level 1), and they all branch off one central building: the Assembly Chambers. Leveling them up raises alliance-wide combat stats, storage, warp range, and rewards. This guide covers all 29.
How the outpost buildings are structured
Everything on the starbase depends on the Assembly Chambers. That single building unlocks the rest, and most of the others need it at a specific level before you can place them. Progress is also gated by your alliance level, so a young alliance cannot rush the whole tree even with plasma to spare.
The buildings fall into four jobs: the plasma economy that feeds every upgrade, the combat and defense modules that buff alliance fleets, a few support structures, and the Assembly Chambers itself at the center. The plasma economy is the part you build first, because nothing else upgrades without the refined material it produces.
Assembly Chambers
The Assembly Chambers house the starbase’s command center, communications, and warp control. It is the first outpost building you place and the gate for almost everything else, so its level sets the ceiling for your whole starbase. Its own upgrade cost is paid in Subspace Superconductor, starting at 15,625 for level 1 and climbing steeply toward level 34.
Its buff is Relocation Range, which sets how far the alliance can warp the starbase. That value holds at 26 through the early levels and rises to 48 by the mid-30s (current game data). If your alliance wants to move the base deeper into contested space, this is the building that allows it.
The plasma economy: harvesters, vaults, and the processor
The outpost economy runs on three plasma types, each with its own harvest, storage, and processing chain. Harvesters pull raw plasma out of Plasma Storms, vaults store it and protect it from raiders, and the Plasma Processor refines it into Subspace Superconductor, the material every starbase upgrade consumes. Build this side first: without the processor and a steady plasma supply, the rest of the tree stalls.
| Building | Plasma type | Role | Count | Max level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collisional Plasma Harvester A, B, C | Collisional | Harvests Collisional Plasma | 3 | 34 |
| Magnetic Plasma Harvester A, B, C | Magnetic | Harvests Magnetic Plasma | 3 | 34 |
| Active Plasma Harvester A, B, C | Active | Harvests Active Plasma | 3 | 34 |
| Collisional Plasma Vault A, B | Collisional | Stores and protects Collisional Plasma | 2 | 34 |
| Magnetic Plasma Vault A, B | Magnetic | Stores and protects Magnetic Plasma | 2 | 34 |
| Active Plasma Vault A, B | Active | Stores and protects Active Plasma | 2 | 34 |
| Plasma Processor | All three | Refines plasma into Subspace Superconductor | 1 | 34 |
The lettered harvesters and vaults are the same building repeated, so you can run several of each plasma type at once for more throughput. The later letters unlock at higher Assembly Chambers levels: the A harvesters open early, the Magnetic set follows around Assembly Chambers 5 to 9, and the Active set arrives around Assembly Chambers 15 to 19. The Plasma Processor unlocks at Assembly Chambers 1 and carries a storage cap for each plasma type, so keeping it upgraded protects your ability to bank enough plasma for big projects.
Combat and defense buildings
These modules turn plasma into alliance fighting power. They are what make the starbase worth the investment for a war alliance, and most of them chain off the Command Control building rather than the plasma side.
| Building | What it boosts | Unlocks at | Max level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Command Control | Assault size plus alliance hull health upgrades | Assembly Chambers 1 | 34 |
| Shield Modulator | Shield health and damage mitigation | Command Control 1 | 34 |
| EPS Distributor A, B, C | Energy weapon damage (phasers, disruptors) | Shield Modulator 1, then chained | 34 |
| Exographic Targeting Array A, B, C | Torpedo piercing and accuracy | Shield Modulator 1, then chained | 34 |
| Tachyon Detector | Cloak detection near the starbase | Command Control 1 | 1 |
Command Control is the anchor here: it raises the size of alliance assaults and adds hull health, and it unlocks the Shield Modulator, which in turn opens the two weapon-upgrade chains. The EPS Distributors sharpen energy weapons while the Exographic Targeting Arrays do the same for torpedoes, so which one you prioritize depends on the weapon types your alliance flies. The Tachyon Detector is a single-level utility that exposes cloaked ships near the base.
Support buildings
Three smaller structures round out the starbase. Diplomatic Relations increases the alliance reputation you earn, Tactical Deck adds damage against Cardassian targets, and the Salvage Yard improves Cardassian rewards while processing materials from scrapped stations. All three unlock off the Assembly Chambers and cap at level 34.
Upgrade costs and build times
Outpost upgrades are an alliance-scale project, not a solo one. Costs are paid in the three plasmas plus Subspace Superconductor, and they grow fast. The Assembly Chambers table below is representative of the scale; the exact numbers differ for every building, but the shape is the same everywhere.
| Assembly Chambers level | Cost | Build time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15,625 Subspace Superconductor | 12h 45m |
| 5 | 346,400 Collisional Plasma, 78,175 Subspace Superconductor | 2d 18h |
| 10 | 1.33M Collisional, 332,540 Magnetic, 187,625 Subspace Superconductor | 6d 13h |
| 15 | 945,640 Collisional, 3.78M Magnetic, 328,350 Subspace Superconductor | 11d 23h |
| 20 | 2.22M Active, 8.86M Collisional, 487,825 Subspace Superconductor | 17d |
| 25 | 18.04M Active, 4.51M Magnetic, 678,600 Subspace Superconductor | 23d 14h |
| 30 | 8.42M Collisional, 33.68M Magnetic, 894,375 Subspace Superconductor | 30d 21h |
| 34 | 52.56M Active, 13.14M Magnetic, 1.09M Subspace Superconductor | 37d 17h |
Taking a single Assembly Chambers from level 1 to 34 costs roughly 15.5M Subspace Superconductor, 166M Collisional, 187M Magnetic, and 184M Active Plasma, with a cumulative build time near 538 days unboosted (current game data). Speedups and multiple contributing members bring that down in practice, but it explains why a fully maxed starbase is a long-term alliance goal rather than a quick one.
Where to focus first
Start with the Assembly Chambers and the plasma economy. Get the Plasma Processor and your first harvesters and vaults running so refined material keeps flowing, then push the Assembly Chambers up to open the higher-tier harvesters. Once the economy is steady, move to Command Control and the Shield Modulator, since those unlock the combat upgrades most alliances actually care about. Diplomatic Relations, Tactical Deck, and the Salvage Yard are worth leveling when you have spare plasma, but they sit behind the economy and combat cores in priority.
For your personal station buildings, see the STFC buildings guide.