The Pilum is a grade 4 Rare Romulan Interceptor built for farming hostiles. Its Empire Tax ability skims extra resources from every hostile you destroy, cloaking lets it slip through dangerous space, and its refits raise its damage well past a stock interceptor. It unlocks at Shipyard level 46. If you spend real time grinding hostiles for materials, the Pilum pays for its berth.
This STFC Pilum guide covers the blueprints and build, Empire Tax, the two active abilities (Ship Cloaking and Relentless Assault), stats, weapons, all four refits and which targets suit it best.
How to get the Pilum
Building the Pilum takes 350 blueprints and a Shipyard at level 46, plus the Grade 4 Ship Research that every grade 4 ship requires. The build cost is 2,800 4★ Common Refined Gas, 100,000,000 Tritanium, 3,800,000 Dilithium, and 8,000 4★ Common Refined Crystal, and the build time is 200 days. That is a long project, so start collecting blueprints well before you plan to lay the keel.
The Ascension research tree has a Ship Commission: Pilum project that rewards Pilum blueprints. Completing it also unlocks the Ship Commission: Vindicator, which opens after any one of the Pilum, Korinar or U.S.S. Newton commissions. Taking the Pilum to tier 6 also lets you claim the Borg Data Node Tier 7 from Gifts, used to upgrade the Borg Cube to tier 7.
Pilum ability
The Pilum’s ship ability is Empire Tax, and it is always active. It gives the ship 10% more resources from hostiles at level 1, and that bonus climbs with ship level: about 43% at level 25, 70% at level 40, and up to 120% at level 60. Every hostile you clear drops more loot, which is the whole reason to fly this ship. Level it up and the extra haul adds up fast across a grinding session.
| Ship level | Empire Tax (extra resources from hostiles) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 10% |
| 10 | 20% |
| 25 | 43% |
| 30 | 50% |
| 40 | 70% |
| 60 | 120% |
Empire Tax uses the same scale as the U.S.S. Newton’s Confiscate Evidence, so the choice between the two comes down to hull type and cloaking rather than loot.
Pilum active abilities
The Pilum can equip Ship Cloaking, a player-triggered ability with a cooldown. While cloaked, the ship hides from other players, and the cloak drops the moment you enter combat, start mining, dock at a station, or its duration runs out. Use it to move through contested space or reposition without being jumped. Cloaking has to be unlocked through the ship’s refit, covered below.
Its second active ability is Relentless Assault, which increases weapon damage against hostiles and armadas. It also comes from a refit, and its own research project, Relentless Assault (Pilum), improves it after that. Fire it at the start of a tough hostile or armada fight, where the extra damage shortens the battle. See the cloaking guide for how cloaking works across every ship that has it.
Stats and tiers
Base values at three anchor tiers; research, buffs and officers raise them in play.
| Tier | Warp (speed / range) | Impulse | Cargo (protected) | Shield HP | Hull HP | Health (displayed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 3.9 / 140 | 98 | 60,000 (1,000) | 291,091 | 464,912 | 378,002 |
| Tier 6 | 4.4 / 190 | 98 | 84,000 (2,100) | 291,091 | 633,057 | 462,074 |
| Tier 12 | 5 / 225 | 98 | 145,000 (6,500) | 291,091 | 960,491 | 625,791 |
Shield HP stays flat across tiers while hull HP and cargo grow, so the Pilum leans on its hull and dodge as it climbs. Protected cargo stays small, which fits a combat interceptor rather than a hauler.
Dodge is where it pulls ahead: it climbs from 28,558 at tier 1 to 68,988 at tier 12. Compared with the U.S.S. Newton at the same grade, the Pilum is faster at impulse (98 against 72) and a little quicker at warp.
Weapons and firing pattern
Warm-up is the round a weapon first fires; cool-down is how many rounds pass between shots after that. These are the Pilum’s weapons at max tier.
| Weapon | Type | Shots | Warm-up | Cool-down | Damage | Crit chance | Crit damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon 1 | Kinetic | 2 | 1 | 2 | 56,747–68,097 | 10% | 150% |
| Weapon 2 | Kinetic | 2 | 1 | 2 | 56,747–68,097 | 10% | 150% |
| Weapon 3 | Energy | 3 | 1 | 1 | 58,417–64,258 | 10% | 150% |
The energy weapon in row three fires every round with three shots, so it delivers the steadiest damage; the two kinetic mounts hit harder per shot but rest a round between volleys. The Relentless Assault refit raises weapon damage against hostiles and armadas, which stacks well with the Pilum’s hostile-farming role.
Crew slots and officer bonus
Officer slots open up as the ship levels.
| Ship level | Officer slots |
|---|---|
| 5 | 1 |
| 10 | 2 |
| 20 | 3 |
| 35 | 4 |
| 45 | 5 |
| 55 | 6 |
The Pilum also boosts your officers’ stats as it progresses. On this ship the attack, defense and health bonuses are identical at every step, so the single ladder below applies to all three.
| Amount | Bonus |
|---|---|
| 1,000 | 45% |
| 2,000 | 90% |
| 3,250 | 135% |
| 4,500 | 180% |
| 6,000 | 225% |
| 8,000 | 270% |
| 11,000 | 315% |
| 15,000 | 360% |
| 20,000 | 405% |
| 30,000 | 450% |
Pilum refits
Refits use shards to unlock extra abilities and a ship skin. Here is what each one adds.
| Refit | What it does |
|---|---|
| Pilum Cloaking | Enables the Pilum’s cloak. Costs 80 shards to unlock. |
| Pilum Relentless Assault | Unlocks the Relentless Assault ability, which raises weapon damage against hostiles and armadas. Needs a level 46 Armory and 80 shards. |
| Apex Pilum | Grants 500 Apex Barrier when fighting hostiles, armadas excluded. Apex Barrier is true damage mitigation applied after all other bonuses, with every 100 points raising the damage you can absorb by 1%. Costs 120 shards. |
| Pilum Hijacked TOS Bird of Prey | A refit themed on the original-series Bird-of-Prey that raises the Pilum’s base weapon damage by 500% and the cost efficiency of Pilum parts, materials and resources by 200%. Costs 80 shards. |
The Relentless Assault refit needs a level 46 Armory. The full list of refits across every ship is on the ship refit list.
Crew for the Pilum
Because the Pilum is an Interceptor built to farm hostiles, the bridge you want is one that boosts weapon damage against hostiles or piles on loot and efficiency so Empire Tax can do its work over long grinding runs. Interceptors hold the combat-triangle edge over Battleships, so Battleship-class hostiles are the Pilum’s best farming targets, while Explorers are the matchup to avoid. The best specific picks shift with the meta and with which officers you have leveled, so check the Officer Tier List for current recommendations. Crews change as new officers arrive, so treat any single lineup as a starting point rather than a fixed answer.
The Pilum in Star Trek
The Pilum is an original design for Star Trek Fleet Command rather than a ship from the shows or films. In the game’s story it was developed in secret by the Tal Shiar, the Romulan Star Empire’s intelligence service, and built for stealth and speed. The in-game history places it on the Neutral Zone during the early Cold War period, where it helped the Empire hold its borders. That Tal Shiar origin explains the ship’s focus on cloaking and quiet, efficient raiding rather than open fleet battles.
A pilum was the heavy throwing javelin of the Roman legions, in keeping with the Latin names the game gives its Romulan hulls. More Romulan ships and hostiles are on the Romulan faction page.
Is the Pilum worth it?
For a grade 4 Rare Interceptor, the Pilum earns its spot with players who grind hostiles for materials, since Empire Tax turns every kill into extra loot and the refits add both survivability and damage. It is scrappable from Operations level 55, so it can feed later builds once you outgrow it. If you are around Shipyard 46 and spend time farming Romulan or hostile space, it is a solid pickup; pure PvP-focused commanders will get less out of it.
