In Star Trek Fleet Command the Refinery covers more than raw Ore, Crystal and Gas. Two of its most searched exchanges are the Discovery Refinery, which pays out rewards for Discovery Refinery Tokens as part of the U.S.S. Discovery loop, and the Territory Refinery, where Raw Isogenite from the Origin Sector is exchanged for rewards for you and your alliance. Both are covered below, along with Biominerals, unlock requirements and upgrade costs.
The Refinery is the station building that turns the raw materials you mine into the refined resources your empire actually spends. It processes raw Ore, Crystal, and Gas, and at higher levels it handles specialized inputs like Isogen and Biominerals. You unlock it through the Unlock Refinery research and can upgrade it all the way to level 80. Nearly every player refines, so the Refinery belongs on your station early and stays useful for the entire game.
What the Refinery does
At its core the Refinery processes raw materials into usable refined goods. You feed it raw Ore, Crystal, or Gas and it returns the refined versions you need to upgrade ships, buildings, and research. That refining loop is the reason the building exists, and it is active from level 1.
Beyond the three basic resources, the Refinery handles several specialized jobs. It refines Isogen to support alliance territory control, mycelium to power jumps for your Discovery ship, and Biominerals into Parsteel, Tritanium, or Dilithium. It also refines Raw Latinum into Latinum and Inert Nanoprobes into charged or active Nanoprobes. As you raise the building’s level, it unlocks refining of higher-rarity materials, so the same Refinery that starts on common ore ends up processing top-tier resources.
The Refinery also carries two passive buffs, but they only switch on at level 61. Below that the building is purely a refining station with no passive bonus. From level 61 it adds Building Material Cost Efficiency and Research Material Cost Efficiency. Each one lowers how much Crystal, Gas, and Ore you spend, the first on building upgrades and the second on research.
| Buff | Active from | L61 | L65 | L70 | L75 | L80 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Building Material Cost Efficiency | Level 61 | 5% | 25% | 50% | 120% | 150% |
| Research Material Cost Efficiency | Level 61 | 5% | 25% | 50% | 120% | 150% |
Discovery Refinery, Territory Refinery and other named refineries
The Discovery Refinery runs on Discovery Refinery Tokens, the item required to earn its rewards. It sits in the U.S.S. Discovery upgrade loop: Spore Drive Components are required to upgrade the ship, and Cultivated Mycelium, harvested in the Mycelium Greenhouse from Mycelium Spores, fuels its spore drive. The greenhouse stores up to 18K Cultivated Mycelium, so claim it before it caps.
The Territory Refinery handles the currencies of Territory Capture. Raw Isogenite in 1⇴, 2⇴ and 3⇴ grades drops from Origin Sector hostiles and comes from Isogenite mines in some level 25+ Territory Capture systems, and you exchange it there for rewards for yourself and your alliance. Refining it gives Refined Isogenite, which feeds Territory Research and the promotion of certain officers. Isogenite Geodes and Isomorphic Relics have their own exchanges, Quantum Scrap refines into a Territory Research material, and Quantum Tesseract Directives for Origin Sector armada attacks also come from the Territory Refinery. The Continuum Consulate adds an exclusive daily refinery on top, with rewards that improve with the Consulate’s level and the number of Territory Capture zones your alliance owns.
The older Raw Isogen chain still runs through the Refinery too: 1⇴ to 3⇴ Raw Isogen refines into Refined Isogen, which alliances spend on Takeovers and Services in Origin Sector zones, plus Iso-emulsion, and from 2⇴ upward Progenitor Alloy as well.
Swarm Biominerals drop from defeating Swarm hostiles and are refined into resources in the Refinery.
How to unlock the Refinery
The Refinery unlocks with the Unlock Refinery research at rank 1. Once that research is complete you can place the building for 400 Parsteel, and the first level finishes in 35 seconds. From level 2 onward the upgrades are gated by your Operations and Shipyard levels, and at higher tiers by your Parsteel Warehouse, Dilithium Warehouse, and Dilithium Vault. The requirement building changes as you climb, so check the gate before you commit resources rather than assuming it is always Operations.
Upgrade costs and build times
Costs and timers below are milestone levels. Build times are unboosted, so speedups and build-time research cut them down heavily in practice.
| Level | Cost | Build time | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 400 Parsteel | 35s | Unlock Refinery research 1 |
| 10 | 4,500 Parsteel | 1h 40m | Operations 10, Shipyard 10 |
| 20 | 144,500 Parsteel, 2,550 Dilithium | 1d 3h | Parsteel Warehouse 19, Shipyard 19, Dilithium Warehouse 19 |
| 30 | 13.26M Parsteel, 234,000 Dilithium, 3★ Refined Ore | 2d 23h | Operations 30, Tritanium Vault 27 |
| 40 | 2.866B Parsteel, 18.06M Dilithium, 3,000 4★ Common Refined Ore | 14d 22h | Operations 40, Dilithium Warehouse 40 |
| 50 | 125B Parsteel, 1.103B Dilithium | 42d 22h | Operations 50, Dilithium Warehouse 50 |
| 60 | 40.19T Parsteel, 147.8B Dilithium, 5★ Refined Ore | 108d 12h | Operations 60, Dilithium Warehouse 60 |
| 70 | 26.97M Σ-Parsteel, 475,950 Σ-Dilithium, 6★ Rare Refined Ore | 461d 6h | Operations 70, Dilithium Warehouse 60 |
| 80 | 13.17B Σ-Parsteel, 58.09M Σ-Dilithium, 7★ Rare Refined Ore | 11134d 17h | Operations 80, Dilithium Warehouse 70 |
Taking the Refinery from level 1 to level 80 costs roughly 114.2T Parsteel and 414.4B Dilithium, plus large stocks of refined Ore and Gas from 3★ through 7★, and about 47.43B Σ-Parsteel and 195.6M Σ-Dilithium at the top end. The cumulative unboosted build time is about 45,460 days, which is why the highest levels are a long-term project rather than something you rush.
How the Refinery fits your station
Early on the Refinery is one of the cheaper, faster buildings on your station, so bring it up alongside Operations and Shipyard without overthinking it. Its refining job matters long before any buff does. You need refined Ore, Crystal, and Gas for almost every building and research upgrade, so a Refinery that lags behind becomes a quiet bottleneck across your whole base.
The passive cost buffs do not appear until level 61, which is deep into the endgame. For most players the reason to keep upgrading is not the buff but unlocking higher-star refining and keeping enough refining throughput to feed your upgrades. The later levels also gate on your Dilithium Warehouse and Dilithium Vault, so raise those in step with the Refinery instead of hitting a wall when a level demands them.
Refinery upgrade missions
Some Refinery upgrades come with a mission attached: the mission completes when the upgrade finishes, and pays the reward listed.
| Mission | Objective | Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Refinery Level 65 | Complete the upgrade | 57,500 Concentrated Latinum, 383,000 Raw Σ-Parsteel |
Is the Refinery worth upgrading?
Yes, but pace it. Through the early and mid levels the Refinery is strong value: low cost, quick builds, and refining you cannot skip. The steep climb starts after level 50, where Parsteel and Dilithium costs run into the trillions and unboosted build times stretch from weeks into months, then past a year from level 70. Push it as far as your refining needs and material caps demand, then let it sit until you are ready to chase the level 61 cost buffs.
