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% |
These values are current as of the latest game data.
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, current as of the latest game data. 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 | 48d 11h | Operations 40, Dilithium Warehouse 40 |
| 50 | 125B Parsteel, 1.103B Dilithium | 830d 2h | Operations 50, Dilithium Warehouse 50 |
| 60 | 40.19T Parsteel, 147.8B Dilithium, 5★ Refined Ore | 1748d 22h | 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 60,998 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.
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 and build times run into the multi-year range unboosted. 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.