The Romulan Mining Laser is a Rare Forbidden Tech that turns a mining ship into a serious ore hauler. Its headline effect raises your ore mining rate by up to 1,300% at max tier and level, and it stacks extra cargo space, a general mining boost, and more protected cargo on top. It slots onto a ship, not an officer, and it earns a spot on any dedicated ore miner.
What the Romulan Mining Laser does
The piece is built around one job: pulling ore out of the ground faster. The Ore Mining rate buff is active from the moment you unlock the tech at tier 1, starting at 50% and climbing to 1,300% once the piece is fully tiered and leveled. The other three buffs come online at later tiers and widen its usefulness, adding raw cargo capacity, a broader mining-speed bonus, and protected cargo that survives a raid.
| Buff | Unlocks at tier | Unlock value | Max value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increases Ore Mining rate | 1 | 50% | 1,300% |
| Increases Cargo capacity | 3 | 20% | 200% |
| Increases Mining rate | 6 | 50% | 900% |
| Increases Protected Cargo | 8 | 50% | 1,000% |
In play, the ore bonus shortens the time you sit on a node, the cargo buffs let you clear more of that node in a single trip, and protected cargo means less of your haul is lost if someone attacks the miner mid-run. Values shown are current as of the latest game data.
How to get the Romulan Mining Laser
As a Rare piece, the Romulan Mining Laser is unlocked with Rare Forbidden Fragments in the Forbidden Tech refinery. You gather those fragments from Q’s Trials and from special rewards, then spend them to bring the tech out of the refinery. Before you can equip it, you also need an open Forbidden Tech slot on the ship, which you open using Forbidden Tech Fusion Rods. Fusion Rods come from the Forbidden Tech refinery and the store, and the same rods let you pull a piece back off a ship later if you want to move it.
Upgrading the Romulan Mining Laser
Two upgrade tracks run in parallel. Tiering up raises the level cap and switches on the later buffs at the tiers listed above, so the Cargo, Mining rate, and Protected Cargo bonuses only exist once you reach tiers 3, 6, and 8. Leveling up then scales each active buff toward its max. You tier up with Forbidden Tech Tier-Up Catalysts and level up with Forbidden Tech Protomatter, with Forbidden Tech Reactors spent on the upgrade attempts across both tracks.
| Tier | Level cap | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Starting tier, no cost |
| 7 | 35 | 32 Forbidden Tech Reactor, 4,200 Forbidden Tech Tier-Up Catalyst |
| 12 | 60 | 32 Forbidden Tech Reactor, 4,900 Forbidden Tech Tier-Up Catalyst |
Reaching max tier costs 352 Forbidden Tech Reactor and 57,000 Forbidden Tech Tier-Up Catalyst in total. Leveling all the way to 60 costs a further 1,856 Forbidden Tech Reactor and 475,975 Forbidden Tech Protomatter. Probability Devices, earned as rewards and sold in the store, raise your odds on the upgrade attempts.
Best ships and uses for the Romulan Mining Laser
This is a Mining piece, so it belongs on whichever ship you park on ore nodes, not on a combat or armada hull. Put it on your best dedicated ore miner and the Ore Mining rate buff does most of the work, while the cargo and protected-cargo bonuses matter more if you mine in contested space where raiders hit loaded miners. If your account is heavier on gas or crystal, the ore focus makes this a lower priority than a broader mining piece, but for anyone running an ore economy it is a direct upgrade to how fast the hold fills.
The Romulan Mining Laser in Star Trek
The idea of a Romulan mining laser has clear screen roots. In the 2009 film, the Romulan ship Narada was a converted mining vessel that lowered an enormous drilling beam toward a planet’s core, first at Vulcan and then at Earth. While that drill was active it jammed transporters and blocked communications with the surface, which is exactly the behavior the in-game flavor text describes for this tool. The tech here takes that fictional hardware, an industrial beam powerful enough to bore through a crust and scramble subspace signals, and reframes it as a resource extractor you bolt onto your own fleet.
Is the Romulan Mining Laser worth it?
For an ore-focused account, yes. The 1,300% ore ceiling and the extra cargo pay for themselves in faster full holds, and the protected cargo softens the sting of getting raided. If you mostly mine gas or crystal, take it slowly and prioritize tech that matches your economy first. Miners who live on ore should chase it and push the tiers as far as their fragments allow.