S31 Torpedo Pods is a Rare Forbidden Tech in Star Trek Fleet Command, built to keep a battleship alive and hitting hard against hostiles, with its heaviest work saved for Q’s Trials. It stacks four battleship buffs: armor, shield mitigation, and dodge against hostiles; hull health; piercing and accuracy against Q’s hostiles; and raw damage against Q’s Trial targets. If Q’s Trials are part of your routine, this is a piece worth building.
What S31 Torpedo Pods does
Every buff on this piece is battleship-only, so it does nothing on an interceptor or explorer. It opens at tier 1 with a survivability buff (armor, shield mitigation, and dodge against hostiles) that keeps your battleship standing in longer fights. As you tier the piece up, it adds hull health and then two offense buffs that fire specifically against Q’s hostiles and Q’s Trial targets.
| Buff | Unlocks at tier | Unlock value | Max value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increases Battleship Armor, Shield Mitigation, and Dodge against hostiles | 1 | 100% | 1,000% |
| Increases Battleship Hull Health | 3 | 100% | 1,800% |
| Increases Battleship Shield Piercing, Armor Piercing, and Accuracy against Q’s hostiles | 6 | 100% | 800% |
| Increases Battleship Damage against Q’s Trial hostiles | 8 | 250% | 2,500% |
Values are current as of the latest game data and scale with the item’s level between those two endpoints. In play, the first two buffs let a battleship soak far more punishment against tough hostiles, while the last two turn the same ship into a Q’s Trials specialist that pushes damage through defenses that would otherwise wall it out.
How to get S31 Torpedo Pods
Forbidden Tech is unlocked through the Forbidden Tech refinery. As a Rare piece, S31 Torpedo Pods is unlocked with Rare Forbidden Fragments, which come from Q’s Trials and special reward tracks. You will also need Fusion Rods, which unlock the Forbidden Tech slots on your ships and let you pull a piece off a ship later. There is no way to buy the finished item outright; you gather the fragments, unlock it in the refinery, then upgrade it from there.
Upgrading S31 Torpedo Pods
Forbidden Tech has two upgrade paths. Tiering up with Forbidden Tech Tier-Up Catalysts raises the level cap and switches on the later buffs at tiers 3, 6, and 8. Leveling up with Forbidden Tech Protomatter scales the buff values toward their maximums. Upgrades are attempts rather than guaranteed buys: they consume Forbidden Tech Reactors, and Probability Devices raise the odds of a successful upgrade.
| Tier | Level cap | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Starting tier |
| 7 | 35 | 32 Reactors, 4,200 Tier-Up Catalysts |
| 12 | 60 | 32 Reactors, 4,900 Tier-Up Catalysts |
Reaching tier 12 costs 352 Reactors and 57,000 Tier-Up Catalysts in total. Taking the piece from level 2 to its level 60 cap costs another 1,856 Reactors and 475,975 Protomatter. Catalysts and Protomatter come from the Forbidden Tech refinery, Q’s Trials, and the store; Reactors come from Daily Goals and the store. Tier 8 is the milestone that matters most here, since it unlocks the big damage buff against Q’s Trial hostiles.
Best ships and uses for S31 Torpedo Pods
Slot S31 Torpedo Pods on the battleship you take into Q’s Trials. The two survivability buffs help in any hostile fight, so a grinding battleship benefits even before the offense buffs come online, but the ceiling of this piece is clearly Q’s content: the piercing and damage buffs only fire against Q’s hostiles and Q’s Trial targets. It has no value on a mining ship, in PvP, or in armadas. Pair it with your usual hostile crew and work through the toughest targets your battleship can clear; our hostile guide covers where to hunt at each level.
S31 Torpedo Pods in Star Trek
The pods trace back to Star Trek Into Darkness. In the wake of Vulcan’s destruction in 2258, Admiral Marcus and the covert agency Section 31 pushed Starfleet toward open militarization, and part of that program was a line of advanced long-range photon torpedoes. Those weapons were designed by the genetically engineered warlord Khan Noonien Singh, whom Marcus had revived from centuries of cryosleep. Seventy-two of the torpedoes were built, and Khan secretly hid his frozen augment crew inside their casings. The game leans on that origin: technology born of a cold, brilliant, dangerous mind and handed to an agency that answered to no one.
Is S31 Torpedo Pods worth it?
It depends on how much you run Q’s Trials. Two of its four buffs only work against Q’s hostiles, so a player who never touches that content gets far less out of it than someone who grinds Trials for rewards. As a Rare piece it is cheaper to unlock and upgrade than the Epics, which makes it a reasonable early Forbidden Tech target for a battleship pilot. Take it to tier 8 if Q’s Trials matter to you, and leave it lower on the list if they do not.