The Shuttle Bay is a station building that lets you send officers on Away Team Assignments, timed missions that return rewards while those officers are off your roster. It becomes available once your Operations building reaches level 8 and you finish the research that unlocks it. On top of the away-team feature, every level of the Shuttle Bay raises your ships’ weapon damage and lowers the research cost of Service Awards. It is worth placing as soon as you can and upgrading as Operations allows.
What the Shuttle Bay does
The Shuttle Bay’s main job is Away Team Assignments. You assign officers to an assignment, they leave your active roster for its duration, and you collect the reward when the timer ends. The building also carries three passive buffs that apply the moment it is placed and grow with each upgrade.
| Buff | Active from level | Value at anchor levels |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon Damage Bonus (ship weapon damage) | Level 1 | 1% at L1, 20% at L20, 100% at L40, 200% at L60, 1,200% at L80 |
| Service Award Cost Efficiency (research) | Level 1 | 1% at L1, 77% at L40, 455% at L80 |
| Merit of Honor Cost Efficiency (research) | Level 61 | 3% at L61, 30% at L80 |
The weapon damage bonus is the reason many players keep upgrading the Shuttle Bay past the away-team unlock, since it climbs steeply in the final levels and applies to every ship you field. The two cost-efficiency buffs reduce how many Service Awards and Merits of Honor you spend on research. All values are current as of the latest game data.
How to unlock the Shuttle Bay
The Shuttle Bay opens up at Operations level 8. You also need to complete the research named Unlock Shuttle Bay, which has a single level. Once both are done, you can place the building and start it at level 1 for 650 Parsteel and a three-minute build time.
Upgrade costs and build times
The Shuttle Bay upgrades from level 1 to level 80. Costs begin in Parsteel, shift toward Tritanium and refined ore in the mid game, and move to Sigma-resources at the top end. Milestone levels:
| Level | Cost | Build time | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 650 Parsteel | 3m | Operations 8, research Unlock Shuttle Bay 1 |
| 10 | 13,200 Parsteel, 200 Tritanium | 2h 45m | Operations 10 |
| 20 | 343,750 Parsteel, 5,600 Tritanium, plus refined ore | 1d 22h | Operations 20 |
| 30 | 31.54M Parsteel, 515,400 Tritanium, plus refined ore | 4d 22h | Operations 30 |
| 40 | 3.903B Parsteel, 22.78M Tritanium, plus refined ore | 80d 19h | Operations 40 |
| 50 | 170.2B Parsteel, 1.39B Tritanium, plus refined ore | 1383d 11h | Operations 50 |
| 60 | 48.23T Parsteel, 246.2B Tritanium, plus refined ore | 2914d 20h | Operations 60 |
| 70 | 32.36M Σ-Parsteel, 793,250 Σ-Tritanium, plus refined ore | 768d 19h | Operations 70 |
| 80 | 15.8B Σ-Parsteel, 96.81M Σ-Tritanium, plus refined gas and ore | 18557d 20h | Operations 80 |
From level 1 to 80 the Shuttle Bay costs roughly 137.1T Parsteel and 689.6B Tritanium in standard resources, plus about 56.91B Σ-Parsteel and 325.9M Σ-Tritanium at the higher levels, along with refined ore and gas across every star tier. The cumulative unboosted build time adds up to about 101,663 days, so build speedups and cost reductions make a real difference here.
Each upgrade is gated by your Operations level, so the Shuttle Bay never gets ahead of your main building.
How the Shuttle Bay fits your station
Place the Shuttle Bay as soon as you hit Operations 8 and finish its research. The away-team feature alone earns its spot on your station, since assignments run in the background and cost you nothing but officer time. Early upgrades are cheap and quick, so keeping it near your Operations level in the first weeks takes little effort. Past the mid-levels the weapon damage bonus becomes the main reason to keep pushing it, because that buff helps every ship in your fleet. The two research cost-efficiency buffs pay off if you spend Service Awards or Merits of Honor on a regular basis.
Is the Shuttle Bay worth upgrading?
Yes, with the usual note about pace. The early levels are inexpensive and hand you Away Team Assignments plus a starting weapon damage bonus, so there is little reason to delay the first several upgrades. The steep resource and time costs at the top end make the final levels a long-term project rather than a quick win. Upgrade it alongside Operations and let the weapon damage buff build up as you go.