Tan Ru is an Epic Chaos Tech artifact that slots onto a ship, and it is built for one job: grinding faction hostiles. Installed on a Grade 6 or higher Federation, Klingon, or Romulan (FKR) ship, it raises your base and critical damage against Grade 7 FKR hostiles and increases the positive Federation, Klingon, and Romulan reputation you earn from those kills. If your account lives on G7 faction hostile farming, this is one of the strongest pieces you can equip.
What Tan Ru does
Tan Ru carries three buffs, and all of them apply only while it sits on a G6+ FKR ship. The headline is raw damage: base damage against G7 FKR hostiles climbs from 50% at unlock to 5,000% at max tier and level, which turns long grind fights into quick ones. A reputation buff and a critical-damage buff round out the piece.
| Buff | Unlocks at tier | Unlock value | Max value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base damage vs G7 FKR hostiles | 1 | 50% | 5,000% |
| Positive FKR reputation from hostile kills | 1 | 20% | 500% |
| Critical damage vs G7 FKR hostiles | 2 | 15% | 500% |
In play, the damage buffs cut the time per kill while the reputation buff builds your standing with all three major factions at once, so every hostile you clear does double duty. The critical-damage buff stacks on top once you reach tier 2, which pushes your bigger hits higher and shortens fights further. Values shown are current as of the latest game data.
How to get Tan Ru
Tan Ru is Chaos Tech, so it runs on the Chaos Tech economy rather than the standard Forbidden Tech currencies. You unlock a Chaos Tech slot, or pull a piece back off a ship, with Chaos Tech Fusion Rods from the Continuum refinery or the store. The item itself comes together from Chaos Tech Fragments, which you exchange into Chaos Tech materials in the Continuum refinery; you collect those fragments when you pick up excess Chaos Tech shards. There is no shortcut beyond the refinery and store, so plan on steady Continuum activity to bring it online.
Upgrading Tan Ru
Two tracks raise Tan Ru. Tier-ups lift the level cap and switch on later buffs (the critical-damage buff activates at tier 2), while levels scale the values you already have. It caps at tier 12 and level 60.
| Tier | Level cap | Tier-up cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | None (starting tier) |
| 7 | 35 | 58,300 Chaos Tech Tier-Up Catalyst |
| 12 | 60 | 70,400 Chaos Tech Tier-Up Catalyst |
Reaching max tier costs 598,400 Chaos Tech Tier-Up Catalyst in total. Leveling from 2 to 60 costs 347,050 Chaos Tech Reactor and 803,110 Chaosmatter, both earned by defeating Assimilated El-Aurian hostiles and exchanging their loot in the Continuum refinery.
Best ships and uses for Tan Ru
Tan Ru is a Hostiles piece, and its buffs spell out where it belongs: on the G6+ FKR ship you use to farm G7 faction hostiles. Put it on your dedicated grinder, crew that ship for hostile damage, and let the reputation buff bank Federation, Klingon, and Romulan standing while you clear. It does nothing for mining, PvP, or armadas, so keep it on the hostile runner. For crewing and target advice, our hostile guide covers the fundamentals.
Tan Ru in Star Trek
Tan Ru comes from the Original Series episode “The Changeling.” It was an alien soil-sampling probe that met the damaged Earth probe Nomad in deep space and merged with it. The combined machine took on a warped directive: seek out imperfect life and sterilize it. In 2267 it wiped out the four billion inhabitants of the Malurian system, then boarded the Enterprise, where it killed and later revived Chief Engineer Scott and erased Uhura’s memory. It judged the crew against a standard of perfection and found most of them wanting. Kirk destroyed it by convincing the probe that it, too, was imperfect and had failed its own purpose. The game leans on that story of a cold, efficient killing machine for a piece built around hunting hostiles.
Is Tan Ru worth it?
If you grind G7 FKR hostiles, yes. The base-damage buff alone earns the slot, and the reputation gain pays off across three factions at once. Players who don’t farm faction hostiles at that grade can skip it. If you do commit, push it up in tiers so the critical-damage buff comes online and the values reach their higher bands.