The Long Way Home is an early Borg-arc mission in Star Trek Fleet Command that begins on its own once you clear the mission before it. You pick up a Starfleet distress signal, track down a missing patrol out near Vulcan, and take on a Borg Probe. The mission sends you to warp 18, and the choice you make at the end decides whether you finish with a big Parsteel payout or a chunk of Dilithium. It is a short run, but the last fight has real teeth.
The Long Way Home objectives
This is an auto-start quest, so it opens as soon as you are eligible for it. It runs through these steps in order:
- Meet with Admiral Kahotek in the Hann system.
- Find the missing patrol in the Vulcan system.
- Defeat the Borg vessel in Vulcan. The target is a Borg Probe at roughly 296,000 strength.
- Answer the prompt, “Should we save the Starfleet patrol?” This choice splits the mission into two paths.
The two paths, A: Save them and B: Leave them, have different objectives and different rewards. Here is how each one plays out.
Path A: Save them
- Defeat a Borg ship in Vulcan, around 200,000 strength.
- Defeat a second Borg ship in Vulcan, around 200,000 strength.
- Escort the patrol back to Hann.
Path B: Leave them
- Defeat a Borg ship in Vulcan, around 200,000 strength.
- Return to Hann.
Where and what warp
The Long Way Home starts in Hann and keeps you moving between Hann and Vulcan for the whole run. Warp 18 is the number to plan around, and the individual travel steps sit at warp 17 to 18. Both systems are low in the map order, so most players reach them without a long haul across the galaxy. Fuel your ship for a short round trip rather than a deep-space push, and you will not get stranded halfway through.
The Long Way Home rewards
What you walk away with comes down to the choice at the split:
| Choice | Rewards |
|---|---|
| A: Save them | 1,681,000 Parsteel and 248,000 Tritanium |
| B: Leave them | 38,000 Dilithium and 188,000 Tritanium |
Both paths close out the mission and move you forward in the Borg storyline, opening the next mission in the arc. The reward difference is the real decision here, since the progression is the same whichever way you go.
Tips
The fight to prepare for is the Borg Probe near Vulcan at about 296,000 strength. Bring a combat ship and a crew that can hold up against a Borg target before you commit to that step. If you take Path A, you then face two more Borg ships at roughly 200,000 each, so check that your hull strength and repair costs can carry you through three fights close together instead of one.
On the reward split, Save them hands you a large Parsteel lump plus Tritanium, which is useful if you are mid-build on buildings or ships. Leave them swaps that Parsteel for Dilithium, the better pick if you are short on the resource that fuels speed-ups and research. Neither choice locks you out of anything later, so take the payout that fits what you are short on right now.
