The 50th arc of Star Trek Fleet Command is here. We’ve got Borg Solo Armadas, Fleet Commanders, and the best uniforms in the franchise (bar none.) There are a couple of new officers, some new research, and a new loading screen, and new music.
Fleet Commanders
Here we are, years into Star Trek Fleet Command, and we’ve finally got some proper Fleet Commanders.
This month, there are three initial Fleet Commanders, Admiral Kirk, Captain Spock, and Locutus (of Borg.)
You’ll get these through a free Fleet Commander mission. This mission chain will also unlock a new building, the “Command Center,” and give you the option to unlock either Kirk or Spock as your first Fleet Commander. When you unlock the building, you’ll be able to see all of the benefits that each commander can give you, so you’ll be able to make an educated decision when the time comes.
Each Fleet Commander has their own skill tree, with three branches. You’ll unlock the branches with Unique Keys, and you’ll get those in the command center refinery when your commander ranks up to 1, 5, 9, 13, and 18. And within these branches, you’ll need to be careful, as some of the skills are mutually exclusive – meaning that picking one will mean you can’t pick alternatives.
The Fleet Commander loop will be fed by Borg Solo Armadas (more on those below.)
The Fleet Commander XP and credits will help you advance your Fleet Commander. Unlike the regular officers in the game, there’s no need for further officer shards with them. The skill points come in uncommon and rare varieties. Fleet Commander “dust” can be used in the refinery, and is sort of like transporter patterns. So when you’ve maxed out officer shards, you get transporter patterns, and when you’ve gotten as many Fleet commander unlocks, you’ll get “dust.”
At the beginning, you’ll only be able to have one Fleet Commander “on duty” at any one time, and use the buffs that you’ve earned for them. You will be able to change which one you’re using (if you’ve got more than one,) but there will be a limit to how often you can switch them out.
Once you level up your command center to level 40, you’ll get the ability to use two Fleet Commanders at once.
Borg Solo Armadas
As mentioned above in the Fleet Commanders section, we’ve got new Borg solo armadas. They’ll range in size from G3 to G5, and you’ll find them in new systems. The systems … they are green.
Yes, there will be a new type of directive for these, Borg Solo Armada Directives. They won’t use the ones you’ve been using in Dominion space. You’ll source these through the Borg refinery. 100 uncommon Borg solo armada cost me 28,000 Charged Nanoprobes. The Borg refinery will be expanded with exchanges for uncommon, rare and epic solo armada credits.
However, it doesn’t look like the existing ASSIMILATED research nodes (level 49 and above) from the Combat armada tree will have an effect here. It seems like they should, as they aren’t labeled for hostiles, but the preliminary word is that they won’t.
For defeating the Borg Solo Armadas, you’ll get Borg Officer gacha recruit tokens for all 13 Borg Officers (the eleven you know about, and the two below.)
You’ll also get Fleet Commander XP and Uncommon Rank-up materials, Fleet Commander Row 4 and 5 rank-up materials. You’ll also get Rodinium Particles.
Lastly, you’ll see four new research nodes in the Combat research tree. And you’re really going to want to get started on those nodes before you start trying to tackle the Borg Solo Armadas. The nice thing is that these researches won’t require a new currency, but rather the old Charged Nanoprobes that you probably already have. They are faction specific, so if your short on charged nanoprobes, focus on your best faction. The last one is for the ISS Jellyfish.
Two New Officers
This month we’ve got two new below decks Borg officers. Hugh and Ghalenar.
Hugh is an epic officer, who you’ll remember from I, Borg, and season one of Picard.
His officer ability will increase the impulse speed of your vessel, which is nice, and maybe you could throw him on a base raiding crew in place of Stonn, so that you’d keep a good bit of storage capacity, but gain some speed in contested raids.
His below decks ability is also nice. He’ll give you a 45/50/60/70/100% chance to increase Critical Hit Chance by a stacking 25% for 2 rounds when struck by a Hostile weapon. Meaning that every two rounds you’ll get a chance of triggering a 25% increase to your critical hit chance, and this will stack. So if you’re hit in round one by a hostile weapon with your new Hugh, you’ll have a 45% chance of getting the bonus. And each time you hit it, it’ll go up another 25%, so you could be at 100% by round 8. Your maxed Hugh will be a killer in long hostile battles.
Not quite as great as Odo‘s critical hit BDA against all enemies, but you can combine them as you grind hostiles.
The other rare officer is Borg Ghalenar. The arc storyline has him being a Pakled scavenger who wants to get assimilated by the Borg in order to learn their secrets. And they don’t want him.
In general, I find it disappointing to see original officers in STFC. Seems like a waste of the license. However, every once in a while, they come up with an idea that I genuinely like. While Borg Jaylah or Borg T’Pring are a bit of a waste, the idea of a Borg Pakled is amusing. It’s up there with the Borg Tribble as a concept that just makes me smile.
And this is an officer who you’re going to want, especially if you (like me) have spent far too much time grinding Actian Apex hostiles with your Mantis over the past few months. Because Ghalanar’s below-deck ability will increase the amount of resources dropped by Actian Apex and Borg hostiles by 25%/30%/35%/42%/50%. I’m looking forward to putting him below decks on my Borg Jaylah, Stonn, and Borg Stonn crew to fill up faster. At this point in the game, I’m looking for time-savers, and that’s what he does.
His officer ability increases Federation, Klingon, and Faction rep gains by 5%/8%/11%/15%/20%. It’s a nice officer ability, but you may wind up losing volume, as grinding rep at the top of your ability usually means having a full crew set up to grind hostiles. I’d still love to see another officer have this as a below-deck ability.
On the other hand, I’m sure you’ll see people using Ghalenar as an officer in Ty’Gokor as soon as they get him.
The Polaron Beam
There’s a new projectile available this month for in-app purchase. It’s a green polaron beam that will increase your critical hit damage by 20% against Borg targets.
Prime Research
In addition, there’s also a prime research node that will give you an increased payout for charged nanoprobes. For the first week of the arc, you’ll only be able to buy this in the PC webstore.
Assimilation Events Preview
There will be two material spend events to get Hugh, starting on the 14th and 21st. There will be three events encouraging you to spend Fleet Commander materials, the first starting on day one.
There’s also a solo leaderboard and solo milestone event for upgrading your Command Center. The leaderboard goes for three days, the milestone lasts until the 29th.
There will be a few chances to recruit Ghalenar this month, and those events will involve defeating swarm, borg probes, and mining.
You’ll also see a big Borg Completionist event that you’ll complete by finishing other events. Be on the lookout for Vidar vs. Vidar PvP events.
There will also be nine solo milestone events that will showcase the new Fleet Commanders.