The ECS Horizon

READ LATER - DOWNLOAD THIS POST AS PDF >> CLICK HERE <<

Reaching Level 26 in Star Trek Fleet Command means a few things. First, you can start building your first Faction Ships, but secondly, you can construct the ECS Horizon.

Getting Your Horizon

For your first Horizon, you’ll need a level 26 shipyard, and you’ll need to complete the Unlock Horizon research. For each additional Horizon, you’ll need 40 blueprints that you’ll get by attacking level 31+ faction hostiles and Klingon Separatist bosses.

After a while, however, you’ll be swimming in these blueprints.

Start investing with Acorns today! Get $5 when you use my invite link: #GrowYourOak! https://www.acorns.com/invite/4T95VX

What It’s Good At

Compared to all the previous miners in the game, the Horizon is better than all of them, at just about everything. I’m not saying you should rush out and scrap all your other miners (not right away anyway,) but once you’ve leveled your Horizon up enough, it will be your go-to miner.

Your North Star might (emphasis on might) be able to get a faster mining rate for a short period of time, but it’s got such a small cargo (and even smaller protected cargo) that you’re going to be constantly unloading the thing. And it may take a while before your Horizon is as strong in combat as your North Star, but in terms of mining, it’s a better ship, hands down.

The Ship Ability of Dilithium Miner is only really useful for a couple of missions. For the most part, you shouldn’t be spending a lot of time mining dilithium.

It will serve you pretty well for a long while, at least until you’ve got three faction miners.

Here’s a chart comparing the base values for the first five main survey ships.

	Fortunate	Envoy	North Star	Horizon	Antares/K’Vort/Valkis
Mining Speed	200%	325%	550%	750%	865%
Cargo	2,000	21,000	3,000	105,000	262,000
Protected Cargo	350	1,575	525	3,063	5,250
Warp Range	6	15	20	22	30
Warp Speed	1.5	1.5	2.9	2.1	2.1

The Horizon will Change the Way You Play

The better mining laser and increased protected cargo will make it possible for you to put out your Horizon at night, especially if you’ve got T’Pring, Joaquin, and Ten of Ten on board, and wake up with your mining dailies done for the day. This will free up your ships to do more interesting things during your waking hours.

The massive upgrade in cargo capacity will also make it possible for you to make base-raiding really worth your while.

ecs horizon cost of ownership — Picture from LCARS 2.0

The Cost

As with most miners, the ECS Horizon eats crystal. It’s not as ravenous as it’s bigger faction cousins, the Antares, the K’Vort, and the Valkis, but it’s still something.

It’s also going to cost you a great deal of tritanium, but… if you use this ship as the base raider it was born to be, it’ll pay for itself.

I wouldn’t recommend maxing a Horizon, as if you’re advancing with any speed, you’re going to have a faction miner before you have the chance.

ECS Horizon Trivia

The Horizon appeared in the appropriately-named Enterprise episode … Horizon. It was the Mayweather family’s family business.

ECS stands for “Earth Cargo Service.”

The ship was created as a CGI model, designed by John Eaves and built by Brandon MacDougall at Eden FX.

VETERANS, SAVE YOURSELF MONEY

Are you a Veteran, or a family member of a Veteran? Check out their reviews. They offer free membership plans, and their advantage discount programs start at less than five smackers a month. It’ll pay for itself in no time. They offer some huge discounts at retailers you probably use every day, like CVS, Verizon, AT&T Wireless, iRobot, Lenovo, Omaha Steaks, HBO, Bass Pro Shops, Your Mechanic, among many others. It doesn’t cost you anything to look, so check them out today. You could save enough for that new ship you’ve been eying, or maybe a whole lot more.