The USS Cerritos is a 4* epic explorer released in Arc 41 of Star Trek Fleet Command. It’s the first dedicated “support ship” in the game. By itself, it’s a good ship, but it’s what it does for other ships that make it unique.
How to Get Your USS Cerritos
You’ll need to be at least ops 36 in order to build your Cerritos.
During April 2021, you’ll only be able to get your Cerritos by purchasing the Elite Battle Pass pack, AND another half unlock pack OR a full Cerritos unlock pack.
Starting in May, each Wednesday you’ll see Lower Decks Wednesday events. These events will reward you with blueprints and Irvinite, much like the Anomalous Phenomenon events each Sunday give you Discovery Refinery tokens. Players who don’t yet have a Cerritos will partake in the “California Class” event, where they’ll have to destroy hostiles while using a combat buff. Completing this event 10 times will get you enough blueprints to build your Cerritos.
The Cerritos Ship Ability
Keep It Together – When the USS Cerritos supports another ship, increase the support duration by X seconds.
The Cerritos is a support ship. It will allow you to aid other ships, your own, or those of other players with specific benefits for a specific period of time. Each level you upgrade your Cerritos will increase the length of time that your support will affect your targeted ship.
In order to use the ability, you’ll need a new material called Irvinite. (Named for the location of the Scopely offices.) The Irvinite will come via a daily gift pack.
You’ll need to have your Cerritos in the system, and then you’ll target the ship you want to support. The amount of time the buff lasts will be according to the supporting player. But the buff effects themselves will rely on the research levels of the player being supported.
There will be a base damage buff, and then other benefits will be things from this list.
- Amplified Weaponry – Increases Damage while Supported
- Targeting Projections – Increases all Penetration stats while Supported
- Defensive Aid – Increases all Mitigation stats while Supported
- Shield Overcharge – Increases Shield Health while Supported
- Support Tactics – Increases Damage against hostiles while Supported (PvE)
- Shield Recycling – Increases Shield Health by a percentage of Officer Defense each round of combat while Supported
- Rally – Increases Damage against Armada targets while Supported
- Holographic Imaging – Reduces the damage taken from player ships while Supported (PvP)
In addition, there are three prime researches
- Cybernetic Enhancements – Increases Critical Hit Damage while Supported
- Lower Decks Spirit – Increases Shield Mitigation while Supported
- Photon Acceleration – Increases Damage against player ships while Supported (PvP)
As you can see, some of these bonuses will make a huge difference. But with scarce Irvinite, you’ll want to treat them like the good China – used only for special occasions. Think big territory captures, big armadas, or taking out that mission boss who you haven’t been able to beat for months.
Owning and Upgrading Your Cerritos
Like a lot of the other specialty ships, the Cerritos starts off needing 3* materials, but by tier 4, switches over to 4* mats. It’s an explorer, so You’ll also need to spend 3* explorer parts on it to get it up to tier 4, and then common, uncommon, and rare 4* explorer parts thereafter.
You will also need “Cerritos parts” to upgrade the vessel. Maxing it out will cost you about 2.1 million Cerritos parts. You’ll get those in the Cerritos Refinery, and the number of parts in each pull will increase as you tier up your ship.
On the repair side of things, it won’t break the bank, compared to the uncommon 4* ships. It’s in the range with the 3* epics.
Warp Range and Impulse
Out of the box, you’ll have a warp range of 48. By tier 4, you’re looking at warp 60.
Like the Discovery, there’s a research boost for the Cerritos Warp Range, “Tactical Retreat” that you’ll find in the Ships research tree. But that doesn’t become available until your R&D department gets up to level 50. And then, it’s only a bonus of 5. At level 51, the bonus goes up to 20 and maxes out a +315 at warp 59.
The impulse engines are only 85. So not fast.
Ship Background
The USS Cerritos is a California Class vessel. Its registry number, NCC-75567 is based on show creator Mike McMahon’s mother’s phone number. The yellow markings on the ship indicate that it’s a “second contact” vessel.
The class is fitting, as the ship is named for the town of Cerritos, California. Cerritos is a town of about 50,000 people, southeast of Los Angeles.
In case you’re curious, NFL Hall of Famer Troy Aikman grew up in Cerritos, and was later recognized as a “Cerritos Hometown Hero.” Poker player Johnny Chan, winner of the World Series of Poker in 1987 and 1988 lives in Cerritos.
On the big screen, the scene in Wayne’s World where Wayne is pulled over by Robert Patrick as the T1000 was shot there, by Liberty Park, at the corner of Studebaker Road and Bigelow Street.
Former First Lady Pat Nixon’s family home was in Cerritos, and although it burned down in 1978, the location is now home to Pat Nixon Park. While there are no swings or slides for the kids, there’s a statue of Pat, and a 27,500-square-foot senior center. There are two lounges, and a large fish tank with exotic fish.
And in yet more trivia you have no need to know, Pat Nixon’s given name was Thelma Catherine Ryan. Not Pat, or Patricia. But Thelma. Her father nicknamed her “Pat” because she was born on the day before St. Patrick’s Day.
Not really sure why I’m including this on a Star Trek site, but in my research, it came up. And since I know this, know you know this.