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Developer Insights Vol. 3: Officer Cost Efficiencies Explained

By Bek 22 May 2025

In our latest Developer Insights, Domen (better known as D on Discord), Senior Product Manager on the Wrath of Khan project, is incredibly excited to discuss a feature you definitely shouldn’t miss—Officer Cost Efficiencies!


Hey Star Trek Fleet Command Community! Today’s article is covering a topic that hopefully hasn’t been missed: Officer Cost Efficiencies.

What are Officer Cost Efficiencies?

In short, Officer Cost Efficiencies reduce the total number of shards needed to upgrade your Officers. But there’s an important nuance here: these efficiencies apply retroactively to the total number of shards needed to max out an Officer, not just the shards still required.

Let’s illustrate this with SNW Christopher Pike as an example:

  • Unlock = 110 shards
  • Rank 2 = 110 shards
  • Rank 3 = 220 shards
  • Rank 4 = 330 shards
  • Rank 5 = 880 shards

The total shards required without efficiency would be 1650.

Now, let’s say that we have the 100% SNW Crew Cost Efficiency unlocked.

When the CE applies it will not target the total remaining shards needed, but rather, it will always apply to the total shards needed no matter what.

If we apply a 100% Cost Efficiency to Pike, the shard requirements become:

  • Unlock = 55 shards
  • Rank 2 = 55 shards
  • Rank 3 = 110 shards
  • Rank 4 = 165 shards
  • Rank 5 = 440 shards

Total in this case? 825 shards.

However – what happens when you have already collected a certain amount of shards? Let’s take a look!

For example, let’s say that I have collected a total of 500 Pike shards during my lifetime:

  • With 440 shards required in total to progress to Rank 3 (without any CE applied), I have been able to promote him all the way to this point. 
  • With 770 shards (440 + 330) required in total for Rank 4, I am 270 shards short from getting to Rank 4. 
  • I now decide to unlock 100% SNW Crew Cost Efficiency, and Pike’s required shards to unlock Rank 5 are now halved
  • This now means that, with 385 (half of 770) shards needed to reach Rank 4, my Pike got “upgraded” on his own, and I have unlocked Rank 4 without having to acquire any more shards than I already have. 
  • I am now also significantly closer to being able to reach Rank 5, with 325 shards left.

To put it simply, if I had collected 825 shards of Pike before reaching 100% SNW Crew Cost Efficiency, my Pike would be able to be upgraded to Rank 5 immediately. 

As an important side note: 

  • Currently, Officer Crew CEs apply on Synergy Groups
  • This means that the above-referenced 100% SNW Crew Cost Efficiency would affect every single Officer that is part of the SNW Officer Synergy Group
  • This means that for the example above, we haven’t just reduced the total shards required to maximize SNW Christopher Pike, we did so for ALL the 13 Officers that are part of it!

Where can I find Officer Cost Efficiencies? 

As of today, you can access and unlock Officer CE in the refreshed Away Teams research tree, by completing Priority 1 Away Team Assignments, or collecting extra Pioneer’s Crests via the In-game or Web Store.

The following Officer Cost Efficiencies are available in the game now:

  • Voyager Crew: Up to a total of 100%
    • Example: At max CE, Janeway would cost 875 shards (vs 1750 shards base)
  • SNW Crew: Up to a total of 50%
    • Example: At max CE, S31 Georgiou would cost 1000 shards (vs 1500 shards base)
  • Enterprise-E Crew: Up to a total of 100%
    • Example: At max CE, Ent-E Picard would cost 750 shards (vs 1500 shards base)
  • Battleship, Explorer, and Interceptor Strike Team Crew: Up to a total of 150%
    • Example: At max CE, Gul-Dukat would cost 600 shards (vs 1500 shards base)
  • Lower Decks Crew: Up to a total of 100%
    • Example: At max CE, Carol Freeman would cost 750 shards (vs 1500 shards base)
  • Deep Space Nine Crew: Up to a total of 150%
    • Example: At max CE, Odo would cost 680 shards (vs 1700 shards base)
  • Unimatrix Twelve Crew: Up to a total of 150%
    • Example: At max CE, Hugh would cost 720 shards (vs 1800 shards base)
  • Ferengi Crew: Up to a total of 200%
    • Example: At max CE, Rom would cost 500 shards (vs 1500 shards base)
  • TNG Crew: Up to a total of 150%
    • Example: At max CE, Jean-Luc Picard would cost 764 shards (vs 1910 shards base)

Long story short? Way less Officer Shards are needed if you get these unlocked!

More to follow in update 79, Wrath of Khan – Part 2. Stay tuned and get ready for some amazing crews to be covered in that one! 

Thanks for taking the time to read this – I’ll see you in the Final Frontier! LLAP!