Using Your USS Discovery: Jumping, Exploring, and Summoning

Using Your USS Discovery

Jumping, Exploring, and Summoning

by CmdrBond

 

Figure 1: Original graphic sourced from startrekfleetcommand.com

 

With the addition of the USS Discovery a whole new dynamic has been introduced to the game. Rather than using warp drive to reach different systems around the galaxy with wait times ranging from one minute to several minutes, the USS Discovery allows you to instantly jump from one system to another. And, once you research the Summoning capability you can bring other ships from your fleet instantly from one system to another. This of course brings up a multitude of questions: How do I get the USS Discovery? How does the ship work? What are the costs? What are the limitations? What is the best strategy to use this ship’s capabilities? Read on and let’s find out.

To build your USS Discovery you will need 100 blueprints and you need to have your shipyard at level 21 or higher (Figure 2). You can obtain the necessary blueprints for this ship from the Battle Pass or you can purchase them.

 

Figure 2: USS Discovery Build Requirements, Source: Kelvin Memorial Archive

As mentioned above, with the USS Discovery you can jump from system to system instantly. To accomplish this the ship uses its jump drive which is powered by Cultivated Mycelium. Therefore you will need Cultivated Mycelium which is obtained by refining Mycelium Spores. To obtain the required Mycelium Spores for conversion, you will either need to mine it, steal it, attack hostiles in specific systems, or you can obtain it by completing the Anomalous Phenomenon event which appears every so often.

To mine Mycelium Spores, you will want to use the USS Discovery as it provides a Mycelium Spore mining bonus of 1,860% at Level 1 all the way up to 2,100% at Level 5 which means its Mycelium Spore mining rate is greater than any other ship. The systems where you can mine Mycelium Spores or obtain them from hostiles are:

Anomaly Systems:

Level 23 Systems (level 21, 23, 25 hostiles):

• Amagi
• Arcadion
• Babishta
• Esteria
• Izanami
• Jizo
• Netron Alpha
• Netron Omega
• Salara
• Tenzen-1029

Level 28 Systems (level 27, 29 hostiles):

• Cada-X
• Dis
• Nalomas
• Risette
• Sae

 

Figure 3: Main Screen - Refinery section

Once you have the Mycelium Spores you will need to refine them in the Discovery Refinery. You can find the Discovery Refinery in the Discovery tab under the Refinery section. You get to the Refinery section by clicking on the Refinery button in the upper left of the main screen (Figure 3) and then scroll to the right in the next screen until you find the Discovery tab (Figure 4). There are two claim boxes in the Discovery tab: Mycelium Greenhouse and Discovery Refinery (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Refinery - Discovery Tab

Figure 5: Refinery - Discovery - Mycelium Greenhouse - Claim

To refine the Mycelium Spores, go to the Mycelium Greenhouse. There are two options in the Mycelium Greenhouse: 1-Chest or 2-Chests; but, beware the cost of these chests increase at a higher rate than the rewards (Figure 5). For example, the 1-chest option costs 5,000 Mycelium Spores and gives you 3,000 in Cultivated Mycelium, and the 2-chest option costs 12,500 Mycelium Spores and gives you 6,000 in Cultivated Mycelium. Therefore, purchasing the 1-chest option is the most cost-effective choice. Once you choose an option the reset timer is 22 hours (Figure 7) so you can only refine once per day.

Figure 6: Refinery - Discovery - Mycelium Max Capacity

Figure 7: Refinery - Discovery - Reset Timers

NOTE: There is an 18,000 limit for Cultivated Mycelium (Figure 5). Once you reach this limit you will not be able to refine any more Mycelium Spores into Cultivated Mycelium (Figure 6) until you use the Cultivated Mycelium and your total on hand goes below the limit.

Figure 8: Discovery Refinery - Claim

Figure 9: Discovery Refinery Token Description

The Anomalous Phenomenon event mentioned above will reward you with Cultivated Mycelium and Discovery Refinery Tokens (Figure 9) which are required to purchase chests in the Discovery Refinery (Figure 8). There are three options in the Discovery Refinery: 1-Chest, 3-Chests, or 6-Chests (Figure 8). The cost for the 1-chest option is 24 tokens, the 3-chest option is 60 tokens, and the 6-chest option is 120 tokens. Therefore, purchasing the 6-chest option is the most cost-effective choice. Once you choose an option the reset timer is 22 hours (Figure 7).

In the Discovery Refinery claim box you can earn multiple rewards including: Speed Ups, Minor Commendations, Discovery Recruit Tokens, and Spore Drive Components (Figure 10, Figure 11, and Figure 12). Of the rewards you will receive from the Discovery Refinery, the Minor Commendation can be exchanged in the Federation, Klingon, and Romulan Faction Store to acquire Command, Science, and Engineering Badges (Figure 13) which are used to upgrade your officers. The next rewards you can receive are Speed Ups (Figure 10) which can be used to speed up repairs or construction. Another reward you will receive are the Discovery Recruit Tokens (Figure 11) which are used to purchase officer shards. The last reward you will receive are the Spore Drive components (Figure 11 and Figure 12) which are required to upgrade your USS Discovery (Figure 14). NOTE: Currently, the Anomalous Phenomenon event is the only way to obtain the Discovery Refinery Tokens.

Figure 10: Discovery Refinery - Rewards #1	Figure 11: Discovery Refinery - Rewards #2
Figure 12: Discovery Refinery - Rewards #3	Figure 13: Discovery Refinery - Minor Commendation
Figure 14: Discovery Refinery - Spore Drive Component

 

Figure 15: USS Discovery Total Cost of Ownership, Source: Kelvin Memorial Archive

 

In Figure 15, you can see the total cost of ownership, irrespective of research such as the cost efficiency research, etc. As you can see there are nine tiers and 45 levels to reach the maximum level for the ship. But, as you can see in Figure 16, the maximum warp range for the USS Discovery at Tier 9 is only 30. This is severely limiting. Therefore, you must complete certain research in order to improve this range.

 

Figure 16: USS Discovery Warp Summary, Source: Kelvin Memorial Archive

The Discovery research options can be found in the Galaxy Research Tree (Figure 17) of your Research & Development (R&D) building.

 

Figure 17: Galaxy Research Tree

 

Figure 18: Galaxy Research Tree - USS Discovery Research

Regarding the USS Discovery, you will want to research three things in the Galaxy Research Tree: Cultivated Mycelium Jump Efficiency, USS Discovery Summoning, and USS Discovery Warp Range (Figure 18). The first is the Cultivated Mycelium Jump Efficiency. This research option will improve the cost efficiency of Cultivated Mycelium for the USS Discovery’s Jumping and Summoning abilities. There are 10 levels to this research option with corresponding increases in cost efficiency.

• Level 1 - 5%
• Level 2 - 10%
• Level 3 - 15%
• Level 4 - 20%
• Level 5 - 25%
• Level 6 - 30%
• Level 7 - 35%
• Level 8 - 40%
• Level 9 - 45%
• Level 10 - 50%

Next up is the USS Discovery Summoning research option. This unlocks the summoning ability of the USS Discovery. This will allow you to summon other ships from your fleet to the current location of your USS Discovery. Lastly, is the USS Discovery Warp Range research option. This research option will improve the warp range for the USS Discovery. There are 10 levels to this research option with corresponding increases in warp range.

• Level 1 - 5
• Level 2 - 10
• Level 3 - 15
• Level 4 - 20
• Level 5 - 30
• Level 6 - 45
• Level 7 - 70
• Level 8 - 95
• Level 9 - 120
• Level 10 - 145

 

Figure 19: Galaxy Research tree - Enhanced Warp Cores

The research options above are specific to the USS Discovery but there are other research options to consider that will affect the USS Discovery. One of the most important of these research options is the Enhanced Warp Cores located in the Galaxy Research Tree (Figure 19). This research option is used to increase the warp range of all ships. There are 5 levels to this research option with corresponding increases in warp range.

• Level 1 - 5
• Level 2 - 10
• Level 3 - 15
• Level 4 - 20
• Level 5 - 25

In regards to warp range, since your Discovery is an Explorer, you can use TOS Scotty in the Captain seat to increase your warp range. You can also place one or two of the other TOS officers on the bridge with TOS Scotty to achieve synergy which will increase the warp range a little further. The crew that will give you the greatest range is: TOS Scotty as Captain, TOS Kirk (or TOS Sulu, TOS Chekov, TOS McCoy, or TOS Spock), and Cadet Scotty.

However, in regards to bridge officer selection, if you want to improve the cost efficiency of Cultivated Mycelium for the USS Discovery’s Jumping and Summoning abilities then you will want to use Paul Stamets as Captain, Culber as 1^st Officer, and Saru, Georgiou, or Airiam as 2^nd Officer (for maximum synergy). This bridge officer setup will give you the maximum Cultivated Mycelium cost efficiency from a bridge officer perspective.

Lastly, we come to a few strategies and tactics to using your USS Discovery’s Jumping and Summoning abilities. First up you can use your USS Discovery to quickly explore the galaxy and quickly complete missions. And, if a mission requires you to defeat a hostile, you can summon your strongest ship without the warp wait times. Another tactic involves summoning mining ships to mine in systems beyond their normal range. This strategy works really well with deep space mining as detailed in the article Deep Space Mining, Part 1. NOTE: Keep in mind, until you complete your ship upgrades and research you will be limited by your warp range. Another great tactic for using your USS Discovery’s Jumping and Summoning abilities is during Territory Takeovers. One good tactic is to position your USS Discovery as close to a takeover node as possible and summon your Sarcophagus. Since your Sarcophagus is relatively slow and more vulnerable when it is not on a Takeover Node, this tactic will improve your success rate in getting your Sarcophagus to the Takeover Node.

The ways in which you can utilize your USS Discovery’s Jumping and Summoning abilities are really only limited by your imagination. Do you have some ideas not mentioned here? Or do you have questions not answered here? Feel free to add them to comment section below.