This article explains how to use the ‘Borg Cube’ modes in the FastTrek Bot for Star Trek® Fleet Command.

Background

The Borg Cube was introduced to Star Trek® Fleet Command in November 2023. It’s grind loop involves killing hostile ships to charge its Cutting Beam special ability. You then fire this beam at another hostile (or player). When the cutting beam destroys the other ship (i.e. it is the last weapon attack), you are awarded with Technological Distinctiveness. This in turn can be exchanged in the Support Refinery (no, not in ‘Borg’ where you might expect it) for materials that allow research and upgrading of the Borg Cube itself.

So far so good. But the problem is that charging the cube on ‘regular’ hostiles can take between 4-10 hits, depending on their hull. Hostiles with a high hull charge the cube faster. Next, the damage of the cutting beam is fixed to its level. Here’s an overview:

With the FastTrek bot for STFC you can easily automate the Borg Cube Cutting Beam grind loop with a few clicks and save time.

The Borg Cube Cutting Beam Strategy

The strategy employed by FastTrek is to charge in one system and fire in another. We know, for example, that Swarm hostiles will charge most cubes in a single hit. Using the graphic above you can then find a system where the beam will destroy any hostile in a single hit. This last part is important!

However, we don’t want to charge the Cutting Beam in that system, because each of these hostiles only charges it by 6% or so. And worse, they will fill the Cube’s cargo hold with junk!

Instead, we could fly to Alpha Horunia, level 26 Swarm Space. These hostiles charge a T2 cube with a single shot. Single shot charge, single shot fire.

Lots of flying around though. Lots of clicking on the map.

Enter FastTrek….

How to start firing the Borg Cube Cutting Beam with FastTrek

To setup the automation you will need 3 ships: A “charge anchor”, a “beam anchor”, plus the Borg Cube itself.

1. Using the example above, park one ship in Alpha Horunia (or whichever system where you’d like to charge the beam).
2. Select the corresponding ship’s tab in FastTrek, select the Borg Cube Charge Anchor mode and Start it.
3. Park another ship in Shynna (or in whichever system it should be fired).
4. Select the corresponding ship’s tab in FastTrek, select the Borg Cube Beam Anchor mode and Start it.
5. Finally, crew the “Borg Cube“, select Borg Cube Cutting Beam in FastTrek and click Start. You can hit Start while ir or the other ships are still in warp.

What happens next?

After the ‘anchors’ have arrived at their destinations, FastTrek will move the cube to it. It will kill hostiles in the normal manner until the beam is fully charged. If that takes more than one hit, no problem. Once the Cutting Beam is fully charged, the ship is sent to the ‘beam anchor’ ship. It then fires the Cutting Beam at any hostile in the system before flying straight back to charge the beam again.

This is why you should select a system where all hostiles have hull strength below your Cutting Beam’s damage rating. Otherwise it may be fired at a hostile that disappears while the Cube is off charging again.

The whole process may seem inefficient, using 3 ships and flying around, but consider that you could run this for 10 hours while you commute, work, and return!

Recalls and Repeats

For Recall and Repeat options, please see Hostile Hunt. Recall conditions are assessed when the borg cube arrives next to the “charge anchor”.

If you have configured this hunt for Technological Distinctiveness to repeat, FastTrek will automatically use speedups to repair the Borg Cube. FastTrek will then send it back to the “charge anchor” for another round of Cutting Beam Charging and Cutting Beam firing.

When the automation is stopped, the charge anchor and beam anchor ships need to be stopped and recalled manually. Unfortunately it isn’t currently possible to use a miner for this task or making the other ship grind, as this would cause problems when that ship itself needs to be recalled or is destroyed.