Yeah, the Ship Upgrade Token is only applicable to T5 starships purchased from the C-Store and probably fleet ships purchased from a Fleet's (guild for other games) shipyard. "Grand Prize" lockbox T5 ships like the Cardassian Galor can be upgraded to T5u for free. T5 event ships can also be upgraded to T5u; the last one was from Summer 2014.
There are some T5 "consolation prize" starships from lock boxes that can be upgraded to T5u with the Ship Upgrade Token. Examples includes the T5 APU Cruiser and T5 Kazon Raider.
The free T5 ship you choose when you reach level 40 cannot be upgraded to T5u. T5 Mirror Universe ships from lock boxes cannot be upgraded to T5u either.
Unless there is a specific T5 ship from the C-Store that you really want, it is generally better to purchase a T6 starship because they have a ship trait. Whether or not it is deemed to be a good ship trait depends on which one you are referring to. T6 ships also benefits from having 1 or 2 Boff Specialization stations. Delta Rising introduced T6 ships and the concept of Boff Specialization stations which are hybrid stations that could be any one of the specializations (Intelligence, Pilot, Command, etc) and a normal Engineer, Science, Tactical station. As for the Ship Upgrade Token itself, I would sell it on the Exchange if you decide to purchase a T6 ship.
With regards to "grand prize" lock box starships... There is only a very small chance of winning such a ship. Extensive testing on the Tribble Test Server indicates that the chance to win the "grand prize" ship from lock boxes ranges between 0.4% to 0.5%. There have been many posts of people opening hundreds of lock boxes that they did not "win" the grand prize ship. You need to purchase a Mastery Key (~ 5.5m EC each / 125 Zen each) to open a lock box. It is possible to open 2,000 lock boxes and still not win a "grand prize" ship.
That means after spending 11 billion EC on master keys purchased from the Exchange or using $2,250 of real money to purchase a lot of 10-pack master keys to open 2,000 lock boxes it is possible that you can still end up not winning a grand prize ship.
Lockbox ships upgrade for free. The upgrade token is just for C-store ships, or fleet upgrades for C-store ships. (So a Guardian or Fleet Guardian. Fleet ships you buy using fleet credits are not eligible.) It's also an account unlock, so upgrading one character's Guardian lets you upgrade another character's ship for free. I believe that the same thing is true for regular and fleet versions of a ship.
Comments
Correct. Ships that you gain from level up promotions and certain other ships (Mirror universe T5 ships) can't be upgraded to Tier 5-U.
There are some T5 "consolation prize" starships from lock boxes that can be upgraded to T5u with the Ship Upgrade Token. Examples includes the T5 APU Cruiser and T5 Kazon Raider.
The free T5 ship you choose when you reach level 40 cannot be upgraded to T5u. T5 Mirror Universe ships from lock boxes cannot be upgraded to T5u either.
Unless there is a specific T5 ship from the C-Store that you really want, it is generally better to purchase a T6 starship because they have a ship trait. Whether or not it is deemed to be a good ship trait depends on which one you are referring to. T6 ships also benefits from having 1 or 2 Boff Specialization stations. Delta Rising introduced T6 ships and the concept of Boff Specialization stations which are hybrid stations that could be any one of the specializations (Intelligence, Pilot, Command, etc) and a normal Engineer, Science, Tactical station. As for the Ship Upgrade Token itself, I would sell it on the Exchange if you decide to purchase a T6 ship.
With regards to "grand prize" lock box starships... There is only a very small chance of winning such a ship. Extensive testing on the Tribble Test Server indicates that the chance to win the "grand prize" ship from lock boxes ranges between 0.4% to 0.5%. There have been many posts of people opening hundreds of lock boxes that they did not "win" the grand prize ship. You need to purchase a Mastery Key (~ 5.5m EC each / 125 Zen each) to open a lock box. It is possible to open 2,000 lock boxes and still not win a "grand prize" ship.
That means after spending 11 billion EC on master keys purchased from the Exchange or using $2,250 of real money to purchase a lot of 10-pack master keys to open 2,000 lock boxes it is possible that you can still end up not winning a grand prize ship.
Lockbox ships upgrade for free. The upgrade token is just for C-store ships, or fleet upgrades for C-store ships. (So a Guardian or Fleet Guardian. Fleet ships you buy using fleet credits are not eligible.) It's also an account unlock, so upgrading one character's Guardian lets you upgrade another character's ship for free. I believe that the same thing is true for regular and fleet versions of a ship.
You should be looking at T6 ships for endgame. If you don't want to spend $30 you can wait until December for the free Winter Event ship.
Edit: unless youre on console which i actually suspect you are, that may be correct